Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting — Work Session, Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 3h 5m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3714
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 2026-10-29. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:15] All right, it is 2 o'clock on Tuesday, October 14th. Let's begin with a moment of silence.

[00:00:33] All rise, if you are able, for the Pledge of Allegiance. One nation, for God, indivisible, virtue and justice for all.

[00:00:50] All right, normally during work sessions, we do not take votes. However, there are a couple things that are urgent.

[00:01:06] So we have a consent agenda for items 3A and 3B. Before I ask for a motion, does anyone have any questions they want to ask a staff? All right. Seeing none, can I get a motion? So moved. Second. All right. So properly moved and seconded.

[00:01:22] Let's go ahead and take a vote. Wait, I see someone in the queue. Does anyone have anything to say? Supervisor Gordy. Madam Chair, on item 3B, I just want to commend and thank our staff. This, as we know, Taste of Nova was supposed to be at Fort Belvoir at the Army Museum, but due to the government shutdown, had to quickly adjust.

[00:01:49] And Nova Live was the selected location. Christina Wynn took the helm for the part of the county, drove this thing forward working with every department from Mandy and Ricky in development services.

[00:02:06] Thank you guys for your responsiveness. And to our Department of Health, I wrote down a bunch of other names, our fire marshal's department, all of our folks in economic development. For thousands of folks coming to this event, I think over 7,000 tickets had been sold for this event and then had to have a venue change.

[00:02:27] So I just want to commend our staff. Thank you for the hard work that everyone did in such a short period of time. And you just demonstrate the agility to flex to meet these opportunities. So thank you very much.

[00:02:44] All right. I will say something quickly. I was going to say it during supervisor's time, but Taste of Nova was excellent. That is the type of thing I want us to do more and see more in this county. I'm a big foodie, so I didn't have to drive as far to eat, but it was truly an amazing event.

[00:03:01] I actually had one lady reach out to me on Facebook. She doesn't live in the county. She didn't want to go all the way to Manassas, even though I think she lived in Fredericksburg. People really don't know exactly, you know, Prince William County. Maybe she was thinking it's on the extreme western end.

[00:03:18] but it was great to bring people who hadn't been to the county or hadn't been in a long time. And the comments I received, the people that I talked to, they were very excited. And Nova Live is an excellent location. So this is something we need to do more of.

[00:03:34] Hint, hint, Christina, Mandy, Ricky, you know, like try not to give you guys headaches, but I know that each of you and your teams did an amazing job. I had a chance to speak with Northern Virginia Magazine, and hopefully more can come out of it. You know, the CEO was saying, you know, this is really a great place.

[00:03:52] You know, this is, I mean, just almost maybe just even a little bit surprised. We are in Northern Virginia, but people may not necessarily think of us, but we have venues. We have some wonderful venues here that we need to promote. Nova Live is one of them.

[00:04:08] So great event. I look forward to next year and hopefully it'll be, you know, same place, same time next year. All right. Supervisor Bailey. Ditto, Madam Chair. I think we are growing by leaps and bounds, and our constituency has a requirement that we grow along with them.

[00:04:29] And, Christina, kudos to you for catching the ball and running with it and making sure that Prince William County is continually on the map. So thank you so much. All right, then. Let's go ahead and take our vote.

[00:04:50] Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now going to agenda item number four, and that's public comment time. We have in person two speakers.

[00:05:07] We have Mr. Barry Brayden and Nicole Riley. If you can both go to the back, you have three minutes apiece. Start by stating your name, where you generally reside, and up there you will see the timer. Good afternoon, board.

[00:05:23] My name is Barry Brayden. How about now? Okay. Good afternoon, board. My name is Barry Brayden. I live in the town of Brentsville. I have my entire life. Family history goes back into the mid-1800s.

[00:05:40] have developed a 100-acre industrial park off of Hornbaker Road that started out as a 36-acre junkyard. And this noise ordinance that the county is trying to implement now is going to severely impact all businesses in this county.

[00:06:00] And I understand that they're trying to get the noise cut for data centers and stuff, but it's affecting all the businesses. I'm here representing the Commercial Development Committee, which I've been on since 1999 when its inception and was appointed by the Brentsville Supervisor.

[00:06:21] And since this started coming about, we've got removed. The commercial development part of it has gotten removed from this entire process. The only thing that you're hearing from is county residents.

[00:06:37] I'm fine with that. But businesses don't even know what's going on here. My daughter went out to two of our commercial buildings in Hornbaker. We have about 150, 2,000 square foot units for commercial businesses.

[00:06:56] And she managed to meet with about 50 out of that 200. And not one business owner has heard of this noise ordinance. Not a little bit, not at all.

[00:07:12] Nobody has heard, knows anything about it. If you go on the website, you can't print it out. The closest thing you've got is back from November of last year. The noise ordinance is supposedly not going to be grandfathered.

[00:07:30] We've already run into it at Hornbaker where a landowner received three cease and desist orders from Prince William County because he was making too much noise in an industrial park that he built long before the adjoining condo or apartment building next door.

[00:07:52] So that was a battle that he had to fight in 2018. And when they found out that they couldn't fight it on the noise side of it, well, let's go back and let's fight on his site development permit and his plans and stuff because it didn't list who was on there.

[00:08:10] So that's just some of the things that this door that you're opening, the tent's going to rise and the nose is coming in. This is going to be a total disaster for businesses in the county, and especially the small businesses.

[00:08:28] And we're already having businesses leaving because of this. All right. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi there. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. My name is Nicole Raleigh, and I'm here representing the Data Center Coalition, which is headquartered in Leesburg, Virginia.

[00:08:47] reside in Richmond, Virginia. I want to thank you for the opportunity to offer comments this afternoon as the board considers the county's noise ordinance. We appreciate all the work that staff and members of this board have put into this process. We recognize it is a complex topic and we thank the county for continuing to engage with stakeholders on this important issue.

[00:09:06] We have significant concerns related to the proposed changes to the county's noise ordinance and I wanted to briefly highlight some of the deficiencies that concern us. First, the proposal lacks a grandfathering provision for existing facilities. While new developments can be calibrated to new rules, existing facilities were built in good faith under the current ordinance. A wholesale change should only apply to new facilities. Risks and impacts are significant. For example, changes could jeopardize bank loan agreements with existing facilities due to their potential non-compliance with local laws and regulations. The proposal references octave bands, which continues to cause confusion. Removing reference to the octave

[00:09:45] bans would provide clarity to both the business community and county staff on the appropriate standard for complying with the revised ordinance. In absence of grandfathering, the proposal does not provide clarity that the variance process in section 14-8, one, applies to operational sites, and two, does not contemplate the reality that engineering solutions take time. The draft lacks pathways to compliance that provide realistic options for new and existing facilities, including clearly defined modification criteria, processes, and timelines, and the availability of a safe harbor while requests are considered,

[00:10:22] as well as extensions for those who demonstrate a good faith effort in taking steps towards compliance. It also lacks enforcement alternatives that set everyone up for success, such as offering an abatement or settlement process in lieu of criminal violations to ensure that local employees are not facing criminal charges.

[00:10:41] In short, we think there are significant opportunities to address these deficiencies to provide sensible noise standards, zoning, and planning processes aimed at protecting the community health while also offering long-term regulatory certainty. We urge the board to improve the ordinance by balancing penalties with affirmative pathways to compliance, improved industry standards, and better outcomes for businesses, residents, and county government.

[00:11:04] Thank you. All right. Thanks very much, Andrea. I believe we don't have anybody. So we do not have anyone from remote comment time. So with that, I'm moving to agenda item number five, county executive time. Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours. All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board.

[00:11:21] I'll go over a few items that we have here. First, four directives were issued during your last meeting. One staff was directed to develop a recommendation for a new framework to leverage the power of the arts in advancing our strategic plan and comprehensive goals.

[00:11:40] This directive was assigned to parks and recreation. Two, staff was directed to explore the elimination of the data center opportunity zone overlay district. This was assigned to the planning office. Staff was directed to explore options for establishing two additional community gardens.

[00:11:59] This is the botanical garden directive on county-owned property and report back to the board with recommendations. This directive was assigned to parks and recreation. And then finally, staff was directed to investigate and outline the process for developing a parks, open space, and library bond referendum for inclusion in the 2026 general election.

[00:12:22] This directive was assigned to the finance department. There were two directives closed since our last meeting, including one, the directive to come back to the board with a public arts policy and task force. This memo was sent to you on October 9th.

[00:12:41] Second, we closed the directive to provide information regarding the master plan process to identify locations where the county might add new community recreation centers. This response was sent to you on October 13th and noted next steps to conduct a feasibility study to identify locations for additional community recreation centers countywide.

[00:13:05] I also sent updates regarding the status of directives assigned to our planning office via memo and our Department of Economic Development and Tourism via memo as well. Both of those memos included a host of directives associated with, and in the case of planning, it included SUPs and ZTAs.

[00:13:28] The board also asked about several items during our meeting last week with a follow-up to those items. I've sent memos on, one, implications for changing the vehicle personal property tax due date.

[00:13:44] I sent that to the board last week. Information related to additional costs associated with the tentative amended collective bargaining agreement between Prince William County and the International Association of Firefighters. That memo was sent to the board last week as well. Information and data regarding vehicle valuations and methodologies sent earlier today.

[00:14:05] And then I just provided a response to you on resident committees and advisory groups. And then finally, Madam Chair, members of the board, I want to just give a few quick shout-outs, if I can. One, I want to recognize Lisa Madron, if she is still in the audience or in earshot.

[00:14:26] And really all of the community services team and everyone else involved in the CRC ribbon-cutting. It was an absolute fantastic opportunity for us to showcase the county and to talk about what is coming in terms of services to our residents.

[00:14:44] So a big thank you to Lisa, a big thank you to the team for all that was done to showcase what is coming. Approximately 230 people attended the ribbon cutting, nearly 500 attended the community day tours that afternoon.

[00:15:01] So congratulations, congratulations really to the board for all the work that it took to get us to this point. I want to also give a big shout out to Economic Development and Tourism. Supervisor Gordy just mentioned it, Development Services, our Fire Marshal's Office, and those involved in making Taste of NOVA happen this past weekend.

[00:15:23] It absolutely was a bright and very shining opportunity for us as a county. Madam Chair and I were just e-mailing about the just fantastic showcase. So to everyone involved, Christina and team, thank you, thank you, thank you.

[00:15:42] Fantastic work. More to come, and hopefully, Madam Chair, you're right, next year we'll be hosting that event again. And then also want to, this is more for staff.

[00:15:57] Last week we held the GovFest, which was an opportunity really for us to just acknowledge staff and the work that our teams are doing. And I just want to give a big shout out to all involved in making GovFest happen. And I think with that, Madam Chair, that is all for me, unless there are any questions.

[00:16:17] Supervisor Franklin. Yes, thank you. Just wanted to also, as you kind of give an update on some of the asks, just a reminder about the branding discussion, just to get an update on where we are exactly with that.

[00:16:35] As I mentioned before, it's something that I know at least within the Woodbridge District that we're having conversations about how to kind of upgrade kind of our branding. It would be helpful to kind of marry that with whatever the county is looking to do. So just wanted to follow up on that.

[00:16:52] And then also wanted to see if at some point we can get an update on our litter campaign. I know the litter crew is working very hard across the county because we have a lot of land across the county. But I am seeing an increase in litter, not just in my district, but quite frankly, across the eastern end.

[00:17:15] I'm not sure if the same is for the western end or not, but certainly we'll love to see kind of where we are. And if so far we've been implementing it or are we being effective, do we need to change course? And then lastly, I know that there's been some discussions on the Judicial Center and some changes that are currently going on internally there.

[00:17:35] And I know you sent an email, but I'm wondering if at some point we do need to elevate the discussion around the plans to kind of update and modernize our Judicial Center, which I know is really a board discussion, but wanted to kind of see how that relates to what we're already kind of having our longer term plans for the Judicial Center.

[00:17:57] Very good. So in terms of branding and litter campaign, happy to provide an update to the board in writing. That way we're clear and I could work with staff to make sure that we have a good update. In terms of the judicial center, I have provided all of the updates that I am now, the communication that I'm having with the chief judge and the circuit court judges.

[00:18:22] Those conversations do absolutely tie in. Our longer-term expansion project in the interim period needed to get to a place where we have a fully built-out campus will require some adjustments.

[00:18:40] And so that is exactly the conversation that's happening with the circuit court judges right now. I am happy to do more than just provide the board status updates via email. If there is an interest in having FFM come to a board meeting or a work session to talk a bit more about the longer-term expansion and the interim approach to creating more juror assembly space, then I'm happy to have FFM come at some point to do that.

[00:19:13] Yeah, that's helpful. And then just going back to litter and branding, I think the email updates are certainly fine, but I do kind of expect at some point, particularly with litter, that we would get a public update, because that's something that I get a lot of phone calls or emails about. Happy to do that. Happy to do that.

[00:19:32] All right. I guess you missed Trashy. We haven't seen Trashy a lot. We're trash yet. All right, so I'm going to move on to agenda item number five. I'm sorry, number six, and that is county attorney time. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. We have no items for closed session this afternoon.

[00:19:50] All righty, then. We're going to keep this moving. We have the work session. Mr. Shorter, back to you. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So we're going to start out with Deputy County Executive Wade Hugh. This is really a slide deck, a presentation on probably one of the biggest topics in our county right now, and that is land use as it relates to data centers.

[00:20:15] And so we're going to have Wade kick off. I want to just thank Christina, Tanya, and the team for all the work that they've done in pulling this together. And so with that, Wade, I'll turn it over to you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, Wade Hugh, Deputy County Executive for Mobility, Economic Growth, and Resiliency.

[00:20:36] For the work session today, what we'd like to do is kind of start out with a brief history of data center development in the county. We want to talk about it from two perspectives. One, economic development. So you can see and hear some of the strategies that we used initially trying to attract data centers to the county, and then how that changed over time as data center development increased.

[00:20:57] we'll also talk about land use policies and how those changed over time as data center development continued the goal being we really would like to get your direction so when we go through the history we'll bring you to where we are today and then really would like to get your direction on where we're going from here both because from christina's team and how they market to data centers how we work with them being clear on what your direction is and then certainly from the land development or the land use side we have a lot of regulations as you know in the pipeline we've been directed to look at the overlay district we're doing a zoning ordinance update so your

[00:21:35] direction today will help feed into that work we'll briefly touch on the regulatory updates but as i said really we're hoping to get direction from you on how we move forward with data centers so we'll kind of touch on the noise ordinance zoning ordinance updates again the overlay most of which you all are aware of so with that i'm going to turn it over to christina and she will get us kicked off today. Thank you. Okay. Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson, members of the board, Christina Wynn, Economic Development. I'm just going to echo a little bit more of what Wade's

[00:22:15] thoughts are. The purpose of really today's work session is simple, and we are hoping to have a grounded, forward-looking discussion where Prince William County wants to go with data center development. Today's focus is on charting a path that serves our community's best interest.

