Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 5h 52m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3475
Official Board of County Supervisors page (Prince William County): https://www.pwcva.gov/department/board-county-supervisors

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-11-01. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:15] - All right, good afternoon everyone. If you could please try to find a seat, I'd appreciate that. It is 2:01 and we are gonna begin. Please join me for a moment of silence.

[00:00:40] I'll rise if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:00:57] Thank you so much. Now before we move on to item three, we have a request from Supervisor Tom Gordy to participate remotely. This request is listed on the agenda is item 3A and requires a vote.

[00:01:18] Do I have a motion to approve? Move for approval, Madam Chair. Second. All right, discussion? All in favor? No worries.

[00:01:42] Jefferson, is yours working? It does not show on mine. Okay, can you give me a yes or no, please?

[00:01:57] Yes. Supervisor Franklin, yes or no, please? Thank you, ma'am. Vote unanimous. Supervisor Gordy absent from vote. All right, thank you so very much. Now we're going to move on to item three, approval minutes.

[00:02:14] We're going to approve 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D. Do I have a motion? So moved, Madam Chair. Second. any discussion all right let's vote supervisor gordy if i could get a yes or no sir yes thank you i'm also yes my computer i'm sorry my screen is down supervisor franklin i think ma'am vote

[00:02:44] unanimous all right we are now on to accommodations and proclamations we have resolution to commend xi alpha lambda chapter of alpha phi alpha fraternity for 43 years of service in the the community. We have a resolution from Supervisor Gordy which Supervisor Vega will present on his behalf for Friends United in Oaksville. We have 4C proclaiming May is cystic fibrosis of weariness month and presenting on behalf of Supervisor Gordy will be Supervisor Weir. We have 4D National

[00:03:20] Public Works Week, 4E Emergency Medical Services Week, and 4F Bike to Work Day. Do I have a motion to approve 4a through 4f so moved second all right discussion all right let's vote i am an aye thank you supervisor franklin aye supervisor gordy thank you sir vote unanimous all right i will move down for the first proclamation if the men of alpha phi alpha can join me at the podium

[00:03:55] so for item 4a um zaya alpha lambda was established in prince william county on may 31st 1981 since then the fraternity has launched initiatives to promote civic engagement

[00:04:35] and to combat food insecurity in the county they also mentor youth through the alpha academy project alpha go to high school and go to college their ira dorsey scholarship endowment foundation has awarded over 275 scholarships totaling nearly half a million dollars so i would like to thank the fraternity for their 43 years of service empowering residents and investing in our youth Mr. Blackwell would you like to come to the podium and say a few words? I just want to thank you guys for the opportunity so much more work to be left to be done and we're going to continue moving

[00:05:10] forward thank you so much. Thank you we're going to go to the center for a photo actually let's go into that let's quickly we're going to go into the atrium while we do that I'm going to invite supervisor Vega down to read the next proclamation for to commend friends

[00:05:31] uniting noakesville okay we'll wait for the others to join us how are you guys doing thank you thank you all right this is everyone yes ma'am okay great

[00:06:09] whereas since its establishment in 2004 friends uniting noakesville noakesville has tires tirelessly dedicated itself to enhancing a sense of community spirit and And whereas, in adherence to their guiding principles of bringing neighbors together, FUN has cultivated enduring traditions such as the Noakesville Day Parade, the Noakesville Community Christmas Parade, and tree lighting, which have become cherished fixtures in Noakesville life.

[00:06:36] And whereas FUN also extends support to other local organizations and initiatives, including the Noakesville Business Association and the Noakesville Bristow Club, bolstering collaborative efforts to make their town a desirable place for residents to live, work, and raise families.

[00:06:54] And whereas, through exemplary leadership and dedication of its volunteers, FUN has played a pivotal role in organizing events and activities that promote camaraderie and celebration over the past two decades, embodying the essence of service and generosity.

[00:07:10] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby extends its heartfelt commendation and congratulations to Friends Uniting Noakesville on its 20th anniversary, acknowledging the organization's unwavering commitment to strengthening community bonds and enriching the lives for all Noakesville residents.

[00:07:40] Welcome, everyone. I just want to remind everybody that this coming Saturday is Noakesville Day. It starts at 9 o'clock, ends at 2, parades at 11. Please come out and join us and see how wonderful Nokesville is.

[00:07:55] Thank you.

[00:08:45] All right, Supervisor Weir, if you can come down and present the next one on behalf of Supervisor Gordy. Good afternoon.

[00:09:03] It's my particular pleasure to present this on behalf of Supervisor Gordy. This is an issue that takes or hits particularly close to home in my office, as we actually have someone who's dealing with this. So this is a proclamation for Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month, May 2024, Whereas cystic fibrosis, commonly referred to as CF, is a progressive genetic disease affecting the lungs, pancreas, and other organs.

[00:09:27] And whereas nearly 40,000 children and adults in the United States have cystic fibrosis and nearly 70,000 children and adults worldwide, 840 of whom live in Virginia. and whereas more than 10 million Americans are symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene, as a result, CF occurs in approximately one in every 3,500 live births in the United States, and approximately 1,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.

[00:09:52] And whereas infant blood screening is the most reliable and least costly method to detect a genetic defect and therefore identify persons likely to have CF, the age of diagnosis is vital as it permits the opportunity for early treatments that can enhance the quality of life and increase longevity.

[00:10:10] And whereas because of raised awareness of CF, more than 75% of people with CF are diagnosed by the age of two, along with the advances in the treatment of CF, the number of adults has steadily grown. Today, 50% of the CF population is aged 18 years or older, and the medium age of survival for a person with CF is now 56 years, as compared to the 1980s and 90s, with few patients reaching the age of 30.

[00:10:38] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims May 2024 as Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. All right, if we can have the representatives. If you would like to come speak, sir. So my name is Zach Cato.

[00:10:56] This is my wife, Stacey Cato, and our daughter, Claire Cato. Claire is four. She currently has cystic fibrosis. She was diagnosed at just 10 days old. So we run a golf tournament in Gainesville, a Stonewall Golf Club. All proceeds go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

[00:11:13] To date, we've ran three golf tournaments as recent. Our third one just two weeks ago, we've raised and donated just over $132,000 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. And we will be hosting this annually. So curecfgolfclassic.com is our website.

[00:11:31] We'll be hosting it at Stonewall on May 2nd next year. I just wanna thank everyone for the opportunity to make May Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. Thank you.

[00:12:11] - Right next is Proclaim May 19th and May 25th, National Public Works Week. If we can have people for the National Public Works Week Proclamation. All right. National Public Works Week recognizes the integral part that our public works employees play in our residents' everyday lives.

[00:12:35] Prince William County's public works staff protects our environment, and helps to ensure that we have a safe functioning infrastructure. I'd like to thank staff for diligently working to improve our safety, health, and well-being. So I hereby proclaim March 19th and March 25th, National Public Works Week, in honor of all that they do for our county.

[00:12:56] All right, do you have any remarks? - Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, my name is Kitab Shamut. I'm the acting public works director for Prince William County. With me, I have Assistant Director, Paul Lynch, and I also have the Deputy Director Acting, Luke Hinesman, and also the Assistant Director for Environmental Management, Madan Mohan, today.

[00:13:22] So thank you very much. It's an honor to receive and accept this proclamation on behalf of Public Works, and joined them just recently. And I had the privilege to witness a group of very professional, dedicated team of professionals that strive to accomplish and sustain the best environment possible for Prince William County residents.

[00:13:47] They continue to do so. They're focusing on wetlands, streams, environment, layer control, landscaping, name it, we do it. When we're ready to do it and continue to do it the best way we can.

[00:13:59] Thank you very much.

[00:14:33] We are going to proclaim May 19th and May 25th, Emergency Medical Services Week.

[00:14:41] Chief LaBelle, if you're here.

[00:15:14] Emergency Medical Services Week recognizes the employees and volunteers who devote their time to providing life-saving care to Prince William County residents. EMS has grown to address healthcare shortfalls in the community by providing preventative and follow-up care.

[00:15:29] EMS personnel, I'd like to thank EMS personnel for the hours of training, education, and sacrifices that you put in to serve our community. So I am proud to proclaim March 19th, I'm sorry, May 19th to May 25th as Emergency Medical Services Week.

[00:15:46] We are incredibly grateful for your service. Would you like to speak? - Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm Kim Stewart. I'm the Deputy Chief of Department of Fire and Rescue, and it's my privilege to be here to accept this proclamation for the Fire and Rescue System Chief, Tom LaBelle.

[00:16:04] It's an honor to be here to recognize the work of our men and women of the fire and rescue system who perform emergency medical services throughout our county each and every day. They, along with countless other practitioners, answer the call for help and save lives.

[00:16:23] With me are members of our operations section, our EMS operations section, and their assistant chief, Kurt Heinrichs.

[00:16:31] Again, thank you so much for proclaiming this week for us.

[00:17:40] And our final proclamation is Bike to Work Day. Mr. Conizales, if you have anyone. Bike to Work Day is a celebration of bicycle commuting as a sustainable transportation practice.

[00:17:57] With nine pit stops spread across Prince William County, this regional event raises awareness of the resources available to cyclists in the Washington metro area. I would like to thank our transportation department who helped plan this event and is sponsoring a bike raffle.

[00:18:14] So I am pleased to proclaim May 17th is Bike to Work Day. Do you have any remarks? - Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair, for our remarks. I'm gonna introduce Kevin Weirach, who is our planning manager, and also with him are Mr. Alan Munchnik and Miss Margaret Smith that are here with Active Prince William, which also make this happen.

[00:18:34] Thank you. - Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Kevin Weirach. I am the county's transportation planning manager. Bike to Work Day is one of our signature annual events as we look to increase awareness of alternative mobility options here in the county.

[00:18:50] It'll take place this Friday, May 17th, with nine pit stops throughout the county for bike commuters to not only rest and refuel, but also pick up promotional items and be entered into a raffle to win one of two bicycles from A1 Cycling. Here to celebrate this proclamation of Bike to Work Day with us, Alan Muchnick of Active Prince William and Margaret Smith with Active Prince William and A1 Cycling.

[00:19:13] We're proud to partner with these organizations in the advancement of a true multimodal transportation network here in Prince William County. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. I'm Alan Muchnick with Active Prince William. I really want to commend the county staff for close to 15 years promoting this event and supporting it financially in all of greater Prince William.

[00:19:36] And remind people that you don't have to bike all the way to work if it's 30 miles away. You can bike to VRE, OmniRide, Park and Ride lot for a carpool. You can drive part of the way in and bike on some of the wonderful trails in the region.

[00:19:52] So this is a great opportunity to get people to have a little fun and exercise before they start work. Thank you.

[00:19:58] We are now moving on to the consent agenda.

[00:20:55] That's items 5A through 5I. Before I begin, does anyone have anything that they want to pull off or remove from today's consent agenda? Madam Chair? Yes. I'd like to pull item 5B and 5H.

[00:21:17] - All right, 5B and 5H, anyone else? So, I would like to get a motion for items 5A, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, 5G, and 5I.

[00:21:35] - So moved, Madam Chair. - Second. - Any discussion? - Madam Chair. - Supervisor Bode. - Thank you, Madam Chair. For folks in the audience, 5A is the final design of the Prince William Parkway at Old Bridge Road intersection improvements project. I know we've come quite a little ways with this one.

[00:21:53] I know we've deferred this one a few times. Is it a perfect project? No, but we also know that given the constraints of this intersection and where we are right now, it's the best we're gonna get considering the current situation. Wanted to thank Rick Canazales and his team for letting us this be a very iterative process going back and forth to the community, the shopping center owners, the folks that have been involved in this since the beginning.

[00:22:17] We know that any other type of alignment or other type of project would have significantly more impacts on businesses. I know businesses have been a highlight of the project thus far, but if we're in a world in which we can have this project go forward, alleviate a lot of traffic, one of the most congested areas in my district, while also not really touching any businesses in terms of total takes or even partial takes, I think that we're in a pretty good spot.

[00:22:41] So I wanted to thank everyone who was involved in this and the community feedback. You empowered us to make this project better, so I wanted to say that. And finally, also we had a grant submission for federal funding for the Old Bridge Road-Gordon Boulevard intersection improvement program.

[00:22:58] Want to thank Mr. Canizales and his team for continuing to get funding for that project as well. I know we've tweaked that one quite a bit. We're looking at some of the final designs of that as it moves forward. But now we need to start making strides to get funding for it. And I know that Mr. Canizales and his team are always great at getting other people to spend money on our project.

[00:23:16] So I wanted to highlight that as well. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. All right. And Supervisor Gordy wanted to speak on item 5D. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to thank Mr. Canizales and his team for seeking this grant.

[00:23:33] 5D, what it will do is it will provide funding to get us to 30% design for a crossing of the railroad track there on Route 15 near Haymarket. this is a very dangerous crossing and it is something that has been badly needed for quite some time, but it seems that we can't get there from where we are. And so this opportunity to seek this grant, hopefully we'll get this project moving forward and look forward to their continued

[00:24:09] diligence and getting us to a solution for this crossing. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Is there anyone else? All right. If not, let's vote. Supervisor Gordy. Yes, no, sir. Aye. Thank you. Vote unanimous.

[00:24:36] All right. So now we're going to go back to item 5B. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and to the community, I just want to thank Mr. Conosalas and his team for the continuation for this project. The way that you and your team have navigated the inspection and making sure that after having the public hearings with the community that this project alone, which could be extremely controversial at times, but you brought the community into the process as well as making sure there's funding for the project.

[00:25:11] and so I wanted to make sure that on camera everyone in our community knows that in the Potomac District and thank you this has been a almost five-year project continual and so smart scale is something that we talk about in the Virginia of counties and you've been there every step of the way so thank you and with that madam chair I'd like to move it forward so I also want to remind everyone on the board because then a giant agenda items are for things that we agree on we are going to pull them if we have disagreement with them so for moving forward I just want to mind everyone what the consent agenda is for so all right if there's no further

[00:25:47] discussion let's take a vote supervisor Gordy hi all right the next one is item 5h thank you very much madam chair and with 5h I'd like to say that with this specific item this is something that we discussed during the police chief's discussion when he brought his report to us a couple of weeks ago and it's a very important item that has been directly affecting my community and so I appreciate that this has been added to the consent agenda it will help us in

[00:26:27] terms of making sure that the larger trucks that are in our communities it will provide an element of safety and so with that madam chair I'd like to move this item forward as well second all right any further discussion if not let's

[00:26:42] take a vote. Madam Chair, the iPads, I don't think. Yeah, mine, mine just, no, mine don't. Yeah, so let's do a roll call. I'm going to do a roll call, a vocal, if that's okay. All right, very good. Supervisor Bailey? Aye. Supervisor Bode? Aye. Supervisor Franklin? Aye. Supervisor Vega? Aye. Supervisor Angry? Aye. Supervisor Weir? Aye. Chair Jefferson? Aye. Vote unanimous? I vote aye.

[00:27:11] I'm so sorry. Out of sight, out of mind. All right, well, thank you, everyone. We are now moving on to public comment time. Please note that public comment time is for items not listed on today's public hearing agenda.

[00:27:27] We will begin with in-person and remote public comments. I don't know, do we have? I have one sheet of people who have signed up. All right, so we will also have another sheet that we brought to me shortly. I am going to call five people at a time.

[00:27:44] Please note that you have three minutes to share your views on matters before the board. Please state your name in your magisterial district at the beginning of your marks. We will close the in-person signup list after the first 15 minutes of in-person public comments. So we're gonna begin.

[00:28:00] We have Randy Freed, Martin Jeter, Ken Nahr, and Ruth Ann Pissaritz. You can all make your way to the podium, thank you.

[00:28:17] - Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson, Supervisors, Mr. Shorter and Ms. Roble. I'm Randy Freed and I'm here to speak on behalf of the Prince William Sustainability Commission, which I chair. I live in the Occoquan District. In today's meeting, you'll be voting on a zoning text amendment introduced by Supervisor Weir that would end by right development of data centers and eliminate the data center Opportunity Zone Overlay District, thereby providing you and the community the opportunity to review all proposed data centers.

[00:28:50] Data centers consume huge amounts of electricity, more than 50 times as much as other companies buildings with equivalent floor space. The carbon emissions from electricity consumption are the biggest part of the county's carbon footprint and that footprint is set to grow by a factor of four or five if we continue to add data centers without constraints on their use of clean electricity. That will make it impossible to meet our 2030 goal of reducing emissions by half. The county may be able to work with applicants to get commitments for clean electricity

[00:29:25] Electricity use through voluntary programs market incentives or other means this will take some creativity and motivation But it surely won't happen at all if data centers are allowed to develop by right with minimal oversight That's why the sustainability Commission recommended in a resolution we passed last month that the BOCS quote examine ways to pause approvals on new data centers including eliminating the opportunity zone until the county can a

[00:29:56] Adequately analyze and manage cumulative impacts of data center development, including effects of additional data centers on the climate mitigation goal, and B, devise a method to condition approval of any additional data centers on binding commitments by the applicants to use at least 90 percent zero carbon electricity by 2030.

[00:30:17] The staff briefing that the planning office will provide prior to your ZTA vote does not address climate mitigation goals or the CESMP at all. But rather than ignoring this critical part of the picture, the Sustainability Commission urges you to consider the whole set of facts, particularly how data centers affect our climate goals.

[00:30:42] In sum, the ZTA is consistent with the commission's unanimous recommendation. By itself, the ZTA wouldn't keep us from walking over the cliff in terms of our climate goals, but it would keep us from sleepwalking over the cliff, and that would be a huge improvement.

[00:31:03] Therefore, we ask for your vote in support of the ZTA. One other thing, on the separate vote to incorporate the CESMP into the comp plan, which is Agenda Item 11C, we also ask for a yes vote. This step is needed so that the CESMP, which is currently a freestanding plan that can easily be put aside, as we saw in this year's budget where only a small fraction of the plan got funded so it can be fully integrated into the comp plan and thus will have more legal and budgetary weight

[00:31:34] thank you for your consideration thank you next speaker please turn on your mic i know we can't hear you okay thank you good afternoon chair jefferson and members of the board i'm martin

[00:32:13] jeter president of the mid-county civic association and i'm a resident of the aquan district i'm speaking to you all today in reference to the hoadley square cpa initiation we reviewed the project on two different occasions it's also been reviewed by loka pelt and a nearby community over the last eight months or so we're asking that you do not initiate the comp plan amendment for this project dr jack couldn't be here but loka agrees that we should not initiate this cpa there are numerous reasons for our request but county watershed management staff has addressed the key reason in their comments uh in their in their staff report and the following is quoted from that

[00:32:48] report compressed slightly for brevity so quoting most of the site's site lies within the aquan reservoir protection area or orpa the orpans were create created to protect the sensitive environmental features and the public water supply of this region the conference of plan notes that protection is to be achieved through low density development which is why the orpa calls for one dwelling unit per five acres such development is able to preserve forest cover at a high level the applicant is proposing to clear a little over 50% of the existing forest on site including forest protecting the headwater wetlands feeding into the Akwan River. Most of this clearing is to achieve a density of

[00:33:23] 7.72 dwelling units per acre over the entire site. This is 3,800 percent more density than the one dwelling unit per five acres recommended for the ORPA. Impervious surfaces are proposed to increase from just under nine percent currently to 50 percent impervious or a 450 percent increase in impervious surface. Staff recommends the applicant reduce the proposed density to be consistent with one dwelling unit per five acres and preserve the entirety of the forest cover in the northern parcel. The staff report makes it clear as to why the removing 42 acres from the Oropa area with

[00:33:59] the CPA is a bad idea. I'd just like to add that the Oropa area boundary is not arbitrary. It's determined by the watershed limits, the soil types, and the rock formations within. There are other issues with the corresponding rezoning that stem from the extreme density, such as the impacts to that the 3,058 vehicle trips per day generated by the project that would add to the existing and increasing traffic issues in the immediate area would have, the incongruity with the character of the area, the lack of community support, the two over two townhomes planned over top of spring-fed pond at the front of the property, the impacts on well water recharge, the undermining of the comprehensive plan just passed a little over a year ago, the overestimated jobs protection for the project provided

[00:34:39] is a key reason to initiate the CPA as another issue. So it is documented by staff why this wouldn't be a good policy. It's been vetted by the community without gaining support. The reason the CPA initiation process exists is to weed out the unworthy applications. So please do not obligate staff time and funding to investigate this obviously fatally flawed idea.

[00:35:00] This could be a good project, but just not in the ORPA overlay area. Thank you and have a great meeting. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Ken Nahr, Gainesville District. I fully support item 11D. This is a great opportunity for our community.

[00:35:18] There's a great demand from this facility from all ages, races, and creed. In addition to its questionable loyalty and obvious violations of sound representative governance principles, I oppose item 12J for many reasons, but I will only address one very simple human reason this afternoon.

[00:35:39] The sheer amount of excess and redundant work this initiative would generate, as written, would bring our entire county staffing to a grinding halt. It disrespects our staff's time and selfless sacrifices to move our county forward.

[00:35:57] Once again, I support item 11D and oppose item 12J as written, and I respectfully ask that you vote for and against as appropriate. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon.

[00:36:15] Ruthann Pizaritz, Gainesville District, and I'm here to oppose resolution 12J. The data center overlay district allows the county to focus data center development in specific areas. Removing it would open up the entire county to data centers. The Board of County Supervisors has already started collecting data about the overlay district.

[00:36:35] The Board should see that process through before considering this initiation. This resolution would be seen as taking people's property rights, especially those who have already gone through the rezoning process. My daughter just sent me this, and I thought it was interesting.

[00:36:52] Corruption in local government refers to the misuse of public office and resources by individuals in positions of power at the local level for personal gain or the benefit of select groups. It involves the abuse of entrusted authority that undermine the integrity and effectiveness of the local governance.

[00:37:13] This resolution could and would potentially open the county up to significant lawsuits. And how would you feel moving forward about making plans, approving them, and moving the county forward with the thought in mind that the next elected board can just sabotage your hard work?

[00:37:29] This mentality actually throws us back to the 19th century. Vote no on 12J. All right, and before we get to the next speaker, I want to call up our additional group of five. So Tony Drafair, Dalton Nichols, David Ciari, RJ Ziegler, and Norman Stone.

[00:37:52] All right, thank you. You may go, sir. Good afternoon. My name is Nick Katsurelis. I live in the Potomac District. I've lived in Prince William County all of my 64 years, and we've missed a lot of opportunities over the years, and I think there's a great one right now with this Prince William Sports and Events Center. I am part of the Pickleball Mafia, so bear with me. This is not the only reason I'm here, though. I know we'd love to have our indoor facility, our chances to play. We could bring in tournaments from the two big leagues we have nowadays. They have 1,500 to 2,000 participants and their entire entourage. But more importantly, in the process that I've been dealing with, learning and going to these events, I've realized how many other

[00:38:31] people also need this facility. The people that have to drive hours for practice, the basketball courts that are lacking for their leagues, it's almost appalling. Having been in a business in the county for most of my life, we always tried to stop driving. In the meantime, we are sending our kids for hours for indoor track for basketball tournaments for volleyball league we need to bring that home not only that the graduations we're putting hundreds of cars and thousands of people's on on the road to run up to George Mason I'm a George Mason alumnus I am happy that they're up going up

[00:39:09] there to their wonderful facility but I worry about them having to drive up there every single time so I ask that you guys pass this look at it from also the standpoint of keeping things home, the halo effect of a facility like this, and the fact that we would be first in the area.

[00:39:26] We need something like this in this area to create that image, an upscale, move-forward sports image, and the facilities that it will entail, but also the revenues it'll bring from outside people coming into our community. It really would be a boon for all of us, okay?

[00:39:45] So I would really vote yes, please, on that project. Thank you. All right, so real quick, I don't know if I had you on the list, your name again, because if not, I need you to sign up so we have a record. It's Nick Katsareles. Did you sign? Yes. Okay. All right, so you must be on a different sheet.

[00:40:00] All right, thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Terry Giffray, and I'm in Haymarket. I second. I'm going to save some time. I second what Ken Nahr and Ruth Ann said. Please vote no on 12J, the zoning text amendment.

[00:40:19] Thank you. Next speaker. My name is Tony Giffray. Madam Chairman, board members, it's an honor to be here and ability to speak mind.

[00:40:36] I have a couple of issues I'd like to talk about. One, Tom Gordy, during the process of the Digital Gateway Center, and I spent three years going through that process with him and with some of you members of the board, some of you are new, it was a long three-year process and it finally got ended.

[00:40:52] However, there are some citizens out there that are suing the decision of the Board of Supervisors and trying to change things of the past. But after three years, that's enough time for an issue to resolve itself. Tom Bordy brought up the issue of energy for these data centers that I'm in support of.

[00:41:12] And with that thought, I brought it to the Committee of 100 to hold a program on small nuclear reactors. And I think the Board of Supervisors would be, it would be well for them to become aware of that particular possibility because they are unintrusive and they are safe.

[00:41:36] And the Board ought to be looking at that. If the Board would like a private program presented to them, I would be glad to prepare that for them. I'm in contact with some of the specialists in the field, both nationally and locally, and I'd like to take the board on a look at that to solve your energy problems.

[00:41:57] The other thing is I'm here also because of Mr. Weir's proposal to change what has happened in the past, and I think this is going to embarrass the county if it gets passed because it's going to cause a lot of angst among people who are looking for to do business in Prince William County when they can't even look at the code, do what's right, do what's supposed to do, and then have someone come along later on and want to change the rules.

[00:42:29] I would be interested in finding out from the board through its attorney is whether or not this particular proposal is even legal because I go by the principle that you don't do retroactive laws.

[00:42:45] You don't make it a law that will affect something that's already passed. So if I could get the assurance from the board and the county attorney that this is not going to affect the digital gateway or any of the existing proposals that have been approved by the board going through the full process, then I would not have as much problem with it.

[00:43:05] Thank you very much, and thank you for what you do. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My name is Dave Sari. I've been a resident of Gainesville for 24 years, and I also oppose item 12J for the same reasons previous people just split.

[00:43:29] about. Thanks very much for all the hard work. You all do. Next speaker. Good afternoon. I'm Delta Nichols. I'm the president of the Hunters Ridge Homeowners Association and I am in the Occoquan district. I am here on behalf of our 216 home community, approximately 700 to 1,000 county residents, including children, which is located within Occoquan Reservoir Protective Area. All of us in our neighboring communities depend upon well water. We ask that you do not

[00:44:09] approve the Holtley Square because it as planned encroaches upon the Occoquan Reservoir protective area. We are not against development. However, the Griswold Horse Farm is not the right location for Holtley Square's plan. We would have no problem with a smaller Holtley Square being built at the Griswood Horse Farm that does not extend into the Occoquan Reservoir protective area.

[00:44:41] If Prince William County is serious about preserving Occoquan Reservoir water supply to thousands of Prince William County residents so that we will have an adequate water supply in years to come for this county, it is important that we treat the Occoquan Reservoir and its water as a precious natural resource, likened unto currency, and invest it in our aid, savings account,

[00:45:16] so that we will have more of it in the future when it is needed, not less of it in the future, which translates into our drinking water for the future. Each time that we disregard this precious water resource and overspread it or overspend it, excuse me, by allowing overdevelopment on any part of the Occoquan Reservoir Protective Area, we are acting like someone who has inherited a precious fortune, but instead of investing it, we foolishly spend it like it is money burning a hole in our pockets.

