Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 7h 17m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3911
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 2026-10-26. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:06:11] all right folks we can take our seats thank you very much it is 202 on tuesday september 22nd

[00:18:49] i am very honored to have pastor juan jenandez if you would like to come down he has offered to do an invocation for us today hello everyone thank you for this amazing opportunity and we're here to celebrate our Spanish education and other issues here.

[00:19:16] God bless you, and we're going to pray today. Father God, thank you. Thank you for this moment. Thank you for the opportunity to be together in the same place and honor you, God. Bless this moment, and let us be whatever you want to know about us.

[00:19:39] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. Please rise, if you're able, for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:19:57] All right. Thank you, everyone. I have to say I have the pleasure that my congressman, Eugene Vindman, who proudly represents Virginia's 7th Congressional District, is joining us in the audience today.

[00:20:18] And for the rest of the board members, I feel that I have to be on my best behavior today because the congressman is joining us in the office today. so I'll do my best. I don't know. I also, while people are getting seated, I, we have a very robust crowd today. I know we have a lot of people who are coming out to talk about the data center overlay. I want to just give a few instructions before we move forward. We have public comment time and we have public hearings. The two are different. Public comment time, you can talk

[00:20:55] about what's on the agenda. You can talk about what's off the agenda. You can compliment me on this beautiful green dress. You can do whatever you want. Public hearings. If you are here really to talk about the overlay, please do so if you are able during the public hearing. That is a more formalized process when we hear from people. It's also great for us to have all of the comments together. I will give further instructions when we get to that section because I am going to separate out some of the other things that we have public hearings on so that we can really be intentional about how we move forward in this meeting with that we do not have any procedural

[00:21:32] matters so we're going to go on to agenda item number four I'm sorry hold on one second we're going to go ahead and we're going to do agenda item number four if we have people who need to come here during the seven o'clock I will note that and during the seven o'clock we will make sure that we commend them yes I doubt that middle schoolers will be here I don't know as a mom I wouldn't appreciate it but all right so we are going to go ahead I'd like to get a motion for 4A through 4G. So move? Second.

[00:22:09] All right. Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, let's go ahead and take our votes. Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you very much. Supervisor Anchor, if you can meet me at the podium, come down with me for the first

[00:22:30] resolution. And if everyone associated with Stuart Mitchell for the 2026 Vic Clark, Roanoke Division, American Radio Relay League Service Award.

[00:23:19] All right, good afternoon. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is, oh, here we go. Thank you. This is to commend Stuart Stu Mitchell for the 2026 Vic Clark Roanoke Division American Radio Relay League Service Award.

[00:23:35] It is my honor to recognize Stuart Stu Mitchell on receiving the 2026 Vic Clark Roanoke Division American Radio Relay League Service Award. This award is the highest recognition given to an American Radio Relay League member operator within the Roanoke Division, which covers Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

[00:23:56] This 58-year-old honor recognizes consistent and extensive leadership in amateur radio. It has been presented annually since 1968, my birth year. It is named for Vic Clark, a former Roanoke Division Director and ARRL President.

[00:24:13] After honorably serving our nation in the U.S. Army, Stu Mitchell returned home and established a computer store in Woodbridge With their dedication, perseverance, and entrepreneurial spirit, he built and sustained a thriving local business for an extraordinary 35 years.

[00:24:31] Amateur radio operators often volunteer their time, equipment, and expertise. They provide a valuable communications resource for their communities when other systems are disrupted. On behalf of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, we hereby commend Stuart Stu Mitchell on this well-deserved honor and thank him for his service to our community.

[00:24:52] Well, I thank you all for this opportunity. As some of you know, I arrived in Prince William County the day after Christmas in 1968 and bought a house here, and I still live in that house.

[00:25:17] And I've been a proud member of the Woodbridge community. I've enjoyed being on the volunteer fire department and the rescue squad, And I've certainly enjoyed my hobby as an amateur radio operator.

[00:25:35] And one of the big things that has happened to me over the years is I have watched this county grow from about 3,500 homes to what it is now.

[00:25:53] Dale Boulevard ended at Darbydale when I got here. So you can see what we've done in that length of time. Thank you very much.