[00:22:33] We're here to talk about strategy, what's working, what's not, and how this board wants to manage industry going forward in a way that balances growth with community values and priorities. So as Wade mentioned, we're going to start with the background and timeline.

[00:22:53] This was not meant to be a dissertation of the history of data center development in Prince William County, but a way of setting the table and understanding the context of how market conditions, policy decisions, and timing have all interacted to shape what we're facing today. Each phase of our data center journey has provided valuable insights that inform our path forward. And then as Wade mentioned, I'm going to turn it over to Tanya, who is going to

[00:23:24] lead us in a discussion. Oops, I keep going the wrong way. Okay. I cannot control a remote. There we go. Thank you. So when data centers first took root in Northern Virginia, they represented opportunity, technology, jobs, investment, and a stable tax base. Really, from an economic development perspective, they were considered the golden goose. Over time, we've learned more about the industry and its impacts. And as the scale of the industry and those impacts grew, the conversation

[00:24:03] evolved. What began as an economic opportunity has evolved into a more complex balancing act. How do communities balance the significant economic benefit with infrastructure, environmental impact, and quality of life? This evolution has naturally shifted the county's role. Our role has evolved from active recruitment to strategic management. We now need to ensure data center development

[00:24:30] aligns with community priorities. I don't know why I keep doing that. Thank you. So in the early 1990s, Northern Virginia dominance in the data center industry began with the establishment of the May East, one of the world's first and largest internet exchange points. That single decision anchored this region as the heart of the internet. Loudoun County quickly became capitalized and became the global hub for data centers. Prince William County secured a few

[00:25:10] early wins, but they were limited and scattered. By 2010, we had roughly seven announced projects despite occasionally offering incentives. At that time, the county's challenge was how to compete, not how to manage commercial growth. And I want to take you back because remember, at this time, our commercial tax base was really low. We were largely a bedroom community and we were not getting economic development projects. They were going towards the beltway and we were

[00:25:41] constantly being overlooked. And so that was the mindset during that time frame. By the early 2010s, demand for digital infrastructure was rising. This is also when the community was galvanized by the Haymarket Transmission Line application, which activated residents to protect Prince William County. As a result, in 2016, the board adopted the overlay zone. And I want to pause and I want be really deliberate about this. Two things can be true at the same time. From one perspective,

[00:26:21] the purpose of the overlay was straightforward, to compete aggressively and make Prince William a serious player in the market. The overlay was marketed as an incentive. From another, thank you, Supervisor Vega. Oh my God. There you go. From another perspective, it was a planning tool, right? The overlay was a planning tool. It focused development. It was about focusing development in areas with existing infrastructure to avoid another hay market style conflict.

[00:27:00] It was never intended to restrict data centers where they could go. Rather, it incentivized by right development in locations already served by Bauer and Fiverr. The goal was speed to market, reduce uncertainty, and minimize community impact. Combined with the expedited permitting through the targeted industry program, this positioned Prince William County as a true competitor in the regional market. At the time, the strategy worked and we finally began to win large-scale

[00:27:31] projects, but this also set the stage for land pressure we are now facing. Following the creation of the overlay, staff observed a notable shift in the market. Developers were moving quickly to secure prime sites within the overlay, creating increased competition for remaining parcels and driving up land values. By 2021, staff provided the board with a memo showing that the most readily developable land within the overlay had already been absorbed. Of approximately 8,700 acres during

[00:28:10] that time, only 600 to 1,100 acres remained available and suitable for data center development based on the market at that time, with just two sites meeting the typical 100-acre requirement. This created market concentration where most land was controlled by a handful of major operators and new entrants struggled to find available land.

[00:28:35] With limited options within the overlay, developers began following existing transmission lines to find potential future sites, pushing projects closer to residential and environmentally sensitive areas and sometimes beyond the overlay boundaries. I swear I have a college degree, you guys.

[00:29:07] By the 2000s, the pandemic hit and demand for cloud commuting exploded. Remote work, streaming, e-commerce, and later artificial intelligence and quantum commuting all fueled unprecedented global demand for data center capacity.

[00:29:24] Developers began assembling smaller, fragmented parcels into larger campuses, again pushing closer to residential and sensitive areas. Developers also began to look more closely at more expensive sites, sites that we had really had identified that we didn't think were suitable, and they evaluated those sites to see if they could make those sites work, which was a surprise to all.

[00:29:51] Throughout this search, the county made an intentional choice not to sell land at Innovation Park, making sure that we were protecting that for an employment growth in advanced manufacturing and life sciences. By this point, Prince William County had shifted from an active recruitment strategy to a reactive management role. So since 2020, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism has not marketed or incentivized data centers. Our last financial incentive was long before I was here

[00:30:27] was in 2016, a $500,000 water sewer credit to Iron Mountain. We no longer recruit data centers nationally or internationally. Instead, our role is to guide projects through the county's targeted industry program, ensuring alignment with fiscal policy, the strategic plan, and the comprehensive plan. We've also worked with our Department of Development Services and modified the target industry program to create a custom program just for data centers to reflect our staffing capacity and ensure a more deliberate approach. This is a longer timeline than the standard target industry

[00:31:06] program. So again, the narrative has shifted. We're not chasing this industry. We are managing it. So one of the questions before the board, and I believe it's a directive, is why should we keep data centers as a targeted industry?

[00:31:25] There are clear benefits to maintaining data centers as a target industry. It ensures early engagement with staff, giving us much better market intelligence. It supports a growing supplier network, but also benefits tech construction and professional services.

[00:31:41] And what I mean by this is that we are seeing that data centers have coattails. They are, there are companies that are locating in Prince William County to be close to the data centers because they are vendors and suppliers of that industry sector.

[00:31:57] And that is important because those companies are creating jobs. It contributes almost $300 million annually in tax revenue, which we all know goes towards our schools, libraries, and parks. And it does provide stability in downturns.

[00:32:13] We saw that during the pandemic, where the data center was one of the three industries that kept our community recession resilient. But there are tradeoffs. Managing the sector requires significant time and resources.

[00:32:31] It can influence external perceptions of Prince William's economic identity. And it may impact our capacity to respond quickly to opportunities in advanced manufacturing or biotech. Our goal shouldn't be to maximize or minimize data centers.

[00:32:48] We should optimize their role in a diverse, sustainable economic strategy that creates opportunity for our residents. So that's a little bit of the history, and I want to talk about what we're doing now. This has been a request of the board and the community for several years now, and that is about improving data accuracy regarding our data center numbers. So we are in the process of fixing this critical gap. In the early years, no one imagined the scale of data center growth and

[00:33:28] our systems were not built to track it. EnerGov, our development software, was designed to manage permits, not to categorize projects by industry. So think of it like this. We were using a basic calculator when we should have been using a spreadsheet. And so the system was not built.

[00:33:48] So thanks to the development services team, especially Chris Spoon, they have gone back and retrofitted EnerGov to report out on data center development square footage, including what's built, what's under construction, and what's in the pipeline. This will give the staff board and the community a clear view of the real data. Now, I'm going to stop because immediately everybody knows we have 48 existing data center buildings and EnerGov is showing that we have 33 completed buildings at 6.8 million square feet. There are two systems, the real estate assessment database

[00:34:26] and there's EnerGov. Same data except for there's two very distinct points. EnerGov is real time as of right now. Real estate assessments is a year prior, the January 1 of the year prior, so it lags. But the big difference is the definitions. Energov only counts completed buildings as if the buildings have a certificate of occupancy. So the difference between 48 that

[00:35:02] would show up on the tax assessment finances report versus this 33 is there are 15 buildings that are operating, but they don't have a final certificate of occupancy. They are operating on a temporary occupancy permit. So want to make sure that's really clear. All the data is same. It's just going to show up in different places depending on the definition and the timing. The piece that we really like about this intergov data is this 31 additional approved of approved or permitted

[00:35:40] buildings, the 9.8 million square feet. That is truly what is in our pipeline at this time. These are applications that have been submitted and permits have been issued and it's under construction. And that is probably the most important number from this report because it gives you a sense of how much development is really going on at this time. Next up, the next phase is even going to go further. With the NRGov retrofit, staff can now run regular reports and automatically update

[00:36:15] data we are also working on a data center layer to the pwc mapper so residents can view approved pending and built projects and then the planning office is also updating entergov to link rezonings sups and proper amendments to actual square footage though some rezonings include data centers as one or more multiple multiple allowed uses that complicates tracking so again going to slow down. So a case that may have been entitled may have multiple uses. It may have data centers

[00:36:54] as one, but it also may have warehouse or industrial. It's all being wrapped in as one number for a data center number. And so there's not a way to actually break that out to say specifically because it's really going to depend on the market at the time that the developer pulls the trigger of what they're actually going to build because they have options. The second, and so right now, according as of July of 2025, there's 33 improved cases, 66 million square feet,

[00:37:30] which includes the digital gateway, and there are 11 active cases. The other most important point I want to make about these entitlement numbers is they can appear overstated because projects already built remain in entitlement totals. So what I mean by that is if a project was entitled for a million square feet, it's on this, it's on this, it's included in this number. But if it has since been built and only 400,000 square feet was built, it's also on the Intergov number.

[00:38:06] We haven't yet. So the work that we are doing, the coming soon part, is to go back through this entitlement number and to deduct what is actually already built so that we get a clearer picture of what is left over that's entitled that's left over.

[00:38:29] And I'm sure you might have questions on that. So I'm trying to be clear. The other piece is that projects historically, according to the 2022 Kamoyne Target Industry Land Use Analysis, this was as of 2020-22, data centers historically only build out about 30 to 45 percent of their FAR.

[00:38:52] And so while 66 million square feet are approved on paper, actual build out will likely be less. But this, all in all, this new level of transparency will be foundational for making informed land use decisions moving forward.

[00:39:10] We're moving from guessing to actually knowing. Hear, hear. Oh, why can't I do this right? Why can I not do this?

[00:39:30] Oh, I know. Okay. So before I turn it over to Tanya, I just want to summarize and leave you with some final considerations. Prince William County's data story has spanned for more than two decades.

[00:39:48] What we witness is a familiar pattern in economic development. Like the dot-com boom, co-working spaces, big box retail before it, the data center industry has evolved from cutting-edge technology into a real estate product.

[00:40:03] So what began as tech infrastructure has become a real estate asset class, attracting not only just the actual data center operators themselves, but speculators and developers. So like all industry sectors, this one is following a predictable bell curve, right? It starts with innovation and growth, and it moves to plateau until it eventually declines. The timing of that curve is unknown. We would anticipate that we are closer to the top of that curve in terms of the

[00:40:42] mature. So this actually puts Prince William County in a stronger position. We're no longer racing to attract every project. We can be selective. So that's where we are today. A mature, globally competitive industry that grew faster than anyone could have predicted. An opportunity to be deliberate about project selection. New systems for tracking and transparency that support strategic management. So the question for the board is, what do you want Prince William County's

[00:41:17] data center strategy to be now? The board might consider where we are in this life cycle. Options could include looking at projects that are only genuinely additive, projects that offer sustainability innovations, workforce development, creating jobs, or other tangible community benefits beyond tax revenue. Another consideration, obviously, is economic diversification. How and where does a county want to create high-paying jobs for their residents? Framing the conversation

[00:41:52] about employment growth versus data center control could help the planning office identify and clarify the right tools and policies for us to look at. The county is now positioned to be more selective. We are past the days of accepting any data center project.

[00:42:11] We are now in a position to say, show us how you make Prince William County better, not just wealthier, but better. So today we're asking for your guidance on what that balance should look like. And with that, I will turn it over to Tanya. Wait, hold on. I want to see, I know, I'm sorry, I want to, I love the way you just jumped up.

[00:42:29] But I know Supervisor Vega has questions, and I just want to see if anyone, to break this up a little bit, if anyone has questions on this first part, I will turn it over to Supervisor Vega for her questions. Thank you, Madam Chair. Hello, Christina. Hi, Supervisor Vega. Question for you. Yes.

[00:42:45] During your remarks, you were talking about sustainable strategy. What does that mean and what does that look like? In terms of if we were to focus on sustainability as a strategy with data center development, is that what you're asking me? Well, you were talking about, yeah, making the industry more sustainable, and you talked about having a strategy, and so I want you to expand on that.

[00:43:08] What does that mean, and what does that look like? So from an economic development, right, so we're talking economic development, not land use. Incentives can be used as carrots and sticks, and so when you, typically, I prefer incentives that are used to encourage the corporation or the company to do more of what we're looking for.

[00:43:31] So if sustainability measures are super important, which I believe they are because we have this whole master plan and staff, then we can tie, a strategy could be considered at looking at how do you encourage more sustainability, sustainable development or aspects within that, and they can receive some sort of benefit of it.

[00:43:54] Maybe that's how they get target industry. Maybe that's how, so forth. And so flipping the script to use what it is that we're trying to achieve by encouraging them to do what we want for them to get the benefit that they want, which is always speed to market.

[00:44:12] I get the intent behind what you're saying, what I struggle with, and not just today, but all the time, any time that we talk about sustainability measures is what does it really mean and how enforceable or achievable are they? We can say these terms because perhaps they make some people feel good, but what is the enforceability mechanism behind it and how do we really hold the industry to that standard and so i just want to caution staff um into using terms if they really don't mean anything in the end and so again i understand the intent behind it we set all of these sustainability goals

[00:44:47] right but oftentimes it's it's it we're we're we're being um counterproductive if that makes any sense by approving things that in the end end up hurting the very reason why we established a commission a committee or why we set these goals forth and i understand that the lens by which you're viewing this through an economic lens yeah but it still matters yeah it still matters because you're using that terminology and so is the planning side of things and so that's why i wanted clarification but i will ask the same question of miss washington when it's her time okay so that i can better understand from a planning perspective what that means yeah in

[00:45:25] terms of actual sustainable measures and or the strategy that that was discussed in regards to the uh, GIS, um, uh, supervisor, may I just clarify one thing? Sure. So when we do our incentive projects now, right? So for the company to actually get that incentive, whatever that incentive is, water sewer credits or eat off or whatever, there are metrics that they have to achieve. And so whether in, in typical cases, that's jobs and square footage, I have seen in

[00:46:01] other areas where now incentives are also being tied to these other intangible measures what those get defined as and but that's what i'm referring to right because i think it would take a lot of work with our county attorney's office to figure out what's what's legal and what's manageable but that's the intent is to evaluate is there an opportunity to actually tie an incentive to achieving the goals that we want to get.

[00:46:33] And again, I appreciate the intent, but I want actual tangible results behind the intent. I get it. But the performance metric actually is supposed to do that. Okay. In regards to the GIS layer that you were talking about, I know we have it coming soon, but do we actually have a timeline of when the public can expect to have access to that?

[00:46:54] We're hoping in 30 days. Late fall. That's all I have for now, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Christina. Sure. All right, Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair. No, you're not off the hook there, Christina.