[00:45:55] If you approve Holy Square's plan, that is what you will be doing. We ask you to act wisely and protect our key source of drinking water by not allowing this development to encroach upon the ARPA. Protecting the ARPA is key to protecting our drinking water so that it will be viable for the next 25 to 50 years and beyond.

[00:46:20] The opera and our drinking water are inseparably linked together and constitute a secure drinking water source for the future. They are not monopoly. Play money. Decisions like this one have definite implications on the future of our drinking water.

[00:46:40] Please let's preserve it and not approve Holtley Square. Thank you. All right, before our next speaker, I wanted to call up the next five, Rachel Ellis and Steven Stevenson, Michael Whitlock, Ashley Studdhome, and John Bloxton.

[00:47:04] All right, sir, thank you for your patience. Thank you. My name is RJ Ziegler. I'm the managing partner of Innovative Sports Management. I'm a 37-year resident of Prince William County. I'm here to voice support for the sports complex at the end of the parkway.

[00:47:22] I grew up in this area playing a sport where there was no complex, no facility in the county to be used. My dad worked in Alexandria, drove home every day in traffic to drive me all the way back to Mount Vernon Ice Arena to play ice hockey. He was one of the ones that helped the Prince William County Board of Supervisors in the 90s, along with John Jenkins on that wall, put up the Prince William Ice Center.

[00:47:46] I now own that. The commitment that my dad made when I was growing up to allow me to play the sport that I did, there are lots of people out there now that are looking to this board of supervisors to provide the location for their kids to play their sport, whatever it is.

[00:48:07] My business is ice sports. I have no vested interest in that sports complex other than I'm an advocate for youth sports. I think they keep kids out of trouble. I see it every day in my facility. And I think anytime the county has the ability to invest in something that will help kids in our community stay involved in sports, stay out of trouble, and be able to develop a skill, develop life lessons, everything that comes along with playing youth sports, we should be doing it.

[00:48:36] I know it's a lot of money. I see the price tag. But you have to invest in the right things, and I truly believe that this is one of those things that needs to be invested in. From the business side of it, again, my facility, we have tournaments, we have shows, we have teams, you know, ice hockey teams and skating competitions from all over the United States that come in.

[00:48:57] We bring hotel room nights, we bring meals at restaurants, the business part of it. If you put that facility up, people will come. The families in this area, they will be happier, the kids will be happier, the parents will be able to spend more time at home with their kids rather than driving them all over the place to play whatever sport it is that's going to that they're going for track there's a pickleball mafia apparently i've never heard of that until today right it's real bro it's real it's it's yeah i don't don't get on their bad side i guess but again this is this is something that is it's

[00:49:36] great for business i know it's an investment and i saw all the stuff you know it's not going to be profitable for two years most businesses are like that you have to get off the ground if they have county support which they should they have parks and rec support seth handler voss is great at what he does he's gonna he's this is gonna work it might take some time but it's gonna work and it's gonna be great for the kids of our community and please keep in mind can't stress this enough you're going to invest money somewhere in this community do it for something that's going to

[00:50:07] benefit the future of our community thank you thank you next speaker please rachel ellis gainesville district um first i'd like to speak to 11d i'm asking you not to approve the indoor sports recreation center it is simply irresponsible to spend 140 million dollars of taxpayer money on a facility that will be used by a very small percentage of actual county residents second please support 12j as proposed by supervisor weir prince william county is no longer in a situation where

[00:50:46] where they should be blanket approvals of data center applications just because it falls in the overlay district. Since the overlay district was adopted, data centers are building bigger and they build on as much of the available land as possible. With that comes the need for more and more power which means more transmission lines and upgrades through our county as well as neighboring counties and states. Even the national news outlets are reporting the risk to our electric grid and the risk to our clean energy goals.

[00:51:15] Other local counties are reconsidering their version of the overlay. There are several upcoming projects in the pipeline that fall in the overlay district, and they are adjacent to homes, schools, and environmentally sensitive areas. Within the current guidelines of the overlay district, they can build.

[00:51:32] For example, 8548 Wellington Road will be adjacent to Unity Reed High School and Ellis Elementary. Both are Title I schools. it is notable that a title one school receives educational assistance to students living in areas of high poverty the past this past legislative season we saw numerous bills introduced at a state level that would begin to regulate data center growth and put up guardrails to protect citizens the environment in our electric grid but most of them were defeated or they stalled waiting for the jailer study however this board has access to its own stand tech report

[00:52:09] conducted at the taxpayers expense I would like to highlight the following recommendations no additional expansion of data center overlay well we've already expanded that avoid locating data centers adjacent to residential areas existing and planned mixed-use activity centers and social facilities such as schools and daycare centers as a prince william county resident i am still waiting for an official list of data centers in the county that are operating under development or in the planning process does this board know those exact numbers without them it is reckless to allow business to continue as normal with regards to the overlay district even

[00:52:45] the prince william county sustainability commission recognizes this as they unanimously unanimously they passed resolution 24008 on april 25th which states the commission recommends that the board of county supervisors examine ways to pause approvals on new data centers including eliminating the opportunity zone and targeted industry status until the county can adequately analyze and manage cumulative impacts of data center development i am asking this board to stand with its residents and please support supervisor weir's proposal thank you thank you next speaker please and

[00:53:23] stevenson occoquan district good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to speak today i'm here in opposition of item 11a i've lived in this county since 1970 and have certainly seen changes over the years but nothing like the speed intensity and some destructiveness of developments witnessed over the last several years.

[00:53:43] It's highly hypocritical of those in charge of protecting and preserving Prince William County's environment to proclaim commitments to do just that, then turn around and improve projects that do the opposite. In order for Holy Square to be built, you would have to turn your backs on your own recently approved 2040 comp plan.

[00:54:00] The goals and policies established in the environmental section are absolutely contradictory to this development. Increasing density from what currently is supposed to be allowed, one house per five acres and ignoring the fact that this land is in the Orpah near RPAs would disrespect your own promises to protect and preserve the resources in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This particular area may be on the fringe of the Orpah, but nonetheless important to the overall health of the Occoquan watershed. Nowhere could I find any other attached apartment townhouse complexes within the Orpah. Rezoning this section of the Orpah for mixed use would

[00:54:37] certainly set a precedent for further development on the fringe of land and within the ORPA, a Pandora's box. Developers will be lining up to encroach into the ORPA. How will you be able to tell them, no, it's protected land if you unprotect this section and approve the CPA?

[00:54:55] How will you rationalize your decision to undo the work of the professional minds who used watershed science to determine where the ORPA boundaries should be, not just some arbitrary reasons. Talk to the people who established ORPA boundaries to better understand. I simply cannot see how anyone who cares about environmentalism and conservation would think this dense development in such a sensitive area is good smart planning. Chipping away the ORPA would be a monstrous step in the wrong direction. Set a good example for your constituents and for children. Be honorable

[00:55:32] and stick to the calm plans you made just a little over a year ago. Let your actions match your words, especially your campaign rhetoric. If you made promises, honor and keep them. Supervisor Bode, your website says that you're a COG member serving as vice chair of the Chesapeake Bay Committee focused on protecting the Chesapeake Bay.

[00:55:52] This land is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Kim Hosen was an environmental icon in Prince William for years. Her organization, the Prince William Conservation Alliance, is still very active and does great work thanks to Ashley Studholm.

[00:56:11] I close leaving you with some profound advice from her. She said, it's important that the overlay apply to the entire watershed. Addressing problems in the upper reaches of the watershed and headwaters is of critical importance.

[00:56:27] If you screw up the headwaters, you'll never recover. So I please ask you, please don't screw up the Occoquan headwaters by approving this CPA and allow intense development to be built over and near them. Thank you for your time and all you do.

[00:56:45] Thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Michael Whitlock, Occoquan District. I'm a dad. I'm a granddad. I've got four kids, eight grandkids, two great-grandkids. I've been driving them all over the place for years, it seems like.

[00:57:01] I am part of the Pickleball Mafia, but it's more like a gang. It's not really a mafia. I just want to, 11D, I am for the Indoor Sports and Events Center for the land purchase. Why? Well, the economic boost, such a center will attract tourists, sports enthusiasts, and event attendees bringing in revenue from ticket sales, concessions, local businesses like hotels and restaurants.

[00:57:27] This increased economic activity will lead to more job creation and growth in the local economy. The Sports Center and Events Center is not just for residents, it's also for visitors. I just played in a pickleball tournament down south. There was 3,500 players, 90,000 visitors over an eight-day period, 9,500 on a peak day.

[00:57:46] So it can be done, and that's just pickleball. That don't include all of the other sports. Community engagement. The center can provide space for community events, sports leagues, recreational activities. This fosters a sense of community and provides opportunities for people to come together, socialize, and stay active.

[00:58:02] Infrastructure improvement. Building a modern sports and events center often involves infrastructure improvements such as road upgrades, parking facilities, and public transportation access. These improvements can benefit the entire county, making it more accessible and attractive for residents and visitors alike.

[00:58:18] Promotion of health and wellness. The center can offer fitness facilities, sports programs, wellness initiatives, and promote physical activity and healthy lifestyle among residents. What about the time savings for not having students travel to other counties for sports and the educational piece of it?

[00:58:35] well, academic performance. When students spend less traveling time, they have more time to focus on their studies. This can lead to improved academic performance as they have more time for homework, studying, and participating in extracurricular activities related to their academic interests.

[00:58:52] Health and well-being. Less travel means students are less fatigued, stressed, and have more time for rest and relaxation. This can contribute to their overall health and well-being, reducing absenteeism, and promoting a positive learning environment. Family and community engagement. Reduced travel time allows students to spend more time with their families and engage in community activities.

[00:59:12] This strengthens family bonds and promotes a sense of belonging within the community. Cost savings. Families save money on transportation costs such as fuel, vehicle maintenance, public transportation fares when students don't have to travel long distances for sports or other events in the county.

[00:59:28] Overall, minimizing travel time for students can lead to improved academic outcomes, better health and well-being, stronger community connections, and cost savings for the family. And I tell you, the tournaments that they want to do, and you can run several tournaments at one time on a weekend, is great for the county.

[00:59:50] Thank you very much, and thanks for every service up front. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Yes. Good afternoon. My name is John Bloxton. I've been a resident of Prince William County for 44 years.

[01:00:06] I want to make it clear that I support data center development in Prince William County and the proposed zoning text amendment is inappropriate for the following reasons. The data center overlay district allows Prince William County to focus data centers development in specific areas.

[01:00:24] Removing it would open the entire county up to data center development applications for rezoning. This resolution would be seen as and certainly feels like taking of people's property rights who have already gone through rezoning.

[01:00:41] There are multiple data center projects already approved which should not be required to get additional special use permits. Please consider that this zoning text amendment would circumvent the intent behind establishing a data center overlay district in the first place and it would open Prince William County up to unnecessary and unwanted lawsuits.

[01:01:06] The Board of Supervisors has started collecting information about the data center overlay district. So I urge the board to please take a data-driven decision, make a data-driven decision based on your results and don't approve this resolution.

[01:01:25] In closing, I'd like to say that I fully support the data center development in Prince William County. and we don't need any more restrictions introduced to an already lengthy and expensive decision-making process. Thank you. All right, before we get to Ms. Statholme, I'd like to call up the next group of speakers, Jason Grant, Elizabeth Matarama, Judy Sweet, RM Jesse.

[01:01:53] I think he already spoke, but Nick Katsarellis, he hasn't spoken, and then Ryan Bartroff. so if all of you can make your way to the podium all right Ms. Studholm you can speak wonderful good afternoon Chair Jefferson members of the board my name is Ashley Studholm I'm in the Occoquan district and I'm representing the Prince William Conservation Alliance we are a grassroots environmental nonprofit working to create equitable sustainable communities

[01:02:27] throughout Prince William County I'm speaking today to comment on two items first regarding the potential initiation of the Comprehensive Plan Amendment for Holy Square, which would remove land from the newly established Occoquan Reservoir Protection Area.

[01:02:44] While this proposal may seem minor in terms of the number of acres, its implications are significant and far-reaching. This decision goes beyond a single proposal. It reflects the values we uphold as a county and the integrity of the policies we adopt.

[01:02:59] Over the past few years, we have seen a slow erosion to our commitment to protecting our drinking water supplies. The approval of the Prince William Digital Gateway expands industrialization of the watershed. The adoption of the updated comprehensive plan increases development pressure at the headwaters.

[01:03:20] And the number of data centers slated to be built, while questions surrounding water usage, impacts to our groundwater, and surface water remain. The initiation of the CPA for Holy Square would signal the further erosion of these protections.

[01:03:36] It's important to note that the Occoquan Reservoir Watershed is already one of the most urbanized drinking water watersheds in the county. Despite current regulatory controls, pollutants such as salts are a growing concern. There is no instance where a drinking water watershed has been successfully restored once significantly impacted, and there are signs that we may be reaching a tipping point.

[01:04:03] Perhaps we should be looking to strengthening ORPA rather than reducing it. Now regarding the overlay, my time remaining. In a short period, we have gone from a little over 5 million square feet to I think the estimate is close to 80 million square feet approved data center space.

[01:04:20] A significant portion of these approved data centers are outside the overlay, leading to questions surrounding the efficacy of this policy and achieving needed transparency and guardrails. We discussed several recommendations in our recent op-ed, which I'll be providing a copy for all of you.

[01:04:38] And even with the overlay, we've seen a piecemeal approach to developing this industry here in the county. And so we need to consider the cumulative impacts of data center growth on our communities, climate, natural resources, and design an effective policy accordingly.

[01:04:58] Thank you. All right, next speaker. Madam Chair, members of the board, Jason Grant with the Brentsville District, also a track coach at Patriot High School. Wanted to come and speak about the indoor facility. We would have had a lot more people, but our district meet is today.

[01:05:15] So I'll be heading out here to the Cedar Run District Championships in a minute. One of the things I want to address is as a coach, I found the greatest obstacle to greatness is a fear of failure. And fear of failure in our athletes, they're afraid of what might happen if they don't have the success that they dream of or they speak into.

[01:05:33] And a lot of times when we see this happen, it becomes the voices from the outside, the negativity from the outside, the reasons that people don't want you to succeed, it becomes a death knell to our own success. And what I want to encourage this board to do is look at as a community, what is it that we want for greatness?

[01:05:48] We talk about wanting to make sure we are a destination in the D.C. metro area. We talk about not wanting to be a bedroom community. We talk about wanting to help local businesses. We talk about wanting to help our youth. This facility does all of those things. When we've gone to the public meetings, what we have heard is overwhelming support for this and a desire for this.

[01:06:07] The primary reasons that have been raised in opposition to it has been, one, the price. And, yes, it is a high price. But that price is an investment in the youth. It's an investment in the future. It's an investment in the community. As someone who owned a local business, one of the biggest things you can have for local business and retail business is foot traffic.

[01:06:24] we want to generate foot traffic those restaurants those hotels those local businesses will be supported if we want to support those local businesses bring foot traffic to the community and where it resides the other issue that's come up a lot is well why do we want it on the east end we want it on the west end when there's an opposition this idea of separating prince william county into geographical factions harms our community as a whole we are prince william county we're one county one community and we ought to embrace that and work together as a community. I live and reside in the Brentsville district on the western end.

[01:06:56] Go to Patriot High School, go to Gainesville High School, go to Battlefield High School. Find any of them who will tell you we can't have this because it's not on the west end. I guarantee you we would much rather drive 20 to 40 minutes away than three and a half to four hours away. We would much rather spend our time and money in Prince William County than having to send us to spend our time and money in other communities. The other issue that we have is student athletes.

[01:07:18] They have a hard time being able to study, being able to focus on academics. Sports helps us to be able to be successful in life. What we look for are those opportunities to have more time, have more dedicated time with our family and with our academics in there. There's a lot of opportunity that comes with this, and I understand the fear of failure that this board may feel.

[01:07:37] What happens if we invest in this and we lose more money? What happens if we invest in this and it doesn't feel like the type of success it has? What about the people who aren't going to be using this facility? Focus instead on the people who will use this facility. It is the youth of this community. It is the people who are striving to make sure they have a quality of life for their kids and their families.

[01:07:56] If we focus on who will use it, not where it's located and not who won't use it, we have the opportunity for greatness. It's here before you. Do not let the fear of failure be the reason that we don't succeed. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[01:08:31] Elizabeth Martirana, Gainesville District, Prince William County, almost 48 years. Isn't this a lovely picture? It says there is no amount of money, oil, or gold that is worth more than having bees, trees, and clean water. On April 14th, I shared this photo to my Western Prince William chatter group on Facebook.

[01:08:52] I typed the heading as No More Data Centers in Prince William County, period. I was stunned by the response. In less than two days, over 200 people liked the photo. Those of you with a Facebook account know what that means. What this told me is that we in Western Prince William all feel the same way.

[01:09:12] We are frustrated, we are afraid, we feel hopeless for the future, and we want to keep our bees and trees in clean water. Too many of us know what these rezonings of data centers have done to our county already. It is not a little problem. It is a full-blown crisis.

[01:09:30] Yes, we are in a crisis, and every one of you supervisors needs to realize this. I would like to ask if Chair Jefferson and County Executive Shorter would arrange a bus field trip for all of you to come to Western Prince William. I promise you, we are in a crisis, and you need to see it for yourselves.

[01:09:49] If you don't put a lid on this crisis soon, someday, when Congress and Washington can't breathe from all the pollution from the thousands of backup diesel generators, they are going to ask, what the hell were you thinking when approving all these data centers? Mr. Shorter, you may not have noticed, but on page 10 of your presentation today, you have a photo of the previous overlay review.

[01:10:13] The very first sentence says, the data center opportunity zone overlay district was created to promote the development of data centers within areas of the county where there is existing infrastructure that could adequately support the proposed use.

[01:10:29] We all knew at that time of the Digital Gateway CPA that that statement was a joke. Further on page 12 of your presentation, the Stantec report is mentioned four times. The report's recommended site selection principles state, avoid locating directly adjacent to cultural resources sites, and it specifically says, not within .5 miles of Manassas Battlefield.

[01:10:56] It also says avoid locating in or adjacent to environmentally sensitive areas and avoid locating data centers adjacent to residential areas. We taxpayers paid $120,000 for that report.

[01:11:14] Why was it never presented to the public? Why did we have to do a deep dive to find it? Things have gone miserably awry here in Prince William County. One way to help get this crisis under control is to support Super WEIR's Resolution 12J today to initiate a zoning text amendment to the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District.

[01:11:38] We need to act on this crisis immediately. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Judy Sweet, President, Citizens for Davis Ford Quality of Life. I'm here today to speak about...

[01:11:54] Please state your Magisterial District, ma'am. I'm sorry? Magisterial District. Judy Sweets yes president citizens for Davis Ford quality of life no I mean do you can just mention your where you generally reside which thank you we just need it for the record thank you ma'am certainly thank you we are requesting that this change not be initiated there are several reasons why the first and many have been mentioned already today but we have strong concerns regarding the traffic congestion that would be coming forth with the building and the

[01:12:31] following through of holy square we also have concerns when we read the historical review that the county percent the density of this project is enormously above what is currently designated and will have an egregious impact on the watershed and the orpa also knowing that the 2023 report as was presented by the prince william county service authority was discussing about the high salt pollution that is currently in our water knowing that this information is

[01:13:08] there and if we move forward that this I think would lend us to be in a liability situation for anyone who further becomes ill from the salt pollution that will be increasing with the this project going forward so therefore we are asking that you closely monitor this project give it careful consideration and maintain the ORPA in the same spirit it was brought forward by Supervisor Bodie and unanimously approved thank you thank you next speaker

[01:13:47] please good afternoon my name is R.M. Jesse I live in Occoquan district I'm also a member of the Occoquan school or Prince William County School Board representing the Occoquan district my statements today are not my they are my statement. They do not represent the Prince William County schools or the school board. They are my statements. I wrote an article in the Prince William Times a few, it was a couple Saturdays ago, in my support of the data, not the

[01:14:22] data center, but the the indoor track facility. I'm very enthused and pleased to see how many people are supporting the facilities. I'm not going to try to to repeat everything that was already said because I know how valuable your time is and thanks. I would say this, if there is anyone on the board who is not going to vote for the facility, I would love to talk to you. Most of the members on the board here have my telephone numbers and if you're not going to vote, please give me a call and I'll try

[01:14:58] to talk to you out of your position. But we need this facility. And one of the things, I think one of the most important things is, you know, we talk about our property taxes and our taxes and so forth. It's a lot better, as I think I said in the article, to have somebody outside of the county putting money into our county, and that's what this facility will do.

[01:15:23] So thank you very much and appreciate. And I also like to say I'm just very excited to see how many Occoquan residents are voicing their opinion. Thank you. All right, thank you. Before we get to our next speaker, I just want to call up our next round.

[01:15:39] We have Kenneth Boyton, Boxton. We have Marilyn Karp, Khalid Al-Hajbea, Avdeh Hajbea, and Hamnan Hajbea.

[01:16:02] Those are our next group of speakers. You can make your way to the front, and sir, you can begin speaking. - Thank you. Good afternoon, my name is Ryan Bartra. I'm a resident of the Gainesville District.

[01:16:18] I'm here to speak in opposition of item 12J, Supervisors Weir's proposed zoning text amendment to the data center opportunity zone overlay district. Given that we're still awaiting the recommendations from the data center overlay advisory group and the consultants on the noise overlay, or excuse me, the noise ordinance, it's unclear how the existing opportunity zone no longer adequately addresses the issues for which it was adopted, as stated in Supervisor Weir's resolution.

[01:16:50] Now, I don't doubt that there could be some updates and improvements to the Opportunity Zone, but simply erasing it and requiring special use permits as a blanket policy is a terrible idea. Requiring data centers to apply for a special use permit when they've already been approved through the county is an unnecessary burden on our commercial business partners and on county staff.

[01:17:12] During the digital gateway meetings, how many times did we hear that the planning office was understaffed and overworked. This proposed amendment only makes that worse, and it will be a significant drain of county resources. Please oppose that resolution.

[01:17:27] Thank you. - Thank you, next speaker please. - Hi there, good afternoon, Board of County Supervisors. My name is Ken Bloxton and I live in the Gainesville District.

[01:17:44] I'm 39 years old and I've been living in Prince William County for 39 years. Passing this zoning text amendment seems like a bad idea. The data center overlay district was established to consolidate these buildings where the county thought it was a good idea to have them.

[01:18:02] I suggest Prince William County continue with that approach and make it easy for us to attract more of this specifically targeted industry. Sound fair? What's not fair is requiring data center approvals that have already gone through the process to go back and get special use permits, especially after the applicants and residents have already gone through the county's lengthy and expensive decision-making process in good faith.

[01:18:36] I sincerely hope the county board understands how high the return on value is by turning underutilized areas into big tech, tax revenue, money printing machines for Prince William County, and that we double down on data center development as one of prince william county's primary growth drivers thank you next speaker please hello my name is khalid i'm a commercial broker here locally

[01:19:12] uh i live in the occoquan district i've lived here for 25 years and i live right across from the holy square development i'm here in support of it this is a development that i'm intimate with familiar with and i feel the project is something especially coming from the real estate side, we have very little affordable housing in the county. This is something that's actually going to provide affordable housing starting at $500 to $600 to $700 range versus most builders in the area. You won't find anything below $850,000, $900,000. So that's the biggest

[01:19:47] factor. It's also, I think, a project that does address a lot of the needs for ORPA and And for the development itself, 60% of the area is going to be, of the ORPA area, is going to be completely undisturbed. And then there's going to be a lot of open space.

[01:20:03] So one thing that I've lacked in that community is there's no parks. You know, there's nothing really truly walkable. You definitely have to drive everywhere. This is a park that I can actually walk to across the street. There's going to hopefully be a rec center there that we can enjoy and just make it truly a community feel.

[01:20:21] Also, a lot of the businesses there, I'm part of a business chamber. A lot of the businesses there, they don't have that strong traffic that's, you know, on Princeton Parkway. This will add a lot of the traffic, especially the way that the roadway is designed. So I'm completely in support of that.

[01:20:39] I'm also in support of the big rec center plan. I am part of the FXA Athletics. I have to drive 40, 50 minutes every single time to do adult athletics. We really don't have the infrastructure set up for that infant same county.

[01:20:55] So it would be nice to have that. And just as a community resident, whether it's for business or whether it's for residential, I'm very tired of having to drive 40 minutes every single time for every single purpose. So again, I'm supportive of it, mainly for affordable housing.

[01:21:11] Thank you so much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My name is Marilyn Karp, a.k.a. Grandma Resistance, from that raucous magisterial district, Gainesville.

[01:21:32] I am here today to remind you that you work for me, that I pay your salary, that you were elected to do what's best for the people of Prince William County. I would also like to bring to your attention the fact that the Gainesville district is the one that helped stop Wheeler from being able to run for office.

[01:21:55] that got Pete Canlan to resign. We've taken the whole data center industry issue and made it a worldwide issue. Every day, the data centers, there are articles about the data centers are using up all the water.

[01:22:11] The data centers are using up all the electricity. And guess what? It's happening here in Prince William County. My outrage at the fact that you have never conducted a water study here in Prince William County is almost palpable.

[01:22:29] I live off well water from the aquifer that you voted to allow 34 data centers to be built in one place. I find this outrageous, to say the least. I am here today to implore you to do away with the data center overlay district, to do away with letting data centers be a targeted industry that our economic development supports.

[01:22:58] The path you are following is unsustainable. Prince William County has a billion-dollar budget, and you continue to run it without any real information to guide your decisions.

[01:23:17] I respectfully request that you put a stop to all data center development until you can get your arms around exactly how many data centers are being built and where they are being built. And while I'm at it, once again, I ask that you fire Chris Shorter, because I believe he is guilty of a dereliction of duty.

[01:23:43] As our county executive, he should have prepared and presented an analysis that lists all the data centers and the costs of building all infrastructure to support the data centers. Without real information, responsible elected officials cannot make informed decisions on what is best for this county.

[01:24:07] Again, stop all data center development. Remove the data center overlay district so no more data centers can be built by right. Remove the targeted industry designation from data centers from the economic development plans.

[01:24:28] Thank you. - Thank you, next speaker please. - Good evening to all members of the board. My name is Haman Hajba. I'm a resident of AccuCon District.

[01:24:44] I'm here today to express my strong support to the Hoadley project of Prince William County. As a resident of the AccuCon District, I believe that we're in need of more housing opportunity for the young people like me.

[01:25:00] As you guys know, the housing market nowadays is crazy expensive. So I believe this project will benefit our community hugely with not only housing but more job opportunities and as well have tight-knit community and a place to raise my future family.

[01:25:19] Thank you. - Thank you and before the next speaker, I'd like to call up Nadeem Ikram, Ahmad, Akron, Cardin. Sorry, it's hard to read the last part.

[01:25:36] And then after those three gentlemen have spoken, we can have Kate Smiley, Keith Harney, and Alan Munchnick. All right, first speaker may go up.

[01:25:59] - Hello, my name is Nadeem Ikram. I live across the street from Masjid on Hodley Road. I strongly support this Hodley Square project, Prince William County.

[01:26:15] This project presents a crucial step toward addressing and growing housing needs in our community, particularly for younger purchasers who are seeking affordable and diverse housing options. By providing a mixed housing type of types, Holy Square will offer opportunity to, for first time home buyers and younger buyer professionals, and growing families find a place that they can call it home.

