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BREAKING: The Prince William Board of Supervisors voted along party lines just before 5 a.m. Wednesday morning to approve the controversial Devlin Technology Park, a rezoning that will allow up to nine new data centers near several residential neighborhoods along Devlin and Linton Hall roads in Bristow.
The board’s five-member, Democratic majority voted in favor of the project without comment, prompting a torrent of criticism from the few residents still left in the board chambers when the vote occurred.
The decision followed about five hours of public comment time during which about 80 residents expressed near unanimous opposition to the project, citing concerns over living amid a noisy and ugly data center industrial zone that they fear will lower their property values and degrade their quality of life.
This is a breaking news story. It will be updated.
9:35 p.m.: Supervisors’ meeting on controversial Devlin data centers begins with dueling rallies by supporting labor unions, opposing residents
“We live here. Local jobs, local workers!” “Protect our homes!” Those were the chants heard outside of the James J. McCoart Administration Building Tuesday night prior to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ public hearing on Devlin Technology Park, a controversial plan to allow up to nine new data centers on land adjacent to several Bristow neighborhoods and Chris Yung Elementary School.
Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26, a labor union in support of the project, began shouting their chants in the middle of a press conference held by “Say No Devlin Technology Park,” a residents’ group opposed to the project.
Some in the residents’ group responded by shouting “protect our homes!”
Both groups held press conferences in the frigid cold outside the county building prior to the public hearing to urge supervisors to either approve or reject the project.
Residential developer Stanley Martin is once again bringing the project before the board after putting the plan on hold amid residents’ protests last February. The 270 acres at issue are currently zoned for 516 homes. Stanley Martin is seeking to rezone the property to allow for up to nine data centers.
When Marion Ransell-Dobbins bought her home in Victory Lakes in Bristow back in 2004, she th…
The project is one of two major data center rezonings the supervisors have scheduled for votes during the board’s “lame duck” session before the end of the year.
“We live here. Local jobs, local workers!” members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers chanted outside the county’s McCoart Building Tuesday night in support of the Devlin Technology Park, which they say will provide years of good paying jobs to their electrician members.
IBEW urged supervisors to approve the rezoning to allow for more localjobs , higher wages for workers and a better quality of life for those in trades. Greg Ackerman, president of theDC Metro Building Trades Union, said if the project is approved, 4,500 construction jobs are expected.
Ackerman also said that many union members wake up at 4 a.m. daily to commute to work in D.C. or Maryland, areas where they can find a job with better wages.
“The majority of our members across the region live in Prince William County,” Ackerman said. “(If the project is approved), they’ll be able to work here, they’ll be able to save time on their commute and more importantly… we want to expand the opportunities that everybody has already had here to get a good paying career.”
Francisco Esparca, a carpenter, said when he wakes up at 3 a.m. on days he works in D.C. to make it to work by 5 a.m. Esparca has worked as a carpenter since 2013.
“The main thing is I can’t spend as much time with my family as I would like,” Esparcatold thePrince William Times.
“We need good data centers that will will create good construction jobs,” Esparca said. “Data centers that hire responsible contractors that pay good wages and benefits. Data center projects like Devlin Technology Park that understand unions are the best partner to ensure people like me have the chance to enter the middle class.”
As in the hotly contested race for Prince William County chair, money from labor unions, dat…
Since 2019, IBEW has given campaign donations to the five Democratic supervisors, who hold the board’s majority.
Occoquan Supervisor Kenny Boddye, Board Chair Ann Wheeler, Potomac Supervisor Andrea Bailey,Neabsco Supervisor Victor Angry and Woodbridge Supervisor Margaret Franklin have all received donations from the union.
Boddye, Bailey, Angry and Franklin will return to their seats in January for a second term. Democrat Board Chair-elect, Deshundra Jefferson will replace Wheeler. Jefferson has previously stated that she is against the project and data centers near “homes, schools and national parks,” and that the residents in communities around the Devlin Technology Park “must be heard.”
On the opposing side, members of “Say No to Devlin Technology Park”asked supervisors to vote no on the project, citing concerns about the data centers’ location near their homes anda Prince William County elementary school and private preschool, as well as concerns about the environmentand need for additional high-powered electrical transmission lines.
“I came to Victory Lakes, Prince William County in 2004,” said Marion Ransell-Dobbins. “Myhusband and I fell in love with the neighborhood, which was going to be our forever home. My husband died in 2011 of lung cancer. My house is the last remnant of our memory together. I will not stand for the board to disrupt the peaceful communities that we’veestablished in Western Prince William County.”
Incumbent Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, a Republican, also spoke during the “Say No to Devlin Tech Park” press conference. Lawson is opposed to the project and recently held a townhallregardingproject updates. She also recently lost her bid for board chair to Jefferson.
“Never before in Prince William County have we had union workers care about rezoning construction,” Lawson said. “They are trying to misrepresent the will of the people. I know it is crystal clear that the Bristow community boldly rejects the data center development.”
“As your representative I am proud to vote in denial tonight,” Lawson said.“I hope we have the votes to either defeat this project or set it back and let the future board (vote on it)with the Chair-Elect Deshundra Jefferson, who has also committed to voting no.”
Lawson’s term on the board will end on Dec. 31. She will be replaced by Republican Tom Gordy, who is also against the project.
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