[00:47:11] Thank you for the presentation. Thank you for taking us through sort of a trip down memory lane. I did have some questions, though. So first, going to your slide five on the competing aggressively, and you alluded to it in your comments, even though the slide itself doesn't say it.

[00:47:33] One of the sort of next one, yeah, sort of one of the hallmark battles that took place was over the power lines to the buy right Amazon way back in the day. I know that there has been a lot of consideration and conversation on the state level, knowing that we don't have any authority to regulate SEC and transmission lines and all other stuff.

[00:47:58] But starting from that point, especially going to today, how much is that in the conversation when you're talking to data centers? I, again, understand it's sort of a reactive thing at this point. You're trying to manage sort of how things are going through. Do you all talk to the data centers about, you know, as they go through, are they talking to Dominion?

[00:48:18] How does that conversation go when you're talking to folks who are looking to establish data centers in the county? So I would think, I mean, obviously, I mean, honestly, even when I started back in 2019 and I, the hay market and heard all about that and so forth.

[00:48:35] So when data centers would come in and talk with us and talk about maybe some potential areas that they were looking at, you know, securing some land, you know, one of our main points is, like, if it's going to need power or you're going to bring lines in, this is going to be problematic and you need to go talk to the planning office and the board members.

[00:48:58] and so we've been always very clear up front that these are issues and challenges for our community appreciate that and if i could madam chair follow up thank you for that christina my second question goes into then substations things like that because unfortunately it's a situation where there's not the only the lines there's also the substations we've seen some frankly some folks going into the planning conversation a little bit but not completely do folks to do some really creative things around where they they cite the substations vis-a-vis the actual site of the data center and we've seen some people really think outside the box are those conversations that are

[00:49:36] also had on your level when people come to you to build data centers yeah i mean i think definitely they they definitely i would say try it out you know right to see what would uh what kind of resonates or what we think the community might um be open to uh but i would say that more and more of the conversations is, you know, the industry sector is trying to get more creative, um, and trying to be, you know, problem solving, you know, when you, when you look at this history and, and again, this was not, I didn't, I didn't write a dissertation. Otherwise we, you'd be still

[00:50:12] listening to me talk about the history of this, um, is, you know, I think just the evolution of the industry itself, the fact that they were very secretive in the beginning, we couldn't even talk about them. I mean, that was part of the economic development thing that you were not allowed to say or even point to a map of where they were located. The industry continues to evolve as they're trying to, I think, be more responsive to the community impacts. Thank you. Actually, perfect segue into my third question. We're tracking. I appreciate that, Christina. The role of NDAs, I know that gets talked about a lot. And like you said, especially early on, I mean, even the last few

[00:50:51] years, we have some applicants who come in and who are looking for deals that they ask for NDAs to be signed and what have you. Can you talk about how that's changed over time and what you were seeing in regards to that piece too? Sure. So definitely, so long before I ever got here and when Prince William County was dealing with data centers, the NDA was a lock and key in terms of we weren't allowed to talk about anything. We weren't even able to have a map or anything like that um that has evolved and i don't i can't even remember the last time we've signed an nnda for a

[00:51:30] data center um project because a lot of times back then and remember put it in that mindset back then it was about competition right and prince william county was trying to win these projects so they were going to go and do whatever they wanted not whatever they wanted but whatever they could to help protect the secrecy of the competitive site selection project, right? Facebook in Henrico County is a perfect example. Prince William County competed for that project. That was, you know,

[00:52:03] I wasn't here then. It ended up locating down there. And so, but now it's less about competition. And so the NDA really exists about security in terms of the facility itself, right, and from the cyber, from the HVAC, and so forth, to really protect those plans, to make sure that somebody doesn't go and look at those pages of a building permit.

[00:52:33] I'll save the rest for my second round of five minutes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Christina. All right. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Christina, thank you. so I know we're not done with presentation where you going okay get your order don't leave us but I appreciate the transparency and and you know just the how you are expressing these slides this is so necessary and on time because I have some visitors that I we are working together so I want to I want to

[00:53:07] start with equitable development. So how are we ensuring that communities most impacted by data centers growth also share directly in the economic returns, particularly through targeted neighborhood investments or small business support and protection? So in other words, you know, how are we ensuring that what we've learned from the past where we put data centers, the impact is not on schools it's not on neighborhoods but the impact is more positive you know what i mean in terms of

[00:53:43] investment in the community and where where that goes yeah i think i think this goes back to what what i'm trying to say is what is your strategy what is it that you want with data centers so if you have goals that you want employment that you want equitable development that doesn't affect that you want sustainable measures, whatever that gets defined as Supervisor Vega, and so forth, you can outline that, and then the planning office can come up with the tools to actually implement that and look at those opportunities.

[00:54:21] And so if equitable and development is important and what are those factors, we just need to outline that that's part of your strategy moving forward. Okay. The next question, thank you. The next question I have is, what mechanisms are there in place to ensure that data centers, infrastructure, investments, such as water and sewer and energy, also yield benefits for our residents and even our small businesses?

[00:54:51] So, I'm sorry, ask me. I don't know if this is an economic development question or. Well, I'm making reference to slides six and seven when you were talking about pandemic and AI fuel growth and land grab and market concentration.

[00:55:14] Got it. So the question is, what's in place, in reference to the data centers, that centers around investments in our water? Like right now, one of the things that we're talking about is PFAS, that kind of thing.

[00:55:29] How do we protect our communities? What's in place now as we've grown out of the old? into the new that we're protecting our communities does that make sense I I believe so and I think I mean I guess again I would just go back to ma'am chair I know it may not make sense but I'm trying I'm going somewhere with this I know I know look is during the the the pandemic and the and the water and so forth I mean I think it has I I really truly believe this is a question for the planning office. This is not my area of expertise. Okay. Okay. That's fine. That's fine. I think

[00:56:08] that's all. One last question. While data centers provide a stable revenue source, and you mentioned about the $300 million, how is the county insurance that this reliance does not limit growth in other sectors like advanced manufacturing or our life sciences? And that's something we talked about this morning correct and that is exactly my point as well right what is our strategy because if our if we're wanting to focus on all of those other targeted industries in terms of employment growth

[00:56:40] we need to have that strategy so that whatever land use tools that you all look at or implement actually helps foster that advanced manufacturing though that job creation and you know life sciences. So it's, again, switching the script a little bit and thinking about, okay, if we want employment growth and economic diversification, and this is our priority as a community, then what are those tools that we can use to encourage that? Okay, then the last thing is

[00:57:19] a comment. Thank you so much about the transparency piece, the NDA and not the NDA. I think that's important as it relates to communicating with our residents that's very important so thank you thank you madam chair supervisor garty thank you madam chair um pristina thank you for this um i think you would agree that the data center industry um can only be described as unprecedented yes um no one anticipated this level of growth in such a short period of time by a single industry

[00:57:54] No. And it came in like a hurricane and has left us with a trail of problems that I'm not sure how long it's going to take us to resolve. I just want to ask you this question right up front. Are you being approached by any data center companies about new projects in the county? No, I don't not believe so. Not that I will say this as the district that has more of these than anyone else and more currently in application than I think in any other part of the county.

[00:58:33] The only people coming to talk to me about data centers going forward are land speculators. We are power constrained. The data centers know it. And so it's the people looking for a gold rush are the ones who are left continuing down this path and keeping us talking about this.

[00:58:55] I just, that's my experience. This is, that's what I'm seeing. These are the people coming to talk to me. So I would ask you, and as we look at this, and I kind of look at how we got to this big push, and I don't think we can talk about this without understanding we were, this also came as a result of a reaction to housing boom.

[00:59:23] We had to bring the housing boom to a stop. And so in areas where housing was being proposed, data centers will now be built. And now we're saying they should never be built there. And yet they haven't even broken ground on them yet, but they're coming.

[00:59:44] So from your experience and your expertise, what do you see are the key lessons learned so that we don't find ourselves out of balance going forward in something like this? Thank you for that question, Supervisor Gordy.

[01:00:04] I would definitely say lessons learned, and they actually go against each other a little bit as I'm wrestling with it in my head. Because on one hand, I think some of the decisions that were made over the past whatever 10 years as you saw industrial properties get flipped to residential or vice versa, is that we were reacting to the market because that was what was happening at the time.

[01:00:34] And so that was where the demand was and we wanted that tax base. So on one side, it's trying not to be as reactive and keep to your plan, right, keep to the vision of what you're trying to achieve, because it may take longer for you to get there.

[01:00:55] But if that's what the vision is, then kind of stick with it. But the second piece, I think, is being adaptable and flexible. The market is changing so quickly. I mean, I appreciated your comments about, you know, this hurricane that has come in.

[01:01:11] While I can look at the dot-com area and co-working space and so forth, but this is still an animal that is behaving unlike anything I've ever seen. And so it's hard to even predict where we're going and where the industry sector is going to go.

[01:01:28] And so I think because of that, I think flexibility when we're thinking of our land use and tools and our incentives is being flexible to, again, to make sure that they're aligned with our community priorities. Because I think long are the days that you can put something in place and it's going to be good for the next year or five years.

[01:01:53] I think the market is changing and evolving too quickly for any one tool to be in place that long. I like how you said we were reactive. I was always taught you can either be reactive or you can be responsive. The mature approach is to be responsive.

[01:02:09] And so I think that's what we have to be going forward, is we've got to take this lesson learned and to be a little bit more, as you said, what are your strategy? What are your priorities? And we take all that into calculation before we just jump headlong into a certain promise or development that's coming along.

[01:02:30] As I often say, we hit the easy button. And now, like I said, we now have a 30-year buildout that's ahead of us. And I don't know how we're going to get the power to all of it at this point. I don't think Dominion knows how they're going to get power to all of it. So my time's up.

[01:02:45] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Supervisor Angry. Christina, you came in here, gave us a presentation, and you asked the question, like how do we help in the next chapter of data centers, where do we go from here? It's going to be a question for you and Tanya, but I think for your portion, I'm curious about the whole targeted industry process, and you've listed and named all the data centers that we either have done or still in the pipeline.

[01:03:14] In an exit strategy of how we get out of this data center piece, A, we need to lay out what's first, which domino is going to be the first one. I don't think the targeted industry piece is the first one, but I'm curious, how tangled is that world of targeted industry and trying to pull back out of data centers?

[01:03:34] I guess the question I'm asking is, A, what all was involved in that? Like how many pieces are to a targeted industry? What do they all get? And then with what's left, have you delivered on those, you know, those deliverables of the targeted industries for those data centers that you do have to deal with?

[01:03:53] Is that part done? And if it isn't done, then how complicated is that going forward as we look at what's the first step to start closing this chapter and then how deep, or maybe it doesn't even go deep in the targeted industry. I'd be just curious what that looks like, if any dollars are tied to that.

[01:04:11] Sure. No, thank you for that question. I would answer the question that, if I'm hearing you correctly, like having data centers on the targeted industry list, like what does that mean if we were to actually remove them off the list?

[01:04:32] So from a practical, right, so the targeted industry program is an administrative program. It's run through economic development, development services, fire marshals, et cetera. And we manage that process internally. Right now, the data centers do come and talk to us.

[01:04:52] And so with that, we're able, I would not be able to stand up here and tell you kind of this history if I didn't have, wasn't part of those conversations and understood Because my job and my expertise for you is to give you trends, to let you see what I see going on in the market, what's happening.

[01:05:13] If we cut them off and say you're no longer a targeted industry, there's really no reason for them to come talk to us. Because it is a tool, an incentive that they want. Because they do get that service from the development services team.

[01:05:31] So all of a sudden, we will have an absence of information in the marketplace that will not be able to kind of get that insight into what's happening. So that's one important point. The other point, Pete, is that obviously as an economic developer, I love our business community.

[01:05:53] I appreciate every day that these businesses invest in our community. And like it or not, data centers are our biggest investor, right? And the idea that you would take them off a targeted list, it just doesn't feel very business-friendly.

[01:06:17] Supervisor Franklin? Yes, thank you. I have a few questions and comments, but I'm going to save most of them for after the full presentation. But I want to go back to the discussion around sustainability because I guess my perspective on how we talk about sustainability with regards to the data center industry is with regards to the obvious, right?

[01:06:40] like energy, obviously, like how do we on a local level help to mitigate, which is very limited. I mean, we pretty much don't have a lot of authority to do that. But then also water, we have been pushing for data centers to use the closed-loop system, which means that they essentially are recycling the water that they use.

[01:06:59] But the way I look at sustainability is what additional authorities do we need to push data centers to be more sustainable? So, for instance, as I just mentioned about energy usage, it would be great for the General Assembly to give us more tools to kind of have those different discussions around sustainability.

[01:07:19] And I'm going to, again, ask some questions a little bit later, and that gets more into the specifics. But also just think about various things with regards to ratepayers, or how can we push data centers to put more resources into local sustainability measures, whatever that may be, right?

[01:07:38] And so to me, when we talk about sustainability, that's what we actually need to be talking about or how at least some of us have generally been talking about it with regards to specifically the data center industry. I'm not sure if you want to respond to that, but that's how I look at the sustainability discussion.

[01:07:56] Well, and I think that, thank you again for that question, but I think, I did not know how, So, no, yeah, sustainability would resonate with you all if you're interested in really evaluating, is this an area that we should look at as part of our priorities and goals in relation to data center development?

[01:08:24] So, if that is something that the board is interested in evaluating, I think, you know, staff can work together to look and try to identify, are there levers within kind of these different buckets right that can be you know uh used as a characteristic yeah that's right and maybe outside of the land use process and it's more on the economic development side and so but i think i think we need more research because again i did not know that the state sustainability was going to resonate so yeah i mean sustainability is kind of the top issue that i think we've been

[01:09:02] talking about over the past couple of years so it's certainly important but but the question is how much power do we actually have power yeah no pun intended do we actually have with regards to that discussion and how can we be creative and innovative with what we can do with regards to pushing data centers into a certain corner with regards to sustainability and environmental measures and i think that's the discussion that this board needs to have in terms of the creativity and the innovation piece. All right. I'm going to go before I go to people for their

[01:09:39] second round. I want to look at page number five. I am going to jump back to this one, but I want to go to five. I want to go in order. All right. Yes. The overlay was not a restriction on where data centers could locate. True. But wasn't it set to be an area where we really wanted to put them? Yes. Okay. Because I just want to be clear on that. I mean, because obviously we do have a lot of applications outside of the overlay but it was there not just well it's not simply a restriction but it's really where we want to target data centers so i wanted to make that

[01:10:17] point slide number nine one of the cons that we don't have on there because again we're technically not allowed to use it in our deliberations but electricity and electric costs and the reason i say that is because i met with a company in innovation that was telling me that the blackouts are impacting them, that they are losing power, and that's affecting them. So I wanted to name that as part of this slide. I also wanted to really think about the cons. You know, can consume

[01:10:55] significant staff time, limiting attention for small businesses and other industries. To me, that's a really big flag. But also the third one, can delay response to advanced manufacturing, biotech, or other high-value projects. We were talking about this early, and I set the need, again, to bring jobs here, to bring jobs. Now, data centers do bring a lot of jobs, you know, in terms of temporary construction jobs. And then there is an ongoing need to do maintenance. So that's a lot of jobs for electricians. But what about jobs for the rest of us? And that's something this board really needs to think about. What about jobs for the rest of us? You know, for my one-eighth,

[01:11:33] right now one-seventh, as Supervisor Bodie had mentioned earlier, in a different meeting, When we get to the planning portion, when we get to the rest of this, I really want to think about that. Because for me, I'd like to see other industries come here. I'd like to really be intentional about attracting other industries, particularly in advanced manufacturing or biotech.