[01:26:45] Thank you very much. - And so real quick, can you state what magisterial district you're in? - I believe it's Akha Kwan. I'm here across the street at the traffic light. - All right, thank you so very much, sir. Next speaker.

[01:27:02] - Good evening, member of the board. My name is Abdallah Hajba. I live in the Akakwan district, and I'm here to show my support of the project of the Holy Square project. I think it's a great opportunity for all the business owners. I think it's gonna bring a little bit of traffic in our business, and I'm here to support it.

[01:27:21] Thank you. - All right, next speaker, please. - Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ahmad Izrakhani. I've been a resident of Prince William County for 24, 25 years, and growing up in this county, I've seen it change quite a bit over the last two decades.

[01:27:41] One thing that I feel like we lack behind in is housing development. I'm a realtor of four years, and I can speak not only on my behalf, but on behalf of many of my clients. Housing is a major crisis right now, and it's largely because of inventory.

[01:27:57] We just don't have the inventory to meet the demand. I can give you just anecdotally, my most recent client was in the medium price point in our county. It took me four months and over 40 homes of showings, this young pregnant family, for us to finally get a house, and we paid over $55,000 over asking price, and they waived all their contingencies.

[01:28:21] I'm sure this is a story that you guys have been hearing over and over again over the last two years, and one of the ways that we can solve this, a major way that we can solve this, is approving new developments in this area. Hoadley Square project I think has a very tasteful balance between the number of units that they're bringing as well as preserving the RPA, the OPA, open spaces for the community.

[01:28:44] And I'm in total support of that project. I'm also part of the pickleball gang locally. Road Bridge Pickleball Club will reign supreme. But yeah, please, I ask that you guys vote for that project as well. We would love to have a sports center in this area. Thank you.

[01:29:00] - Thank you. I'm telling you, it really is a mafia, y'all. All right, next speaker. - Good afternoon. My name is Kate Smiley, and I'm speaking today on behalf of the Data Center Coalition, or DCC, a member organization, including many of the county's leading data center owners and operators, as well as their employees who do live in the county.

[01:29:23] We wanted to register our concerns on the draft board item 12J to eliminate the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District and change the use permissions for data centers and specified zoning districts. We believe this will have a detrimental effect on the future of data center development in the county, as well as on existing facilities and sites that are currently in process.

[01:29:46] As you know, the county is a leader in the digital infrastructure that powers our innovation economy, and the benefits provided by the industry in the county are significant. According to a recent Northern Virginia Technology Council report, the county's data centers generated more than $110 million in real estate and personal property tax revenue in 2022.

[01:30:07] That figure has risen since. Additionally, for every dollar in county expenditures data centers were responsible for generating, the industry provided back an approximate $13 in tax revenue. The increased tax base relieves the tax burden on residents, while the additional revenue from data centers funds services such as the county schools, parks, and libraries.

[01:30:30] As noted in a recent Washington Post article, this board was able to allocate data center tax revenues this year to provide county residents with tax relief at a time that other localities in the region have had to increase their residential tax burdens. DCC is very concerned with the impacts of the draft tax amendment on existing and planned projects, and we agree with many of the issues raised by county staff in their analysis.

[01:30:54] The overlay district and accompanying zoning ordinance provisions provide a certain level of predictability, which is crucial given the substantial capital investment and time required to site and develop a project. Eliminating the overlay district will increase uncertainty in the process.

[01:31:10] One of the major benefits of the overlay district is that it clearly spells out where the county envisions data centers and many long-term investment decisions have been made based on that understanding. We also have grave concerns regarding the proposal to require a special use permit for data centers in the specified districts.

[01:31:28] As staff indicated, enacting such a drastic change over a wide ranging area will render a significant number of existing data centers legally non-conforming uses, which will at the very least limit, if not completely terminate, the ability of those facilities to grow and adapt based on market conditions and to increase in efficiencies.

[01:31:47] The draft also imperils the many projects that are currently pending in those zoning districts, raising uncertainty as to their legal status that could be costly and time consuming for all parties to resolve. We agree that there are important and complicated issues to discuss with respect to the overlay district and data center development in the county, we respectfully submit that the data center overlay advisory group is the correct forum for those discussions.

[01:32:13] You all have invested time and money into that group and we hope that you'll let us see it through. Thank you very much. - Thank you, next speaker please.

[01:32:30] - Hi everyone, good to see all of you. My name is Keith Harney, I'm with Cloud HQ. We are a data center developer, operator and manager. And I'll just start off with, I'm with Kate, right?

[01:32:45] So the prior speaker, she does a very good job in terms of explaining who we are and what we are and what we mean. But I think fundamentally, we are a commercial partner and we are a commercial investor in Prince William County.

[01:33:02] And I can say that and put a finer point in that because we have two campuses next to the airport that consist of 276 acres and both of which are in the overlay district.

[01:33:18] And we have observed the rules, the regulations of the overlay district, and this consideration of the text amendment is changing rules. I candidly think that's bad business because we have invested with the intent of developing our site.

[01:33:39] We currently have three buildings up. I think we have something like eight more we can do. And I think to put a finer point on that is to think about it in the context of revenues to real estate tax and also in terms of jobs.

[01:33:57] On the tax side, I can tell you right now, we're sending in 14 million a year right now to Prince William County. And if we were to build out the entire site as we wish and which we're entitled to before any sort of change, then potentially it would be something like 80 million And from the sound of today's meeting, there seems like there's some investments you're considering.

[01:34:22] So from the point of view of jobs, any time we put up a data center, it can be as many as 1,000 people on premise. And so we have the support of labor, and I would think that many, in terms of labor, certainly live inside Prince William County.

[01:34:43] I haven't done this in a while, but one of our buildings we built in Prince William County, Labor alone was over 150 million that percolated into the system of Prince William County. So I guess the final thing I would say is infrastructure.

[01:35:00] In terms of our location, infrastructure is already installed, it's there. We happen to be next to an airport and airports make good neighbors for data centers. So I leave you with the final thought that I think we've been through this kind of before and I think it's already decided as what the overlay district is And I think it's good business to continue in that manner.

[01:35:22] Thank you. Thank you. And our next, or actually our final in-person speaker. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm Alan Muchnick, co-chair of Active Prince William.

[01:35:38] I'm speaking regarding the consent agenda items number 5B, 5C, and 5D. On those items, you authorize new submissions for transportation project funding grant applications that have never been subject to a prior public hearing.

[01:35:54] In addition, this public comment period was held after the consent agenda was approved. Thus, the public was given little or no opportunity to influence a mix of projects submitted for funding or to ascertain that the proposed project scope and the amount of funds requested would be adequate to suitably accommodate all travel modes.

[01:36:14] Active Prince William has repeatedly suggested that the Board of County Supervisors require the Prince William County Department of Transportation to hold advertised public hearings to present and solicit public input on its proposed new transportation project submissions before they are approved by the Board of County Supervisors.

[01:36:35] Such an annual or semi-annual or perhaps quarterly but no more frequent than that hearings could be held as a standalone venue or in conjunction with a planning commission meeting. Thank you for considering our input. And thank you. That now concludes in-person comment time.

[01:36:55] We will move on to remote public comment time. many speakers do we have in the queue all right i'm going to turn over to supervisor bode all right thank you madam chair miss van shall we begin your first speaker is jessica grove

[01:37:10] miss grove if you're speaking we cannot hear you yet maybe she stepped away we'll go to

[01:37:39] kathy kulik miss kulik are you there yes i am could you hear me yes we can please proceed ma'am great thank you very much good afternoon kathy kulik vice chair at a round table of northern virginia and a gamesville district resident i'm delighted to be speaking for the first time before the board in 2024 and i congratulate you on an excellent start for this new board term and the

[01:38:13] decisions resulting from it the fact the roundtable has not felt compelled to drive to the court building to speak on the issues before you so far this year is prime evidence of your success in achieving what appears to be a greatly improved working relationship the residents of prince william have felt better representative so thank you for that i'd like to address two items on your agenda and convey the position of the round table on both first the holy square cpa this proposes to remove 42 acres from the occoquan reservoir protection area we are very concerned

[01:38:51] about the effect on the occoquan reservoir serving groundwater resources while we understand that this is initiating a comprehensive plan amendment and more work needs to be done we stand firmly with and support the position of midco to oppose it our residential quality of life and property value mission shared by more than 163 hoas and civic organizations across the county and the region

[01:39:15] see the protection of our key environmental rules miss koolik we're having trouble hearing you it seems like your connection is is breaking out this school it seems like you're completely frozen

[01:39:54] we cannot hear you anymore we will circle back to miss koolik uh our next speaker is neil kelly good afternoon can you hear me now we can mr kelly commercial please proceed yes thank you my my name is neil kelly and i reside in the gainesville district and i am a non-compensated person for my appearance here before the board i am not representing any financial data center group

[01:40:33] or representative i am hearing it to appear to express my support for agenda item 12j eliminate the overlay district to thank the board for its review of the overlay district this is a refreshing new concept to see the board actually willing to do something that other people have been asking for the concept of having an overlay district has outlived its practical application what's the purpose of having an overlay district if you're not going to live up to its original intent data centers all over the county it seems like the over senate overlay district is having the opposite effect developers have been claiming for years that there's no room in the overlay

[01:41:10] zone for any new data sentence yet at the same time they're asking for zoning exemptions to allow them to build bigger and larger and higher than what is already allowed by right distance consistency shows why a special use permit must be required for all data center construction the past board spent money on a study by santac to recommend data center development when the report was completed if recommendations were not followed and data centers were approved outside the overlay district the Prince William County Sustainable Commission resolution of April 25th 2024 to eliminate data center overlay districts and target

[01:41:48] industry status for data centers until the county can analyze the managed cumulative impact of the data center development numerous other concerns have been raised about how additional data center development in our county will affect our air water noise quality along with effect on the electrical grid if you want the prince william county to become more sustainable in the future you need to start planning now because if we don't start planning now we don't know what we're going to be left with in the future thank you for your time thank you mr kelly next speaker please we

[01:42:22] are circling back to kathy kook and miss koolik you broke up on us before please proceed i'm sorry start over or just if you can continue the thought that you were on you you were you were about maybe 30 seconds into your speech when you broke up okay thank you very much i'd like to address two items move 42 acres from the aquapon reservoir protection area we're very concerned about the effect on the

[01:42:59] the El Capone Reservoir. While we understand this is initiating a comprehensive plan amendment and more work needs to be done, we stand firmly with and support the position of Midco to oppose it. Our residential quality of life and property value mission shared by more than 163 HOAs and civic organizations across the county and the region see the protection of our key environmental resources as absolutely essential to achieving this. These fragile resources are highly and increasingly impacted unprecedented growth of the county's number one

[01:43:34] targeted industry data centers yes it is affecting every facet of life in our county and that leads me to the data center opportunity zone overlay district the round table strongly supports the repeal of this and support supervisor we're zoning text amendment every surrounding locality is now experiencing the negative impacts of by right data center development and are either considering or implementing limits on it. I'm finding previous comments that such a move will embarrass the county, well, embarrassing. Everyone speaking in opposition stands to gain millions from a development outside the overlay district, and they're arguing for it. They spent a lot of time

[01:44:10] over the last two years arguing there was no space left in this district, and that their properties had rezoned for centers. How does that square up? No developer is seeking to build according to the by-right provisions of this overlay, particularly building height maximums 45 feet they're all seeking proper amendments so it's soaking up staff time anyway what's the point of having a by right district with no provision and no one wants to build according to if the data center industries claims that their developments are the second coming and they're quiet good neighbors then they will easily pass a case-by-case review we have so many issues of

[01:44:46] negative impacts on residential communities due to by right development that the board last year initiated the data center ordinance advisory group which you've heard from others about i serve on this vitally important working group and i assure you it would not even exist if all was well in the kingdom you would it it is clear that it is not and the vta is vital if the industry was so interested in mitigating the impacts they would be acting very differently in that working group and seeking to level the playing field and not push it around on behalf of the roundtable i respectfully ask you to initiate this cpa thank you thank you miss kulik much better this time

[01:45:23] next speaker please yeah next speaker is jessica grove good afternoon can you hear me this time we can miss grow please proceed awesome thank you good afternoon chair jefferson and board members supervisor weir has proposed a zoning text amendment that i hope you will support for removing the data center overlay districts will give the board more authority to add conditions and protections in each application with a special use permit doesn't the board want more authority to protect its citizens we know now that data centers that today's data centers use much more

[01:45:59] power which requires more transmission lines that will crisscross the county and into neighboring states removing the data center overlay would give the board an opportunity to review each and every application and would not allow anything by right this also gives some transparency to how many data centers might enter the county why would the board deny themselves the opportunity to put conditions and protections on an industry that is railroading all the citizens that live here. Since you now know better, you can do better. If this DTA does not suit your fancy, I would recommend that you put a full moratorium on any data center development until the JLARC study is complete

[01:46:37] and there are guardrails in place to protect the environment, our electric grid, and most importantly, the citizens. I would also like you to oppose any development of Hoadley Square. Why adopt a conservation plan if you dismantle it within a year or two? Does Prince Wayne County really want to develop all green space holy square would eliminate 42 acres from the aquapon reservoir protection area to allow for development and last but not least please do not more move forward with plans for the indoor sports and event center the cost is astronomical and the idea that the county

[01:47:12] might benefit or might be profitable in this third year what about the debt of 140 million i do agree there should be investment in our kids and their health and well-being but this force benefit will not benefit most county residents it will be a destination for out-of-state sports families it's not a daily fitness and recreation zone i think it would be wonderful for a private company to run to build and run this event center but the industry has said that it's not profitable for them so why should the residents put the bill for this do people understand that this is not a fitness facility it's an event center how many events need to be booked and at what rate for this to break

[01:47:49] even thank you thank you miss grove next speaker please your next speaker is lauren puster good afternoon board of supervisors my name is lauren puster i've lived in the brentsville district for 10 years this is my first time speaking and i'd like to voice my opposition to the indoor sports center item 11 d today we've heard some supportive comments from interested stakeholders about how wonderful and in demand this indoor sports center is could be and while it's very admirable to want

[01:48:24] to strive for greatness and provide spectacular county services for youth sports, that's not a legitimate function of government. I am also a huge fan of pickleball, and there is clearly a demand for the sports center, but that still doesn't make this an appropriate use of public tax dollars.

[01:48:42] Throughout the conversations and the months and years, I've heard no mention of seeking public-private partnerships or grants, and if there is really such a demand for these services, then private businesses can mean it, or the county could provide tax breaks to incentivize private development. I also take great issue with the way the facility has been marketed.

[01:49:01] A major point was made at the April 10th public hearing I attended that the center will be profitable by year three. That's such an impressive stat, but it's not true. That completely ignores the $10 million per year in debt servicing that we, the taxpayers, will be paying.

[01:49:16] Yes, let that sink in. It's not really profitable when we're paying $10 million per year to pay our debt on the sports center. And that figure comes from the county's own report provided for this meeting, the PowerPoint slides on page 16. So it's an abuse of power to spend $140 million in tax dollars to provide services for just a select few of the county.

[01:49:39] Contrary to what you heard earlier, you should have a fear of failure when you are committing $140 million of our tax dollars. So I urge you to vote no on the Indoor Sports Center. and then also on a different note i just wanted to add that i support the initiating the zoning text amendment for the data center overlay thank you for your time thank you miss poster next speaker please your next speaker is jennifer worth good afternoon my name is jennifer worth

[01:50:16] i am a 20 year resident oh goodness 21 year resident of the gainesville district um i'm asking you today to vote no on requiring the special use permit um for the digital gateway again please vote no to this amendment thank you thank you miss worth next speaker please

[01:50:40] your next speaker is michelle coppock good afternoon i am asking that you would oppose 12j and that you would oppose the change to the overlay district i believe that decisions have been made and individuals and businesses that have been moving forward with approved plans shouldn't have the playing field completely changed on them i feel that sends a very very

[01:51:20] loud and clear message to development of any kind for the county that prince william county is not a reliable government to work with and they can look elsewhere the other counties are already benefiting from data centers and so they have a lot more flexibility in reviewing what's allowed now of course we need to be judicious and look at these options but i think to to change playing

[01:51:53] field for those already in existence and those already approved in planning is not equitable i also feel that it is trumping on personal property rights and those are very very slippery slopes that could open the door to many lawsuits obviously this board of supervisors will have their role moving from this point forward in how decisions are made but the decisions that have been made should be left alone so i'm asking that you opposed 12-j thank you thank you miss coppock

[01:52:32] next speaker please your next speaker is shama asim shama you can unmute

[01:53:10] hi honorable chair and board members i'm shama from gainville district removing the data center overlay district would open up the entire county to data centers this resolution would potentially open the county to significant lawsuits as it would be seen as taking off people's property rights especially for of those who have already gone through the rezoning process thank you thank

[01:53:47] you mrs asim next speaker please your next speaker is akbar kamba honorable chair and board members i'm akbar from gainesville district i oppose to the resolution regarding data center overlay district removal please let the process be completed which the board has already started Removing data center overlay district at this point would potentially open it to lawsuits, as this would be seen as taking away the property rights of the landowners who have already gone through rezoning the process and others.

[01:54:24] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cambo. Next speaker, please. Rabia Lyakut. Good afternoon, everyone.

[01:54:42] My name is Rabia Lyakut. I live in Gainesville. I oppose 12J. The removal of data center overlay district can result in several potential lawsuits as it would be perceived as snatching away people's poverty rights, especially those who have already been through the rezoning process. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Liakit. Next speaker, please. Your next speaker is Edward Raley. Good afternoon. My name is Edward Raley and I live in the Gainesville District. I'm commenting on item 12J, the ZTA resolution. Please oppose it. Besides

[01:55:22] Besides being a cynical attempt to undermine literally years of the board's work, it tramples property rights and virtually guarantees ongoing lawsuits and an increased burden on county staff. Perhaps more importantly though, it signals that the county is simply too unstable for business and that perception could be devastating for us all.

[01:55:41] Please oppose item 12J, thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Rayleigh. Next speaker, please. - Your next speaker is Beth Nelson. - I'm Beth Nelson from Gainesville district.

[01:56:02] And I would echo what Ed Raley just said in spades. Please oppose Supervisor Weir's proposal to remove the data center opportunity zone overlay district. I ask that you vote against that.

[01:56:17] And it just speaks completely to corruption and a lack of integrity and lack of honoring one's word. and it is devastating for the citizens to be represented by an unstable Board of County Supervisors that changes the rules halfway down the stream or midstream or retroactively.

[01:56:43] It's just an unnecessary burden on the staff and it's unfair to property rights. I just ask that you oppose it strongly, thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Nelson.

[01:56:59] Next speaker, please. Your next speaker is Doreen Shimadi. - Good afternoon. I'm Doreen Shimadi from Gainesville District. I'm speaking on two resolutions today. The first one is 12-J.

[01:57:16] Please oppose 12-J. Mr. Weir's Zoning Text Amendment for Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District. This resolution is taking, is the taking of people's property rights, especially those who've already gone through the rezoning process. The idea of retroactive laws is bad governments and a dangerous precedence.

[01:57:36] - The second resolution I'd like to speak on today is 11D. Please support the proposed indoor sports and event center. This is a much needed facility for the families of Prince William County. Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Shimadi.

[01:57:52] Next speaker, please. - Your next speaker is Layla Bartraff. - Good afternoon, supervisors. I am Layla Bartraff from the Gainesville District. I am here to speak against Supervisor Weir's agenda item 12J.

[01:58:09] You should not be trying to undo the work done by prior planning commissions and boards. This will slow down all progress in Prince William County as it adds more to your currently overworked staff, taking away resources from beneficial projects that the county needs.

[01:58:25] Please deny this amendment. Thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Bartra. Next speaker, please. - Your next speaker is Asad Safdar.

[01:58:40] - Honorable Chair and board members, Asad Safdar, Gainesville District. I oppose Supervisor Wears 12J. By adopting this proposal, board would not only force all approved but not yet built data centers to start a new process of obtaining an sup but also result in a significant loss of landowners property rights and additionally it was cause all constructed data centers to become a non-conforming use requiring all data centers without sup to undergo the non-conforming use recertification process

[01:59:19] every two years the potential increase in staff time and resources this would entail is not to be underestimated a proposal like this would almost certainly open the country to numerous lawsuits as landowners and business would seek to protect their property rights please vote against supervisor wares proposal and let the already agreed upon process play out thank you thank you mr saftar miss van before we continue how many more folks online do we have for this afternoon we have

[01:59:53] three thank you please proceed your next speaker is Vida Carol um hey good afternoon um Vida Carol Brentsville um I guess some things never change in 2024 the digital gateway landholders are just as shameless as they were in 2023 my goodness um but what has changed is this board and I welcome that change and I'm excited for that change I want to speak on four things so I'm going to be really brief. The first are two CPAs that you're hearing today, the initiation of the Hoadley Square CPA

[02:00:30] and the initiation of the Noakesville Business Park CPA. I'm actually pretty familiar with both spots. My son goes to therapy multiple times a week next door to the Hoadley Square CPA, and I live in Noakesville. The Hoadley Square CPA, I mean you've heard it, it's in the ORPA.

[02:00:47] the comp plan is just over a year old. This does not need to be initiated. It's way too dense. Just absolutely deny it. There's no reason we should be reopening the comp plan so soon. And related to that, similarly in Noakesville, we should not be reopening the comp plan so soon.

[02:01:04] It was just approved 1.5 years ago. And the comp plan actually allowed for a huge swatch of industrial land in Noakesville. And this is just creeping that industrial land even further into Noakesville Village, which is supposed to be a mixed-use area. And I understand this area specifically needs revitalization, but it's not with an industrial park. So please deny initiation of both these CPAs. Please deny the indoor sports and events center. I think land thanking the land is a good idea. There's 70 acres owned by the school board right pretty close. But this is $140

[02:01:40] million. It's a cool project. It's awesome. It'll be used, but the taxpayers shouldn't be paying $140 million dollars for a cool project. It should be predominantly privately funded, and we shouldn't be shouldering 100% of the cost of this project, period, period. And most importantly, finally, I support Supervisor Weir. Every single neighboring county and municipality, including Loudon, including the town of Leesburg, have reopened discussions on their equivalent of their data center overlays and related guidelines for data centers, and we should be doing that here. We should not be the last in line as usual louisa county actually just reopened their data center

[02:02:18] overlay um and their quote was we went fishing we got amazon which was an 11 billion dollar deal and we're done fishing they're cutting their overlay down by i think 4 000 acres back down to their original 2000 um i encourage this board to do the same and i don't own land in the digital gateway so um thanks for all you do it's a long meeting thanks for sending through public comment and that's it for me thanks thank you miss carroll next speaker please your next speaker is vanessa cott good afternoon supervisors my name is vanessa cott and i live in the gainesville district

[02:02:58] i'm speaking today in opposition of supervisor weir's proposed resolution which is his latest attempt to change the rezoning decisions made by the previously elected board you as a board recently increased the taxes on the data center industry which is fine it makes sense to me but but now is not the time to add additional layers and obstacles to the industry's ability to operate in our county.

[02:03:20] Changing the rules mid-game after projects have already gone through the lengthy and arduous approval process would not demonstrate to our strategic partners a desire to operate in good faith, but would rather send a very bad message to the data center industry by indicating to them that Prince William County cannot be trusted and is closing the door on business.

[02:03:40] That said, Mr. Weir's resolution does not line up with the county's short-term and long-term goals of establishing a strong commercial tax base supported by strategic partners in the designated targeted industry. This resolution, if passed, would have serious detrimental effects on the county's ability to meet the growing needs of its constituents who need the services and support the most.

[02:04:04] Additionally, if passed, Mr. Weir's resolution would likely bring with it lengthy and expensive litigation. The original rezoning decisions that Mr. Weir is attempting to override came after countless hours of meetings in two long years of thoughtful and careful consideration by several of you who are still serving on the board today.

[02:04:24] In conclusion, I urge you to consider the short-term and long-term implications of this resolution and oppose Supervisor Weir's proposal. It's crucial now more than ever that processes and commitments be upheld and we continue to usher in a stable financial future the nearly half a million residents of prince william county thank you thank you miss caught miss van who was our last afternoon speaker for this after his public comment time we actually have two uh the next one is isaac duenas hi good afternoon my name is isaac duenas uh gainesville

[02:05:02] district i oppose supervisor we're as resolution 12 j i also support the proposed indoor sports and events center 11d i support the data center development in prince william county along with all the revenue it will generate for our county's development thank you thank you mr duineas now miss fan who is our last afternoon public speaker our last speaker is maha um ahmed if takar honorable chair and board members ameth from gainesville district removing the data center overlay district

[02:05:39] would open up the entire county to data centers this resolution would potentially open the county to the significant lawsuits as it would be seen as taking off people's property rights especially of those who have already gone through the resigning process thank you thank you for your comments thank you miss van as always see you this evening back to you madam chair all right thank you so much i did want to recall mr norman stone if you want to speak i don't know if you heard me earlier so you will be our last person for public comment time thank you and just make sure you

[02:06:14] state where you your magisterial district my name is norman stone and i live in the aquacorn district I'm here on 11A to speak against the proposal. The comprehension of the land that will be developed underneath the ORFA, you're looking at one home for five acres.

[02:06:40] This plan originally planned was for one acre of land to have 6.9 houses on one acre, let alone one house on five acres. This is ridiculous. And when you look at the Aquacorn Reservoir and the watershed, this only can condemn the land around there for clean drinking water.

[02:07:04] I'm on well water, and the area we live in, there's a rock formation along the ridge adjacent to where the site is that they want to put these homes. When you look at rock formation, you're talking about acid in your water, as plain as that.

[02:07:25] Then when you add in your silt ponds that the development will have to have, they say they're not going to disturb the wooded area, but they're going to put a holding pond in that wooded area. What do you have to do to dig a big hole? Do you not tear trees down, cut them down?

[02:07:43] Do you not destroy the soil? As you look at the project, they're also asking for a park through the wooded area which people can go and that'll be right in the back of homes where you've got people that's in the Woodbridge area that always wants to break into homes for some reason.

[02:08:05] So we definitely don't need people going through the woods to come into the back way of our homes, our yards. We definitely don't need a park that's unsupervised. No one will regulate who's going in and who's coming out of the park.

[02:08:21] There also is the traffic problem, which will never be solved. We went through this whenever they wanted to put the expansion for the mosque. We were told that they would be doing all kinds of things to create parking for the mosque, which meant they were going to be busing them in from parking areas.

[02:08:44] The parking areas wound up to be our neighborhood, our yards. It's where the cars are parked for the Del Mar. So this being jointly, I believe, the expansion for the mosque and this new development of Holy Square is, I think, is a joint combined entrance.

[02:09:06] The other issue is the traffic that's never solved. We're still waiting anywhere up from 10 minutes to 15 minutes to get out of Lost Creek Court, where I live. The policemen out there, sometimes they are directing traffic.

[02:09:23] Sometimes they're sitting in their cars watching people make U-turns and watching us sit on Lost Creek Court to get out on the Hoadley Road. So will another development help our traffic problem? No. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you so much.

[02:09:38] I oppose the project. - Thank you, and we are now gonna move on to agenda item seven, public hearings. We have no presentations associated with these items, so I will now open the public hearings on items 7A through 7H.

[02:09:57] Do we have any speakers? We do not have any speakers for item 7A through 7H, so I will now close. I mean, I'm sorry, do we have anyone online? All right, I'll turn it over to Supervisor Bodie.