[00:26:05] i certainly appreciate it right thank you if everyone associated with fire prevention week

[00:27:00] come on labelle where are you you and your crew at it's like where are your people

[00:27:35] today we recognize october 4th through october 10th is fire prevention week fire prevention week is observed each year in remembrance of the great chicago fire of 1871 and is the longest running public health observance in the united states this year's theme charge into fire safety safe charging is a superpower focuses on the everyday charging habits that can reduce the

[00:28:13] risk of lithium ion battery fires these batteries power the phones laptops e-bikes scooters and many of the tools that we rely on each and every day they can be dangerous when damaged or charged improperly residents are encouraged to use the charger that came with their device choose products certified by a registered recognized i'm sorry testing lab and stop using any battery that overheats therefore today the prince william board of county supervisors hereby proclaims october 4th through october 10th 2026 is fire prevention week in prince william county

[00:28:49] chief labelle would you like to offer us some remarks thank you chair jefferson members of the board Mr. shorter I will in fact be brief the the support you give to fire safety in this community is a 52 week a year effort we're just recognizing a very specific week we appreciate it and then I know we've talked about it in the past the charging of lithium-ion batteries in particular in which are ubiquitous in our life we would just encourage everyone to make sure they're

[00:29:25] charging them the proper way. And on October 3rd, we will be having our third annual public education and community fair. I hope you're able to come out. It's a great time, great show of career and volunteer members of our community and the great work they do. Thank you.

[00:29:44] I'm going to hold this one to the end because we're going to need to go outside. So guys, you're not released yet. We're going to go through the rest of them and then we're going to go out and take a big photo and anyone else who wants to come down can join us for that photo. Oh wait, yeah out there we're gonna do it all right so if everyone didn't hear me we're gonna do that one last because we're gonna do it in atrium because the bell rolls hard and if anyone else wants to come down and join us for that photo i encourage you to do so next we're going to move on to car

[00:30:19] free day rick if you and your team can come forward it's just you oh you know to the clerk we're gonna have to reorder this because it's not fair to have people following la bell or police today we recognize september 22nd is car free day an international observance that encourages people to leave their car at home and try other forms of transportation. Walking, biking, riding

[00:30:56] transit, carpooling, and teleworking can all help reduce traffic congestion and air pollution while promoting healthier, more active lifestyles. Car-Free Day is also an opportunity to think about how our community is designed and the ways we can continue to make everyday transportation safer and easier, whether you travel by car or not. Today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors proudly proclaim september 22nd 2026 it's car free day mr canizales do you have any remarks uh thank you chair members of the board i just want to say thank you for your continued support

[00:31:34] of events like this you know this is just one facet of the county's approach to try and achieve a lot of the more robust sustainability and resiliency goals including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions so events like this really showcase the collective impact of when you get the, you know, residents in the community to be motivated and stay away from single occupancy vehicles for one day.

[00:31:59] So I just want to say thank you for your continued support because this is the only way that we're going to be able to realistically achieve some of those goals is to challenge residents to think about new ways to interact with their transportation network, whether it's walking, biking, or even teleworking on days like this where the weather doesn't necessarily cooperate.

[00:32:18] Thank you. And I'm sorry, I'm Bryce Barrett. I'm the county's bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. You get to be in the middle.

[00:32:33] We are going to hold Dolly Parton Day for another day, and I will not sing Jolene.

[00:33:04] But if I can ask Supervisor Vega to come down for these two. I also want to acknowledge while she's walking down that Supervisor Vega is the first person of Hispanic Heritage to be elected to the Board of County Supervisors. And if everyone associated with Hispanic Heritage Month can please come forward.

[00:33:28] Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to do something a little different here because of the occasion. Muy buenas tardes a todos. Wendy, come on. Come up, Wendy.

[00:33:47] Edwin, you too. You're part of this historic moment in this county. Es un honor, un placer para mí el poder conmemorar con mucho orgullo el mes de la herencia hispana in Prince William County. I'll translate for you all.

[00:34:05] I said that it is an honor to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month here in Prince William County. Today, I feel extremely blessed because we have a large group of members of our community, entrepreneurs, small business owners, health care workers, faith leaders amongst us here today, and of course, our fantastic workforce that is composed of members of the Hispanic community.

[00:34:31] Can we please hear it for them? I feel that this moment is extra special because I had the sweetest surprise ever. my parents are here today. And as we talk about Hispanic Heritage Month, I would be remiss to not mention their story, because without their story, there would be no Yesly Vega. And so to my mom, Reina, to my father, Jose, I want to thank you for exemplifying everything that makes the American

[00:35:10] dream what it is. Thank you for working so hard, for teaching me all of the valuable lessons that have shaped me into being the woman that I am today. I am so blessed to call you my parents, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Salvadorian immigrants who have shaped me into the woman that I am today.

[00:35:27] Los amo. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually from September 15th through October 15th to honor the contributions, diverse cultures, and rich histories of Hispanic Americans.

[00:35:49] The start of this observance, September 15th, marks the anniversary of independence for the Latin American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, with Mexico and Chile celebrating their Independence Day soon thereafter.