[01:11:56] I mean, with George Mason University, with what's going on there, with the talent that we're going to have in this county, in this community, with our proximity to Washington, D.C., Goochland ain't got that. I don't think you were here earlier when I had some, I was talking a little smack about goose chilling. Sorry, y'all. I just, you know, using them as an example because I think they have like what now, four Fortune 500 companies.

[01:12:17] They just got an Eli Lilly plant that's 650 jobs, $100,000 a job. I would really love to see that in this county in addition to Taste of Nova and other things like this. Keep this on your notepad. Got it. But I think that this is something that we need to be more intentional about grabbing.

[01:12:35] Data centers do bring revenue. I'm not going to dispute that. But I do want to say, because I want to reiterate my comments from earlier, we've also got to balance that out with other opportunities. Maybe, you know, AstraZeneca or Eli Lilly or something isn't paying the same amount of taxes, but if they're bringing jobs, if they're bringing opportunity, we've got to look at that and we've got to be intentional about that as well.

[01:12:59] I also, just quick questions, how is it important, because is it to be near May East? Because people I've been talking to, they're saying latency is very important. So is that one of the reasons they want to come here, to be close to May East? So obviously that was the driver, the original driver.

[01:13:14] And so when you think also about the data center industry, not to overcomplicate, the first kind of technology was about cloud computing, cloud storage, right, where our data is stored.

[01:13:32] And so latency and access, that was super important. As the industry has evolved and you saw now data centers being located in other places that were just really storage, latency isn't as important for them because they're just storing data.

[01:13:52] They're not processing the data. What's happening now and where you continue to see this surge with Loudoun and Prince William County is this entree of AI and quantum. These are huge processing computers that, again, require a lot of energy.

[01:14:12] Them being close to this infrastructure is still very critical for them. And if I may go back to your question about the target industry or your comment about the target industry, if the board chose to remove data centers from the target industry program, would that stop data centers from coming?

[01:14:38] Probably not, right? But again, thinking about what I kind of said at the end, we're in this place now that we can be selective about the types of data center projects that we may be willing to instead of.

[01:14:55] So these are the higher value added projects that could really help us. Maybe there's more jobs associated with it. Maybe it complements our other existing target industries.

[01:15:10] Maybe it has, they're bringing a lot of sustainability investments with it, right? Thinking about it from a, what is it that we want? If we're going to give them target industry, how are they giving us what we want?

[01:15:28] I'm going to take my other five minutes because you made me think about something. No, no, no, because I ran out of time. But you're saying going for, what does that mean? Because if already right now we're asking questions about how to make them more sustainable. If we're already having these types of questions, then how, give me an example of a data center that's more tight value or, you know.

[01:15:48] I don't know yet. You don't know yet. Right? I mean, we're seeing a lot more in this quantum and AI space. And, you know, while they haven't come and talked to our community or whatever, but I am hearing about other projects. And so, you know, this industry is constantly pushing forward.

[01:16:06] So I don't know what the next innovation related is. But I feel like we should always be planning for it. I don't want to step on anyone else's choice, but I'm just curious. Like, you know, when businesses come here, do they necessarily go through your office?

[01:16:23] Not all the time, no. Not all the time. Do you kind of have an example of maybe what percent go through your office? In terms of all businesses? I'm just curious. Or just data centers? Well, I was thinking all businesses, but also if you can answer both. Businesses in general and then data centers?

[01:16:40] No. I mean, yeah, I mean, it's very small because any project that is a competitive site selection project, so meaning that company is looking at multiple sites, yes, they are going to multiple sites in different locations, not just Prince William County, meaning statewide or whatever.

[01:17:00] Those ones all come to us. Those are the brunt of our workload because we're responding to RFPs and RFIs and so forth. The next subset of businesses are other businesses that are needing help identifying land and real estate. And those are kind of our small to medium-sized businesses that are having a challenge. And they're coming to us asking if we have any leads or can we help them identify and then once they maybe have a couple sites we're working with you know our

[01:17:38] zoning to make sure to see if that use is allowed etc so a lot of hands-on work and then the small businesses obviously they come talk to us because they just need help getting started and setting up their business and accessing resources and so forth franchises none of those businesses come to us. They've got their own systems. But anybody that is kind of in that space of looking for land or needs help navigating through the county's development review processes, they're going to come to us. They're going to find their way to us. And this reminds me of site selection. That's a

[01:18:12] great thing that you mentioned because it's having so much land tied up or spoken for with data centers impacting other industries choosing appropriate sites within our county. I wouldn't I wouldn't phrase it that way. Rephrase it.

[01:18:29] I wouldn't characterize it that way. Sorry. In order to be competitive with these site selection projects, we have to have sites that are ready. So these are the ones that you're all talking about, the employment, the big employment generators and, you know, multiple billions of dollars of investment.

[01:18:50] In order to be competitive, we have to have generally at least a 30 to 50-acre site that is ready to go, and it's zoned. They're not going to want to wait two years for rezoning, so it's got to be entitled and allow us to be able, and then, of course, all the infrastructure.

[01:19:13] That, we do not have available for sale sites that meet that criteria. very few there's you know the one big one in innovation park and and then there's a couple sprinkles but none of them are zoned all right and that is a discussion i guess we're going to even have maybe later today or at some point i know that um tanya washington has talked about what proactive rezoning and that is a discussion for us to have at some point about we've got to

[01:19:47] look at sites that can be identified for job creation and we've got to figure out what it's going to take us whether what kind of infrastructure what type of again proactive rezoning but that's the conversation that's worth having soon if not today and i think i apologize did i take your question supervisor vega yeah i did i'm sorry i will give credit to the lovely supervisor vega for some of that um supervisor bode thank you madam chair uh appreciate the conversation a couple other things um to the point on site selection and land tied up and i think supervisor

[01:20:25] Azagordi made a very important point around sort of what we're seeing around sort of the land development process versus the actual building of buildings. So those are now things that are, in my opinion, and I think Azagordi spoke to it well, are being sort of disconnected now.

[01:20:41] We have folks that are frankly coming in to get things through the process to get rezoned or SUP'd for data centers without an end, sometimes without an end user in mind or identified. They might have a couple people. And so we have a lot of parcels now that we've rezoned or approved SUPs for where we don't know how long it's going to be between when we do it and when something's going to be built out.

[01:21:07] So I wanted to name that. But to get to my question, how much of that land is in the overlay? Do we know? Do we know who's actually actively building things in the overlay, who's at least sought construction permits, things like that? We'd have to do an analysis to figure out what.

[01:21:26] And I think that's part of what the, as we're going through the entitlements to figure out what is actually entitled and what's built and who then controls land. If we could, I would appreciate that because I think that's an important part of the conversation, not just for the overlay, right?

[01:21:41] But as we talk about, to your point, and I want to do give you kudos to everyone else on the team who's been working on us getting real data around what's in the pipeline and what's being built and what has already been built. I think that's key, but also, again, knowing how much land is tied up to eventually maybe one day be a data center, but there's no one actually seeking to actually build a building there.

[01:22:02] And I think as we talk about site selection and other land that we could be using for other things, highest and best use, I think that's an important thing to talk about. As per what was being discussed earlier around how can we set ourselves up to the next level of doing this, To me, incentives around this industry would probably include not just building a data center, right?

[01:22:23] Not just building the giant building, you know, partnering with St. John's and these other types of developers that do the tech flex land around it. So you're not just doing a giant building on an island of itself. It's actually part of an ecosystem of other businesses, to your point, that are actually directly tied to that as opposed to just being sort of auxiliary and sort of happenstance to it.

[01:22:42] So go back to sustainability. I mean, what was said before, I think, is key, and I appreciate Professor Franklin mentioning it, is we have different tools that we can use for different things. We can't directly regulate the power consumption or the energy efficiency. We can talk with developers about it and have that in some of the conditions, but since we can't directly regulate it through what you just said earlier, I think, is the way we'd go about it, at least right now, right? Having a situation where someone wanted to avail themselves of some of these benefits of being on the target industry list, having to commit to certain levels of renewable energy for their sourcing, certain levels of PUEs or power utilization efficiency

[01:23:20] ratios to talk about how we want to, to your point, if you want to build a data center here, being selective about it and them not running countercurrent to other goals, like you said. I mean, we can talk all day about how there's an inverse relationship between power and water usage and data centers how right now according calvin far we don't have in power of a water issue yet doesn't mean we should go gangbusters and not really think about it so i think there's more to be talked about there um and i appreciate your conversation about it i will say though that one of the things that frustrates me right now about day centers being on the target industry

[01:23:58] list is it's used on the staff report right in your section of the staff report target industry we want target industry it's a target industry so yes it it makes it a lot more of a binary um read from a policymaker on the on the staff reports knowing that it's in the target industry list that sort of predisposes it to have a favorable view on a staff report even though to your point there's all these other things they could be doing from an economic development perspective that they are not so could you talk a little bit about that piece sure and i and i

[01:24:30] think we this is a nuance that um i want to try to articulate really carefully so the board has a list of targeted industries of which data centers is on there. And so when you'll see in say a planning land use staff report, it will say data centers are a targeted industry.

[01:24:56] That doesn't mean that my office is working with them because the other piece of the target industry is the program and the relationship that we have with development services where we expedite that permitting we do not have we have a pilot program between the planning office and economic development which we took the milksville business technology park through which went through the rezoning but we don't have that for any other projects and we wouldn't do

[01:25:35] that for for for data centers and so going back to your question is that i think there's just that nuance between what is it when we're saying it's a target industry versus have the Executive Director of Economic Development designated this particular project a targeted project, which is a totally different thing because that requires them to submit an application to me

[01:26:06] and to actually weigh in and then give that benefit. We do not do that for rezonings or SUPs. They already have to be entitled. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey.

[01:26:24] Thank you, Madam Chair. And to Supervisor Franklin, thank you. I think the key word that, no, you could go on. The key word that she mentioned that I was having a hard time with the question that you told me I need to ask Tanya, which I probably knew, was sustainability.

[01:26:41] That was the key piece, but I'll come back to that. But the question I have is in reference to workforce development and, you know, how from in the past up to now and going to the future how can we partner with the data center industry to to expand our local workforce pipelines like with our veterans and our our youth that are graduating from college or high school even and you know in our communities to you know to keep that resource here for us

[01:27:14] well thank you for that supervisor bailey um i think we already are doing a lot with that we have the um the partnership between northern virginia community college virginia and virginia and i i can't remember i think it was amazon for the data center training center at the workforce regional center that's a huge piece of training folks right here in prince william county working within the schools to get our students into these programs i'll say that the data center industry as well

[01:27:52] as all of our education and our workforce partners, I think, are really aligned in trying to funnel and create those career pathways for students that are in high school and move them through, you know, and to be able to get them the training and the programs.

[01:28:11] And so in terms of moving forward is really looking at specific programs that, where are the gaps that are not being met right now through all the existing programs are there opportunities to create more partnerships whether it's with prince william county schools or higher ed and the partner and the data centers to get that workforce trained and keep them here in prince william county because i will always say the best quality of life is when you live and work where you live.

[01:28:50] You work where you live? Yeah. Okay. I don't say it very well, I guess. No. Thank you. Supervisor Gordy. The data center overlay currently sits over a lot of current existing businesses.

[01:29:14] Yes. Some major ones, U.S. Foods, we've got Merrifield, we've got all that along Wellington Road. In your opinion, is it advisable for us to keep that there? And I say that in a caveat with this statement, which is a matter of fact.

[01:29:35] People are being bought out, and now they're making a lot of money on their property, but they're realizing to go get property, they're going to have to spend every penny of it. And so they are now being forced out of the county because there's nowhere to go because they can't afford it.

[01:29:56] And so now their companies are having to spend more labor time in car. Their labor is spending more time in the car and spending more time in fuel commuting back to work sites. So, you know, given these realities, is it advisable, in your opinion, for us to keep the data center overlay in these areas where we have current economic activity?

[01:30:20] Wow. Thank you for that question. So, again, I'm going to go back to that we need to change the conversation and talk about where we want employment growth and, in this case, retention of existing businesses.

[01:30:38] If we're going into it thinking, okay, in the overlay, this is where companies are, then what are the tools that we can protect and make sure that those companies have the room to continue to thrive and expand?

[01:30:55] and they're not going to get tried to bought off. I would, and I know this has gone, there's kind of two theories, right? Is if you get rid of the overlay, then at that point, anywhere, without any other tools, without a vision, without a strategy, now everybody's open game to go buy land.

[01:31:21] So it doesn't, you're going to go, now they're going to go look for the cheapest land possible. So there's pros and cons to both sides, but I think, again, changing the conversation to talk about what is important, where do we want the employment growth, look and identify those areas where we have major businesses.

[01:31:44] But in some of these areas where they're already M1, M2, in the overlay, it's buy right. They could just go and build, buy and go submit their thing and start to build. That sounds like a great question for Tanya.

[01:31:59] Yeah. Well, no, I mean, but I'm saying from an economic development standpoint and actually retention of business, I mean, as long as the overlay sits over these M1, M2 zoning in the industrial areas where we have current economic activity, that pressure, I mean, they're getting calls every week.

[01:32:17] Correct. Every week they're getting calls. And to the point of just being pure harassment. So, as long as it's there and it offers a buy right incentive for data, I think that's going to continue to put a lot of pressure on those companies.

[01:32:41] But to take away that buy right, to make it have to go through a rezoning, then it just adds that extra layer of complexity to the process. And so I take what you said.

[01:32:58] I appreciate we're in alignment, but I also wanted to kind of lay out that framework because, again, I'm hearing this constantly. And, again, the big one that I get called about all the time, Jiffy Lou.

[01:33:14] Yes. So, there you go. And I'm sorry, because we have a few people, and I'm just trying to make sure we have a quorum. Thank you so very much. Thank you. You're off the hook. I'm sorry, Tanya.

[01:33:30] It's your turn now. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. Tanya Washington, Director of the Planning Office.

[01:33:47] Very happy to be here today to contribute to this discussion. So, I am going to start with some background on the overlay district. Christina, I think, gave a really thorough overview of the contacts before the overlay, the growth of the data center industry in the U.S. and in the county, demands on new electric infrastructure to support disuse, as well as community concerns related to new transmission lines.