[02:10:14] - Ms. Van, Ms. Madden, Any folks signed up for this afternoon's public hearings? Not at this time. All right, back to you, Madam Chair. So I will close, unless anyone wants to speak on this. I don't see anyone approaching the microphone. So I will close public hearing on agenda item 7A through 7H.

[02:10:36] We are going to move on to public hearings for, I'm sorry, yes, we got to vote. I'm ready to, do we have to vote? Just looking. Yep, yep. All right, yep, all right. Didn't say wrong questions. All right.

[02:10:52] I will entertain a motion for item, I guess, 7A. - Madam Chair, can we do them all in a block? - We can do it all, okay. - I would like to move 7A through 7H, Madam Chair.

[02:11:08] - Second. - All right, any discussion? All right, let's vote. - Supervisor Gordy? - Aye. - Thank you, sir. - Supervisor Franklin?

[02:11:23] - Aye. - Thank you, ma'am. Is it not working? All right, thank you. Vote unanimous. - All right, thank you so very much. - Let's go on to, we're now onto item eight, public hearings under the Consolidated Agenda.

[02:11:47] We have nine items this afternoon. There are no presentations associated with these items. I will now open the public hearing to items 8A through 8I, in person or remote.

[02:12:08] - Alrighty, so we are going to move forward with a vote on those items. Let's look, hold on. - Okay, I need to close. We will now close public hearing on agenda items 8A through 8I.

[02:12:27] Madam Chair? Yes. I would like to move 8A through 8I for approval. Second. Second. Any discussion? Yeah, Madam Chair, just very quickly. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to thank Eric Olson again for all the work he did on the amendments, the ordinance for voting locations.

[02:12:48] I know that's going to be quite a bit of a change for the presidential general election. Congressional's over what we have currently but based on what he's found and the work that they've done over the last few months I think it'll be a definitely a net good for our constituents especially as pertains to reliability of voting locations so really wanted to thank him and give him kudos and the electoral board for all the work they did on the ordinance thank you madam chair all right supervisor Bailey thank you madam chair I'm chair I'd like to thank Rick kind of solace and his team again for the work that

[02:13:22] they did uh on fraley boulevard in that area i know it's been a long time coming but i think you just stayed the course and we really appreciate you working with the community so thank you very much all right if there's no other speakers from the dais let's take a vote supervisor gordy craft in a great spirit really comes down to passion vote unanimous all right thank you so

[02:13:56] very much we are now going to move on to agenda item nine um an update for from our county executive Mr. Shorter, the floor is now yours. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. Before I turn over to Director Washington, I did want to provide for a few announcements.

[02:14:14] I'll move through as quickly as possible. One, I wanted to just acknowledge our Office of Community Safety. On Saturday, they held an open house. 28 of our partner agencies, both government and non-government, came out.

[02:14:30] Just a fantastic opportunity to just display what our community's resources are related to public safety. And I just really want to acknowledge the office and just appreciate that we were able to pull that open house together.

[02:14:48] It felt good. The agency participation and the community participation felt good as well. Really excited also that we'll have from them an opportunity for the community to volunteer for the Community Safety Advisory Committee.

[02:15:06] The deadline to submit applications for that is May 31st, so again, appreciate them very much. Also attended last week the Older Merrigan Celebration. This was my second year attending that celebration.

[02:15:23] It's really an opportunity for our Area Agency on Aging to really honor our older residents, those 55 and older. A great opportunity to see our older residents dance and eat and have a good time together.

[02:15:42] It's always just a wonderful event. We hold it at Camp Snyder and just want to give appreciation to our Area Agency on Aging for certainly all that they do, but definitely for what they did on Friday for our seniors. In terms of the state budget, you all know that yesterday the General Assembly passed and the governor signed our new biannual budget for the Commonwealth.

[02:16:11] And with that, I believe all of Prince William County's amendments were included in the budget. You will receive this afternoon a listing of all of those amendments. We will come back to the board with any impacts that those amendments will have on our FY25 budget and the budget that was adopted by you.

[02:16:36] That said, and the last update from me before I turn it over and as we pull up the video for this, I want to recognize and just congratulate our Department of Economic Development and Tourism for their Emmy nomination. Last year, the team traveled across the state to capture the unique story of the malarkey distilled spirits, showcasing not just the business but a legacy intertwined with Virginia's unique spirit.

[02:17:07] The Emmy nomination really underscores the dual nature of their work spurring economic growth and promoting tourism. Securing, obviously, the nomination was a very big deal, certainly for our county and for the team.

[02:17:23] And I just want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Christina and really the entire marketing team at our Department of Economic Development and Tourism. And with that, I want to show the video that has actually been nominated. Craft in a great spirit really comes down to passion.

[02:17:43] You really need to love what you're doing. If you don't have that, it's not going to come through in the end product. It's a blessing to be able to wake up every morning and look forward to work. It's not even really work, just going in and be able to live my passion, if you will, and make great spirits.

[02:18:05] Our barrels come from Virginia. It's called Speyside Cooperage, and they're outside of Roanoke. All our grain is Virginia-raised, so corn, rye, and the malted barley.

[02:18:23] The malted barley comes from Copper Fox. They malt their barley, and then they smoke it. And they use either cherry wood or apple wood. And then that's what's giving us that little hint of that pipe tobacco. So we're not talking scotch smoke.

[02:18:41] It's a different profile. It's sort of a, this is totally Virginia. Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee have great climates for bourbon. We age all of our age products outside in our steel shipping containers in the back parking lot. So in the summertime, it can be 150 degrees in this metal container.

[02:18:59] The pores on the wood open up, the whiskey goes deep through the char into that oak. When it gets cold, this pores closed. It pushes that whiskey out. The more change of temperature, the more it's filtering in and out of that oak and that char, getting color and flavor. So by having those extreme cycles of hot to cold, we get very complex flavors.

[02:19:16] You can't beat getting a barrel of whiskey that's been aging, open it up, and basically pulling that whiskey out of there. The smells, tasting that whiskey right from the barrels that comes out, caramels, the cherries, the tobacco notes. you can't beat it. When we started out this business, our goal was to create quality spirits, be a top Virginia producer. But nobody can replicate how we make people feel when they're

[02:19:50] here. What it's evolved into is truly an experiential event for folks to come in and to enjoy some craft cocktails, some camaraderie, the warmth of the room, the warmth of the family business they truly enjoy our spirits and they recognize them as some of the best they've had in virginia particularly one of the best things in the world is coming in the tasting room or go to a festival or someplace just getting that joy of getting that feedback from people saying we really like the product that you're making i love what you're doing you're doing a phenomenal

[02:20:26] job they can't wait to tell other people about it or send them a picture and say look what i'm having and you should be here you when people are taking out cameras and phones you're doing something right people enjoying it is the best feeling in the world if you don't get pride from that you know there's probably something wrong with you our current location has been a blessing for us but we started to recognize that we were seeing the horizon so we started to look for an

[02:21:03] opportunity uh locally to expand our plan is to build a 25 000 square foot facility that will include our full production facility and a 5 000 square foot restaurant it's a really beautiful functional facility there on the farm brew live campus it's the next chapter of what we hope to be uh an amazing story we are truly appreciative of where we are and have been but we are so excited

[02:21:40] moving forward. You know, this is more than a second career. This is our namesake, and it's our legacy. Good. Yes. Very good. With that, Madam Chair, I just want to thank you and the board for

[02:22:16] your continued support of projects like this. I want to thank Economic Development and Tourism for your work in producing this amazing video. And with that, I will introduce and call up director washington to get us started with the presentation supervisor franklin so i was just made aware that apparently we have five emmys here in prince william county that's incredible and hopefully we'll have six soon i mean that's something to really brag about yeah

[02:22:49] madam chair supervisor gordy uh yes i just want to take a moment uh and thank uh mr shorter for and Deputy County Executive Alexander for the work that they're putting together to help us address the commercial truck parking in the county.

[02:23:14] You sent out an email today giving us an update on the team that's been assembled to help us solve this problem. And whether it's people who are owner operators or whether they are people who are troubled by the fact that they have trucks being parked in their neighborhood, I know everyone is appreciative of this effort and to move forward a solution that works for everyone.

[02:23:39] So I just wanted to say thank you for that and for the expedited effort that you guys are taking to address this. Thank you.

[02:23:56] - Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. I am Tanya Washington, Director of the Planning Office, and I am joined here today by David McGettigan, who is our Deputy Planning Director. We are here to give the board an update on the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District.

[02:24:17] So I'm just gonna give just this quick kickoff and then I will turn it over to Dave to walk us through the presentation. The purpose of today's presentation is to share with the board background information on the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District in a zoning work to date since it was created to provide the Planning Office's initial comments on the ZTA proposed by Supervisor Weir on April 2nd and to provide options to the board for moving forward with regards to the data center opportunity zone overlay district.

[02:24:52] As you will see in our presentation, most of it is really background to provide you with information about the history of the overlay district and the work that has been done to date in terms of looking at the overlay district and its options. And then again, we will be concluding our presentation with a series of options for the board to consider to inform your decision-making on the proposed ZTA.

[02:25:17] With that, I will turn it over to Mr. McGettigan. - Thank you, Ms. Waddington. Again, my name is David McGettigan from the planning office. And the data center opportunity zone overlay district was started in 2015 with a board directive.

[02:25:38] We were having extensive data center growth in the county at the time, new demands for electric infrastructure that was causing us to look at it more closely and certainly a lot of concern about the power infrastructure.

[02:25:53] And the board initiated a zoning text amendment to create the data center opportunity zone in September of 2015. So it was adopted in 2016 and the 2016 overlay, the focus of it was getting one looking at three things, industrial land both zoned and planned in the county and our economic development goals and the electric infrastructure needs of those uses so we were looking at an intersection of

[02:26:29] transmission lines and industrial land to help develop the boundaries for the overlay district as part of that we implemented new definitions we created the new overlay district and provided amended policies for electric substations that would require that they have a special use permit outside the overlay district, along with data centers.

[02:26:53] So data centers outside the overlay district would require a special use permit. Those within it were by right. And that was adopted in May of 2016. Then in 2019, the board asked us to look at the overlay district again with a resolution resolution in June the focus was to adjust the overlay district boundary to account for some new priorities remove high visibility employment areas where we wanted office development they were prime office locations add additional

[02:27:30] areas for data center development and address some mapping and use and consistencies also a big part of that CTA was a focus on the architectural of data centers to improve the look and the visual impact of data centers on our community.

[02:27:50] So they implemented this in 2019 by removing about 1,000 acres from the overlay, they added 642 acres in, they created new design guidelines for data centers, which are in the ordinance now, and they increased the flow rate ratio of up to one, provided all of the development standards of the underlying zoning district are met so this allowed for more floor area of data centers they don't have a per square footage impact of the same as other industrial uses so that brings us to the current comprehensive

[02:28:28] review that was started in 2021 it was started with the directive in March of 2021 to bring back recommendations to expand and change the data center overlay district engage existing stakeholders and new stakeholders incorporate methods to embrace green technology and encourage conservation of green and open spaces and so we were asked to look at the existing data center overlay district the boundaries and the language to look for opportunities to improve the look

[02:29:05] of data centers and also where they would be. So in May of 2021, soon after that directive, we brought back an initiation and had a scope of work for the project.

[02:29:22] Throughout the scope of the project was community engagement. The first step was background, market research, demand analysis, emerging trends, best practices for economic development um the policy development then after that of expansion we specifically look to look at areas to expand the overlay district relook at the design guidelines add sustainability guidelines and look at land use infrastructure impacts and then the third part of that scope was

[02:29:58] then the legislative approval of those changes that were proposed so we set up a a project team the planning office we have consultant Stan tech and our subconsultant BAE do some of the analysis economic development was our partner with this this web pages and project is still up on our website and has all the products that were created as part of that project so we completed the public engagement information gathering step we have a draft of the policy but it was

[02:30:35] never got to the public engagement phase two or actually review by stakeholders and then the public and so therefore did not get to the legislative approval process.

[02:30:53] So part of what we're going to go through is what we did do, first the research and analysis and all these are up on our website, the data center market study, the targeted industry analysis that camoyne did to show what land was needed for our targeted industries um a fiscal impact analysis that our consultant pfm did in july of 2022 a list of data centers uh as of july 2022 some uh draft design and sustainability guidelines a draft ordinance uh draft map

[02:31:30] recommendations and the suitability analysis completed up in january of 2023 our community engagement throughout that project we started with stakeholder interviews in september 2021 we had a public meeting in october of 2021 we had a questionnaire that went out survey in november we had the public meeting again in january of 2022 and another public meeting in march of 2022 so that was all the engagement that was completed this is a list of all the stakeholders

[02:32:06] that were engaged community groups and state and federal agencies across the spectrum of that we involved in our process and were representatives in our stakeholder meetings so that brings us to our current project which is a review of the data center impacts this uh preempted our our work um and was based on the board's request to one review the noise

[02:32:42] ordinance which had its own scope and we initiated amendments to the zoning ordinance and dcsm to address potential data center impact so that was a different scope than what we've initially proposed and the board directed us to establish the data center overlay advisory group which was up in the summer of 2023 they completed a scope of work for the project consultants were hired for the noise ordinance review they start it started in february and expected completion

[02:33:17] in february 2025 we're also working with a consultant on task order to do the zoning ordinance and design and construction standards review we hope to get them started in july with an expected completion at the end of 2025.

[02:33:35] So that's the background on what we've done to date on the data center overlay ordinance district. Now we're going to talk about Supervisor Rear's proposed zoning text amendment just briefly. It's pretty straightforward. We're going to remove it proposes to remove the data center opportunities and overlay district but keep the design guidelines. This would also require a special use permit for data centers in industrial districts, and remove data centers as permitted use in office commercial districts.

[02:34:13] This is a summary chart showing which overlay districts, which zoning districts are now and as proposed permitted to have overlay districts. So in the B1 general business, inside the overlay, it requires a special use permit, it's by right inside the overlay in the office and industrial districts outside the overlay everything requires a special use permit with the proposed language they would not be permitted in the b1 or office districts and only allowed in industrial districts with a special use permit

[02:34:49] so some of our initial comments or thoughts on this proposal it will provide the board and and community opportunity to review all proposed data centers. It will create non-conforming uses, those data centers that were developed by Wright will become legally non-conforming.

[02:35:11] This limits their ability to expand the sites that haven't built out their campus, may require a special use permit depending on the status of their site plan, or a rezoning for future phases.

[02:35:28] And this may create unpredictability for developers and may create more competition for industrial land outside the data center overlay district that is limited now by the special use permit requirements outside the district. This will not have the benefit of best practices research and stakeholder engagement typically done for zoning text amendment.

[02:35:50] And this work is currently being done by the data center overlay advisory group. The ZTA will require public hearings before the Planning Commission Board, and the public will have an opportunity to provide input at the public hearings on the zoning text amendment.

[02:36:05] So our next steps, options. First, proceed with initiating the proposed zoning text amendment as is. Another option is to initiate with some flexibility for potential changes during the review process.

[02:36:21] Third, keep the overlay district, but re-examine the boundaries to ensure appropriate sites are included. It's not currently in the scope of the data center overlay, advisory group to look at the boundaries so this would be adding that to them and the fourth is allow for completion of the data center overlay advisory group consultant work to inform future action with the overlay including the boundary and standards and that concludes my presentation.

[02:36:48] All right. Thank you so very much. We're going to start with Supervisor Weir then go to Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I'm going to apologize to everybody ahead of time if I appear a little bit cynical or cross here.

[02:37:06] But I find it very curious that if not for me initiating that zoning text amendment several weeks ago, I suspect we would not be having this presentation. Which is a problem for me, given that a very similar zoning text amendment was initiated more than three years ago, and that it took me having to do another one to get this presentation up is a problem for me.

[02:37:41] I suspect that this presentation has confused, if not been misinterpreted by a number of people, at least judging by the comments that I'm hearing today, and I kind of, I can understand why. We can go to slide four. Is it my understanding that, I'll wait, is it my understanding that staff's position that the impetus for the overlay in the first place was extensive data center

[02:38:19] growth in the county? That and the electric infrastructure issues, yes. Do we recall who was the long-range planner at the time or who was in charge of this project in 2016? Chris, the planning director was Chris Price, and I was the planner.

[02:38:42] That's what I thought. Do you recall who drafted language? We worked with several stakeholder groups, including yourself and some other members. Let me make it more direct.

[02:38:57] Did I draft the original language? I think you had him in drafting the original language. I can, the only reason I say that is it wasn't really extensive data center growth at the time that led to the overlay.

[02:39:14] What led to the overlay was the lack of any sort of regulation of the industry at that point in time. It was brought to light by the Amazon circumstance. And zoning at the time allowed data centers, because we didn't have a definition for them and had cobbled together some definition based on computer usage, allowed data centers and substations anywhere, anytime, throughout the county as by right use, which meant they

[02:39:46] could show up next to any neighborhood, any school, any business, anything everywhere and that was unacceptable. And the reason it was unacceptable at the time was because of what Amazon did. They bought greenfield space in an area far from the infrastructure and then the community had to engage in a four and a half year fight with the SEC, Dominion and Amazon over that overhead line.

[02:40:13] That was the sole purpose for the overlay was to put it in the infrastructure or in areas or limit it to areas where the infrastructure was such that nobody had to go through that fight. At the time, very little concern about noise. Nobody knew about the issue. Nobody saw the explosive growth in the industry that has occurred since then. There were a lot of unknowns back then. But what was crafted was a compromise. Compromise between the community, the industry, Dominion Power, NOVEC, and the county. Like any compromise, there were parts of it that people didn't like. Everybody had a bit of

[02:40:53] that they didn't like. It was designed to keep the industry and its impacts within a certain geographic area, both provide them with confidence in putting forth an application, but also protect the public.

[02:41:15] In the interim, the overlay has ultimately failed. It worked for a period of time, but given the number of data centers, the gross square footage, millions of square feet planted outside of the data center overlay district, it has sucked off the infrastructure, we'll talk about that later. The 2019 overlay adjustments, I would just note that staff did not engage any stakeholders in those. That was quite an issue at the time when I believe it was Ms. Horner was the planning director who just changed them ad hoc, which brings us to March of

[02:41:52] 21. The board directed the planning office to review the overlay. We're here three years later. Fairfax County just did a similar thing. They issued their directive. Hold on, you're out of Resolution? Do you have a question? I'm just laying the background. Gave direction in March of this year. They just went to public hearing. Why can they do something in three years that we can't do in three and a half?

[02:42:23] Well, Supervisor, if you recall at that time, we were working on a comprehensive plan update, a major comprehensive plan update that we had one resource available to work on that project.

[02:42:43] We took time to do all the review and analysis that our consultant did for us. And I was not in charge of that project at that time, So I'm not sure what other delays there might have been.

[02:43:01] We'll get to that in a moment, but thank you. Hold on. You're going to have to go for your next, put in your request for your next five minutes. We are going to go over to Supervisor Bodie, but before we do, I just want to, again, make sure I'm understanding because of what you were teeing up. I'm looking at slide 11.

[02:43:17] It says policy development 2021, 2022, 2023. Again, that was what you're assuming. That was unfinished, and you were saying that because of doing the comprehensive plan? Yes. Okay. All right, I'll go on to. And other, and the digital gateway conference of plan amendment and rezonings.

[02:43:38] All right, I will let everyone speak and I'll come back. All right, Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a few questions. And thank you, Ms. Washington, Mr. McGettigan for the presentation for the update. If we, can we start with slide 19?

[02:43:59] So I think this is a pretty good matrix and I appreciate you putting it together because a lot of folks saw Supervisor Ware resolution and couldn't really exactly see what it was proposing to do.

[02:44:15] You have that sort of that third section, the far right, where under at least the current consideration of the ZTA, if adopted as written, it would then make data centers not permitted at all in any of those zoning districts.

[02:44:38] Do we have data centers currently in districts that are zoned in those ways currently? I believe so, but, yeah, that would be some analysis that we would do after this is initiated, if it's initiated.

[02:44:54] But, yeah, I believe we have certainly some in the OH I know of and I believe some in the OF. And I appreciate that. And then that goes right into slide 20, which is the very next slide.

[02:45:10] Based on what you just said, Mr. McGettigan, what would happen if a data center is currently operational in one of those zoning districts and then it became non-permitted under an adoption of the ZTA? Well, we have special versions for non-conforming uses that would become a non-conforming use, and there would be limits on expansion of that use to 25% of the use could be expanded.

[02:45:40] Assuming that there's 25% left in the floor area ratio, if it was developed to the 1.0 that was permitted before, and the underlying zoning district is less than that, a 0.5, say, in some of our districts, then that would be no expansion allowed without going for a special use permit.

[02:46:03] Appreciate that. And then another question, what if, as in a situation that was sort of mentioned, you have an existing campus where, let's say, for example, you have some buildings that are currently and already in an operation, You have others that may be in some form of approval process where it's site planning or under site review, what have you.

[02:46:26] What happens to those cases where some of those buildings are in process right now? I believe we have to look on a case-by-case basis, but basically if they have a site plan approval for that structure, they would be able to build it.

[02:46:44] They would be grandfathered in under the zoning ordinance that was in effect when their site plan was approved. - Okay, and I only have two more questions, Madam Chair, for this round. The last point is the one that I wanna zero in on a little bit more, Mr. McGatigan.

[02:47:02] They create more competition for industrial land. Can you talk a little bit more about that and why getting rid of the overlay would create that kind of dilemma or could? - Well, now if a data center developer comes into economic development looking for land, economic development points them to look the data center overlay district if it's the requires a special use permit everywhere then there's no reason to look within that area anymore they could look wherever there's there's a land available um at the same legislative process of getting a special use permit

[02:47:40] would um be required either way so so it would just um make them look other places because they don't have that incentive to locate within the opportunity zone overlay district if i can also add part of the issue in addition to what mr mcgetti can said is that if data centers you know essentially if the overlay district were eliminated and a data center could get approval through an sup it could look anywhere in the county but that means that it will be looking at land industrially zoned land that other industrial uses may also be looking towards and so that's

[02:48:18] that's really the point that we're trying to highlight is that it would open up other parts of the county for competition for those types of uses thank you it looks like only have 10 seconds manager 18 seconds my last question on this round and thank you for that that that response um on the very last slide mr mcgetti and you indicated with the the options to on on future i think for the last two uh bullets you said that what's not currently being looked at with the advisory group it are the boundaries can you talk a little bit more about that um yeah that wasn't in the initial

[02:48:55] scope of work to look at the boundaries uh they're um indirectly looking at it because we're looking at uh setbacks uh from other types of uses might be something that they look at so in effect they're affecting uh that line where where it would touch a school or residential um looking at those setbacks but generally not the actual boundary is not in the scope of work currently.

[02:49:20] Okay, since I'm out of time, those are all for me right now, Madam Chair. Thank you so much. All right, so what we're going to do real quick is I know, Supervisor, you want to speak a second time, but I'm going to hold because I want to give everyone their first go-around to speak. And I also want to remind people that we're actually voting later during Supervisor time when we bring up the actual ZTA.

[02:49:37] So I'm going to go with Supervisor Franklin, then Vega, then Gordy, then Bailey, and then Tawir for his second round. Yes, thank you for that. And just want to point out kind of to that discussion around the boundaries, I believe it was Supervisor Angry who first mentioned years ago, I believe he was the one that issued the directive about looking at extending the overlay to other areas.

[02:49:59] So I know that that discussion has already at least been put into the public atmosphere. Let me just start with a question around the non-conforming use. If we were to go this route, will these data centers who have not or who are currently operating and have approvals obviously would then not have essentially would not be in conformance, I should say.

[02:50:29] Would they then have to come back every couple of years to get a nonconforming use permit? it's not required. We advise that they do because if they do want to come in for an expansion under the non-conforming use provisions, then they would want to have to go back and prove that that use has been in operation for that whole length of time. And so we do look at every two years, offer the option to look at every two years to keep it current so that you don't have to go and do that research every time you want to do an expansion.

[02:51:07] Sure, and would the onus be on the industry or would it be on staff? It would be on industry to show that they were in continuous use for that period. Okay, and then I guess this next question may be to the county attorney, but I'm wondering kind of if we were to go down this road and approve this proposal, what would be the legal implications of such a proposal?

[02:51:36] You know, would there be any type of exposure that the county has in terms of lawsuits or litigation? I'm just curious as to kind of what that would look like. Madam Chair, members of the board, this is just an initiation.

[02:51:52] This would just be the beginning of the process. It would go through with planning staff taking this to the Planning Commission with a public hearing. It would then come to the Board of County Supervisors with a public hearing. And then if the board adopts it, we would look at various rezoning properties where they are in the process to determine if any impacts to them.

[02:52:16] It would be on a case-by-case basis. But I don't have any legal concerns with this going forward now. Thank you. All right. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[02:52:32] I want to focus my question, slide four. You don't have to go there. but we talk about rapid growth and we talk about infrastructure. I know that there have been a lot of concerns raised about power, and so it's listed here on slide four, and so my question to you is, what information has the county received regarding the power grid infrastructure?

[02:52:56] - What information? - Do we have, a lot of the concerns raised stems from whether or not we have enough power to supply the data centers that are coming online and the applications that have yet to fully been vetted your office and come before this board so do we have anything that you can share with the board in regards to power no we don't have any information on power infrastructure needs and that's a regional if not national issue and not necessarily county specific in its scope

[02:53:33] that question understood and oftentimes we know that on the dais but we get a lot of emails we we get a lot of folks when they come here during public comment time and they ask for certain things oftentimes some of the asks we're not legally allowed to do but also I think that at some point we have to take the initiative to either bring additional stakeholders in to have that conversation because I don't think that we can afford to wait on others to start having that conversation considering the fact that we have to make these decisions on approving or denying or whatever the case may be you know soon so I think it's it's it's a topic of urgency that we should try to spearhead wherever possible I know that

[02:54:11] it can be very difficult engaging with Dominion in certain conversations they'll say things to us some behind closed doors that they're not willing to say publicly but again it kind of ties our hands as to how to navigate these waters and what we can share with the public as to what we are legally allowed to do and what we're not legally allowed to do we certainly hear hear the question and this is something that has come up we can certainly you know reach back out to Dominion and NOVAC to relay an interest if the board is interested in hearing this larger discussion.

[02:54:45] I think with regards to the planning office and our role, you know, again, keep in mind that we are evaluating these applications on a case-by-case basis, those that come forward for a rezoning or an SUP, and those that go through the administrative process, if it's by right, also, you know, again, they're evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

[02:55:02] Madam Chair, if I may, just to wrap it up. And thank you for that. Again, you know, we did it with the noise issue, right, because it was an issue that was raised by so many of our constituents. And I will always talk about being at the front line of that because of the situation with Great Oak.

[02:55:18] And we continue to navigate those waters. So if we've already put noise as a priority, I think that we can do the same when it comes to power discussions. All right, Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[02:55:34] Just one question. You know, the two overlay districts you have list shown in your briefing both have draft is one of these the actual data center overlay that we're living under right now. I'm sorry, could you repeat the question on where on within the briefing there is the 2016 and it says draft and then the next page is 29 2019 overlay and it says draft.

[02:56:09] But to me, neither one of these represent the actual data center overlay that we're we're discussing today. And so I just found, I just find it interesting that, you know, we're having a discussion about a very certain thing, and yet it's not in this briefing that you presented, the final, final that we're living under.

[02:56:32] Second of all, the data center working group is working on updates to the noise ordinance, correct? Yes. It's working on design standards, correct? Yes. What else is it working on?

