Northern Virginia: Demonstration Scheduled at Prince William's Digital Gateway Event

The debate surrounding the construction of a massive data center facility in Prince William County persists. Tuesday evening, residents planned to hold a protest against the Prince William Digital Gateway prior to a developer-hosted open house. Maureen Umeh of FOX 5 reports that the controversy regarding the digital gateway has been ongoing for months, with residents pushing against the complex's construction. Now that one of the developers, Compass Datacenters, intends to host a community engagement event on Tuesday, residents are voicing opposition. The Prince William Digital Gateway will occupy more than 2,000 acres of land adjacent to Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Developers such as Compass estimate that the gateway will generate $470 million annually in tax revenue for the state.  According to them, the revenue will substantially reduce the tax burden on county residents and be used to resolve issues such as potential school overcrowding and affordable housing. However, many local residents disagree and have fought for months to stop the construction of the data center complex. Residents of the Heritage Hunt neighborhood will conduct a rally concurrently with Compass's informational open house. They accuse the company of concealing its true intentions.

Umeh asserts that the data centers will negatively impact the Pageland Lane neighborhood by introducing viewshed, pollution, and increased traffic to what has been a predominantly rural area. The resident's objective is to halt the development, despite the impossibility of their success. Their rally at Bull Run Middle School began at 6:30 p.m. on April 25. The QTS Data event in Woodbridge is from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.