[01:34:16] So the overlay district was created in 2016. The board initiated a ZTA for the creation of the data center opportunity zone overlay district to incorporate appropriate changes to address the impacts of data centers, and it was adopted in May of 2016. The focus of the ZTA looked at industrial land use, industrial long-range land use, most of which was northwest of the city of Manassas along Prince

[01:34:55] William Parkway, Wellington Road, and Ballsford Road. Looking at economic development goals, As noted earlier, data centers was a target industry. Looking at electric infrastructure needs, mostly to address the need for the extension, to reduce the need for the extension of transmission lines through residential areas.

[01:35:22] And through this, ZTA implemented new definitions. So previously, data centers was not its own kind of defined use. Additionally, obviously creating the overlay district, and the CTA also amended required approvals for electrical substations, now required a special use permit outside of the overlay district.

[01:35:49] So this slide is a summary of existing zoning districts where data center uses are permitted, whether inside the overlay district or outside. Currently within the overlay district, data centers are permitted in all office and industrial districts and is permitted in B1 general business with an SUP. Outside the overlay, it is permitted in all of these districts with an SUP. Moving on to 2019, the board initiated a resolution in 2018

[01:36:23] to make some further changes to the overlay district and that was adopted in 2019 and it included architectural guidelines for data centers as well as allowing additional floor area ratio and height with an SUP application.

[01:36:42] The additional FAR and height encouraged increased density and thus intended to be a more efficient use of scarce land. And the 2019 update also removed high visibility employment areas from the overlay district.

[01:37:01] So just to kind of take a step back and talk about industrial land and how that's been planned in a county. In a 1974 comprehensive plan, It includes industrial long-range land use area. Residential and industrial uses or planned areas were adjacent, but conflicts were handled through 50-foot buffers on both sides of the property line, office commercial and light industrial uses separating residential and heavy industrial uses, and SUPs for uses requiring additional review of impacts.

[01:37:35] Also just wanted to note that before and after the overlay district was established, the board has approved other uses within comprehensive planned industrial areas, such as schools, residential, religious institutions, and mixed use.

[01:37:51] So these two maps show a comparison between the 1974 comprehensive planned industrially planned areas and the industrially planned areas in the 2023 update.

[01:38:12] And this is the land use map in a comprehensive plan. So this shows the changes to the industrial areas, both the growth in industrial areas as well, particularly if you look at the 2023 map, there are a number of other types of uses, non-industrial uses that are now abutting or adjacent to areas that were planned for industrial uses.

[01:38:39] So I'm going to shift to talking about prior board direction on data center development And some of this we've shared previously in other sessions with the board, but I will just hit some of the highlights. In 2021, the board directed staff to look at the data center overlay district.

[01:39:01] There was a directive in March to provide recommendations to expand and change the overlay district and a resolution in May to initiate amendments to policy and regulations related to data center development. So looking at topics such as economic impact, expanding the overlay district, as well as land use and infrastructure impacts, there were a number of consultant reports that came out of that effort, including data center market viability review, a market study, targeted

[01:39:34] industry land need analysis, data center fiscal impact analysis, design standards, a draft to potential changes to the design standards for the overlay district, as well as additional analysis.

[01:39:54] Moving on to 2022, the board issued a directive to conduct a comprehensive review of the noise ordinance, which we know will be coming to the board soon. Additionally, in 2023, the board directed the county executive to establish the working group of stakeholders, community industry stakeholders to review regulatory requirements looking at the noise ordinance the zoning ordinance the design and construction standards manual additionally there was also a resolution in february of 2023 where the board initiated amendments to the zoning ordinance and the dcsm

[01:40:33] to address potential data center impacts and that work is underway right now continuing on to Last year, 2024, the board issued a directive focused on review of the overlay district's boundaries and to recommend any suggested amendments or adjustments to the boundaries.

[01:40:59] I also wanted to note, you may recall, in June of last year, the late Supervisor Weir introduced a proposed ZTA to eliminate the overlay district. However, the board did not initiate that ZTA. Additionally, in 2024, related to the Boundary Study Directive, we received additional guidance to focus on first analyzing the recommendations from the SANTAC report under an earlier directive to remove nine sites, which we completed that analysis and presented that to the board.

[01:41:35] We received direction in December to proceed with initiation of a zoning map amendment. And then earlier this year in May, we brought a resolution to the board to initiate the boundary study to remove those nine identified sites, as well as to do additional analysis in terms of other areas that may need to be removed from the overlay district.

[01:42:04] So that's more kind of setting the context, providing some additional background. Now I'm going to shift to really a discussion, and this is really intended to be an interactive discussion where we really as staff would like to hear direction and guidance from the board and this is looking at potential land use approaches to managing data center development so kind of taking a step back kind of following on some of the points that Christina Wynn noted this is really about kind of big picture how does the board how does Prince William County

[01:42:41] want to manage and direct future data center development so some key questions are how does the county want to manage future data center development where should future data centers go and what should be done to address other priorities impacted by data centers and these were issues that have come up already the availability of industrial land for other types of industrial uses as well as impacts on residential and other uses so this slide provides an overview and kind

[01:43:15] assess the stage for the next slide of kind of big picture in terms of looking at potential land use approaches to managing data center development is really kind of two big buckets. The first is what's the sort of regulatory methods, options for regulatory methods.

[01:43:32] So that includes the overlay district itself, keeping it, removing it, changing it, using other regulatory tools such as SEPs, et cetera. The other key consideration is location. So this involves considering, should data centers be restricted to certain areas?

[01:43:51] Should they be allowed to go county-wide? Should the county consider incentivizing them to go into certain locations? And one of the things I wanted to note before I proceed is that in presenting these potential options, these are, from our perspectives, our sort of knowledge and experience as land use planners, thinking about this as in terms of what is the suite of land use tools that exist that could be used as options to consider for managing data center development.

[01:44:20] But we are not making recommendations about any of these options. These are really just to provide the board with a viewpoint that you actually have a broad range of potential tools to consider. And again, with regards to location, I know siting has come up.

[01:44:37] Again, that is related to the regulatory tool, but it presents its own set of questions and considerations. So that's why we call that out. So, given that last week, Supervisor Bodie issued the directive to explore eliminating the overlay district, we're going to touch on some of these pieces lightly because that is one of the options that is listed here, but again, this slide just goes into some more details about potential land use approaches that could be considered for managing data centers.

[01:45:14] Again, with the overlay district, keeping or modifying it and some different considerations or options there, creating a new overlay district. um and again you know other considerations and happy to go into that if you all interested in but i think i'm just going to skip to option three since that was already identified in the directive which is to eliminate the overlay district and to require sgps the the key piece and obviously since we have this directive the staff will be doing much more in-depth analysis and we'll come back to the board with further kind of feedback and other considerations but

[01:45:51] We still want to take this opportunity to just lay out that there are, again, even if the board eliminates the overlay district, the story doesn't end there. It raises other questions, other decision points where it will be really critical to receive direction from the board so that the staff can then figure out how do we then figure out what is the next set of strategies to manage data center development.

[01:46:18] So one consideration, again, this gets to location. If you eliminate the overlay district, data center applications could look for land countywide. They can come as rezoning applications. They can come as SUPs. That is one option.

[01:46:35] The other option, or one other option, is to limit the zoning districts where data centers are of permitted use. So that earlier slide showed where data centers are allowed either in certain zoning districts within an overlay district, either by right or outside the overlay district by SUP.

[01:46:54] And there were several different types of zoning districts, business, line industrial, flex, heavy industrial, others. So a question for the board to consider is, okay, that's under what we have in place right now, where data centers could go either by right, depending upon whether or not they're in an overlay district or through an SUP or rezoning application.

[01:47:16] Does the board want to consider identifying or changing that list so that data centers can only go in certain types of zones, even with an SUP because you can, the SUP basically says a use can go in this district, zoning district, if it's approved through an SUP.

[01:47:36] So do you want to kind of revisit that list of where data centers are currently allowed outside of the overlay district through an SUP to narrow that list, maybe focus in on others, expand it. So that's really, that's why we highlight that, that there are other decisions that the staff see the need to make some get some guidance from the board about that and then the last piece here is that data center development is driving up land prices and that was discussed earlier so should the county consider the appropriate appropriateness of specific industrial uses

[01:48:10] in industrial zoning districts and supervisor gordy's kind of gets to the issue that has been raised earlier that christina also talked about which is diversification of the county's economic sectors and particularly within the industrial sector and are there other considerations that should come into play in terms of making sure that our land use policies and strategies can help to support that economic diversification broadly but particularly within the industrial

[01:48:39] sector. So I'm just going to close with some brief regulatory updates to the zoning ordinance and the DCSM. As I noted earlier, the county staff, we're working with Mosley Architects on changes, recommended changes to the zoning ordinance, as well as the design and construction standards manual. That work is already underway and will continue. Additionally, as noted, for the noise ordinance, the county hired noise consultants to develop proposed noise ordinance

[01:49:16] amendments and as we all are aware of the state's jlac report the proposed 2026 legislative agenda items have been shared with the board so that concludes my presentation and i'm happy to answer any questions i will take the first question while i'm waiting others jump in the queue so page 15

[01:49:40] slide 15 so i just want to go through this because it looks um okay in these districts it says outside the overlay looks like everything is an sup but on page 164 of the land use chapter and i can give you a copy um because i just have one right here it says data centers are not allowed in the i um i um t-2 so i just want to understand in which areas and that's also m2 is one of the

[01:50:18] implementing zoning districts and then i also had my staff put together a list of some of our different rezonings with data centers in particular where they required a cpa that accompanied the rezonings or special use permits so can you just do me a favor and walk me through um when things need a cpa a rezoning sup and why is there are some cases are there some cases even something is an m2 where they would need more than sup thank you madam chair david mcgett again from

[01:50:52] the planning office. So this is the zoning ordinance requirements. And the area that was identified as I-2, most of it would require rezoning. And during the rezoning process, we used the comprehensive plan as a guide. So that language about data centers not being in the I-2 is a guide for the rezoning process and the SUP process.

[01:51:22] Also, the area where the I-2 is is not in the Opportunity Zone overlay district. So it would either require, if it's already in the already zoned M-2 light industrial, they would still need to use that comprehensive plan guidance to evaluate the special use permit that would be required.

[01:51:50] So, again, the comprehensive plan is just a guide, and the guidance and policy that the board set forth in the comprehensive plan is that we wouldn't want data centers in the I-2 long-range land use areas. And so that's the guide we're going to use in evaluating it from a staff perspective for consistency with the comprehensive plan, any rezoning or special use permit that came before the board.

[01:52:12] I'm sorry, just so I'm clear, again, for slide 15 then. So what I'm essentially asking, because is this slide a little oversimplified or no? This reflects the current zoning ordinance right now.

[01:52:32] So it doesn't have anything to do with the comprehensive plan and the IT designation. That's strictly what the zoning ordinance says where data centers can be. So that's where data centers can be. It has to be one of those zoning districts. Okay. So it can be, just so I'm clear, it can be in one of those zoning districts.

[01:52:50] And the comprehensive plan, again, is a guide. And so when you're looking at stuff, if the comprehensive plan, if it doesn't match what's in the comprehensive plan, then what happens? Well, during a rezoning process, then the board would consider that during the rezoning and SUP process.

[01:53:08] So if there is no need to go through a rezoning because it's already zoned, then the comprehensive plan is not going to guide you. And that's why then that there's sometimes a need for a comprehensive plan amendment because the comprehensive plan isn't supporting that rezoning application.

[01:53:32] I say, I'm sorry, did you want to say something? Madam Chair, members of the board, as Mr. McGettigan is saying, the comprehensive plan is the board's guide. It is what is out there. It is a voluntary guide, which you say this is what you're intending. It is also statutorily required by the Virginia Code for the board to take that into consideration when a rezoning is coming before you.

[01:53:52] You're required to look at all of these different things. Oftentimes, a developer who wants to rezone property will also request a comprehensive plan amendment at the same time, because then if the comp plan is amended such that it's now consistent, that would support the rezoning.

[01:54:12] It's not legally required, but it is one of the considerations that you have to take into consideration when you're reviewing a rezoning before you. So legally, can a rezoning go forward that is contrary to the comp plan?

[01:54:28] Yes. But almost always the comp plan is going to be, there's going to be a companion comp plan amendment at the same time with the rezoning. No, the reason why I'm asking, because I have a list, you know, McGraw's Corner Drive, CPA, Devlin was a CPA, Potomac Technology Park was a CPA, Digital Gateways was CPA, Hunter Property was a CPA.

[01:54:49] I was just asking because I wanted to make sure that I understood, Because we obviously have projects that required a CPA, but then looking at this, I just want to make sure that I understood. The CPA is a factor that the board considers, whether it's legally required to be consistent with what the rezoning is coming forward, not necessarily.

[01:55:10] But like I said, developers, it will make a rezoning application easier to be considered favorable by the board if the comp plan amendment is consistent with what they're rezoning it to.

[01:55:27] gotcha oh no i like i said and maybe i'm over making this overly complex it's just when i saw that you know zoning district inside overlay outside overlay i was looking at other projects and you know i wasn't sure for a cpa sup was sufficient because other ones did have either rezoning again if the land is not already zoned for what it is or if it's a cpa and then going back through the land use chapter i just want to make sure i was clear so still not clear but you we can talk later because this there's something that i'm just not understanding well i think you

[01:56:04] know in addition to what the county attorney noted these are all matters that we can go into a lot more detail to explain now that we have the directive to go to talk more about sort of the interplay between the zoning ordinance and the zoning districts and what's allowed where under the zoning ordinance and through what mechanism and the the comprehensive plan is sort of the the a larger vision in terms of what's planned for that area, and just noting that the comprehensive plan in the long-range land use map can have a particular long-range land use designation in the actual zone for that parcel can be completely different.

[01:56:41] So that's the other, you know, consideration as well. Now, because I just want to make sure that we are consistent. That's very important to make sure that we are consistent, and so again, when I was looking at this slide, I'm like, it just seemed simplified, overly simplified for me. That's correct to the extent that there are other factors that come into play, but this slide was intended to represent solely what the zoning ordinance says.

[01:57:04] Okay, that's all I wanted to know. Yes, the other factors can come into play and often do. Yes. This was just, you know, something that's easy to digest, so to speak. Thank you. Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, I have several questions and comments, and I'm not sure.

[01:57:23] I mean, you can do the best you can, but a lot of them is dealing with kind of power and grid infrastructure and things of that nature so you know if you don't know the answer we can just kind of have a discussion about it um but before i get into that i do want to start with um something that supervisor gordy brings up often which i actually agree with which is the value of land um increasing as a result of the amount of data centers that we're bringing into uh into the county um and so this may be more for christina but you know feel free uh whichever but i i do think instead of just having a discussion around it we actually do need to figure out how can we um and whatever

[01:58:03] authority we have offset um the high cost of land for small businesses or just smaller entities and by smaller i mean just even smaller than a data center even if it's still a corporation um how do we how do we kind of offset the effect of um the the increase in the value of land for other types of businesses that may not be able to afford the current valuation, which may be an economics discussion, but I do think it's something we have to figure out how to tackle.