[02:56:50] So there would be, there may be standards for other impacts of the data center that can, some that can be handled by design, some that are handled by locational considerations like larger buffers, for example, depending on what's next to it.

[02:57:16] So would you agree with me that even if we move forward this zoning text amendment, it would not in any way negate the work of the data center working group, and yet their contributions to where we move forward with data centers would still be very helpful to us in the future.

[02:57:39] So I think, you know, as Mr. McGettigan noted earlier, the work of the current advisory group and the consultants that are working with them would be of benefit to the county, regardless of what decision the board decides to take with regards to the CTA.

[02:57:59] I think the point that we were making was that from the planning offices, from staff's perspective, we think that it will be beneficial prior to making a number of potential large-scale changes to the overlay district to have the benefit of that work being completed so that you can have a fuller understanding of what some of the different options are with regards to improvements.

[02:58:21] I would also have argued that we should have had this update initiated in 2021 before we completed our comprehensive plan and before we approved two major developments outside of the overlay district. We seem to be, this current study seems to be putting the cart, I mean, we have done this backwards.

[02:58:48] That report should have been done in 2021. The two previous reports were done in less than a year. it's now been three and a half years the comprehensive plan could have benefited from that but yet it didn't and then we had two major developments outside of the overlay as well as quite a few other applications outside the overlay by the way um that could have benefited from this report but yet all of a sudden now we're saying oh to move forward um we shouldn't move forward with this because we haven't finished the work on this well i i find it very odd that the two

[02:59:26] major things that we had to deal with over the past two years um that could have benefited from the completion of this report um were not impacted by it so um i fully believe this thing is beyond its useful purpose um and and and i think even our conversations today demonstrated it has done very little to truly affect the way that we've allowed data center development to to proceed within this County over the past two years and so I'll yield for that for my

[03:00:04] I can't see the clock but I'll yield for my time now madam chair and look forward to a second set of questions in just a moment all right so I'll put you back on the list we're gonna go to Supervisor Bailey then we're the Bodie then Gordy thank you madam chair I've got three questions that I must save the last two maybe depending on the time but the first thing it's how long have we had data centers in our county i'm not sure it's probably been uh just guess since 2012

[03:00:36] since when 2012 maybe before then yeah i was thinking 2009 2010 or even before then perhaps okay so did we have anything structurally in place to do this kind of work when we invited the data center industry in our community?

[03:01:01] Anything like this? No. No? No? Okay. So my question is, just going forward with this, one of the things that I think we learned to my colleagues' remarks that just went off, to Tom's remarks, one of the things that we learned is from the citizens that there were some opportunities that we need to look at.

[03:01:32] Wouldn't you say, David? Okay. And so from there, that's why Wade developed the DCO-AG. Yes. Am I on track with that? What is the benefit of the DCO-AG?

[03:01:49] So we can look at industry standards. We can look at what other jurisdictions are doing in regulating data centers. Can you speak a little louder? Yes. I'm sorry. We can look at what other jurisdictions are doing in dealing with data centers.

[03:02:09] We can look at best practices, we can look at sustainability and ways to make, to ask data centers to be more energy efficient or water efficient, and also look at different architectural standards to minimize their visual impacts, so a number of things that we can look at from a development review standpoint to as far as what we should be, how we should should regulate our data centers so inclusive of that would you say another

[03:02:47] piece of that another benefit would be to include the community's input voices yes and to get community input on that to what extent do you want to well so because I'm asking it because I was just this afternoon I was listening to one of our citizens was talking about the noise piece and so that's why I'm asking you that. Right. So both of any zoning text amendment needs, you know, to go through a public process.

[03:03:18] So we'll have community engagement as part of that process. We will, of course, have to have public hearings for any zoning text amendment we provide. I think it's important to note that we have, with the data center opportunity advisory group, brought citizens and industry representatives together to talk and resolve and come to some sort of agreement on what those regulations should be.

[03:03:48] So we have heavy involvement of citizens and the industry in this working group that's been working on this issue for a while now. If I can just add, the scope of the advisory group is not just to look at the zoning ordinance, is to look at potential changes to the noise ordinance, the zoning ordinance, and the DCSM, and all three of those would go through a public review process because they have to go ultimately to the board for public hearing.

[03:04:21] So those are at least three different opportunities where the community would have an opportunity to weigh in and review any proposed changes to provide feedback. Okay, and then my last question. I'll ask my third one on my second, Josh. My last question is, and I appreciate that, thank you, for the slide on slide six, is there an updated slide other than 2019?

[03:04:47] Because there was a mention of 2021. Can we get an updated slide of that? Oh, sure, yeah. It's on our website, and we can provide an updated one. The benefit of this particular one is it shows the changes. So it was from the staff report. so you wouldn't be able to see the changes, which the takeaways are shown in red on this map.

[03:05:08] So that's why it's a draft map, and the green are additions, so you can see what the changes were in 2019. But, yeah, the current overlay is available on our website, and we can find the approved 2019 map if you'd like to see that.

[03:05:23] Yeah, if you could just send that to us after this meeting, that'd be great. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, thank you. Before, actually, Supervisor Angery just slid in on there. So since this is his first one, I'll let him go. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just got one question. Dave, do you know, or Tanya, do you know how many approved data centers do we have right now that will be affected by something like this?

[03:05:48] The data that the planning office has is only those data centers that have come through rezonings and SUPs. The larger pool would be those data centers that have subsequently gotten site plans, which as David noted is a major consideration.

[03:06:05] That's the type of data that development services would have, and so we don't have sort of what that full universe just within the data that the planning office has. Thank you. All right, we're going to go back to Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[03:06:20] If we could go back to slide 20, because that's sort of the heart of the matter for me. bullet point two. You're asserting affirmatively that this will create non-conforming uses. Sites that haven't built out their campus fully will now require a new SUP or rezoning for future phases, and existing data centers may not be available to expand. Would that apply to any data center that has an adopted rezoning or SUP currently, one that's been entitled by a legislative

[03:06:55] of action? As far as I know, that it has to have the site plan approved to be granted under the existing. So what you're telling me is if a board grants a rezoning or an SUP entitles the applicant to, perhaps it's better addressed to the county attorney, Madam County Attorney, if we adopt a rezoning or we adopt an SUP and the applicant engages in significant efforts based on that legislative approval, is there any way to invalidate that without repercussion.

[03:07:30] Madam Chair, members of the board, as I said, we would look at each piece of property on a case-by-case basis, but under your scenario, they would have a strong argument that they already have a vested right, and therefore the board's action would not apply to them. Thank you, Madam County Attorney. Similarly, I notice in your matrix that PBD is not listed as one of the impacted areas.

[03:07:53] That's correct. PBD uses land bays that would use all those impacted districts, but yes, so PBD would be impacted. So PBD is not in your matrix since the entirety of the digital gateway is PBD, they would not be impacted above and beyond the fact that they're already entitled?

[03:08:14] Planned business district has land bays that refer back to those base districts. So a PBD would be impacted by this, just depending on which. Unless they had industrial zoning, correct? Unless they had an office, if they have a PBD with an office land bay, then it would be impacted.

[03:08:35] If they have an industrial land bay, they would be impacted, yes. So they would be impacted. All we have on the zoning map is PBD. We don't identify it. I'm hearing that there is the potential for things coming in and having their SUPs re-reviewed every two years.

[03:08:58] Can you tell me the last time one of those come before this board for anything? He was not referring to SUPs being reviewed every two years. I think this relates to the non-conforming uses, and that goes to the zoning administrator.

[03:09:17] Right, and that's an administrative review. And perhaps people have misinterpreted it because I keep hearing people talking about SUPs coming back every two years, and I do know that in certain jurisdictions and with certain SUPs there are time limits, but that is not the way we operate in this county.

[03:09:33] That's correct. Okay. Similarly, if somebody's got a site plan that's been approved by the county and they've started moving dirt, I'm assuming there's nothing that we can do. Perhaps this is another question for the county attorney. If they've got an accepted site plan and have started moving dirt, I'm assuming that there's no way we can limit them to anything less than the currently approved site plan? As I stated, we would look at every piece of property on a case-by-case basis to see whether or not they would have a ballot argument for vested rights at that time. And if they do have a valid argument for vested rights, then any change by the board would not apply.

[03:10:11] Thank you. I would just make a note on creating more competition for industrial land. We're already there. We're losing warehouse space and other industrial land within and without the overlay district. And, you know, we start talking about availability within the overlay district. I can remember some time about 18 to 24 months ago when Economic Development stood in this very room and said there was no space in the overlay or there was no usable space in the overlay and nobody could aggregate in the overlay, yet we're seeing it. Page 21, this will not have

[03:10:51] the benefit of the best practices research and stakeholder engagement typically done for a ZTA. This is simply an initiation for a ZTA and I would argue that you've already done a lot of this research. Now it's been sitting there for two years, which is part of the reason that I'm doing this, but I'm not asking for anything less than what is done ordinarily for any ZTA.

[03:11:11] I'm not looking for a shortcut. I'm not looking for you to obviate your responsibilities for properly vetting this, for properly doing the research. I'm a little disappointed in that slide, and I would expect everything up there to be done in terms of public hearings, documentation, research, and studies. But we've already spent several hundred thousand dollars on studies for this from a from something was initiated three years ago so i'd hope that we're not going to recreate that several hundred thousand dollars in expense and throw out the window what we've already expended funds on and with that i'll yield madam chair and come back

[03:11:46] later um so hold on real quick supervisor we are we are we can presume this when we get to your zta because it's you know everyone gets there five minutes twice so i'm going to go to bode um then gordy then franklin then back to bailey i think miss washington had a response so yes yes just wanted to point out that the earlier consultant work from the 2021 effort will be part of the research that the current consultants will be taking a look at so we will be able to take advantage of the earlier analysis that was done to inform the work that the consultants of the

[03:12:22] advisory group will be doing thank you and if i could madam chair um thank you miss washington actually was going to be my next question for clarity because that doesn't exactly align with what mr mcgettigan said earlier regards that they're not being a direct boundary analysis of this because it was my understanding based on this question i've asked several times that now the stantec report will be sort of wrapped into the scope of work of this new comprehensive report and in my view and we've looked at the directive a couple times that directive that more fruit of the Stantec report, included an analysis of the boundaries.

[03:12:57] So my pointed question is, will or will not the advisory group's work and the respective subsequent recommendations include potential boundary adjustments, direct boundary adjustments of the overlay? So Mr. McGeddy again can confirm, but the scope of work for the current advisory group does not include looking at the boundaries, the boundary of the overlay district.

[03:13:22] However, there are other components of the SANTEC analysis that is relevant and would be included as part of the current scope of the advisory group, such as the development standards. Okay, I appreciate that.

[03:13:38] And then my final question goes into something that Sura Zorvega was talking about earlier as it pertains to, you know, currently noise, but also power. There's been a lot of talk about water usage of the data centers.

[03:13:53] and I know that that's potentially one of the things that the advisory group is looking at as well. Can we talk about that a little bit and whether or not that's going to come with the menu of recommendations by the advisory group and the comprehensive look that we're doing outside of that? I think definitely it would. We're talking about sustainability guidelines and that would include water usage. And finally, Madam Chair, one of the constituents said earlier the other part of this and it goes along with power usage but it all but it also goes as sustainability like you just said Mr. McGatigan and the type of power and the

[03:14:31] type of energy uses that these buildings are using you know there's a lot of talk about the fact that you know depending on the user the end user the type of building itself who built it where that power is coming from whether that's fossil fuel infrastructure or renewable energy infrastructure so is that going to be looked at as well and my last question is the diesel backup generators We'll also be looking at the backup generation of the buildings and the design standards.

[03:14:57] I would think all those things are on the table to discuss. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We're going to go to Gordy Franklin Bailey. Supervisor Gordy. Thanks, Madam Chair. Just to continue that line of question from Supervisor Bode.

[03:15:15] So, you know, one of the things we even heard today, and it's something that has been bandied about in numerous industry publications related to data centers is the co-location of micronuclear reactors with these facilities. Will that also be part of the evaluation, not just in terms of data centers, but in terms of our own comprehensive plan that now has an energy chapter? And will it be reopened to evaluate if this is truly a future endeavor within our county, the steps

[03:15:53] that we need to take to make sure that we have a a viable plan in place to manage that type of power infrastructure being introduced within the county i think that sounds a little outside the scope of what the data center overlay uh advisory group is tasked with but um we could certainly take that recommendation back to them to see what their thoughts are but i i'm not sure that that's in their scope and i think that would require a separate directive and and thought uh initiation

[03:16:28] to to go forward with that kind of uh analysis and and well and that that that makes a very valid point what you just said and this is what we just need to be honest about this industry has evolved tremendously since their introduction into prince william county the data center that's on linton hall road that no one even knows about was what we thought we were getting uh with data centers and then before you knew it we had hyperscale massive industrial facilities with massive

[03:17:06] banks of generators that required their own substation sometimes two sometimes three consuming tremendous amounts of power creating lots and lots of noise that that's where we are today so what folks had in their mind about a data center just even four or five years ago is not what we're dealing with today what would have fit within an office mixed-use part um you know five six years

[03:17:42] ago does not fit today hyperscale and the largesse of these facilities they are fully industrial heavy industrial facilities and so the point that you just made it demonstrates how fast this industry is changing and we as a county are not keeping up and that's why we need to take control as a board to make sure that we're operating on the latest data and the latest information coming

[03:18:18] from this industry and anticipating what's next so that we do get this right for our community and so i appreciate your you're you're driving home that point in in your statement that this is something that we've not anticipated but yet it's been in industry articles for the past nine to ten months with multiple articles discussing this um the other um the last question i have is that you talk about that this on slide 20 this may create unpredictability for developers

[03:18:53] and what do you mean by that that um there is a set process they would have invested in and planned in um uh getting uh their projects to fruition um and that this uh requiring a special use permit which is going to introduce some uncertainty in that because special use permits can be denied.

[03:19:21] So as opposed to a by-right development where they know if they meet these standards that are outlined in the overlay district that they can go forward with certainty. So you're not necessarily saying that this is a negative from the county's perspective, only from the developer's perspective.

[03:19:45] We're raising it as a, so the basic answer is yes. this is what the potential impact could be on industry but we're raising a number of these issues as these are different factors some of them are positive from the county's perspective some of them may or may not be positive for industry's perspective just to so that the board understands that there are potential implications to to the CTA if it were to be initiated initiated and to move forward and we're we're including this so it will help to inform your decision making because at the end of the day it's we are we are waiting for the board's

[03:20:20] direction and that will occur at a later agenda item in terms of whether or not to move forward forward to initiate this proposed cta or to take another step but to answer your question yes that will be potentially a negative for industry it may not necessarily be a negative for the county okay yeah so and just as a reminder if you have a drive-thru restaurant coffee shop bank car wash you also have to seek an SUP right that's correct so they also have unpredictability within their

[03:20:54] planning process too yes but I think the point it the point that we are making is that there is a current process in place for data center projects if they choose to or are proposed to be located within the overlay district that is an existing process that has been in place for several years and if this CTA were to move forward and would result in eliminating the overlay district, then projects that were assuming a certain process that had been in place for several years would no longer exist.

[03:21:26] And so therefore, there would be, they would have to go through an SUP process, which Mr. McGettigan noted, there is no certainty in terms of whether or not it would be approved. But the larger issue is that the county will be shifting its process of how it handles a lot of these data center processes.

[03:21:43] and that's where the unpredictability can occur. But that unpredictability, for all intents and purposes, does not in any way preclude future development of data centers in Prince William County?

[03:22:00] No, it does not. All right, thank you. All right, we are going to go to Supervisor Franklin next. Sure, and I do just want to make a comment about the advisory group and just managing expectations that some of the questions with regards to particularly energy usage, water, and things of that nature, I think, you know, would be better served coming from experts in the industry such as Dominion and such as DEQ, even the Department of Energy.

[03:22:28] I mean, those are the entities I think that should be directing those types of discussion. Just had a couple of questions just going back to the site plan. These may be very simple questions, but I think it's important to just clarify. So would you need a site plan already in place or approved for this particular board action to not impact a project?

[03:22:57] So the board action of initiation or the board action of approving a zoning text amendment in the past? To approving it, because I guess the way I look at this is the initiation is to get to the final approval. So we keep saying just to initiate, but it's really to get to final approval.

[03:23:13] We need to be honest about that. Right, and we wouldn't know what the impacts were on different data centers until we looked at it in more detail. But we talked specifically about the site plans, and if a site plan was in place, that...

[03:23:29] That certainly would not be impacted if they have an approved site plan in place. If they have an approved site plan. So if they don't have an approved site plan, would they then have to convert to a non-conforming use? The board's action would convert the data centers that went in by right into non-conforming uses.

[03:23:56] So they don't have to choose whether they're a non-conforming use. No, it's not choosing. I'm asking if they didn't have a site plan approved, would they then automatically go into being a non-conforming use? It depends. Madam Chair, members of the board, again, we would look at every property on its own.

[03:24:15] But I think what Mr. McGettigan is trying to say is if a piece of property has already been rezoned, and then if the board goes forward with this, that already rezoned property would be a lawful, nonconforming use. If a piece of property or an applicant, a property owner, has, as the Code of Virginia states, a significant affirmative governmental act, and they rely in good faith on that significant affirmative governmental act and incur extensive obligations, they can make a very strong argument that they have a vested right and, therefore, future actions by the board cannot impact their already vested right.

[03:24:52] So going back to the site plan. If they have a site plan, that's an argument that they have a significant governmental action that has approved it and, therefore, they have an argument that they have a vested right and the board's actions, if it changes the zoning in the future, does not apply to them. And so what if there are several phases, I guess, to a particular project?

[03:25:10] So, for instance, if there is a site plan for the first phase but not the second phase. That's why we would need to look at each property as it comes forward. Did they get the rezoning on the first phase but not on the second phase? Have they gone forward with rezoning on both phases and they've got the approved site plan on the first one and the second one has been submitted and staff is working on it?

[03:25:31] It's going to be a case-by-case basis determining the facts of each property. And I would argue this is the exact problem with this particular provision. All right, then we're going to go to Supervisor Bailey, then Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[03:25:48] I've got two questions. One is, and I guess this is for the county exec, because I know you and the county attorney work in compatibility on things like this, so we want that higher level opinion as well.

[03:26:05] If we, and considering this, how will this impact manpower, Or is there additional manpower needed to, as we are considering this, how would that impact the bottom line? Actually, I'll turn this over to planning. They are the best to answer.

[03:26:22] I will say that we will certainly be coming back to the board in terms of priority and wanting to make sure that we were clear about where the board's set in terms of all the other ZTAs and others that were in the pipeline that we needed to work on.

[03:26:43] So in that regard, we would absolutely have to follow up with the board to get some additional direction on priority. But in terms of capacity and what impact this might have on staff, I want to turn it over to Director Washington. In terms of staff capacity, you know, it's no secret that the planning office does not have the full complement of staff that we believe is necessary to accomplish our growing workload.

[03:27:09] With regards to the data center overlay district and the larger issues that have been raised earlier, just a reminder that in addition to the 2021 CTA that was initiated, there is a directive from 2022 to review the noise ordinance, from February 2023 to initiate amendments to the zoning ordinance and DCSM to address potential data center impacts.

[03:27:36] the 2023 directive to establish the data center overlay advisory group which is already operating and still has at least another at least a number of months left to do its its work and then the potential impact on our staff for a new zta which we again we would need to get board direction on where the priority of that cta would fall with regards to all the other ctas that we have in the queue which are quite a number of them so you know we would have to evaluate how we would be able to

[03:28:16] provide staff capacity to support this effort but again we would also as county executive noted we would look to the board to help advise us on where a new cta such as this one would fall into the the priority list amongst the other CTAs that have already been initiated.

[03:28:34] Okay, and thank you for that. And then my additional question is when we -- my researcher told me we've had data centers in the area since '02, which is fun fact for the community since '02.

[03:28:52] And so my question is in terms of better electrical infrastructure and the overlay, and I'm not all that technical but is it a good tool just is it the overlay a good tool in terms of having guidance and boundaries and making sure that we're making good healthy decisions um from heat from o2 going forward because we didn't have it you know is it a good tool i will start just to talk

[03:29:28] more broadly about overlay districts in general and why they are a tool that exists within zoning ordinances zoni excuse me overlay districts are useful in that you can create an additional set of guidelines requirements standards within the boundaries of an overlay district that may be above and beyond what could otherwise apply in zoning districts in general and so from that respect yes they are beneficial one can make the argument that the obviously the county

[03:30:04] in boards previous boards made a decision that having a data center overlay district was a benefit to the county or there was a purpose for that you know again they're obviously just in terms of going over the background and the history of this overlay district there have been changes that have been made not only to the boundaries but to frankly there are some policy changes that were built into that such as taking out some of the activity centers and what-have-you so there is the ability to change overlay districts even if you create one you can always change them so I would just say you know I was

[03:30:41] not around in the county when this overlay district was created so I cannot speak to the decisions that were made at that time but I would just say more broadly just as a planning professional that zoning districts do give you the ability to do more above and beyond then again what would could apply in just a general so all right thank you and then supervisor Vega thank you I'm gonna go back to the point I'm trying to make is I'm not sure if I just wasn't clear enough or if I didn't understand your response clearly enough on slide four and again you don't have to go if you talk about the background pre overlay you

[03:31:21] have listed here significant community concerns related to electric power infrastructure then on slide five you have electric and electric infrastructure needs and then um and again um that's also uh that was for the 2016 overlay and then for the comprehensive review slide um which is slide number number nine you have land use infrastructure impacts um those were obviously highlighted or a bullet was made because there was clearly a concern right and we need to review that did you all gather any data what prompted the concern to

[03:31:55] be listed so what as supervisor we're had noted that transmission lines associated with electrical which is we're calling electrical infrastructure are problematic because aesthetic reasons they're not attractive and that was there was a proposed line from Gainesville to Haymarket that was going through residential neighborhoods that was a big concern at that time that said we need to look at the electrical infrastructure demands and where data centers are located so that

[03:32:35] we don't have a need to extend transmission lines through residential areas. So that was the initial impetus, if you will, for the 2016 overlay was, one, we don't want to encourage data centers in areas that would require transmission lines going through residential neighborhoods to get to them.

[03:32:56] And so that's why we created the Overlake District in the first place, was because of that issue. The aesthetics. Is that clear? Thank you. All right. Thank you. Before we wrap this up, I just had a couple of questions.

[03:33:12] First of all, how long would it take to, I guess, examine the boundaries for the Overlake District? - Since light 22, that's one of the options you guys have for next steps. How long would that take?

[03:33:32] - I don't know, it's dependent on workload and whether we evaluate the work that's already been done on the boundaries and looking at that. I can say that the work that Stantec did, did take areas out and it found two major areas to add.

[03:33:51] One was already added, it was the Devlin Technology Park. And the other area is there's a current comprehensive plan amendment to do something similar north side of Route 29 just went west of the intersection with 66. So those were the only two areas that they identified as expansions and they identified some that just needed to be removed because there was other uses already in there or that weren't appropriate. But it's a staffing issue as well, capacity issue.

[03:34:26] it also again depends upon the prioritization of the board this if the board gives a direction to move forward with us and to initiate it and to look at re-examining the boundaries we would just need to have a conversation about priorities one other thing I would note is that you know we have the benefit of more recent data center projects that have come through and where as part of public review process concerns have been raised about proximity to schools or to residences and so you know in addition to the work that Santec has already done

[03:35:03] that is something that we can certainly take into consideration to do some additional analysis so at this point I can't give you a specific timeframe but that kind of just gives you a sense of some of the things that would inform how long the project could take I appreciate it I think that's part of the issue um or is the issue you know i don't know if there was a plan to resurrect the policy development around the overlay but that's a conversation really that needed to be had and i think that's why we got here you know understand that everyone in the dais and this is mostly for

[03:35:40] the other supervisors you know we all vote on things that impact um residents you know my vote is the same as supervisor vega's vote or supervisor bailey's vote but the thing is we don't all we're not all personally impacted by some of the decisions that we make and so there is a lot of frustration from the supervisors on the western end of the county because it's their constituents the people who have elected them that are in their ear that are feeling the brunt of these decisions personally you know i do think we need a you know we can continue this conversation later when we

[03:36:17] talk about the zta but we do need to examine the overlay boundaries and that needs to be expedited I mean, and I know you guys have a lot on you, but this is one of those things that I think has to be a priority.

[03:36:34] And again, we can get in the discussion later when we talk about the actual ZTA. But if we know we have land, particularly land that needs to be removed, that should be removed, for me, that's a high priority. Because I think it's been very clear that data centers cannot go any and everywhere.

[03:36:52] There are some areas that are just not so great. And over the past few years, since the overlay has been created, people have correctly noted that data centers have gone, you know, from being maybe a, what, 45-foot building to we have hyperscales. So we have to be sensitive that planning has to be, you know, flexible.

[03:37:13] As the industry changes, we need to adapt. So that is my two cents. I appreciate the presentation. Thank you for coming today. You know, I think this was very helpful. So I know I had someone else in queue, but we all had our five minutes twice.

[03:37:32] So we are going to go ahead. I don't know if you had anything else, Mr. Shorter. All right. So thank you so very much. We are going to move on to Madam County Attorney Time. Madam Chair, members of the board, this afternoon in closed session, we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding legal advice and personnel discussion regarding the following pending internal audits.

[03:37:56] Contract Compliance Assessment of Oracle HCM Implementation Phase II and American Rescue Plan Calendar Year 2023 Subrecipient Monitoring Report Interim where the discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture, bargaining position, or negotiating strategy of the public body.

[03:38:15] And we will have consultation and discussion with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to the acquisition of real property for a public purpose With the accompanying legal advice from counsel and briefings by staff members regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel regarding land acquisition of property interest right and for right-of-way on property owned by Hossein Palavanijad and Dana Ann Palavanijad for property located at 17651 Main Street, Dumfries, Virginia, where such consultation or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position,

[03:38:54] negotiating strategy, or litigating posture of the public body. And these items are appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2-3711A1, 3, and 8 of the Virginia Code. Move for approval, Madam Chair. Second. All right. I don't think there's any discussion, so let's take a vote.

[03:39:15] Supervisor Gordy? Aye. Thank you, sir. Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now moving on to agency time. we have three resolutions and one presentation the first item is 11a planning to initiate a comprehensive plan amendment around holy square um in the aquaquan magisterial district can i get a motion is there a presentation madam chair no there's no presentation the only we have one presentation i'm sorry and that will come with 11d okay um therefore madam chair i will move 11a

[03:39:53] for approval so I mean second yeah right discussion madam chair yes thank you madam chair um I know this one uh comes with with quite a bit of of concern from the community I've heard from quite a few different folks uh that live in the Brynn Forest community that live in other parts of mid county I you know we've heard some from Mr. Jeter and the midco folks as well um I understand that there is quite a bit of concern around this one um but I also want to remind folks that we are in the first step of what's gonna be a quite extensive process of this.