[00:36:05] The 2026 theme, Pioneers of Change, Shaping the Future Together, highlights the contributions of Hispanic communities in the fields as diverse as science, arts, politics, and community activism. Hispanic Americans have enriched the nation through their traditions, work ethic, and dedication and continue to make contribution across various fields now there for it now there be it resolved that the prince william board of county supervisors hereby proclaims monday september 15th 2026 through wednesday october 15th 2026 as hispanic heritage month and encourages

[00:36:44] all members of our community to join our fellow hispanics and latinos in recognizing and celebrating the prosperity, power, and progress of Hispanics during the special month and beyond. Thank you. We are actually, for this one, we are going to do a photo at the end when we also do fire.

[00:37:09] So if anyone from the dais wants to come out and join us, I think that would be a great show of support. I get to read. It is my honor to recognize and celebrate the many contributions of Salvadorian Americans to Prince William County, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the United States. On September 15, 1821, the people of Central America declared their independence from Spain, and El Salvador began its journey as a free nation. El Salvador is a small country with a very

[00:37:47] big spirit and a very big heart, defined by resilience, faith, and an unshakable devotion to family. That spirit is alive in Prince William County, the home of more than 40,000 Salvadorian Americans and Salvadorian immigrants. This hard-working and vibrant community has built businesses, taught in our classrooms, cared for patients in our hospitals, worked on our construction sites, and served with distinction in our nation's armed forces. Their culture, including its food, which I was so happy to eat earlier, music, faith, and family attraction enriches our community and helps make Prince William County the diverse and welcoming place

[00:38:24] we are all proud to call home. On behalf of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, we recognize and celebrate the contributions of salvadorian americans to prince william county the commonwealth of virginia and the united states of america thank you everyone this is one of the strongest showings we've had and all right thank thank you madam chair um typically this is celebrated in the month of august to be specific august 6th but because we are in recess the entire month of august we're doing them together here today and again it is a privilege and an honor

[00:38:58] to be of uh salvadoran descent i'm a salvadoran american and um josh is a childhood friend uh josh is also somebody that has deep roots invested in our community and he would like to issue some brief remarks before we go out for the photo josh i'm gonna keep it short and sweet but uh chair and board um for me it's a privilege to be here uh being the son of a salvadorian mother um let me say a quick short story i've known yesley for a number of years and growing up um if you guys know yesley she's a firecracker she's tenacious she's a little bit hard-headed

[00:39:37] hard charging but you know what those are the qualities that um i think you know growing up i was like man this this this girl is stubborn but that's why she's here and that's why she's made it here and i'm for me it's it's a joy it's a privilege to stand next to her and see her like her progress in life and her journey like every other salvadorian you know um it's not easy it is a tough road and it's a road that you know we travel and we fight and we're tenacious we're hard-headed and sometimes you know people look at it as a bad quality but for me it's a great quality and that's how people make it in life and that's how people survive and that's how people

[00:40:14] get to places where they are and for me yesterday's story is like a story of every other immigrant as well you know we fight for what we have you know nothing's given to us and we're you know hard working people. We're fighters. I represent, you know, a small business. I run a small real estate group, but also I am the son of a pastor. You know, we have a large congregation here in Virginia, and, you know, for me, it's a joy to see every immigrant that just comes over here. We work hard.

[00:40:44] We buy properties. We invest. We, you know, buy clothes, food, and stuff. I could keep on going on, but, you know, I love to see, especially in our church, the growth and progression of our community and then not only community but the children of our members and they're working hard we have a lot of members from our church are going to school they're going to college some of them work at the local level government others work at the federal government level and then for me it's a joy and it's a joy that i see on a daily basis so you know i yes he represents every single one of us and i love seeing her and the work that she's doing over here god bless you yes we love

[00:41:20] you so much all right before we take a seven minute recess to go take photos i did want to name that commendations and proclamations like this really make me proud because we are the most diverse county in the commonwealth of virginia and we're the 10th most in the nation and looking at all the faces all the people here today it's reflective of who we are and the best of who we are all right with that folks we're going to take seven minute recess you know me i'll come find you when we're time to go it's time to go you can please come back into board chambers

[00:41:57] and a carriage day thank you chair jefferson and boards of the member um mr shorter um we're here to represent the employer resource group latino voices here are some of our members we're 40 strong and we want to thank you for your support for allowing us to do this and showcase some of

[00:42:33] our employees you know that have hispanic heritage and we also wanted to extend an invitation to our hispanic heritage family day that's going to be held here at the plaza on october 10th from 12 to 7 p.m please join us for music dance lessons performances food trucks and

[00:42:51] just overall lots of fun thank you all right thank you everyone we are now going to move on to agenda item number five and that is the consent agenda before I begin is there anything anyone would

[00:43:30] like to pull off Madam Chair Supervisor Gordy the consent agenda no I'm sorry that's a public hearing is the next one all right anyone seeing none can I get a motion so moved second it's been Probably moved and seconded.