[01:58:37] So I can add some thoughts to that. And, again, this is not speaking specifically about Prince William County or data centers, just very broadly in terms of land use approaches to address instances where a locality wants to incentivize, wants to attract certain types of land uses in certain locations where the cost of land or other factors may pose a potential barrier or you're trying to reduce or kind of mitigate marking conditions that may make it more difficult to get those uses.

[01:59:10] So some localities, and again, I'm not speaking about Prince William County, will use tools such as tax abatements, for example. There are, whether, you know, for a defined period of time to make it easier to get that use there and to reduce the costs on the property tax side to help to kind of balance out whatever the land costs or maybe some other factors that may kind of result in higher costs for those uses.

[01:59:41] And there's different ways to do that, but that is one way to do that that has taken place in other localities. Again, there's really kind of a broad suite of different types of incentives that different communities have used sure so that's just one type but there are other types of incentives on a christina if you want and if i may say i mean i guess here one thing that we do not necessarily getting to this issue but really is the target industries but and i guess maybe the discussion should be if we can include more industries as part of our targeted industry

[02:00:16] strategy to help kind of offset um or really diversify as we talked about earlier but curious as to some additional thoughts. And I would love to take my second five minutes if I get out of time, but please. Do you want me? Yes, yes. Thank you.

[02:00:33] I think as Director Washington was talking about, yes, in the past where we've been able to move the needle per se is by using incentives to help to offset those additional land costs or operating costs.

[02:00:51] The challenge that we're faced right now is that if an acre of general industrial land is $600,000 to $800,000 an acre, data center prices are anywhere from $2 million to $3 million.

[02:01:07] There is no incentive that we could actually offset that cost, right? That's just, it's not possible.

[02:01:17] As I have spoken in the past, one of the strategies that we have been trying to work with is that when the data centers, and this goes back to being able to get in front of the data centers before they're making applications, is to talk to them about the importance of can they look at their application, set aside some property so that they can sell it or work with a small business because they've underwrite it.

[02:01:47] So they're going in and they're purchasing that land, underwriting it, knowing that a portion of it will be sold at industrial rates versus data center rates. Sure. I actually think that's a great idea. Kind of getting into actually transitioning to one of my other questions was about the size of data centers.

[02:02:07] And obviously they're huge. But I'm wondering, as the technology industry continues to evolve, if we think there will be an opportunity in the future to have a smaller footprint for data centers. Because I wonder if that will also help with the value of land in terms of they're not buying as much, or hopefully they won't have to buy as much land in the future.

[02:02:31] And that would save up, you know, land for other businesses. But then we still have that value, the valuation discussion. But just curious if someone can talk about the footprint. I think the footprint is going to continue to evolve, but it is going to be driven by power, right?

[02:02:47] And so because even if you're creating smaller buildings, the technology inside it is still using a lot of energy. So it's limited to that power supply. Sure. And actually transitioning to another question I have, which is about, really is about the energy, but more specifically around grid infrastructure.

[02:03:11] And so I'm just wondering in terms of what do we think that will look like in the future? Like, obviously, most of our data centers here in Loudoun connect to the grid. I know that there are some other entities that use natural gas, which I don't think we want to do.

[02:03:30] But I'm just curious in terms of our energy usage, their energy usage, kind of what we think that will evolve into. And particularly going back to specifically grid infrastructure, we underground some utilities here.

[02:03:47] And I think it's required for the undergrounding of utilities for all new residential. But I'm wondering kind of what that will look like in the future for commercial. I know Dominion doesn't like to underground because it costs a lot of money, nor do developers. But I'm wondering if that still makes the industry more effective if we were to push for that.

[02:04:05] So remember that with the data center industry, the data center operators, the significant amount of capital that they are investing in these facilities, so they are motivated to cut costs or look at things like green infrastructure more than any other industry sector.

[02:04:25] So they are the ones that are continuing to drive these new conversations around energy, green infrastructure, sustainability, because at the end of the day, they're looking to how they can really minimize that cost. And so I think it's to be determined.

[02:04:44] And we know that there are a lot of different energy technologies that are being explored right now. Yeah, and then I think my last question, you probably know this, but I'm just now discovering this, but there are, not a lot, but there are some data centers that have built their technologies underground.

[02:05:06] And so I'm wondering if that's a possibility here in Prince William, and if that actually solves some of our problems with regards to, A, footprint, number one, also really on the sustainability front.

[02:05:22] But then I also wonder what the impact of having some of that infrastructure be underground related to sustainability as well. But just curious about that discussion. Yeah, I mean, I've definitely read about projects and other places. I think Iron Mountain has one, but not here. Yeah, exactly.

[02:05:39] I think we would have to do research. I don't know what our underground tables would like that we'd be able to bury. Sure. And the reason why I ask is because as we continue to talk about how to make the industry here in this county more sustainable, I just think we have to, like, look at all these things, the grid infrastructure, the footprint.

[02:05:57] We've been talking about power and water to no end. But, you know, what can we actually do to push our data center developers to make it easier, I think, on the county to be able to continue to accept them as one of our top industries?

[02:06:16] Thank you. If I can add, those are all things that I think about as well. you know can data centers go in smaller footprints instead of these very wide squat buildings that take up a lot of land can they go underground you know can you redevelop an old office building into a data center you know those are things that i think about and when i've had opportunities to be in you know real estate discussions where there are data center representatives i ask those questions you know can we move in that direction so that you have less of an impact

[02:06:50] on the land and so i think you know as as miss one noted these are things still to be determined there is a lot of evolution that is happening in the data center industry i would say for myself i you know read various real estate newsletters just to kind of keep a keep a learn for myself what's happening in that sector and you know data centers are going in lots of locations and so hopefully there are some innovations that are taking place within an industry to fit into other types of locations that hopefully Prince William County can benefit from but these are all questions

[02:07:27] that we're thinking about as well sure thank you all right before I go to the next person I just wanted to ask folks you know when you speak and I can come back to folks you know if they want to talk later but really think about slide 26 because that's going to be part of the discussion we need to have I don't know you're ready to tackle that supervisor Franklin I know Gordy is are you ready franklin are you ready all right so one right up there i'm gonna pass i'm gonna go to gordy he's ready um surprised franklin thank you for your question you to go back to your comment about you know the areas where we want to protect for other businesses when we did the comprehensive

[02:08:05] plan related to the noakesville industrial we specifically said in the comp plan that data centers are are are um disincentivized to go into this area it is you uh and so and that was the intent because we we saw it coming that this was becoming more and more of a problem for our small businesses in that we needed to reserve space in this county for them so so we literally did it but what's happening we've already got one developer already talking about trying to put a data center out there so so you know the so the challenge is will you know as we look at this will we be

[02:08:45] disciplined enough to say, no, not here. Move to somewhere else. And so the one question I did have back on that chart related to where the buy rights on slide 15, M2, it characterizes it as heavy industrial, but the ordinance says light industrial. It is light industrial. So is that.

[02:09:17] That is supposed to say light industrial. Okay, good. I just want to make sure I wasn't missing anything um because that that um here here's my frame of mind and this is just to get to slide 26 as we've seen we already have nearly 70 000 70 million square feet of data centers already in this county and they are surrounding neighborhoods they are uh next to schools uh they

[02:09:49] are um much of which is in the Brentsville district um given the fact that we already have all this capacity already approved within the county um the recommendation that i'm having is to eliminate the data center working group or i'm sorry overlay sorry guys did not mean to say that at all um that pull that scab open um um but limit any future development in m1 mt and a

[02:10:25] quarter mile away from residential and schools that would be my recommendation um limited to m1 and mt with an sup a quarter mile away from residential and schools and that's that that's my position on that that was my recommendation i mean we've been talking about this for four years i mean we literally have been since i was on the planning commission's four years starting next

[02:10:59] month we've not moved the the ball one inch on this in four years it's time to take action and And so that's what I'm laying on the table is something that we can at least start to debate, talk about, and see if we can come to resolution on that.

[02:11:16] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I feel like Supervisor Gordy has thrown out the gauntlet. Over to you, Supervisor Bodie. Pick it up. Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to actually pull on a thread that you had started earlier, Madam Chair, with asking about how different projects got through the process with SUPs versus CPAs, what have you.

[02:11:34] And I think, Mr. McGaig and Tanya, you could probably answer this a little bit more clearly. When folks were coming in for some of those projects that Madam Chair mentioned, were they also asking for the overlay to be expanded into those areas? We would have to look at specific applications to respond to that.

[02:11:52] I can't make a kind of blank. Sure. I appreciate that. The answer is for some of those, yes, they were. We know for Hunter they were. We know for Devlin they were. We know for that one too. So I just wanted to touch upon that because I know Madam Chair asked. So I know that for some of those, I believe CPAs were requested alongside everything else because they were requesting for the overlay to be expanded into those areas as well.

[02:12:15] Madam Chair, I wanted to make sure we uplifted that part of your question. My second question actually goes to what Supervisor Gordy just said in terms of the types of zoning districts that are primary, secondary, and discouraged, right?

[02:12:33] Because we have in both the long-range land use plan, but also in general under the zoning districts themselves, we have what are the uses that are primary, secondary, and then discouraged uses. To go back on that point, I guess if we're trying to have diversity of the types of, one, the types of data centers we have, but two, looking at where we want to prioritize them and where we want to discourage them, would you recommend that we just have areas where they're just primary only ones where they're primary and others where the secondary or how do you see

[02:13:08] that playing out in your professional opinion as a planner? The first way I would answer that question is I think it would be beneficial for the staff to do that analysis to provide a direct answer. The second note I would make is that I think part of that is driven by the board's larger priorities and kind of policy priorities to get to some of the things that Ms. Nguyen noted earlier because if you're kind of clear about the policy priorities the land use pieces are intended to implement that and so which uses might be or which zoning districts it might be you know data centers

[02:13:46] might be primary or secondary what have you should be tied to what those larger priorities are because then you can set that up to help implement that i appreciate that so where i'll go with that is to align a little bit with what supervisor gory just said my opinion is we get rid of the overlay And then we limit them, we limit where they go as a primary use to those heavy industrial zoning districts.

[02:14:13] Then if they have, as an example earlier, other ancillary businesses that they're creating alongside that, then yeah, we can talk about them being secondary in your lighter industrial zoning districts, but highly discourage them everywhere else. and begin to put in performance standards around, as was said before, distances from residential, distances from schools, distances, frankly, from even community-facing retail.

[02:14:36] So your stores, your restaurants, those types of things, to make more of a transition and natural delineation between industry and, frankly, community-facing commercial. The last thing I would say is looking at the DCSM and other parts of it, because the DCSM, we know, fits into this as well, saying that the closer they get to residences and the closer they get to the community, the shorter they should be, the less impactful they should be, and design our design construction standards manual and other things around that.

[02:15:16] So you have a more seamless transition as we go from our core industrial areas that we put on the land use map to getting to these other places where not only do we want better harmonious land use, but frankly, again, we're prioritizing having more employment center type businesses in those activities where there are people are versus industry where there's just industrial uses.

[02:15:38] I hope that's clear. Thank you. Yes. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Tom. I appreciate your sentiments. We have been working on this for about four years. But my question is, if we revise the overlay or the SUP-based system, will that allow for a case-by-case evaluation of projects as it relates to the community benefits and the infrastructure impact?

[02:16:12] Yes. Yes, because every application, regardless of whether it's an SUP or rezoning application, anything that goes through the entitlement process, those applications have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. So there is the opportunity to address community impacts and other elements that can be mitigated through whether the conditions of the SUP application or proffers through the rezoning application.

[02:16:42] So does that impact the buy-right portion as well? Buy-right is a separate process. And that is, that's a question I would defer to development services because they handle those applications. Thank you.

[02:16:59] Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just for clarity, how do you want this process to play out? I understand that this is a sensitive topic. We've been dealing with this topic. I'm not going to sit here and talk about how this perhaps would have been more appropriate five, six, seven years ago, but we are here today, and back then we didn't know what we didn't know.

[02:17:23] However, what's the timeline on this? Because I hear that a lot of our colleagues on the dais have certain recommendations. I would like to have some time to vet said recommendations, to have dialogue among the board, maybe create some sort of tracker. Supervisor Gordy has issued what he would like to see.

[02:17:41] Kenny, just yesterday, you sent something around. Was it yesterday or the day before yesterday? In regards to the noise ordinance, we still have to tackle that. I think that the prudent thing would be to give us some time to figure out what it is that we want to see in terms of answering the questions that staff has presented today. We collaborate with one another, figure out where we land, but just want to know what your timeline is on wanting recommendations it's really not so much my timeline but this is what the direction we're giving to staff and i think it might be helpful for them if they had some more direction and what is the board thinking now obviously yes we need to have conversations i think today's a great day to kick that off if people aren't ready to give their answers you

[02:18:20] know certainly i can work with chris and see if there's other times where we can continue to discuss this i don't know because we already got a full schedule and i got some people asking can we get more board meetings believe it or not yes there are people who want more board meetings um so for the sake of time let me rephrase a question for today we want to give staff direction today if you can give her a reaction if you have a reaction if you have something that you want to share because as you said this has been a long time coming like we need to at least if you're not ready if anyone's days is not ready wants more time think about we'll figure something out but i think if we can give some kind of direction um even if this that this is what i think and

[02:18:59] people are going to need to have to come back um and have continuing conversations but what is your reaction to this you know i know that we've had time to look over this is there something that you're thinking that you want other of your colleagues to consider so today is a great day to do that right and it is a work session madam chair and typically in work sessions we do not take votes and i would assume that some of the recommendations are being made to an extent would require some type of straw pool or something just to kind of give an indication of where we're at um you know i obviously have my my my positions rather on where we should go in regards to this

[02:19:38] but i just want to be clear i was not under the expectation that today we were going to make recommendations but rather hear from county staff process the information and kind of go from there we can certainly we're not taking votes you're right we are not but we did take a vote that's not normal we took two votes earlier we're not taking votes we're not taking just give them a sense of where we are individually we can continue to have discussions and have follow-ups but i think it would be really helpful if we can share because we need dialogue and we're obviously very limited in how we can have dialogue you know i can't talk to kenny and and victor at the same

[02:20:16] time unless it's something that is not policy related so if people have thoughts let's share them you know we can have follow-up discussions based on what is said today which is what i'm guessing correct yes we will have follow-up discussions on you know what's been thrown out what we're saying today but if you have a direction that you would like to share or thoughts you'd like to share i think now's the time to do it madam chair may i just add briefly additionally if you have any questions that are coming to mind that you would like the staff to take a further look at you know to help inform feedback from the board we're happy to take those as well

[02:20:52] if you're not prepared to give you know specific direction or sort of this is where I am right now but again I think for the staff's perspective we kind of teed this up to generate exactly what's happening which is discussion amongst the board to get you all to think about these options and if you do have reactions and some thoughts to share those now but you know we didn't anticipate this to be sort of the end of the conversation but really kind of the start of this particularly now that we have this directive from Supervisor Bodie so we are charged with coming back to provide some recommendations so any thoughts, any questions that you have at this time is beneficial for us because then we can take that back and kind of put that in the mix

[02:21:32] of what we're going to be analyzing further in response to this directive. Thank you for that Tanya and then the last point that I just wanted to make Madam Chair, I just want to make sure that we properly vet it through our county attorney and take into consideration any legal implications. An idea might sound good, but not sure if it's within our legal realm to implement and or enforce.

