PATRIOT VOLLEYBALL’S SISTER ACT: A set of siblings leads the Pioneers. SPORTS, PAGE 21
October 6, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 40 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Dispute between ‘PW Digital Gateway’ property owners lands in court
Family contends their land was undervalued in the deal By Cher Muzyk and Jill Palermo Times Staff Writers
A dispute between property owners involved in a plan to create a major new data center corridor near Manassas National Battlefield Park known as the “Prince William Digital Gateway” is playing out in federal court – a sign that ties between some residents involved in the deal could be fraying. Back in March, GW Acquisition Co., LLC, an affiliate of data center operator QTS Realty Trust, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Jon Sanders Brower and his mother, Barbara Brower, for breach of contract. The lawsuit seeks $75,000 in damages and charges that the Browers failed to sign paperwork that would allow a county rezoning application for the Prince William Digital Gateway project to move forward.
The Browers, who own about 132 acres along Pageland Lane, have since signed the county paperwork and other documents after being compelled to do so by a court order, according to court documents. But the Browers filed a complaint against fellow Pageland Lane-area property owner Mary Ann Ghadban for $4.6 million, alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. The Browers also filed a countersuit against GW Acquisition, the QTS affiliate, which has since been dismissed. The Browers’ lawsuit against Ghadban charges that their purchase agreement with GW Acquisition undercuts the value of their land in order to pay more to Ghadban and others whose land, they contend, is worth less because it is impacted by wetlands and is closer to the battlefield, two factors that restrict its full development. Ghadban, a commercial real estate developer, initiated the Prince William Digital Gateway proposal. Through her brokerage, MagLandBroker, Ghadban is representing about a dozen land-
owners in a deal to sell their properties to QTS if the Prince William Board of County Supervisors approves both a comprehensive plan amendment and a rezoning that would allow the new data center development. QTS is one of two data center companies that have so far filed rezoning applications to develop new data centers in the Prince William Digital Gateway corridor. The other company, Compass, has signed contracts with about 90 other Pageland Lane area landowners for a separate data center development. Rezoning applications submitted by each company involve a total of about 1,600 acres of the proposed 2,100-acre data center corridor. The plan has sparked the largest land-use policy debate in the county in decades and pits the landowners involved against the Manassas National Battlefield Park, conservation groups and nearby neighbors in Heritage Hunt and Oak Valley – all of whom oppose the PW Digital Gateway. See DISPUTE, page 4
Wexton, Cao clash on abortion, Va. policies for transgender students in first debate Both candidates express caution on data centers proposed near Manassas battlefield By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton and her Republican challenger, retired Navy Capt. Hung Cao, clashed on abortion rights, gun violence, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed new policies for transgender students and what to do about rising college and health care costs during their first live debate Sunday at the Dar al Noor mosque PHOTO BY MIKE BEATY in Manassas. U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-10th, debates her Republican challenger Hung Wexton, 54, is a Democrat and Cao at the Dar al Noor mosque in Manassas. a former prosecutor and state senator who is seeking her third term ese refugee in 1975 and went on common ground on whether Prince in Congress representing Virginia’s to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. William County should open about 10th District, which shifted a bit due He served in the U.S. Navy for 25 2,100 rural acres near the Manasto redistricting and now covers all years, rising to the rank of captain, sas National Battlefield Park to data of Fauquier County as well as the before retiring in 2021. centers. The Prince William Board The two clashed most signifi- of County Supervisors delayed its northern half of Prince William cantly on social issues – including Oct. 11 vote on a comprehensive County. Cao, 51, is a political newcomer abortion rights and the treatment who came to the U.S. as a Vietnam- of transgender students – but found See DEBATE, page 2
Readers’ Choice Winners are here, see page 13
Manassas Ballet Theatre’s spooky Sleepy Hallow onstage Oct. 1416, page 9
10th District Congressional Race Incumbent: U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D)
• Elected to Congress in 2018 • Former Loudoun County prosecutor, Va. state senator from 2014-19 • Serves on U.S. House Appropriations Committee, House Budget Committee Age: 54 Education: Bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland, College Park. Law degree from the College of William and Mary Lives in Leesburg with husband, two kids
Challenger: Capt. Hung Cao, U.S. Navy, retired (R)
• Served in the U.S. Navy from 1989 to 2021 • Works for CACI, International Age: 51 Education: Bachelor’s degree from U.S. Naval Academy. Master’s degree from U.S. Naval PostGraduate School. Lives in Purcellville with wife, five kids
Fundraising:
Wexton: $2.5 million Cao: $982,000
Polls:
Cook Political Report: D+5 FiveThirtyEight: D+8
88 DULLES, VA