[03:40:30] And I do know that staff is being sensitive to the concerns that folks have, especially that pertains to ORPA. And that's why if it wasn't clear, my motion to approve does also include the guidance that staff has in their presentation, which includes providing a minimum of 60% open space within the areas currently designated as ORPA, provided a minimum of 60% undisturbed area the above reference open space encouraging the preservation of a natural buffer or existing woodland or forest area of at least 50 feet along each side of significant non-rpa streams and finally committing to additional measures to improve water quality to the ocaquan watershed

[03:41:09] during both the construction and operation phases such as the use of manufactured treatment devices let me use the nutrient credits enhance erosion sediment controls this is an interesting uh project, it has an interesting CPA surrounding it. Let's be clear, folks, this project area is adjacent to a major shopping center on Hoadley Road and Princeton Parkway. If not for that, we would not be having a discussion right now. Let's also be clear that, and this may not be completely clear to most folks, as of the June reorientation and restructuring of the OmniRide

[03:41:48] service, there'll be a major transit hub off of Galveston Courts. You can get to all parts of Dale City and Woodbridge, including the VRE station, from that Galveston Court realigned transit hub. Thirdly, as was said by a couple of folks that spoke in approval of this, or at least for support, we need to have conversations around more housing of different types in this part of the county. I know it's not what folks are used to. I acknowledge that. I know that folks are uncomfortable and are concerned about that, I hear you and I see you on that. And that's why we've

[03:42:24] had extensive discussions with the developer already. And the last iteration of this project that most of you have seen has already undergone quite a few different changes and concessions that we've talked to the developer about, including reducing the density, including bringing that footprint back from the northern part of the site that hugs Prince William Park Play, and include all the things that you all have been concerned about. Understanding, though, that again, we have to look at tackling our housing crisis. We have to look at that in a holistic way. We have to look at establishing senses of community where it makes sense. And to me, we should at least explore that

[03:43:00] next to a major shopping center on Hodley and the Parkway. As it pertains to traffic and transportation issues, again, talked about the OmniRide Hub. I think that that connects people to a lot of different mass transit amenities and what have you, but I will also say folks brought it up today, they still have concerns around the Darl Noor project. I won't talk about that specifically, but folks have talked about the fact that they still have traffic challenges, parking challenges, what have you. Well, one of the very things we've talked about the developer on this is alleviating some of those very concerns over parking this project conceivably to some of

[03:43:37] the point that folks parking across the road off of Queen Chapel, folks parking in the lost forest community or over in forest community, those things will help hopefully be alleviated by some of the things the developer is looking to do with this project if it were to go through and to be analyzed. So finally, the environmental piece of it. Again, completely here folks on the ORPA piece understanding that staff may come back with their recommendation on not including that entire parcel being MU3. They may say, hey, our recommendation is keep, you know, that back

[03:44:16] chunk ORPA and have the front part of the MU3. There's a lot that staff can still do with consultation and collaboration with the developer, but of course you all as well as my constituents. So there's a lot to be said there. And the last thing I will say on that piece is that back piece is important i know there's a lot of rpa concerns or a lot of uh natural resources and there's frankly a whole forest of mature trees that we do want to protect well guess what we can talk about conservation easements there too that would not be in the conversation if we just went by right five acre lots throughout that entire thing you talk about salts and sedimentation

[03:44:54] and things like that well if we go five acre lots folks and just have by right houses those folks would be able to just clear cut as they see fit, establish drain fields as they see fit? Do all these things that we know have also have downstream, pun intended, environmental concerns with the Occoquan Reservoir? So I get where people are coming from with their concerns. I hear you, and I'm committed alongside the developer to having, as this goes through today, this initiation, a long-term strategy between now, when this comes before us, at the end, commitment to me that we're going to have collaboration and a lot of dialogue on it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[03:45:32] All right. I don't have anyone else in the queue. All right. All right. Hold on. Hold on. Pull it down. We have, I think, Supervisor Vega. All right. There you go. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to go on the record stating that I obviously have serious concerns to the environmental component of this proposal. I don't think that the project is perfect. There are a lot of things that I like about it, but it's the environmental piece for me that gives me pause. I would like to remind my colleagues that not initiating the ZTA doesn't kill the project. It just means that we can't take

[03:46:09] 42 acres out of ORPA. And, you know, Supervisor Bode, I represented this area for four years. It used to belong to the Coles District, so I'm very familiar with this area. I'm very familiar with the traffic challenges. I am very familiar with the overcrowding challenges that we've faced. And And we can speak up here and talk in good faith, but at the end of the day, are those wishful thoughts going to actually materialize?

[03:46:32] We've seen time and time again that that's not the case. You open the door, you can't close it. And my colleague, I actually wrote that to my right, just literally a few minutes ago stated that the purpose of a CTA is to get approval, to get it done, to get it to the finish line.

[03:46:49] What does that look like? course you're going to continue to have dialogue with the applicant but we can't ignore the environmental concerns that have been raised not just by members of the community but by different organizations local belt Mitco environmental management says it's not good policy and so when we talk about sustainability when we talk about the environment when we talk about all of these goals that we that we set on a screen are we really aiming to achieve those goals or are we being counterproductive through our land use votes and I'm not seeking a response I'm just you know putting that out there for you to consider for you to think but again I'm not initiating the ZTA doesn't kill the project it just

[03:47:27] means that we're not going to go ahead and disturb the environment one that we've been for now what our second term fighting to protect all right we're on have Supervisor Weirth and Supervisor Bodie thank you madam chair I'm actually not gonna vote in not that I'm opposed to it but I'm not gonna vote in favor of it on some philosophical reasons here as most of the board is aware I gave a a directive several weeks ago to address putting together some comp plan amendments for the Gainesville District. And that's where I looked at the Gainesville District sort of holistically,

[03:48:04] and I might actually be adding to that now that I've found some other odd things that were incorporated into the comp plan. But the difference between that and this particular instance is those are not being driven by any sort of development application or anything like that. I probably, in prior years, would not have had that much of an issue with initiating this. But in this particular instance, the ORPA is brand new. And as I told the applicant,

[03:48:36] you know, I have a problem with coming out of the gate and invalidating the comp plan before there's been any test to the ORPA yet. Quite frankly, in looking at the map and looking at this property and some neighboring properties, I would suggest there needs to be a more holistic review of comp plan designations in that area. I don't like split planned parcels as this is. I don't know who thought it was a good idea to take a parcel and split plan it from a long rates land use standpoint, because that's just asking for this kind of problem. And

[03:49:14] I think rather than playing whack-a-mole and dealing with this on a one-off basis, I would actually much, I'd be much more inclined to support a comp plan amendment that addresses all these sort of similar parcels or like parcels both on that corridor and in that area, and I just believe in doing it within the larger framework so that we're not constantly back here pulling things off piecemeal or dealing with it application by application simply to entitle one applicant or another to a specific use that they want that may

[03:49:51] may or may not be looked upon favorably by neighbors with similar land circumstances. So for that philosophical reason, I'm just gonna beg off of this one. - Supervisor Bode. - Thank you Madam Chair. And I appreciate the comments of both of my colleagues.

[03:50:07] And again, I hear everyone on their concerns and their thought process he's here. All else I will really say is as we continue to have conversations around, you know, greenhouse gas emission reductions, vehicle miles traveled, environmentalism, and what have you, we know that there are different ways to get at that issue and those issues.

[03:50:30] We know that having more compact communities that are easily walkable, that are within close proximity to amenities and things like that tend to have people drive less. We know that connecting them to transit continues to drive the ball on having people have to jump in their cars less.

[03:50:49] I hear you, Supervisor Weir, on looking at things more holistically, And actually, I would support looking at split parcels globally beyond this one piece separately. But this does beg the question of as we look at the comp plan, as we look at communities, as we look at things as a board, I understand that folks also have a major concern that this might set a precedent.

[03:51:15] I disagree with that. I think that all of these decisions that we make, at least as it pertains to this kind of issue, are our sort of spot case-by-case situations. And again, in this specific, very unique case, we have a parcel that's right next to a major shopping center that's in, I should say, on the fringe of an activity center that we designated with the adoption of this comprehensive plan.

[03:51:39] And I would also just end with saying it's within one mile of three county-owned employment centers. Bacon Race Station, the Bacon Race Fire Station, and this complex we're sitting in right now. As we look ahead, you know, 10, 15 years, we bought that parcel next door.

[03:51:58] That will also house government center employment and warehousing and also housing. As we look at the county-wide space overall, we need to be in better alignment with establishing housing near where employment is going to be and where it currently is.

[03:52:13] I know quite a few county employees that would love to just cross the street or walk to work or jump in their car and spend two minutes going right off of Holy Road onto the park and then turning left into this complex if they had to. I'd prefer them just to walk, and they can do that if we go forward with this.

[03:52:29] So I get everyone's considerations of environmentalism and greenhouse gas emissions, but I also just say again, there are different avenues to take to get there and having more compact, more walkable, more destined setting communities is one way that we can do that, that we haven't really explored too much, especially in this part of the county.

[03:52:49] Thank you, Madam Chair. - All right, Supervisor Vega. - Thank you, Madam Chair. My final attempt here for developers sitting here in chambers, those in DHM or those watching at home, I'll argue that we have plenty of land available that's more suitable off the parkway to address our housing needs, because I do think that we do have housing needs.

[03:53:08] But again, we just can't overlook the environmental impacts. And I guess I'm gonna harp on that a little bit, just because of how much you've championed the environment and sustainability. And because we're gonna be talking about that, and we're gonna be talking about those goals and how achievable they are. We're talking about 500% more in previous surfaces, potentially 3,042 vehicle trips per day.

[03:53:28] That doesn't help us achieve our goals, to include a list of other issues. So again, not a bad project. We don't kill the project. We just don't initiate the CTA. And then the CPA, thank you. And then, what did you say?

[03:53:45] Yes. And then, sorry, I thought I heard something else. And then we can protect the environment. - All right, thank you so very much. And Supervisor Gordy did not have anything else to add. So let's move this forward for a vote.

[03:54:00] - Supervisor Gordy? - No. - Thank you, sir. Motion passes 5-3. Supervisors Vega, Weir, and Gordy voting nay. So now we are going to move on to item 11B, and that's to initiate a CPA for the Nooksville Business Park.

[03:54:25] Since you're not here, Supervisor Gordy, I just want to see if you would like to speak on this first. Yes, Madam Chair. Actually, I would like to move to approve this item. Second. All right, discussion.

[03:54:43] Madam Chair. Supervisor Gordy. Going back to our previous conversation about the industrial or the data center overlay, and when we get into the conversation later, I'll talk more about this, but we're losing our small businesses due to the unfair or maybe not unfair, but the cost and valuation of land within the county, particularly industrial land.

[03:55:17] And now we're literally seeing data centers within the overlay buying out industrial condos. Land that's already occupied by businesses are being bought out and these small businesses are leaving the county. And I've had numerous conversations with small business leaders and I've attended quite a few Noakesville Business Association meetings where people are saying, I can't find a place to put my business in this county.

[03:55:50] So when we were looking at the comp plan and the proposal for the industrial area in Noakesville, we sought out to set a limitation, an area that would just be bounded off from data center development in order to allow for small businesses to have a place to establish themselves in this county and be able to create good paying jobs that are close to their homes.

[03:56:27] As we went through the CPA, this one parcel, and as we were going, I asked the question about what is the rationale for the parcels that are in the village of Noakesville? And they said, well, it was just one thing.

[03:56:45] It's whether or not you have access to sewer. The reason why this lot was added into the village was because it has access to sewer. But this parcel has been advertised for years as a B-1 property with no takers.

[03:57:05] So the opportunity now is to bring in an industrial flex space for small businesses to have an opportunity to get established. We did hold, the developer did hold a public meeting at the Noakesville Firehouse, and interestingly, some Noakesville residents showed up and said, I'm excited about this because I've been looking for a place to open up a brewery or to open up or move their business from one part of the county to Noakesville.

[03:57:42] And so there is some excitement about the potential here to bring additional small businesses to this community who want to be part of the Noakesville community as we celebrated today. And so I'm excited about this and really hope you can get your support in moving this CPA forward.

[03:58:09] All right. I have Supervisor Weir and then Supervisor Bodie. Thank you. He's Weir. You have longer hair than I do. Madam Chair, I'd actually have a question for Supervisor Gordy, and I think he knows probably or can anticipate where I'm going to go with this.

[03:58:34] I am not likely to be in favor of a comp plan amendment to change to an industrial zoning category in that close proximity to the center of Noakesville unless there is some level of certainty that the use will not be that of a data center in the middle of Noakesville.

[03:59:02] And so I would ask Supervisor Gordy, and he can reply at his leisure, or staff, if they know the answer, or even the county attorney. I'm presuming that this is tied to a rezoning request to some extent, but I would like some confidence that if that rezoning request does not go through, the CPA would also die.

[03:59:26] But I'm not sure that we can do that. I mean, how closely can we tie the two applications together? And if we can, would there be a proffering out of data center usage? Madam Chair.

[03:59:44] Yes, Supervisor Gordy. There is a rezoning to I2, which as you know, data centers can only be in I2 by right if it's in the data center overlay. There is no data center overlay out here.

[04:00:02] Second of all, um, anyone coming to me and asking to rezone any land in an Oaksville area, my first personal requirement will be to proffer out data centers, period. Um, I've been, this will not be a data center and they are proffering out data center use. Um, and so, uh, we, we have been very intentional about that.

[04:00:34] And I appreciate you asking the question and further helping us to make sure that we preserve this space in Noakesville for small businesses, keeping data centers out, but giving our small businesses a chance and an opportunity to get a foothold in this county and help us to grow additional business and economic development beyond the data center industry.

[04:01:05] You good? I'll take that as an affirmative, Mr. Gordy. Proffered out. Proffered out. Thank you. All right, Supervisor Bode.

[04:01:22] Thank you, Madam Chair. I see Christina Wynn is here. I don't know if she's going to – I think she's probably going to be here about one of our next agenda items. But since she is here, I was going to ask her to that end, what types of businesses do you think would be good to attract to an area like that?

[04:01:42] Good evening. Christina Wynn, Economic Development and Tourism. Thank you, Chair and Supervisor Bode. So the types of businesses that the applicant has discussed and really kind of that need are those businesses that are not necessarily your retail businesses, right?

[04:02:05] But it is like the breweries or the businesses that might have some outdoor storage or warehouse, that type of facilities that are really good businesses that do a lot of good business, but they don't have the margins to afford land or property in other areas.

[04:02:29] So this would be a great opportunity for them to be able to identify a piece of property and work to really be able to expand their businesses. We're continuously losing, like I think of the different spice businesses or oils or olive oils and things like that where they just were really having a hard time finding a location.

[04:02:58] I appreciate that. Thank you for that, Ms. Wynn. And the way I say that is because Supervisor Gorey, I want to thank you for this, and this is why I seconded it because I think there's a space for us to start going down this road of looking at this as a test case for this because Ms. Wynn highlighted it well. I can also think of the businesses in Hornbaker, on Hornbaker Road who have found they have challenges as well.

[04:03:18] and so as we continue to talk about within the larger context of bringing more businesses and saving the business we have to the county knowing that the giant a gorilla giant elephant in the room is the data center industry and frankly all the research they have at their disposal that frankly mom-and-pop shops don't have to buy a plan to force people out and it'll do all these other things so I appreciate you bringing this to us so I was a Gordy and I told you when we talked about this I look forward to seeing how this pans out so we can replicated in other parts of the county where we know folks need to be able to have space that are these spices these warehouse spaces that are currently being edged out not only by data centers

[04:03:57] but also distribution centers as well and knowing that they these other businesses should have a and and should be welcomed and should have a place in Prince William County thank you madam chair all right I don't all right supervisor angry I'm sorry maybe this is a directive listen I want to know what small are small businesses leaving the county do you have any data on this I mean I would like to know where we are with small business in the county are they coming are in the pipeline are they leaving and if they are why they're leaving you don't have to answer that now but

[04:04:33] if we could put that up Mr. Short I'll leave that with you if we can just get some data on that so we can see what we're talking about here with small businesses in Prince William County we do have a barriers to small businesses report we will that was done by Christina and her team we will send that back out to the board as a reminder and then follow up with any questions that you might have all right thank you so much and so we don't have any other questions we can move forward with the vote thank you supervisor Gordy all right thank you sir vote unanimous

[04:05:09] all right we are going to move on to item 11c that's to initiate a CPA to integrate the sustainability and resilience and recommendations from the community energy and sustainability master plan into the comp plan so with that do I have a motion actually manager the Planning Office does have a presentation it is included with the staff report okay agenda packet we're happy to go through it it provides some information about the sustainability policies that

[04:05:46] currently in the comprehensive plan and then describes the scope of work my apologies please proceed because I thought we only had one presentation so please proceed great I will turn it over to mr. McGettigan thank you very much thank you madam chair members of the board my name is David McGettigan from the planning office and we're gonna just go through some things that we are in the scope of work and also looking if there's anything else that we didn't mentioned that you want to include in the scope of work certainly this is an

[04:06:22] opportunity to give us some input and this is adding sustainability resilience as well as a CSMP into integrating it into our comprehensive plan sustainability is a really three pronged concept and that includes the environment social and economic components and it's the management of

[04:06:55] resources to the present to provide them make sure they're available for future generations and sustainable development is and this is defined in the long-range land use chapter of the comprehensive plan is the process of improving the long-term economic environmental social well-being of a community through wise land use. And so this is a graphic directly from our comprehensive plan. And so we've already incorporated sustainability to a certain extent in a portion of the comprehensive plan that we

[04:07:32] addressed in the 2022, the pathway to 2040 update. Resilience is the capability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to social well-being, health, the economy, and the environment.

[04:07:52] We are also working parallel to a resiliency plan that our emergency management office is working on that, and out of that effort will come some need to make some changes into our comprehensive plan and address resiliency, and it's something that the state recommends we include into our comprehensive plan.

[04:08:17] So our current policies, again, the board adopted in the climate mitigation and resiliency goals, the greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 50 percent from the 2005 baseline by 2030, achieve 100 percent renewable electricity for county government operations by 2030, 100 percent renewable electricity countywide by 2035, carbon neutrality for county government operations by 2050 and climate resilient actions to move towards being a climate ready region

[04:08:56] so these goals are need to be incorporated into the comprehensive plan which is our overarching long-term document for the county so that's part of this effort to include that and the comprehensive plan does have current policies in there like I said in the the land use and mobility, and housing chapters when we first set them up, and I'll just briefly go through some of those things. It lists these key factors and policies in the long-range land use chapter.

[04:09:32] We have policies to promote sustainable land development, to use a land use pattern that incorporates and protects environmental features, and to encourage sustainable land use development that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint of development.

[04:09:50] We also have, in the land use chapter, a discussion of environmental justice. And, again, that's one of the sustainability not only includes the environment, but other social and economic issues as well.

[04:10:09] And the policy is to ensure that the consideration of mitigating localized environmental and public health impacts especially in low income and people of color communities are part of the land use decision making process and they we talk about trying to reach and reach out to other disadvantaged communities so that they can participate in the process and land use decisions and also increasing affordable housing options access to amenities open public spaces and developing healthy neighborhoods.

[04:10:50] This is some of the sustainability issues around equity that were already included in the land use policies that are in the land use plan. The environmental chapter also, though it wasn't recently updated, did already have a lot of policies and action strategies related to sustainability, the one being that develop a community energy master plan which the county did so this was an

[04:11:23] impetus for creating that and so there are already some in the environment chapter but it's dated so we do need to take another look at the environment chapter mobility chapter we included a prioritizing equity and access when planning for mobility projects promote sustainability and resiliency when proposing new infrastructure of grading existing facilities and adapt changing uh to changing emerging mobility trends so we have sustainability was on our minds when we we were updated those uh for the 2040 comprehensive plan including the housing chapter uh which

[04:12:02] looked for environment environmentally sustainable housing communities with a variety of housing types densities locations and affordability to promote a safe and livable environment for all residents. Even in the utilities chapter that we created as part of that comp plan to support and encourage alternative green energy infrastructure.

[04:12:23] So that's a summary of what's already in the comprehensive plan. In the 2040, Pathway to 2040 plan, we only looked at five of the chapters in the comprehensive plan, so we need to go back and look at some of those other chapters and make sure that it's incorporated throughout the comprehensive plan.

[04:12:45] The strategic plan also speaks to sustainable growth and sustainability and so we're going to be embarking on this with your guidance on integrating sustainability and resiliency into the comprehensive plan and looking at first of all some of the things that the state in their enabling legislation for the comprehensive plan gives us guidance and they've added things to it over time, and one is to consider strategies to address resilience.

[04:13:23] They also want us to include coastal resource management guidance, which was in the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has provided some guidance on what should be, and we are in Tidewater, Virginia.

[04:13:39] The Potomac River is a tidal river on our shores, so we are in part of that region and And we're included in this enabling legislation that we shall incorporate this guidance into our plan. So we'll be doing that.

[04:13:54] Of course, we have the adopted Community Energy and Sustainability Master Plan that we need to incorporate into it and actually one of its action strategies is to incorporate this into the comprehensive plan. So the scope of work then for our final scope of work, we are going to create a list of guidance for future development that will help mitigate impacts of climate change to promote energy efficiency and conservation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote sustainable

[04:14:31] and regenerative material cycles, protect and enhance biodiversity, and protect and restore water resources. So all these objectives are part of incorporating that into the comprehensive plan, as well as the CSMP, look at green infrastructure management, environmental justice, establish long-term sustainability goals, as I mentioned the coastal resource management guidance, and all hazards resiliency, and some of the things that are coming out of emergency management's resiliency plan, and that's going to help improve the county's resiliency to accommodate

[04:15:10] that into our comprehensive plan. So next step, we'll prepare an in-depth scope of work. This was just a general outline of some of the topics we're going to cover. We'll procure consultant assistance, prepare stakeholder and community engagement, review best practices, do some data gathering analysis, and then start drafting amendments.

[04:15:34] We'll then have a robust community engagement and then public hearings. And with that, it's our recommendation that we initiate this comprehensive plan amendment. - All right, thank you so very much for your presentation.

[04:15:50] Are there any questions from anyone on the dais? All right, I want everyone to jump in at once. Doesn't sound like anyone has any questions, comments, concerns? You want to go, Victor? All right, I thought, you good voting?

[04:16:06] - I'll have to make a motion. - All right, make your motion. - All right, Madam Chair, I move 11C forward that we initiate a CPA amendment to integrate sustainability, resilience, and recommendations from the CESMP to the comprehensive plan. - Second. - Discussion.

[04:16:22] - Madam Chair. - Supervisor Bodie. - Thank you, Madam Chair. We've come a long way. I appreciate Mr. McGeddy and you putting together that timeline of how far we've come. You know, this is something that has been four years almost completely in the making.

[04:16:37] When I authored the county's climate mitigation resiliency goals back in 2020, I insisted that we implement these goals alongside the equity and environmental justice principles you talked about into the entirety of the comprehensive plan, as opposed to being a standalone sort of out there chapter to be referenced on the shelf as folks would once.

[04:16:56] And we did adopt that CSMP as was said last year, but the CPA goes and makes good on that promise of actually interweaving it into the comprehensive plan because you did a very good job, Mr. McGeaghan, of showing in all the different ways how our current policies touch on and allude to sustainability, but now we need to have all that handshake with the plan that we just adopted last year.

[04:17:20] So wanted to just commend you for that and also wanted to say that we're almost there, folks. This is gonna be another endeavor that goes down that road of making sure that our policies, whether it's transportation, land use planning, utilities, everything that we've been talking about as a board over the last few years, all speaks to how can we make ourselves a more climate-ready county, how can we make ourselves a more resilient county, and most importantly, especially for some of the communities that I represent, a more environmentally just county.

[04:17:50] 'cause I know that I'm not alone when I say that we have some challenges when it comes to environmental justice in our communities and we need to address those as well. Thank you, Madam Chair. - All right, Supervisor Bailey. - Thank you, Madam Chair. I concur with Supervisor Bodie.

[04:18:07] What I really like about this plan is that you're in alignment with everything that's going on with the county and I think that's important and it's imperative and you're inclusive with everything that's going on with the county and it relates to the strategic plan. So I really appreciate that and it's easy to follow 'cause most times environment is not.

[04:18:28] So thank you so much. - I think Vega, you wanna go? - I sure do. I can't help but to see all of this land use policy, land use policy items listed on here considering the vote that we just took, but I just wanna go ahead and read, you know, land use policy 18, encourage a land use pattern that incorporates and protects environmental features in accordance with the goals and objectives of the environment plan of the Calm Plan and Prince William County's 2021 and 2024 strategic plan and contributes to the county's climate and resiliency goals and then encourage sustainable land use development

[04:19:07] that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint of development. I've said it time and time again, I'm not just gonna go ahead and vote for something that is wishful thinking. I think that these are very aggressive goals. How attainable are they? I have my personal opinions, but again, folks, so the biggest impact that we have on the environment comes through our land use votes And I wanna be very clear about that.

[04:19:27] And you gotta look at the way that we're voting. And just one question to you, Dave. I wanna know how are we going to get to be on slide 14, you have listed here achieve 100% renewable electricity for county government operations by 2030. Considering the size of this county, how are we gonna get there?

[04:19:47] - Certainly a good question and something that I think the CSMP looked at. But yes, that's part of what we will be looking at in the sustainability and setting those goals as well and what actions we need to take to actually achieve those goals as the CSMP did as well.

[04:20:09] Tanya Washington, planning director. If I can also add to that, I think given that the county is embarking upon updating a strategic plan, that is certainly another opportunity that the county can pursue to identify strategies to help achieve this goal.

[04:20:29] And I assume that once we have those findings, we're also going to be talking about what it's going to cost the county? Yes? I will defer to the county executive on that question. I'm sorry.

[04:20:47] Would you like me to repeat the question? My question was once they, I guess, gather all of the data that they need, my initial question was how do we plan to be 100% – let me see what the language was, achieve 100% renewable electricity for county government operations by 2030.

[04:21:08] I asked, what was the plan as to getting there? And they brought a response, and my follow-up to that was that once they do gather that data, I assume that we're going to be discussing how much that's going to cost. Well, costs not associated with the strategic planning effort.

[04:21:25] If I heard right, the strategic planning effort is really meant to be aspirational and to be clear about the direction of the county. It is not necessarily to dissect at what cost. So then at what point do we have those conversations?

[04:21:43] Budget. As part of the budget process, we would talk through the realistic costs associated with goals, projects, and initiatives. Thank you. Supervisor Weir.

[04:21:59] Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not going to stand in the way of this, but I do have my concerns. I think I share Supervisor Vega's concerns as to whether these things are achievable or not. However, I would make particular note of slide 22 with respect to the electrical utilities, because we're going to be talking about that a whole lot.

[04:22:23] And policy EU3, I will be curious to see how you go about supporting and encouraging alternative green energy infrastructure. As most of the board is aware, I was not at the board meeting last Tuesday because I was sitting down with Dominion and Vaco and their stakeholders group.

[04:22:43] And they made a rather, they gave the county a rather binary choice. Transmission lines across your property or small modular reactors in your neighborhood. I also pointed out to them that they left out backup diesel generators, but nonetheless, they're presenting it in a binary fashion.