[02:21:53] And I'm sure the county attorney appreciates that. We keep our business. Supervisor, angry than Franklin. Yeah, and thank you for that, Media and Supervisor Vega, because a couple of points. To recap, I know we're going to do something about data centers and going forward, hopefully, so I got it.

[02:22:11] I heard a lot, really, from Christine. I was focusing on targeted industry. You piqued my interest when you mentioned about buy rights, and that comes from, you said, what department? Development services. Development services, yes. And buy right is very tricky because we can say buy right talking about data centers, but it's only one buy right, right?

[02:22:33] And so if we're messing with that word and trying to mess with removing that, I don't know if that was kind of what I overheard a little bit in this discussion, I would be curious to hear how that plays out as far as the rest of that. And to our county attorney's point, and you don't have to comment on this, but my biggest concern would be whatever we do, what is happening to the industry as it's already been in place that we've put in place?

[02:22:58] So I'll use the term grandfather, but without using that term, I want to make sure, to what Supervisor Vega said, there's no legal ramifications that go with pulling the carpet, if you will, and knocking over the teapot or whatever.

[02:23:15] You know, basically, I want to make sure we're not actually putting ourselves in a hole by doing something going forward that's going to hurt something going backwards, if that makes sense. Yes, it does. And that is something that we would be taking a look at in terms of responding to the directive to explore those situations for, you know, entitlements that have already taken place.

[02:23:38] So that is something that would be considered. And do you have any comments on the health buy-write? I mean, as I was hearing the discussion of buy-write, I don't know. Do you have any thoughts on that? I'm just really curious. Is that going to hurt anything as we talk, you know, buy-write?

[02:23:55] I know, you know, there are certain things that have come up in the outscope. Homes being built because it was zoned residential 30 years ago, and they just sold and built, and, you know, they can do that because it was zoned that way and they didn't have to do any real different changes.

[02:24:11] So I'm just curious about that term and really where we're going with that. You know what I mean? I would say that's a very broad discussion, to be honest, supervisor, angry, and it really depends upon, you know, again, the planning office, we can't speak to the by-right, the process of dealing with by-right applications because we don't handle that.

[02:24:30] But with regards to, you know, the zoning ordinance does identify what certain uses that are by-right within certain zones. And if the question is around what happens in terms of some other types of uses, it's really kind of on a case-by-case basis.

[02:24:48] It's depending upon comprehensive plan guidance. There's a number of different factors. So I don't really have kind of a definitive way to answer that. I guess so for purposes of data centers, they'll say you remove the overlay district, then that removes bi-right for them.

[02:25:04] Is that what ties them to bi-right build? Maybe Ms. Joe can answer that one. Madam Chair, members of the board, I'll try to explain it as best I can. Someone has a use that they want to do in the county.

[02:25:20] They look in the zoning ordinance and they see, is this use permitted? And is it permitted by right, meaning they do not need to come to the board for any kind of legislative action? Or if they want to do it there and that zoning doesn't allow it, they go for a rezoning application.

[02:25:37] Or maybe it is permitted in that zoning category, but not by right, so therefore they have to file for an SUP. It's permitted with an SUP. So maybe my use is permitted here by right. I get to do it. I don't have to come to the board, as Ms. Washington says. I'll be going to development services and doing all of that. Or it may be allowed, but not by right, and I have to come back and provide some conditions. The board imposes conditions with the SUP. With the overlay district that's kind of it's an overlay on the zoning ordinance to now say that in these areas

[02:26:16] that are within the overlay district on slide 19 I think it was if it's that zoning district district within the overlay it's by right so it's basically saying that that zoned property would have allowed it under the zoning ordinance but the overlay district is is over that but without the overlay district if you're just looking at with the neabsco district and with some of the older districts in the county there are vacant lands that have been zoned for x use for years

[02:26:50] it's just it was not profitable to move forward with it until all of a sudden it is and your constituents are like what's going on here i like my vacant land i like seeing the deer there in the morning while i'm drinking my coffee why are they building it what are you going to do but it's by right. Does that help? Thank you. If I can just add really briefly, and we've seen this with some data center applications where they want to go on a property that is within an overlay district, and so the data center use is by right. However, the overlay district includes height maximums and

[02:27:25] other development standards, and so we've seen applications where the issue isn't the use because the use is by right there within the overlay district, but they want a taller height or they want some other changes to the standards that the zoning ordinance would otherwise allow that project to go through by right. So then we will see those as SUPs. And that would also to add that it's basically the waivers that the applicants are asking for the waivers for the height mod modifications etc. All right Supervisor wait Franklin did you want to speak because it looks

[02:28:01] like you're out. Turn on your mic. To Supervisor Vega's point I'm not prepared to go in any particular direction but i think that's been stated already all right bailey yeah i just wanted just for clarity um in terms of supervisor bailey god vegas uh va va va yeah vega i you know i was just madam chair had just asked our thoughts it was not a vote so i i just wanted to because she made the request just give her some idea of kind of where my mindset was um and and to say i think

[02:28:40] And to what Supervisor Gordy was saying, you know, we have been talking about this a long time, and we're talking about some old policies that we've been dealing with. So, you know, just to give a flavor of where we are, that's kind of where I was coming from, not to make a final decision or to vote.

[02:28:57] That was not my implication at all. But I think we do need to really have some concerted time, Madam Chair, to really talk about this because we're dealing with some old stuff, and we really need to move forward based upon the information we've gotten today.

[02:29:13] So that's just my thoughts, my two cents. Gordy? I'd just like to add, you know, part of the rationale for my position is, you know, when you take a look at the early data centers that we have, they were around 30 megawatts.

[02:29:29] Today they're running 100 megawatts. So you think a 30 megawatt data center has X number of generators that are out behind it. If you're running now a hundred megawatt data center, you've now taken that potentially that number four times in order for them to have.

[02:29:50] So you're literally talking about 30, potentially 40 generators of massive diesel generators sitting behind these things. And they need, you know, their own substations with and to some extent and some of them now are two substations.

[02:30:07] And let's just be honest, the overlay no longer has the power. So power is now having to come from other parts of the county and potentially even going forward. I mean, we're dealing with three routings of transmission for the Avanti site, which was proved years ago.

[02:30:22] And yet Dominion cannot give me any indication of what's next to meet the other, what, 60 million square feet of data centers that's still left to be built. And so when we think about, when we look at the map and we see the industrial areas, I mean, let's just be honest, it extends way beyond that.

[02:30:45] So these data centers that started out as something that, yeah, they could fit into an office mixed use. They were small. They were, you know, 40 feet tall. They were, you know, a couple hundred thousand square feet. They didn't need their own substation power. But now we're talking about these massive facilities requiring tremendous amounts of electrical power and a lot of infrastructure to support that.

[02:31:08] They are heavy industrial. There's no other way to describe them. They changed over time. We didn't change with them as they migrated into this. And, of course, with AI data centers, I mean, yeah, they're smaller, but they consume a tremendous amount of electrical power, even more so than the hyperscale.

[02:31:29] So just a little bit more background around why I believe these things need to be sited in heavy industrial areas and away from homes because they are now truly full-on heavy industrial activities.

[02:31:46] And I don't think there's a data center person that I've worked with who would disagree with me on that, by the way. They all recognize it. They're like, yeah, this is who we are today. And so I would just, you know, add that as further information and further food for thought.

[02:32:03] And I'll only close by saying thank you for this presentation. And I'm glad we're having it. Thank you, Madam Chair, for making this happen today. But I'm anxious, and I know I'm not supposed to be anxious for anything, but I am anxious to see this thing come to resolution sooner rather than later.

[02:32:23] Thank you. All right. Thank you, everyone. I just had a quick question. How many sites, and this might be a Christina Wynn question, but how many sites are left in the overlay, really, that are appropriate for data center? We would have to, so we, what was it, May of 2022, we did the data center market viability.

[02:32:49] That was where we looked at the sites that were available, and at that time we thought we had about 600 to 1,000 acres left. We would have to go back and update that, but one of the things that also happened is, so if a data center had a 30-acre campus and there was tiny parcels next to it, maybe a 6-acre, 3-acre, so forth,

[02:33:22] is that what we saw over the last four years is these data centers actually assembling and pulling in and buying these adjacent properties to expand their campus. And so a lot of these little acreage that we had identified in that 2022 memo were absorbed by existing data centers.

[02:33:46] So we would have to go back through and actually update and really look at it. But my sense is there is not a lot left that is not already controlled by an existing data center.

[02:34:01] And the reason why I ask, because at this point, getting rid of the data center overlay is almost a mute point. But I think it gets back to what Supervisor Gordy was talking about, which is you're putting pressure on existing businesses to get their land bought.

[02:34:25] Now, I appreciate it. Thank you. Before I go back over to you, Supervisor Bodhi, you know, I know a lot of people aren't ready to talk today. I'm sorry, Tanya. I don't want to give you an ulcer or a stroke or anything, but I know we've kind of nibbled around about this. And I know you guys are working on updating the Zorny ordinance.

[02:34:42] We are going to have to talk about the comp plan soon. You know, it's due in our, we can look at it again in 2027. but I do think that this is also going to drive some heavy conversations because we have to think about what direction we want the county to move in and to grow in and again we have to be nimble I understand that you know the comp plan is just a guide but it's a very important guide and so I'm saying that to everyone up here we're going to have to really think about what is our collective vision for the county east and west how do we want to grow what do we want to look like what

[02:35:19] types of employment centers do we want to attract? And how do we leverage the assets that we have here, whether it's, you know, Marine Base Quantico, whether it's innovation, whether it's Potomac Mills, because I like to shop, I mean, whatever it is, we have to really have those conversations and think about what our vision is and what we want to look like, you know. And then I think from that, that's a great way to move forward with how do we brand ourselves? How do people see us?

[02:35:46] So, you know, those are my commentary. I would really like to limit data centers to certain areas, you know, certain permitted places. But I also want to make sure that we're keeping land for other industrial uses. Because, again, if someone's offering you a quarter million acres, someone else is offering $2 million, $3 million, as a landowner, you're going to want to get the highest, you know, price you can.

[02:36:12] But is that really what's best for the county? So when I look at this, I look at my instinct, and I have to dive deeper into what my colleague said, Supervisor Gordy said, but my instinct is really to limit where these things can go and really look at places that are truly meant for other industrial uses, you know, whatever that may be.

[02:36:35] Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just had two questions, and I wouldn't call them quick. One for Tanya, one for Christina. Tanya, since you're there already. Talking about planning moving forward and some of the land use processes that we have sort of in the hopper, I know that Julia Mano hired someone to do assessments on greenhouse gas emissions, things like that.

[02:37:05] How is that going to jive with what we're talking about right now? So I think there are some sort of different pieces. There is, well, let me take a step back. So we do have a comprehensive plan amendment that is in the works that is underway now, which is to integrate sustainability and resilience into our comprehensive plan.

[02:37:27] And maybe to get back to an issue that Supervisor Vega brought up earlier related to sustainability, that will be the opportunity for the county to integrate more policies in our comprehensive plan to encourage, promote, provide guidelines to support a sustainable and resilient development, including data centers and any type of development, any county.

[02:37:49] And so we are excited about that because that will give us some additional tools to then, when we get rezoning applications and things of that nature, we will have, once whatever we come up with is adopted by the board, we can then use that as part of those discussions and negotiations and evaluations with these applications to encourage moving in that direction to implement and to support the county meeting its sustainability goals as well as resilience.

[02:38:18] So I wanted to kind of note that piece. That is something that will be coming to the board sooner rather than later, sooner meaning hopefully before the zoning ordinance update will. And so that will be another tool that we will have to figure out how we can leverage, use that effort to help to further some of the issues that she brought up.

[02:38:41] Would you mind repeating your question? Sure, yeah. Because there's some different pieces of it. Julia Mano has that new staff position. It's going to be integrating into the whole land use process. Can you talk a little bit about that? Sure. First, I wanted to mention that the Sustainability Office is our partner in the comprehensive plan amendment effort to integrate sustainability and resilience.

[02:39:03] They are linked in with us on that. And we have been talking with them about how we can enhance evaluating proffers or conditions that to support the county meeting its sustainability goals.

[02:39:20] So we've been active, we've been, multiple agencies have been in active conversations to talk about that. But also recognizing that we have to work within the parameters of the county's and the board's legal authority in terms of what can be asked for, what could be encouraged.

[02:39:42] You know, we don't have the ability to require. We oftentimes will hear, can you require this, can we require that? well if the state doesn't give the hasn't given a county that authority we can't so what are some other ways we can um encourage promote um these applications uh to to be more sustainable and resilient so as i noted that we are actively you know in conversation about how we can enhance that process but also working within the authority that the county has thank you for that tonya my And my last question is for Christina.

[02:40:16] Going back just a quick second to you all and your work in sort of projecting out how many square feet have been approved of data centers on construction, what have you. Are you guys also doing some corollary analysis on how much, one, how much investment that's going to be in terms of private investment in the county?

[02:40:36] Two, how much tax revenue will be tied up in that build out? and three how many jobs are going to be built alongside those things so so separate separate systems right so when there's a true targeted industry project that we've received an application we capture that anticipated capital investment and jobs associated with those projects so we can project out based on announced projects. In the tax assessment database, which is truly looking

[02:41:16] at the real estate property, that's going to give you your true numbers in terms of and whatever the finance department projects out and looks at those various projects. In terms of EnerGov and um uh job creation and so forth i mean i think there's there's ratios that we can we can project with with the jobs and so forth but our our most in terms of jobs and capital proposed capital

[02:41:51] investment it's the target industry program because we get the application from them thank you if you don't have anything else there is no one else in the queue you guys are saved thank you so very much thank you are you okay christina you just look like you know you just survived you did survive all right we are moving on to agenda item number eight supervisors time i'm gonna start wait hold on did i have someone else in the queue no that was bode all right we're gonna i'm gonna start with supervisor vega thank you madam chair just have a notice of

[02:42:30] intent to appoint miss barbara reese to the commission on aging that's all i have all right Supervisor Franklin. Thank you. Just want to share that I actually attended the National Association of Counties Urban County Caucus Symposium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[02:42:50] Very, very informative. Had a robust discussion in one of the work sessions on data centers specifically. And so a lot of jurisdictions around the country are having some of these same discussions. Some localities have been very open and willing to bring the industry in.

[02:43:08] Some are new to the industry, and so they have a lot of questions. And so it was interesting being able to provide just our experience here in northern Virginia. So I just want to thank NACO for hosting a great session.

[02:43:24] Some of the other sessions were about health equity. Obviously, we had a robust discussion around the current status of the federal government. And so it was interesting to hear localities across the country and their perspective, which is very similar to a lot of what we're going through here in Northern Virginia.

[02:43:43] Also, back in town, attended Unity Church. They're United for a Purpose Conference in conjunction with Supervisor Angry, where we talked about the relationship between local government as well as congregations, particularly as it comes to providing services.

[02:44:01] We talked a lot about the help that these congregations provided during COVID with regards to testing and just merely giving out information to their congregants on what resources were available. And then also on yesterday, I participated in the first tee golfing tournament to benefit the first tee program.

[02:44:21] For those who are not familiar, it's a program that teaches our youth about the game of golf, about the importance of sportsmanship, and so I had a great time there. And also just want to highlight all the kids that were able to join and play in the tournament as well.

[02:44:39] We have some very good kids here who are enjoying the game. And just want to highlight, we do have a number of upcoming events that we'll be able to share via social media or website. But if anyone has any questions, feel free to call our office.

[02:44:58] Thank you. Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I just want to congratulate the entire team on the opening of the Crisis Receiving Center. What a great event. I was just stunned at the turnout.

[02:45:13] I mean, it was a tremendous response. People had a tough time finding a place to park, which was an awesome problem to have. But, again, congratulations, everyone. Congratulations, Supervisor Bailey, on all the hard work that you did to get that to fruition.

[02:45:31] Later that day, I had a meeting with Dr. Washington from George Mason University about campus housing. As I shared during our meeting yesterday, the legislative committee meeting, if we're able to get adequate housing for students in University Village, the ability to expand and grow that campus is tremendous.

[02:45:58] So look forward to working with him and our economic development team and our state delegation to find ways forward to help us meet that need. And also later that night, did a Zoom meeting with the Prince William Conservation Alliance and their community conversation regarding the proposed developments on Vent Hill.

[02:46:21] Really appreciate the community involvement and the conversation that took place. And then finally, on Saturday, visited Station 25, the Noakesville Firehouse, for their open house. Also, what a tremendous turnout.

[02:46:37] They had a parking problem. But it was an amazing day, and congratulate our Noakesville volunteer firefighters on a great day and all the wonderful things that they do for the community. And lastly, I just want to wish all of my fellow officers and sailors a happy 250th birthday yesterday, the birthday of the Navy.

[02:46:59] So thank you, Madam Chair. All right. And Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. On October the 8th, I participated in the joint board meeting with the school board. We had a robust conversation, and it was absolutely great when we come together and we talk about the accomplishments of our school system, our school board.

[02:47:21] but also talk about the future for our children here in the county. And then on the 8th also, the staff and I participated in the NBRC hosting the Repi-Little Creek meeting, and it talked about the excellent, it was a town hall, it talked about the 30% design phase for the project.

[02:47:41] We appreciate everyone's participation and look forward to continuing to collaborate with the project's progress. On the 9th, it was a grand day for the staff and I, and for not just the staff and I, but also for my colleagues.

[02:47:56] I sincerely thank you for the bipartisan support and vote that we made to make sure that the Crisis Receiving Center came to fruition. I want to say thank you to Nikki Brown and her staff. Thank you to Glenn Loop and all the hard work you did in the General Assembly for us, and to our state and federal delegation.

[02:48:16] Thank you so much for making sure that this project was in your heart as we did the ribbon-cutting with the governor on the 9th of October. It is something for our community, for our county, for the region. It's not just for our county, it's for the region.

[02:48:32] And so we will continue to serve and uplift what we can for mental health. On the 10th, I did a drive-by for the GovFest. It was beautiful, though. I didn't get to participate in all of it. but it was great. It's the third one, right? It's the third one. We're doing great. On the 13th, which was yesterday, was the 2025 First Tee Benefit Tournament. And I want to thank my friend, Elijah. Elijah, are you there? You got a little Elijah, 14 years old. He was there to play for First Tee. So we continue to teach our youth about how important golf is and engaging in the

[02:49:10] game. 1013, the IDA opening for the new building block. Thank you so much for all the work you do. And then lastly, but certainly not least, I just want to give my condolences and my love to my constituent family, Delegate Candy King and her husband, Joshua, for the passion of their wonderful daughter, Candace. The service will be tomorrow at Mount Zion Baptist Church, and our love and condolences go out to you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[02:49:40] Supervisor Bode. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. A couple quick things for me. One, just wanted to, again, sort of echo what my colleagues have already said. Really, really big momentous moments, which sounds redundant, for the county last week at the ribbon cutting for the crisis receiving center.

[02:50:04] I know that there are a lot of folks who have been asking, praying, and frankly begging for a facility like that for quite some time. And wanted to get an uplift and congratulate my colleague, Sue Reza Bailey, Vice Chair Bailey, for all her work for the many years and persistence in going from idea to an actual ribbon-cut building that will save lives.

[02:50:27] And I've said it publicly before, so I'll say it again, you know, my mother passed away back in 2016 through various reasons, but some of the biggest contributing factors were a lack of support for her mental illness.

[02:50:43] and not being diagnosed with bipolar disorder until she was in her late 50s. So I have no doubt that if she had been in a community that had a facility like this, she'd probably still be with us today. So I just wanted to highlight that as part of that and again uplift the fact that that facility is going to change and improve and save lives.

[02:51:03] Looking forward and ahead this coming Saturday, the 14th, is Barktoberfest. so on the 18th from 11 until 2 at canine gunner dog park uh off of minnieville world we will be having barktoberfest uh come out we'll have rescues there we will have adoption agencies there we'll have other various pet and animal related agencies there as well we have dave dogs um and we also be doing a a ribbon cutting for the new ada improvements there so please come out and and and support um that said i did uh hand my colleagues uh my my sort of take on these

[02:51:42] conversations about the noise ordinance i know i sent you all an email last night and i handed this out to the dais um i know that we had uh some constituents here earlier that were saying that there's frankly a lot of folks that don't really know what's going on um so i've been trying to think through ways that we can make a more public sort of facing push around the noise ordinance and the changes that are currently proposed, as well as my newest draft here that you all have.

[02:52:11] So my request is to waive the rules of procedure and direct for there to be a public hearing for my version of the ordinance to be scheduled for the 28th, so it can be published and advertised as an option for the board to consider.

[02:52:31] I'll second that. So hold on. I am going to have to ask some questions. I'm not going to quite object, but I know that you sent it around last night. And, you know, I've read through part of it.

[02:52:47] I don't know if everyone's had a chance to digest it. So what you're asking is to have your version advertised as well as the staff recommendation or instead of the staff recommendation? Instead of the staff recommendation. So you would want your version instead of.

[02:53:03] Does anyone have any questions or anything about that? And is staff aware? Has staff, everyone has read through your version? Yes. Mr. Shorter? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you said Madam Chair. No, we have it here.

[02:53:19] We have it here. Does anyone have any questions on it? All right. I won't object. I just, you know, I wasn't expecting this at this meeting, given that it was just handed out last night.

[02:53:41] Mr. Angry? Supervisor Angry? Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, congratulations on the CIC ribbon covenant. I'm sorry, I do apologize. No, no, I do apologize because there is an objection. There is an objection.

[02:53:58] I am sorry. I know that Supervisor Vega has a conflict. Give me one second. Well, I'm going to. So I don't know, Michelle, if you want to.

[02:54:15] Give me, I'm sorry, just give me. We're going to take two minutes. We're going to take two minutes, okay? I'm just going to go check.

[02:54:23] She has already, she is not available.

[02:54:56] I thought she had just gone to the back because I know she had a class. So she is not here to object. I will say this. There's still, from my perspective, with the noise ordinance, there's still a lot of conversations to be had. There are certainly people that I plan to engage and make sure that I understand everything that's going on.

[02:55:18] You know, if you want, and it seems like there are no objections. I know we've spoken about a few things in your ordinance. It is very closely mirrored to the staff ordinance. I will not object because I think that we can have further discussion next week and bring in additional perspectives.

[02:55:35] I'm not next week. I'm sorry, the 28th. It just feels like every day rolls into each other. Gordy? Yeah, so I apologize. I've not had a chance to read this yet. So I don't know what I'm agreeing to here.

[02:55:52] So I want to understand. So this would be in lieu of the staff recommendation. So the staff recommendation would no longer be part of our discussion at any point. I do have to object simply because I don't know what – I haven't had a chance to review it yet.

[02:56:14] It may be great. I don't know. So, but, yeah, I do object just simply because I need some time to digest this. My apologies. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey. Your microphone.

[02:56:32] My mic is not on. I'm sorry. Just for clarity, does that mean we need to take a vote on this, or what does that mean from the county attorney? Vice Chair Bailey, Mr. Bodie was proposing a directive. When there's an objection per your rules or procedure, it turns into a motion with a second and then a vote on it.

[02:56:47] And I just wanted to make clear that staff needs clear direction for when the public hearing will be and what language will be advertised. So this is the language that will be advertised. This is the language that the board will consider at the public hearing. And this is the language up or down that you will vote on.

[02:57:04] if the board has any changes to this language at the public hearing it will require another public hearing so this is you know on the 28th if you want to make other revisions or changes and that's the will of the majority of the board then there will be another public hearing madam chair for me i did have a opportunity i did this was my night reading i did have an opportunity because it's a lot and i wanted to make sure that i was astute on it today so you know i don't have a problem with it. I just needed clarity on the vote. But I did have an opportunity to read it. And I do

[02:57:41] understand Supervisor Gordy and Madam Chair not being able. So I think we do need to take a vote. I do want to say something because, you know, again, I still think there are a number of conversations to be had. You know, personally, I don't even know if the 28th, if people are really going to be ready to have a discussion on the noise ordinance. You know, how do people feel?

[02:58:05] Like, really, like, should the 28th, rather than, you know, authorizing public hearings, should that be a chance for us to really talk and dive into it some more as a board and go through and mark up what it is we want to advertise? I just want to hear thoughts from people. No one has any?

[02:58:25] No, the 28th is where we're going to, you know, authorize for a public hearing. I think as a board, and I wish that we had more time and those queued up today for us to talk about the noise ordinance and kind of, I think as a board, honestly, we need to dig in through it some more and have open conversations you know i appreciate the work that supervisor bode has done on this thank you for taking the initiative um but i do think that we need a little bit more time to talk to each other um that's what my honest thinking is so i don't know how you want to supervisor bale well i i want to go to bode and then bailey because i

[02:59:05] want to see how you feel about that sure so i appreciate that madam chair gordy i see i appreciate you um i yeah no i understand it's a lot i know that we've had a sort of some time to digest this and i know that the the we were sent a version of staff's proposal earlier this month um i'm open to having conversations but i think that at least we should we should authorize it again so it's out there and so people know what we're talking about as we discuss it because right now and i'll just say i'll end with since the original authorization got moved to the 28th

[02:59:41] Right now, there's no public-facing version of the noise words for people to really comment on or reach out to us on, other than some of the folks that have already spoken to us. So, again, one of my prime concerns is having a mechanism to put something out there to advertise so people can then see what we're even considering.

[03:00:01] I mean, that's a fair point. I just, you know, again, like I said, as a board, you know, when you sent this out, I didn't know that you were planning to introduce this as a substitute to the staff recommendation. you know so that caught me off guard to be quite frank and we didn't have that discussion um i don't know did you want to say anything else to gordy are you good did you have anything and then bailey i see that you've taken yourself out of queue all right then we'll just take a vote motion

[03:00:41] passes four to two supervisors gordy and chair jefferson voting nay supervisor vega absent from vote all right now i apologize supervisor angry it's your turn and i mean it this time madam If I can, I just want to maybe have the clerk just talk quickly about what this means in terms of just timeline, in terms of advertising.

[03:01:07] I will, and hopefully we'll get it advertised Friday and then on Tuesday as well. So it will appear twice before the 28th public hearing.

[03:01:25] All right, thank you. All right, it really is your time. Does anyone, before we let Supervisor Angry have his five minutes, I'll give you six. You'll take one of my minutes. I'll be quick. Again, congratulations to the CLC, the ribbon cutting the opening. It was awesome.

[03:01:40] Great job on all putting that together. Yes. October 11th, Unity Christian Fellowship International Ministries. That was a great session. I think there's some great partnerships that we should continue to work with our church congregations.

[03:02:01] Also, so I did stop by the Gov Day, you know, kind of snuck in on the people. I'll just leave it at that. It was a fun time, so I hope everybody had fun on that. Really love all of that energy out there.

[03:02:16] That's pretty good. We do that every year, right? Okay, yeah, I'll make a better appearance next year just to hang out because, you know, I heard it was real good. All right, and so the upcoming event. So this Saturday is our community day, community organization day.

[03:02:36] Let me get that. Where am I? There it is. Cloverdale Park from 11 to 2, family-friendly. Bring the kids, bring the tent, bring the chairs. We got some fun stuff out there and have a good time. Also, that morning, the National Council of Negro Women are having their annual scholarship fun prayer breakfast.

[03:02:54] That's on my website if you want to, if anybody's interested in attending. They still have a few tickets left to sell on that. And then the 19th, Sunday the 19th, Voice, the Virginians Organized for Interfaith and Community Engagement. They're holding a general assembly.

[03:03:11] I think that information is on the website, too. I don't have the details here, so if you're interested in that, just call my office, email my office, and we'll get to you. And also, on October 25th, this is Saturday, October 25th, The Dell City Volunteer Fire Department is having their spooktacular fall festival from 1 to 3 at a fire station 13 in a banquet hall back there.

[03:03:32] The community is invited to enjoy an exciting fall event filled with family, friends, activities, and opportunities to connect with local volunteers and first responders. And that is it, Madam Chair. Thank you. All right. Thank you so very much.

[03:03:47] I don't have anything for a supervisor's time, yay, but, you know, before I ask for a motion to adjourn. I don't know, I feel the need to talk a little bit about transparency, you know, and making sure that we're keeping each other and the public informed.

[03:04:03] We have a lot of weighty decisions ahead of us. We have decisions that impact people on such a personal level, and I always say that about local government. We're the ones who impact and touch people's lives in the most personal way. How much money is going for schools, how much money they're paying in property taxes for their house or for their car, it's on us.

[03:04:23] I want us to remember that as we make some of these decisions and we have these discussions. It's not just about us. It really is about the people in the community, the people who trust us, the people who are looking to us to make the best decisions for them. I had mentioned this in our last meeting when we were talking about the DCOEG.

[03:04:42] You know, I feel like data centers has become too much of an East and West issue. It really has become too East and West, and it's because there are some people who really are impacted by it more. And I'm just asking that we be sensitive to that. with that i'd like to get a motion to adjourn so moved second all right let's take a vote

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