[04:23:05] So I just want you to keep that in mind and that as we start talking about some of these other projects that are coming down the road um i i don't see policy proposed policy eu3 uh as being in any way achievable given current circumstances i would just note to that point supervisor weird that that's an existing policy um that i was highlighting that was already in the plan

[04:23:33] and it has action strategies associated with it so that's not a proposed uh policy i apologize um we're going to have to we are coming um we're bumping up against the seven o'clock meeting because we've changed the time even when we're going to 7 30. i know that we have a lot so i apologize i was just speaking with mr shorter um about how we're going to handle the rest of the

[04:24:10] agenda does anyone have any further questions if not we'll just go ahead and take the vote so move

[04:24:25] yeah supervisor gordy aye thank you sir supervisor franklin let me get you a new ipad there we go

[04:24:52] Motion passes. Seven to one. Supervisor Vega voting nay. Thank you so very much. We are going to move on to item 11D which has a presentation. Good evening Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Seth Handler-Vos. I'm honored to serve as the county's Parks and Recreation Director. I'm joined this evening by Christina Wynn, the Economic Development Director, David McGinnigan, Deputy Planning Director, Sarah Fry from PFM, your financial advisor, and Bill Mikens from Barrelsford and Dunleavy.

[04:25:46] to share the findings from the interim agreement for the development of an indoor sports and events center that the board authorized in November. So we have a holistic project before you that requires and warrants a holistic team approach. So here we are to provide the information that you've been waiting for. We are also joined by members of the offerer team that includes MEB, Clark Nexon, and Victus. And they'll be here available for questions after the presentation.

[04:26:16] If acceptable to you, Madam Chair, we'll ask that the Board. Save all their questions until the end of the presentation. As Acting Chair right now, since Madam Chair is away, that's quite all right. Wonderful. Thank you, sir. So given its scale, we thought it would be apropos and helpful to begin this presentation by framing the big picture behind this proposed project.

[04:26:43] Most importantly, the project aims to serve our residents. That has always been the aim from the beginning. Our community currently lacks bulk indoor space for groups, sports and special events, meaning that our families and our clubs and our leagues and our teams have to travel outside the county for competitions and for entertainment.

[04:27:03] This locally driven project advances numerous aspects of our community's growth vision, checking many of the boxes in the board's very own strategic plan and comprehensive plan.

[04:27:22] Sorry about that. So, for example, the project is expected to grow and diversify the county's tax base, needed support to the school division, improve health outcomes for our residents, create jobs and support local businesses, expand tourism seasonality, elevate the county's sports tourism brand, spur new hotel development and tourism occupancy tax growth, and bolster Prince William County's destination brand. So throughout the presentation, we're going to draw lines back to

[04:27:51] all these anticipated benefits. Staff has been advancing this project for the board for almost six years the project originated through a board directive back in 2018 and we've been through a lot of twists and turns since then including a pause during the pandemic and challenges finding the right site the facility has always been contemplated to cater to large group sporting competitions and events as opposed to a more traditional membership-based community recreation

[04:28:27] center each of those models have very very different operating approaches there's only room for one facility like this in the entire DMV region, let alone Prince William County, and if approved, Prince William County would be the first to market with a facility of this type. The Board gravitated towards a site along the I-95 corridor to meet the necessary success criteria such as convenient access to major population centers, proximity to existing infrastructure, and proximity to existing support businesses such as hotels

[04:29:00] and retail and shopping. We've structured a very robust and thorough community engagement process over the last three months of this interim agreement phase. It included focus groups, presentations of focus groups and interviews, public forums, advisory board presentations, and one-on-one board of supervisor briefings. Between all of these forums, we connected with approximately 550 individuals. We also reached approximately 29,000 people via our Facebook posts, and we had 8,700 visits to the project website. We received 240 comments on the project

[04:29:40] website which you can view by visiting the site there's the link up there for all of you listening from home so as Seth mentioned it's not a traditional recreation facility that's proposed it's a large facility geared toward group use and I wanted to take a minute to talk about the operating model that's proposed here because the operating model is a key assumption that drives all the financial projections that we'll talk about today so when we have large indoor recreation facilities of this type they can be operated to really drive economic development and in that case

[04:30:17] if the goal is economic development the facility may be given away at our at really deeply discounted rates or even for free with the goal of bringing in those out-of-county visitors for them to to spend money in the county when they're visiting the facility that was the case one of the stated goals the virginia beach facility was to drive economic development specifically to fill hotel rooms during their off-peak season.

[04:30:43] Facilities can also be operated geared toward community use. What's proposed here is for a combination, so local use primarily during the weekdays and on the weekends to really drive that economic development and out-of-county visitation to the county.

[04:31:06] So in November of 23, the county entered into an interim agreement with MEB, the offeror for this project. And since that time, they've been doing a number of things. They've done detailed analysis of the site and deeper conceptual design services on the facility itself.

[04:31:25] They've updated the construction cost estimates, and they worked with Victus Advisors, independent sports consultants to develop market demand research and a fiscal impact study. The county independently engaged independent consultants to review what the offer put forth.

[04:31:41] That includes myself, Sarah Fry, the county's financial advisor at PFM, and we engage with Brailsford and Dunleavy, sports consultants, to evaluate the market demand and fiscal impact. The proposed facility will be approximately 250,000 square feet.

[04:32:03] That includes a second level with a mezzanine. It will contain two wings separated by a common quarter, or one wing will contain a hydraulically banked track that's convertible to six basketball courts, 12 volleyball courts, and 20 pickleball courts. There are only 10 hydraulically banked tracks in the United States, which would be the 11th.

[04:32:22] Most major track and field competition producers require banked tracks when they're seeking venues. The track wing will also contain 3,500 fixed seats and room for an additional 3,000 loose seats that will enable us to host graduations and special events.

[04:32:42] The other wing will contain eight basketball courts that are convertible to 16 volleyball courts and 20 pickleball courts. The facility will be able to accommodate a wide array of large sporting events, such as track and field, basketball, futsal, volleyball, pickleball, cheer, wrestling, and a slew of others.

[04:33:02] But beyond sports, the facility will support other events, such as high school graduations, high school robotics and drone competitions, trade shows, expos, community events, and conventions. So we assembled some imagery here to give you a sense of the different types of events you can expect in this facility.

[04:33:21] Here you can see the hydraulically banked indoor track that will be used four months out of the year, primarily in this wing. You can see we have the opportunity for wrestling and volleyball tournaments, basketball tournaments, adaptive recreation uses, taekwondo tournaments.

[04:33:41] You can see pickleball is in here. That's going to be a big user. More adaptive recreation competitions. you can see extracurricular non-sporting events such as the high school drone and robotics competitions conventions and and family special events lastly here are some examples some other unique events such as fraternities sorority reunions and gatherings and and expos bridal expos home and garden expos you name it we can bring it here and then you can see corn hall

[04:34:14] band competitions cheer there's futsal which is indoor soccer so the long and short of this is that it's a multi-use facility that can accommodate most any use. The county is currently under contract for a 22-acre piece of ground up on Telegraph Road at the intersection of Caton Hill and Telegraph Road. It's about a mile south of the proposed 14th High School site. The purchase agreement was executed in December and we're about near the end of the 150-day study period. The site has a lot of advantages to it. It's located

[04:34:51] right next to 95 with easy access, directly connected to the hot lane in fact. It's adjacent to the Telegraph Road commuter parking lot which could be used for facility parking during prime facility hours, mainly weekends and weekday evenings. We're currently in discussion with VDOT about this shared use arrangement and they're receptive to it. There are approximately 2,300 public parking spaces within the immediate vicinity of this facility. It only requires a thousand so it's going to save us money on having developed surface parking on the property. It's adjacent to a huge multimodal transit hub in the county it's close to existing hotels and dining

[04:35:31] and shopping and entertainment venues and it's within 30 miles of all 13 high schools and within 15 miles of seven of those high schools here's how the proposed facility will fit on the site you can see here to the right of the image on the slide is the commuter lot there and you can see that we are still planning to develop 350 surface spaces on the property as part of the development so the the budget and five-year plan include annual debt service capacity for the development

[04:36:05] of this facility so in other words if the board chooses to move forward that it can be financed within the county's financial policies within your debt affordability limits the estimated cost for the facility are shown on the right the first component of that is the land acquisition as seth mentioned that's under contract there is a small refundable deposit in in total the the land acquisition is $16 million. The construction of the facility and the furniture, fixture, and equipment to go in it is estimated at $125 million, bringing the total capital cost to be financed at

[04:36:42] just over $140 million. So we have assumed that that cost could be financed through the sale of bonds, and the debt service would be based on market conditions at the time of sale. We're estimating that to average just over 10 million dollars a year for 20 years that would be the debt service cost on the capital the bonds could be issued if you if you so choose through the county's industrial development authority that's a common financing approach that the county uses most recently last fall bill mikins with burlesford dunleavy consultant to the county as mentioned

[04:37:21] burlesford dunleavy was engaged to evaluate the market demand for the facility we conducted an independent review, the Victus market analysis findings, and based on that review, we agree that there's a very strong demand for a facility of this type in the county, particularly given the county and the region's kind of robust demographics, and as Seth mentioned, the location of the site on the I-95 corridor with existing amenities is a key attribute for the facility, and there's

[04:37:56] currently no comparable facilities in the region. As part of the market analysis, VICTIS indicated a strong demand for weekend youth and amateur sports tournaments and track events. They also recommended that the facility program would be focused on indoor sports, namely track and field, basketball and volleyball, but there's also flexibility for other sports such as pickleball, wrestling, cheer, recreational sports, adaptive sports, community events, etc.

[04:38:28] Seth also mentioned the community outreach. As part of that outreach, the Prince William County high schools were engaged, and based on that engagement, they indicated that there's a strong interest in using the facility for indoor track and field meets as well as graduations at the facility.

[04:38:50] This slide addresses the usage and visitors anticipated for the facility. It's anticipated the facility would market and operate opportunities for recreational sports, such as pickleball, community programming, primarily on the weekdays prior to 3.30 p.m., because then after 3.30 p.m. on the weekdays, usage would primarily be dedicated towards hourly court rentals for local youth in adult sports teams and clubs to use for practices and competitions so this would primarily

[04:39:30] be focused on in-county visitors and it's expected that during the week you know 90% of those visitors would be from Prince William County residents almost 184,000 visits per year during the week then on the weekend usage would flip over to primarily daily facility rentals for youth amateur sports tournaments on the court side of the facility and then track and field meets on the track side and these are projected to be one to two day events

[04:40:05] drawing mostly out of county visitors but it's also anticipated that prince william county residents could participate in those competitions so overall between weekday and weekend usage of facilities, it's estimated that approximately 60% of the attendance would be out of county with 40% in county. And as part of that in county participation in the facility, Victus estimates that that could help save county families money that they would otherwise be

[04:40:42] spending out of county on sports tourism events. And they estimate that could be upwards of $19 million dollars per year. You know the key driver for this facility is really hosting events and rentals. So VICTIS projects that the facility would host approximately 70 annual sports tourism events so those would mostly be on the weekends those one to two day events and they're projected to have 50 court sport events so there's be basketball volleyball etc and then 20 track and

[04:41:21] field meets or championships on the track side of the facility. The most active months for the facility are anticipated to be between November and March because that coincides with the indoor track season where you could potentially have events going on on both sides of the facility on both the court side as well as the track side.

[04:41:47] You know, rental income is a key driver for the facility. On weekends, the revenue would primarily be derived from renting the building, the court side, and the track side for sports tournaments and track and field events.

[04:42:03] And on weekdays, revenue would be derived primarily from hourly court rentals for basketball and track practice, or basketball, volleyball, et cetera, practices after 3.30 p.m.

[04:42:19] And then also there's some minor revenue that would be from kind of drop-in sports like pickleball during the day. So all that revenue translates into the operating pro forma, which on this slide is presented for the first five years of operation.

[04:42:41] And with operating revenues being on the top, operating expenses below that, and then net operating income. So operating revenues, less operating expenses would be your net operating income. on an annual basis and then the operating margin is indicated below that a key assumption here is that for this pro forma is that the this notion of a three-year startup phase so in years one through three the operating expenses are kept constant because it would

[04:43:16] take as much effort and resources to operate the building in year one as opposed to as it does in in year three, whereas the revenues ramp up, so it takes a while to market the facility to get events booked up, so there's kind of a transition phase, so that it's anticipated by year three that the building would be stabilized, that operations would be stabilized.

[04:43:46] Some of the key revenue drivers, as I mentioned, was rental income from sports and graduations, Concession sales during events, facility fee of $2 per ticket, which would only apply to those weekend events or out-of-town attendees, and then advertising, sponsorship, the weekday programming, and then kind of miscellaneous revenues.

[04:44:12] Largest expense on the operating side would be salaries and then the cost of goods sold for concessions, which is the labor and materials it takes to actually sell the concessions. And utilities and the management fee is estimated at about $300,000.

[04:44:29] So the pro forma is indicating, you know, negative net operating income in years one and two, ramping up to a positive operating income of $418,000 in year three.

[04:44:49] And after that, revenues and expenses are increased about 3% per year. So as Seth mentioned from the outset, the facility as proposed is expected to drive sports tourism to the county.

[04:45:06] Currently, the county ranks seventh within the Commonwealth for the number of visitors to the county. And with the estimated new visitors, that's visitors from out of county coming to the facility, that's estimated just over 380,000 people annually.

[04:45:23] Prince William County would move up to rank fourth in the Commonwealth with those projections. As Bill mentioned, the visitors would be spending time in the hotels, primarily in the indoor track season, November to March, which helps offset some of the slower leisure months in terms of hotel demand.

[04:45:45] And then based on the estimated out of town visitation, this facility would become the third most visited tourism in the county behind Potomac Mills and Jiffy Loop live the project is expected to generate direct tax revenue to the county again primarily from that out of county visitor coming and that's food and beverage spending transit occupancy tax which is from the hotel room nights and sales tax in aggregate that is expected to be just over a million and a half in year three when the project is

[04:46:23] stabilized um and of course that million and a half uh annual total revenue to the county that is subject to sharing of revenues if the board chooses through the the sharing group with schools and we know some of the the transit occupancy tax how that split um in different ways as that comes through but in aggregate a million and a half in new uh direct revenue again david mcgett again from the planning office. You'll see a lot of me this afternoon. So this project would be a

[04:46:59] catalyst for the small area plan. The small area plan contemplated a facility like this when it was developed to anchor the town center that would be there next to, again, a major multimodal transit hub that could support town center densities and that the strategic investment in our small area plans is very important to the implementation of those small area plans. And control of the site, whether for the sports complex is developed or not, would provide some strategic advantage for

[04:47:32] economic development purposes. And the landing at Prince William Small Area Plan, their vision is there that shows that the vibrant arts and entertainment district that fosters both local and regional economic opportunities while preserving natural resources.

[04:47:50] So this would help with that small area plan. Looking at a hypothetical build-out in reference to the small town center that's envisioned there and the building wall and street grid that's proposed for the town center, this facility would fit in well.

[04:48:11] It can take advantage of the adjacent commuter parking lot and future parking deck that can be included there. We can support multifamily development and retail and restaurants, other arts and entertainment uses, as well as hotels on this site.

[04:48:30] And the site is at mixed use, one of our highest transects, the transect 6 and 5, So that would support this overall development, economic development of the small area plan.

[04:48:54] Hello again. So in terms of there was a lot of questions when we were doing some of the community sessions and so forth was what about what would this facility create in terms of other development in the land area in the landing small area plan?

[04:49:14] How would this facility really help to execute that vision? So we engaged with Hunden Partners to perform a market analysis, really looking at what potential future hotel, restaurant, retail could be really a result of locating the sports and events center in this area.

[04:49:41] So Hunden worked on that study. they've really focused on those net new visitors that would be necessary to really drive that ancillary development. Basically, would a developer invest and actually spend the money to build a new hotel or more restaurants and so forth. We just received this study just, I think, last week.

[04:50:04] And the next steps is, so it is in draft form, is to have our county's financial advisors to go it and validate those assumptions but on the next slide just to give you a little bit of some of their initial key findings again they're focused on so it's a little bit of a different nuance because they're looking at that ancillary development and what would drive that ancillary development so they're looking at consumer spending you know food and beverage lodging retail

[04:50:36] transportation, etc. So they definitely agreed that this was a prime location with the interstate access that would, you know, really have a good potential success. It creates that positive impact. It'll create jobs and that from an operating perspective that, you know, after stabilization, there would be some sort of profitability. But in terms of specific questions and that ancillary development, they project that a 90 room, 90, a new 90 room hotel and

[04:51:14] possibly up to 200 new rooms could be built in the future because of this facility. The 200 rooms would really depend on that kind of that weekday demand to ensure that the hotel would be sustainable.

[04:51:32] It would also create the demand for about 30,000 square feet of new restaurants and 16,000 square feet of retail. But the other big key is when you're looking at these areas, these small area plans, and really bringing them to life and making them, you know, be successful, is this critical mass of entertainment or eatertainment and attractions.

[04:51:57] And so often when you see a public investment in kind of this vision, then it creates this opportunity to attract complementary uses that really build and help to execute that vision and that small area plan.

[04:52:13] And so the more that as we build out the landing, creating that walkable amenity, that project then even becomes more successful and there is more development. And so and then and of course, I think what was already mentioned, but Hunden also concurred is that that site really is a key site.

[04:52:36] It's in a prime location and it would be a great opportunity if the county could really use it as a catalyst to implement the small area plan. Thank you. So to summarize the proposed impact of this project, the demand for the facility is sound, as we all found and described to you today, particularly given the demographics in the county and the region.

[04:53:03] The proposed facility satisfies many of the existing goals in the county's strategic plan, the comp plan, and the parks, rec, and open spaces master plan. It's expected to drive many community benefits, the sports tourism that we've talked about. From a financial and economic perspective, wanted to put some of these numbers together.

[04:53:21] We've talked about them throughout the presentation, but to circle back and put it on one slide here. So the facility is projected to operate, to generate net income once it gets to stabilization.

[04:53:38] We talked about the direct tax revenue it's expected to generate at a million and a half a year. Beyond that, the project is expected to drive economic impact in the county, estimated to create over 900 new jobs. That's associated with $46 million a year in wages and a $50 million economic output within the county.

[04:54:00] And again, that's a lot of the food and beverage and hotel and sales tax spending that we've talked about. You would be responsible for debt service on the facility, which would average just over $10 million a year for 20 years. So you can see the total net fiscal impact when you take into account both the operational and direct tax revenue and the debt service cost.

[04:54:26] - So at this juncture, the interim agreement scope of work items are complete and the site due diligence is complete. So we are scheduled to close on the Telegraph Road property by June 17th.

[04:54:42] Disregard the June 19th, it's June 17th. We have to close by that time. As a reminder, the annual debt service capacity for this acquisition is built into the five-year plan. If the board does not want to pursue this property, you'll need to take affirmative action by resolution to terminate the purchase agreement prior to May 20th.

[04:55:07] You could do that without penalty. The $550,000 earnest money would come back to the county. You would not lose it. Between now and July, we need to finalize the financial and economic projections, as Christina mentioned, and we need to draft a comprehensive agreement with MEB, the offerer.

[04:55:32] The comprehensive agreement is the next step in the PPEA process per the county's policy. And that agreement entails investing in enough preliminary engineering to get to a guaranteed maximum price.

[04:55:51] So you know exactly what to expect when it comes to the budget for this project. On July 16th, we would come back to the board to review the financial and economic projections, review the draft comprehensive agreement, and at that time we'd engage with you about the operating plan for the facility.

[04:56:13] And at the conclusion of that work session, if you all wish to proceed with the project, you'll need to set a public hearing for that comprehensive agreement, which will probably hold in September. So with that, that concludes the presentation. I wanna thank all of the staff, your consultants, our offerer for all the hard work in analyzing all of this data.

[04:56:35] We know it's a lot of information. I'm very proud of the work done to date, very proud that we've reached this point, and honored that we're discussing a project like this here in Prince William County when no other counties have ventured this far. So we are here to answer any questions that you have to make sure that you have all the information you need to make these important decisions.

[04:57:01] All right. I had one speaker in queue. It doesn't look like there's anybody. Okay, Supervisor Franklin? No, there's no one. So Supervisor Franklin. I guess no one's button because Supervisor Sweer was working.

[04:57:20] Okay, so I'll go with Supervisor Franklin, then we're, then, okay, Supervisor Franklin. Sure, yeah, so I've been supportive of this project, and I, too, am proud of the fact that Prince William can even be in a position to consider this.

[04:57:37] It really, I think, shows how far we've come in terms of our standing in this region. And I want to thank all of the residents who came out in support of this. I do think that it is important. I do think that there are clear benefits to the county, particularly for our youth sports leagues.

[04:58:01] And I think that this will just continue to kind of further, again, our standing kind of within the region. As we talk about bringing various types of revenue streams to this county, why not look at something within the sports, tourism, and entertainment space?

[04:58:19] I think it's something that is missing. I think it's something that we need. We've seen that this facility can triple as not just a sports facility, but an event space and other types of usage. So I am supportive of this. And just also want to thank Supervisor Angry for his, you know, he's led the effort on this since I've been on this board.

[04:58:41] And I think that it's not something that's just personally important to him, but I think he also understands the importance of such a facility in this area. So just wanna go on record as publicly supporting this. So thank you.

[04:58:56] - All right, Supervisor Weir, then Supervisor Angry. - Thank you, Madam Chair. I will say, I'm saying this for the benefit of the residents 'cause everybody up on this dais and everybody on staff already knows my position on it. I'm not gonna hurt their feelings 'cause I already have.

[04:59:14] But it's interesting that here we are again with an information presentation, and by not taking an action tonight, we're locking ourselves into a $15 million contract or at least having to eat $500K because we're not taking an action on the land purchase tonight.

[04:59:35] That's offensive to me and should be offensive to every taxpayer in this county, but that's typical of the process with this whole thing. This has gone from a sports complex, a park for the kids to, and I quote, Mr. Hendler-Voss, a sports entertainment venue.

[04:59:57] If it's a sports entertainment venue that our residents aren't really going to use, why is the Parks Department handling this instead of economic development? If this is truly an economic development process and project, why is an economic development doing it and handing it over to Parks instead?

[05:00:21] Why was the contractor, the one we're going to enter into the agreement with, allowed to hire their own consultant, Victus? I questioned the numbers at the point in time that they were delivered to us. We've gotten a new report by a county consultant that vastly differs from the Victus report.

[05:00:41] Hunden's is markedly different. We haven't even reviewed it yet, but we're making a decision. We're expending considerable amounts of time, money, effort. Why isn't this being funded by the private industry?

[05:01:00] Just got a notice of the mall opening up a new pickleball area. We've got soccer fields being built by a private-public partnership on one of our parks. I just got an application in the other day for a court facility, privately built on Long Park.

[05:01:18] We've got $200 million of incomplete and unfunded park projects for decades. I had to scrap together proper money for ball field lights that have been outstanding for 20 years.

[05:01:40] Is this the kind of service we provide our constituents, the taxpayers? This is a boondoggle from start to finish. We should be ashamed of this. Oh, we're going to generate a million and a half.

[05:01:57] Well, according to that study, we are. According to 100, it's markedly less than that. Oh, it's only going to cost us $9 million net net at the end of the day. Well, no, it's not. It's going to cost you more like 22 because everybody seems to forget that we have to offset that with monies to the schools. It's not one cent on the mill rate.

[05:02:17] It's three or a half or four. It seems like every time we turn around, we are doing one of these bad deals. It's certainly not what was initially promised to the track community.

[05:02:33] years ago. What are you going to do with the crew community that you promised a new boathouse for an equally long period of time? What are you going to do with the other parks that aren't quite finished yet? Or the new ones that aren't built? Or the water service at the one at Tyler? Every time I turn around asking for some sort of small fix or improvement, it's we don't have the funding.

[05:03:06] And don't fool yourself. This isn't going to be $140 million when it's all said and done. It's going to be significantly lower. But nobody on staff, nobody on this board should be surprised I'm saying this because I said it in closed session over and over again and a hell of a lot more loudly than I am tonight. If this is going to be a county-funded sports and entertainment complex, our own little Madison Square Garden, that we're going to lose $9 or $10 million a year

[05:03:41] on for 20 years, then let's at least be honest about it. But all these kids that are thinking they're going to use it, all these kids that think they're going to have the opportunity to use it, all these high schools that think they're going to want to, that they're going to have time to use it. It's a myth. It's a sales pitch. And that's all this has been from day one is a sales pitch.

[05:04:05] And it's time we stop making bad deals and buying bad properties. Hope is not a strategy. All right. Thank you. I can't find a single, one last plot. I can't find a single similar project in this country that actually breaks even. And the closest one I can find is in the city of Chicago that loses 800,000 a year. That's just on the operational side. All right. Supervisor Angreen and Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Mr. Hamlin-Boss and team and crew,

[05:04:40] thank you for this. This has been a long time coming. So, we're six years into this. In 2019, I sat with the previous board when we had that town hall at Hilton Performing Arts and discussed some of the projects that folks wanted to see. This didn't make the cut, but we sent it out there on its own. So, Seth, you did a great job and packed it all together and getting us where we are today let me let me be very clear of two things the first thing was the parents and the children the kids who spoke and it it is a indoor hydraulic track facility because that's what it

[05:05:16] started with now I don't want to take away from any other other sports that could be used in there or opportunities in there and and I like that word entertainment because you can do other things such as graduations and even a concert so I love what we're where we are with doing this so the first thing has always been about the families the second thing has been about the opportunity for this county to actually have a national something that we can put in here that actually can be used for events for family to do over the weekend and bring and draw in other families and and you know citizens to come and spend their money in our county that's been a number one goal so step if you could just

[05:05:52] answer this one question for me I think you did a great job with it during the town halls we had out of all of our county facilities that we that we own and operate as far as fitness goes how are they operating? Well, they're all operated by county staff with the exception of our golf courses, which are managed through a management company. And we operate as what we like to think of as a high cost recovery model to where we're fee-based and we work hard to try to recoup

[05:06:28] as much of the operating costs as we can. And that's a philosophy that carried over from the park authority days. We're not successful in achieving 100% cost recovery for any of our facilities we do achieve 100 plus cost recovery for some of our programs like our summer camps for instance or day or preschools but our facilities typically run at a subsidy and the reason I make that point is because this facility let's be very clear this isn't your rec center this isn't where people are going to get membership fees and come and be a part of this this is an

[05:07:01] actual uh you know you can do sporting events and big things there so there's no gym fees and any this stuff so when it comes to that my intent I'll be very up front and frank with you you know I'm not I'm not so concerned about how much money we make out this facility I'm more concerned about the opportunity for the folks in Prince William County who were looking for this and so we can sit here and say all day long that the kids and the families in Prince William County won't be using this facility you know the proof is in the pudding and that's going to happen so I'm not going to sit here and try to you know argue with someone about who's going to be in this facility and how it's going to be used.

[05:07:40] This is what we said. We're going to lay it out, and who's using this facility. And on the weekends, we know that those are going to be national tournaments for whatever that could look like. And so I'm excited to see what we can bring here as far as that national event goes.

[05:07:56] But for what we're talking about here for our citizens and our kids is right here in this opportunity, and I am 100% fully in support of it and have been driving this initiative since 2019, since the formal board stepped down.

[05:08:13] So thank you for what you've done, and thank you for where we are. So thanks. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, Supervisor Bodie, but I just wanted to say this quickly. I want to interrupt because we're going to have to, after this, I'm going to, everyone on the dais gets one bite at this apple five minutes simply because we're not actually voting on the sports facility, and we do have to get on to our hearings that we had advertised at 7 o'clock.

[05:08:35] so um voting yeah thank you i'm just gonna be very brief in that case appreciate that uh seth christina everyone who's been on the team that that's worked on this so far um appreciate you and all the work we've come and we come a long way as sir as our angry said earlier um i believe that at least my one-eighth regardless of how folks feel about the facility itself the land is a worthy purchase under its own merits it's said several times this is in close proximity to one

[05:09:10] the largest commuter lots in the county which is being expanded per a contract that we just approved actually on consent agenda earlier today this afternoon has quick access to the hot lanes has quick access to transit hubs has quick access to a lot of amenities in this part of the county so regardless if this becomes an indoor sports and entertainment facility or something else or even just housing or a mixed use center as per the small area plan this land in of itself is valuable and is worth the county uh controlling so i just wanted to leave that and the last thing

[05:09:46] i'll say about the uh the the the actual project at hand the sports complex i hear a lot of folks and i hear the concerns about how this is going to be financed and how we're going to pay for it what have you um we're not there yet that's what that july work session is going to be for i know that will be conversations between now and then i know the hunden uh uh report that was just references is out now we'll be looking at that I will just say that I'm interested in other folks helping to shoulder this burden we've not talked about sponsorships we've not talked about other ways in which we can get private folks to help shoulder this cost and I'm more than happy and willing to have that conversation with my colleagues as we continue to move forward

[05:10:25] with this that all said I appreciate all the work that's been done my again my for Y1/8 I think the land is a great purchasing of itself you know as was said before we took action on that uh near the end of last year and i'm not willing to back out of that part at least because i think the the land itself is worthy thank you madam chair um no we're gonna wrap this start this little back and forth up here on the dais we're gonna wrap this and i'm just gonna say a couple things and then we're gonna move on because we are gonna i'm after this i'm gonna note the changes that i'm making to the agenda so um first of all we are not taking action

[05:11:02] tonight on whether or not we are going to move forward with the sports complex i want to name that because we've had a lot of emails about that and a lot of confusion I want to name other people have named it but I want to reiterate that this is not going to be a rec facility it's not going to be like Chen it's not going to be like Dale City this is a sports complex really mostly designed to draw sports tourism to the county you know and I've been very clear with my position I'm just going to quickly reiterate it you know I have concerns about this project I think in theory it's great to have an indoor sports complex and I am going to name that I had a wonderful

[05:11:40] conversation with Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley and she pulled me aside at an event and we spoke for gosh over an hour about the benefit you know how sports benefits our youth and I respect that but with this particular project despite the projections and everything we gave I still have my doubts I mean how many of these projects really earn money and we're making a significant public investment, people's tax dollars, you know, to go with what Supervisor Bodhi said, yes, I want to see what kind of sponsorships can we get, you know, I received

[05:12:16] a phone call on my cell phone, my private cell phone, a company reached, proactively found my number, took time to find it, and reached out to me about the possibility of sponsorships for this, that's something that should have been already examined before this came. We should have, you know, had these studies sooner. So I still have a lot of things that this does not clear up for me. Again, I understand and respect the families who want to see this in our county, but I'm not behind this. This project and its current iteration does not have my vote. Again,

[05:12:54] you know, I can be wrong. You can come back to me. You can, not with arguments about, I need arguments about financials okay I need an argument about how we are going to mitigate the cost of the taxpayer that's what I need to hear you know not that'll be great for kids to stay in the county or you know I need dollars and cents so again as a single mom that's where I stand I'm going to make financial decisions for the county similar to how I make financial decisions in my household I'm very prudent and I'm very cautious with that I also want to clarify before we move on you know

[05:13:33] that if the board does not want to purchase the land, so that if we do not want to purchase the land, then that would require a vote, and we would have to, and the staff would draft the corresponding resolution tomorrow. But for what I understand, please correct me, Mr. Shorter, you know, Ms. Robel, but we have already, and I, you know, provided the necessary authorization to purchase a property, correct?

[05:13:59] Yes. Madam Chair, members of the board, you did already take a vote and a resolution where you authorize the purchase agreement. The purchase agreement had the due diligence period. That is why this is before you now. That due diligence period is about to expire, which means you can get out during the due diligence period and if you don't get out, then you move forward with the closing by June 17th.

[05:14:23] - Gotcha, so with that, I-- - Madam Chair. - Yes, Supervisor. - In the interest of fiscal transparency, because I think doing it this way is a bad idea, I will actually, knowing it's going to fail, because I don't like just allowing money to be spent without an affirmative vote, I would move to terminate the purchase agreement for the Bellino property.

[05:14:55] There is no second. Okay, so motion by Weir, second by Supervisor Vega. I don't know if anyone wants to have any discussion, or is there any discussion? Yes, ma'am, sure. All right, Supervisor Vega.

[05:15:10] Thank you. So if we don't vote to purchase the land tonight, That means, Seth, that means we'll get the reimbursement of the $550,000 back. Supervisor Bailey, yes, ma'am. If you vote to terminate the purchase agreement, you will get that money back.

[05:15:28] Thank you. $550,000. So personally, although I have concerns about moving forward with the sports facility, I do agree with moving forward with purchasing the land as a strategic purchase. There are other things that we can do with the land.

[05:15:44] I know the others disagree with me. I'm sorry, Supervisor Weir, about the county getting to the land-buying business. But I do think it's to our best interest to have land around the county under our control. So that's my two cents on this.

[05:16:00] There's no other discussion. We can take a vote on Supervisor Weir's motion. Supervisor Gordy? Aye. Supervisor Franklin?

[05:16:16] No. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Motion fails, 3 to 5. Supervisors Angry, Bailey, Bodie, Franklin, and Chair Jefferson voting nay. All right, so I know, I think Supervisor, I'm sorry, my system is, I think, going down.

[05:16:38] I believe that we had another speaker, but I do, if this is critical, then let me know if anyone wants to speak, because I really do want to get to the public hearings. Madam Chair, if it will help, I would move to defer 12J until the next meeting, otherwise we're going to be here a while.

[05:16:57] Yes, thank you, good sir, because we will be here for a very long time. So, this is what we're gonna do next. Because of, again, where we are. The time, I am going to make some changes.

[05:17:19] Do we need a vote on that? It's, no. We just gonna move it, move it, move it. All right, so thank you so very much for also checking. So, I just wanna let everyone know, I am going to make changes to amend the agenda.

[05:17:37] So, we have completed the presentation. We are gonna move on to the public hearing that was advertised for seven o'clock. Then we are gonna go to supervisor's time Minus Bob's ZTA. Then we're going to move on to public comment time and then on to closed session. So, again, we're going to move into the public hearing, which I'll open shortly.

[05:17:56] We're going to do supervisor's time. We're going to do public comment. And then we are going to do closed session. So, and for the supervisor to hear people grumbling about food, you know, we are, if you want to quickly run on the back, you know, as long as, yes.

[05:18:16] Well, we're going into, before, actually, Before anyone go, let me open the public hearing time. So let me go back to the evening session. 14A, 14B, and 14C. So, Ms. Madden, do we have anyone signed up?

[05:18:37] So we do not have presentations on... Okay, we're going to check online. Sorry. Madam Chair, members of the board, normally on a standard agenda item, you would have the presentation, but I would submit to the board, in your discretion, if no one has signed up for the public hearing, either online or virtually you can just dispense with the presentations and just move to vote if you'd like okay so there are no speakers online no speakers on person so what we're going to do is we're going to go ahead and we are going

[05:19:14] to move to do I'm sorry did you have any or anything you want to so what we're going to do is we're going to move on I'm going to close public hearing seeing as though we have no one here to speak on any of the agenda items listed under item 14 we are going to move on to um 14a if i can get madam chair yes i like to move items 14a 14b and 14c can i do that it's all at once yes second okay is there a second all right any

[05:19:50] discussion madam chair supervisor franklin yeah i just want to um thank i don't see the applicant here but i just want to thank the applicant for um this redevelopment project um again in the Woodbridge District, very important parcel that we're looking at in Featherstone, one of the older communities in the Woodbridge District off of Route 1.

[05:20:13] This is a redevelopment project to do some residential, similar to what is across the street, also owned by the applicant, a very attractive residential development. It will also include some commercial, including a coffee shop, as well as a commercial storage facility, not to be confused with an individual storage facility.

[05:20:39] And so I'm excited about this. The residents have been involved in this discussion. The applicant has met with the residents time and time again, and quite frankly, they've been asking him, when is this thing gonna get started? And so I'm happy to be taking this vote tonight and hope that my colleagues can support.

[05:20:55] So thank you. - All right, the system's still down. Is there anyone else who wants to speak on this? - 'Cause yeah, I don't, no one, no one? Supervisor Gordy, you wanna chat? Nothing, waste of gun?

[05:21:11] - Just, it concerns me that given the fact that the fire department in this area is overburdened with responses, there's zero dollar proffers related to our fire.

[05:21:29] This likely will have impact on schools if there's zero proffers for schools. You know, I know this is a redevelopment, But it just kind of makes me question as we start to think about some of the other redevelopments within Prince William County and we start to look at what the potential impacts would be, you know, in seeing how the impacts on our fire, our safety, our police, and our schools, I mean, there will be impacts on those.

[05:22:06] So, I just, I think it's just something we've got to think about and look at is whether that's the right approach, even in a redevelopment. But I appreciate Supervisor Franklin. You know, this clearly is an area that desperately needs redevelopment, and this is an exciting project to see move forward. But just from a proper standpoint, it just, I think it's something we need to think about and look at going forward. That's all I have. Thank you.

[05:22:38] - Madam Chair. - Supervisor Franklin. - Sure, just very quickly, just want to point out that we do have a new elementary school being built and it will serve as that exact area. And so concerns around schools is not actually a concern.

[05:22:55] And then in terms of public safety, and I think Mr. Gordy is well familiar with this area, but we do have two fire departments within a one mile radius, as well as we have an entire Garfield police station that's serviced by the Woodbridge district.

[05:23:13] And so public safety in our school system is something that's gonna be well taken care of. - All right, anyone else? If there is no additional comment, let's vote.

[05:23:30] - Supervisor Gordy? - Aye. - Supervisor Franklin? Supervisor Bailey is absent. Okay, well that's good. At least she's still working. All right, okay.

[05:23:51] Stop it. Motion passes unanimously. Supervisor Bailey is absent from vote. Fine. You're good. I appreciate the attempt. So now we are going to move again.

[05:24:07] Like I said, I've taken things a little out of order. We are, someone's dying for a break. You know what? You know, I can hear y'all when y'all talk. Madam Chair, I would move 12A through 12I. Well, you know what? Hold on. I was going to say, we'll do that, and then we can come back if people want a break.

[05:24:26] All right. Oh, wait, no. So actually, let's note, I want to do 12A through 12H because I do want to talk about that. I amend my motion. All right. Okay, Supervisor Weir. And my second was Supervisor Bodie.

[05:24:43] Thank you, sir. So that is our appointments. Any discussion? All right. Let's vote. Supervisor Gordie. Aye. Supervisor Franklin. Aye. Supervisor Bailey will be absent. Okay, very good.

[05:24:59] I think that's kind of the next part we can go to. So 12I. Vote unanimous. I'm sorry. We're going to do that a little later. So we're going to do 12I, and I just – because I wanted to call that out because I want to make sure that people are understanding, you know, that we are going to change the location of our July 9th, 2024 work session from the board chambers to Old Hickory Golf Club, which is up the street.

[05:25:26] And the start change time is going to change from 2 p.m. until 11 a.m. There's also the other amendments behind, under the updates for June 11th and July 2nd that are out. Yeah, there was an agenda update.

[05:25:44] Oh, yes. All right. And the amended resolution also includes proposed changes to the June 11th and the July 2nd board meetings. Is there any? All right. So moved, Madam Chair.

[05:26:00] Can I get a second? Is that angry? All right. Say again, we can hear. Who's the second? I think it was angry. We're going to give it angry. I got angry. okay that was an enthusiastic second all right so any discussion all right you have discussion all right yeah let's just go home all right so let's vote supervisor gordy hi thank you sir

[05:26:33] supervisor franklin thank you and just so that vote unanimous all right sorry i'm moving a little too and just so that we are clear item 12j will be moved to a future meeting we will meet and and discuss one because the next one is a work session so we will I guess look at getting that I think it's what June 4th but we will we will properly notice it advertise it people will be talking about it it'll be the hot topic um thank you for saving us five hours um no so anyway so

[05:27:12] we are going to um I know people want to take a break I think we can go around the horn real quick because you know if someone needs their bio break you could certainly take that because we're going to do public comment time. I don't think we really have too many people. And then we're going to move into closed session.

[05:27:31] All right, so supervisor's time. Yezley said she has nothing, so she's begging to go first. I'm going to break. You know, so I will, supervisor Vega. Pass. Really?

[05:27:50] You can do it. We're going to go back to supervisor Vega. No, let's go ahead. Notice of intent to appoint Mike Garcia. His resume should be on file, and that's all I have. All right, I am going to go with supervisor Franklin. You got anything? I got a lot of stuff. Gordie, got stuff because I'm just doing notice of intensive direct. Gordon, you got anything for us?

[05:28:18] I do. I'm providing notice of my intent to appoint Troy Hill to the architectural review board. My staff has sent over his resume and contact information to the clerk. And only other thing is tomorrow is Peace Officers Memorial Day and just remembering those who've given their lives in service to our communities. All right. Thank you. I normally go last, but I have a couple directives and I'm going to show you what and notice of intent you know giving this a discussion today I would like to direct staff to examine the data center overlay opportunity overlay district so without objection when prioritizing their work in accordance with the

[05:28:57] various laws and policies and in accordance with the path with past board resolutions to include resolutions 21 to 327 I would like to direct staff to expedite a review of the boundaries of the current data center opportunity overlay district and to recommend any suggested adjustments to the overlay district's boundaries staff should provide the information along with any staff analysis and/or recommendations to the board in a memo or presentation to the board at a future meeting as staff determines appropriate so that's number one you've also talked a lot about affordable housing one of the things I

[05:29:36] want to do is ensure that we have housing accessible housing for people with disabilities so with that here's the next directive without objection I would like to direct staff to review and provide information on opportunities, if any, for the county to incentivize the production and provision of affordable housing that is Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA-accessible. Staff should review prudential strategies, including regulatory and financial, as ways to possibly incentivize developers and property owners to provide ADA-accessible affordable units, which could help to meet the housing needs of residents with disabilities.

[05:30:16] The county's attorney office should provide separate confidential legal advice to staff and the board on this matter. And quickly, I would like to make the following notices of intent. Mr. Dave Ellis to the Stafford Regional Airport Authority. Rod Hall is in the Manassas Regional Airport Commission. He's also going to be stepping down from the Stafford Regional Airport Authority, as is the other appointee from the, you know, I'm sorry, the other appointee for the Stafford Regional Airport Authority. And Mr. Jim Burgess, the Historical Commission,

[05:30:51] I would like to note that my previous appointee, the Honorable Sidney Neville, has been accepted into a Ph.D. program at VCU and is, you know, sadly is leaving the Prince William community. So with that, that's all I've got to say.

[05:31:08] I'm going to go over to Victor Ingrid next. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I want to thank all the folks that came out to our Strategic Plan Town Hall, and particularly I want to thank Isabel Wood-Do-It, Kay Wallace, and our very own Chris Shorter for being there to answer questions and just be a part of the process.

[05:31:29] Also, I want to announce that we're going to have a Juneteenth Jubilee that will be held at the commuter lot on Gemini Way behind Center Plaza. I'm going to be co-hosting that with 08 Shining Stars Lions Club from 1 to 6 p.m., and that's on June 15th. And there's going to be dancing, vendors, games, speakers, giveaways, kid activities, and much more.

[05:31:46] So please come out. I also want to express my appreciation for Teachers Appreciation Week and also Armed Forces Appreciation Week, so a lot going on. Happy belated Mother's Day. I don't think I said that on the last meeting. Happy belated Mother's Day. I lastly want to congratulate Mr. Jabez Reeves, who is a graduate from Garfield, for his outstanding accomplishment in qualifying for the Olympics.

[05:32:12] Jabez's dedication and extraordinary talent are a true inspiration embodying the spirit of excellence we strive to foster in our community. His journey to the Olympics is an example of why we need to provide opportunities for our youth to pursue their passions in sports. The indoor sports and events facility, for which I am a strong advocate, is crucial in supporting athletes like Jabez, allowing them to reach their full potential while promoting health, wellness, and community engagement.

[05:32:39] I am proud to support initiatives that invest in our youth and provide them with the resources they need to succeed. Like Jabez Reeves' remarkable journey to the Olympics, it's noteworthy to observe another Garfield High School alum and local jewel, Benita Fitzgerald. Both athletes exemplify the unwavering dedication and extraordinary talent that characterizes our community.

[05:33:01] Benita's historic achievement in track and field included her gold medal at the 1984 Olympics. Set a highball for excellence. Jabez's success is evidence of the impact of such investments, and I am confident that he will proudly represent Garfield, Prince William County, and the United States on the world stage.

[05:33:20] Congratulations once again to Jabez Reeves on the incredible achievement. Your hard work and dedication inspire us all, and we are cheering you on as you pursue your Olympic dreams. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[05:33:36] Just a few quick things from me. This past Wednesday, I attended the VDOT public hearing on the 95-123 interchange project public hearing. uh wanted to thank vdot and our transportation staff for handshaking with them on that one and us working through that project um on this past saturday i know the cxo mentioned it earlier but the community safety office had an excellent open house um it was a great uh interagency events and a chance to talk to a lot of different folks from a lot of different agencies and the common theme and the common thread i got from them is that regardless of how many people show up and there was a good number of people from the public that showed up but they were able to interface with

[05:34:16] each other in a unique form that they had not been able to do in quite some time so knowing as I've said and I will say it ad nauseum the de-siloing force that is this office and the synergies that can be achieved through that and again to promote better safety in the community so wanted to thank the county exec wanted to thank DXO Alexander Mr. Dawson everyone else who was involved in that it was really great events the next thing I wanted to do before I close out is provide a directive without an objection i am directing county staff to bring forward for board discussion

[05:34:51] consideration and potential action recommendations for an amendment to the list of targeted industries for new and expanding companies in light of emerging industries including but not limited to renewable energy drone manufacturing other industries and sectors identified by staff based on the board strategic plan comprehensive plan the csmp and other applicable board policies and updated target industry study.

[05:35:16] Such staff amendment recommendations should also include a path forward for the board's consideration of the removal of data centers from the list of targeted industries alongside analysis of any fiscal, logistical, other considerations staff deans appropriate for board consideration. Staff should provide the information of the board in a memo or presentation at a future board meeting as staff determines appropriate.

[05:35:39] And Madam Chair, final thing I'll say is happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, including my wife, Liz. This particular Mother's Day was a little bit touchier for our family as it's the first Mother's Day since we lost my son Cyrus back last year. So I know that for a lot of folks, Mother's Day is a day to celebrate mother and celebrate motherhood.

[05:35:59] And I uplift and appreciate that. But I also know there's a lot of mothers out there and families who also have a more solemn note for that day. Know that you're seen, you're appreciated, and that wherever your kiddos are, whether they be with us or with glory, you're loved. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, and, you know, again, sorry about your loss.

[05:36:17] I know it was a tough year for you and your family last year. Supervisor Weir, did you want to say anything? I passed twice. All right, Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. On May 8th, thanks to all of the Potomac residents who participated in our Potomac District Community Strategic Town Hall, and to Kay Wallace and County Exec Shorter and Quentin Haynes, we really appreciated your presence there.

[05:36:46] It was really a great session. On the 10th, I had the honor of attending and presenting a proclamation for the Dumfries Township 275th Charter Celebration. And the emcee was Mr. Guy Lambert from Channel 5, and he was the master of ceremony.

[05:37:06] But it was absolutely a wonderful evening, Madam Chair. Thank you for your attendance as well. And we celebrated our oldest resident, Mr. Pop Tim McClain. He was wonderful in his tuxedo. On the 13th, thanks to my staff for participating in the annual John Jenkins for the Kids Golf Tournament with Boys and Girls Club.

[05:37:29] That was yesterday. My chief of staff participated. He had a great time. But anyway, upcoming events on the 16th, I'm looking forward to participating in the U4 Tomorrow Burgundy and Gold Banquet. And then on the 17th, unfortunately, we will be attending the Celebration of Life for our own Cynthia Dudley Lester, Executive Director of Trillium Center, who passed away, unfortunately, on March 27, 2024.

[05:37:55] Cynthia, we will miss you tremendously. And then I'll also be attending the 30th Nova Labor Tribute to our own Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton and her wonderful service that she has provided for our state. And then on the 18th, please come and join me.

[05:38:14] As you know, this is our fifth, I think, our fifth mental health walk in Locust State Park to celebrate Mental Health Month. And to my colleagues, I'll be looking for you on the 15th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. And this is also in collaboration with what we're doing with the Crisis Receiving Center.

[05:38:33] And then lastly, I just want to say this is National Women's Health Week. And so we need to really focus on encouraging women to take care of their health, their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. And so we celebrate you as you do so and as you serve this community.

[05:38:51] And I think that's all I have, Madam Chair. Thank you. Oh, excuse me. I got a directive. I have a directive to the county exec. if you could please provide an update as soon as possible and seeing that the governor has passed the budget to give us an overview of where the CRC is the status of the CRC and where we are what the next steps are just an overview for the board and for the community thank you all right thank you so very much we

[05:39:21] are going to move to public comment time do we have anyone all right we're so we're going to check to see if we have any. So I was thinking. All right, so we don't have anyone in person. Let's see. Do we have anyone online? Supervisor Gordy, are you the public? All right,

[05:39:58] I'll turn it over to Supervisor Gordy. All right, thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Van, let's hear from those two folks. Sorry, my camera wasn't trying to turn on. Your first speaker is Jessica Grove.

[05:40:30] Ms. Grove, if you're there, please proceed. Ms. Grove, you can unmute yourself now. Okay,

[05:41:07] we are going to move to Mike Kaczmarek. Mike Kaczmarek, Heritage Hunt, Gainesville. Can you hear me? We can, Mr. Kaczmarek. Please proceed. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I want to thank the board for removing the limitation on campaign signs at the Haymarket Gainesville Library. I've been pushing you for that for several years, and thank you for finally taking action on that. Second of all,

[05:41:40] I want to say that Bill Wright is on vacation, but he sent me his notes, so I'm going to convey Bill's wisdom to you. I want to thank the board for reviewing the overlay district. I want to remind the board about the planning office briefing completely evaded the issue of the previous board never falling through on their own overlay district review.

[05:42:04] This included burying the taxpayer-funded Stantec report, and this is probably presumably because it recommended against Prince William Digital Gateway. The same to build analysis by SANTAG was provided in October of '22, and at that time there was no additional expansion recommended for the overlay zone.

[05:42:30] They needed to avoid locating directly adjacent to cultural resources, not within a half a mile of an Aston battlefield. You need to also avoid locating data centers adjacent to residential areas, existing and planned mixed-use activity centers, and social facilities.

[05:42:52] Avoid locating in adjacent areas, avoid directly adjacent open spaces. Okay, so far. The Planning Office also did not mention the Sustainability Commission's resolution, which recommended eliminating the data center overlay district-targeted industries and the data centers until the county can adequately analyze, manage the cumulative impacts of data center development.

[05:43:18] Also, the planning office briefing did not acknowledge the standard prohibition recommendations to BOCS over the past several years, and the public's needs to, you know, directly understand the STANTEC report. Also, what's most important, of course, is the county needs to have greater transparency, the exercise, due diligence, and requisite to store public trust.

[05:43:44] Public will insist that the county publish the official data center operating centers operating under development and the planning process within Prince William County. Future progress requires acknowledging rectifying past mistakes that led to the current environmental reckoning.

[05:44:03] So thank you, and I hope you have a successful review of the data center overlay zone. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Kaczmarek, for Mr. Wright. miss van do we have miss grove back by chance yes uh jessica grove is your next speaker hello good evening good evening board i am back again um i would just like to say a couple things about the um zta again i think it's interesting that many of the landowners from um pageland

[05:44:42] spoke this afternoon about opening up the entire county to data centers if we remove the overlay zone, except they were pretty much the tilting point of opening up the overlay zone. They are outside the overlay zone, so I don't understand what they were fighting for to keep the overlay zone. I think it would be a good idea to have the county be able to look at each and every application as it comes forward and remove any sort of buy-write applications. The other thing

[05:45:22] I would like to mention to Victor, Angry, is that you mentioned with the event center it would be great for Prince William County to have a national spot for people to come and visit. We do. It's called the Banassas National Battlefield Park, and hundreds of thousands of people come each year to visit. So I'm not sure we need to spend $140 million for a building to hold track and pickle thank you very much thank you miss grove to confirm miss van that was our second and only

[05:46:02] speaker for tonight's public comment time uh we have one non-resident speaker all right and that is seth yeboa please proceed my name is seth and i just want to speak in favor of the holy square development um we need a diversity of housing sorry i just like ran till i make this in time we need a diversity of housing in prince william county and that development's along the transit node that's planned for omni ride to do something at the galveston court and i think adding

[05:46:40] residential areas that's adjacent to walkable commercial centers are a good thing for the county and i grew up about five miles away from this site as well so it's just foreseeing the development that's been happening in that part of prince william county and i'm excited for that project to be able to move forward with the complaint amendment thank you thank you sir and miss van to again confirm he was the last one correct that is correct thank you miss van as always for your uh your assistance tonight back to you madam chair all right thank you so very much and that's for public comment time.

[05:47:13] So since we've moved around things on the agenda, before we adjourn, we have one thing, and that is to go into closed session. I appreciate my mates for your patience because this has been a very long meeting, but we have plowed through it. So before we go into closed session, let's take 10 minutes. You're welcome.

[05:47:30] All right, thank you. So we will resume after closed session and a 10-minute break.

[05:48:07] All right, we're back from closed session.

[05:48:48] I would like motion to certify Madam Chair. - Second.

[05:49:11] - Supervisor Gordy. - Aye. - Awesome.

[05:49:30] - Supervisor Gordy. - I'm not getting any volume from the chair. I'm not sure what we're voting on. - This is to certify the closed session. - Okay, vote aye. - Thank you sir. - Call the speaker.

[05:49:47] I'll be the interpreter. - Vote unanimous. - All right, we have a couple of items to report out the first one. - Yes, Madam Chair. I move to authorize settlement of the acquisition property located at 17651 Main Street in the town of Dumfries owned by Hossain Palavina and Dana and Palavina Jod and authorize additional compensation needed for the payment of actual reasonable reestablishment expenses or a fixed payment in lieu of moving and reestablishment costs in conjunction

[05:50:26] with the route one Fraley Boulevard project in the Potomac district second all right let's vote hi supervisor gordy hi thank you supervisor weir are you okay i'll do it again we're good vote unanimous all right madam chair i motion that we accept the following

[05:51:04] internal audit reports contract compliance assessment of oracle hcm implementation phase two american rescue plan act calendar year 2023 sub sub recipient there we go Monitoring reports, interim, second.

[05:51:23] - All right, let's vote. - Supervisor Gordy? - Aye. - Thank you. Vote unanimous. - As soon as she stumbles.

[05:51:42] - All right, this is time for the favorite part of the meeting. - Move to adjourn, second. - Let's vote. I ain't gonna resist. I know when I've been defeated. - Supervisor Gordy, thank you, sir. He's an aye. Okay, here we go.

[05:52:04] - All right, Supervisor Vega, I have you as a no. Are you a no? You're a no? yes it says yes i got you all right vote unanimous thank you everyone our next meeting will be next tuesday and it will be a work session no no not what you know i forgot all right sorry june june 4th all right thank god we're good she's like everyone corrected me all right at least we know people are paying attention thank you everyone have a good night and have a safe evening take care

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