[00:43:50] Any discussion? Madam Chair. Supervisor Bailey? Thank you so much. Just want to, just for item 5C, just want to thank, I think it's gone now, Congressman Bendman, who secured funding for this project for the residents, and just moving it forward along with the VRE.

[00:44:12] So thank you, Congressman. I know you're in your car, but thank you. All right, Supervisor Gordy? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just want to note item 5B, the $7.4 million for the Regional Surface Transportation Program federal funding for the Route 234 business.

[00:44:31] This is Sudley Road. As anyone who knows has driven down Sudley Road knows, it is quite a logistical challenge. When it was designed, everything was more piecemeal, a lot of parking lot entrances that do not connect to one another.

[00:44:47] So really look forward to this study. and to look at what transportation improvements can be achieved in this corridor to help address our transportation challenges there. And then also just appreciate the continued work of our fleet and facilities, facilities and fleet management, and working with providing internships and apprenticeships for our young people through career technical education.

[00:45:15] And this is going a long way to helping young people who are not desiring to go to college, but this gives them a pathway forward into a great career. So I want to commend them for that. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey? Okay. All right.

[00:45:31] Thank you very much. If I'd like to, let's go ahead and take our votes. Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you very much. We are now going to move on to agenda item number six, and that is public comment time.

[00:45:47] I'm going to call people up in groups of five, and then everyone has three minutes to speak. Please begin by stating your name in the magisterial district where you reside. After that, Supervisor Angry will do remote public comment time.

[00:46:04] So I have Ross Snare, Michael Slater, Patrick Harders, and Ed Hillebrand. All righty.

[00:46:26] Make sure you please adjust the microphone so we can hear you. Yeah, it's always been a problem for me. Can you hear me now? Yes. All right. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. My name is Ross Snare, and I'm a resident of the Brentsville District. Before I begin, these are my views alone. They do not represent my employer, the Prince William Chamber of Commerce, or any other organization in which I am affiliated.

[00:46:52] The proposal before you tonight is not a rezoning of one property. It is something more consequential. A countywide land use policy that could shape our communities for generations. Ending widespread by-right data center development is overdue.

[00:47:08] But the report says there were changes after industry groups asked for more protections. Under the staff proposal, industry would have 90 more days to file under the old rules. That is not closing the door. That is holding it open for three more months and calling it reform.

[00:47:27] Digital gateway should have taught us something. When government outruns public trust, everyone loses. Data centers may have a role in our economy, but economic development is not a blank check. Tax revenue is not permission to industrialize neighborhoods and to put the environment at risk, or to disregard legitimate concerns about power infrastructure and the utility costs, or to ignore the families who must live with the noise and the consequences.

[00:47:57] Prince William County is a community, not an extension cord for the world's largest tech companies. Loudoun County just approved a 12-month delay considering new applications, and days ago, the governor made Virginia's direction clear. Communities must have a meaningful voice, data centers must pay their fair share, and their growth should lower, not raise costs for Virginia families.

[00:48:22] The Commonwealth is working on a toolkit to help local governments evaluate electricity demands, water use, noise, air emissions, traffic, backup generation, and community impacts. The exact issues before this board today.

[00:48:39] So why would we rush to approve a countywide ordinance before that work is complete? I respectfully ask this board to do two things. First, defer this vote, remove the industry escape hatch, and return with an ordinance that puts the residents of Prince William first.

[00:48:55] Second, pause new data center applications for 12 months and use that time for a transparent, county-wide conversation, not another process in which industry access outweighs public input. Earlier this week, I resigned from my leadership role with the Prince William Chamber of Commerce.

[00:49:13] I am grateful for that chapter, but I will not ask others to stand, make a stand that I am not prepared to make myself. There will be a time to discuss what comes next for me, but today is about what must happen now. Defer this vote, pause new applications, and let's put the people back into the room.

[00:49:32] It's time to do the right thing, not just for an industry, a political party, or the next election, but the people and the families we are supposed to serve. Thank you all so much. Thank you, next speaker. No outbursts in. Next speaker please. Good afternoon Madam Chair. My name is Michael Slater. I live in Four Seasons. We have an ongoing petition drive right now collecting signatures to show opposition to data centers in our backyard. To date we have collected enough to represent 55 percent of the

[00:50:11] homes in Four Seasons and we're still collecting and I'll tell you that 90 percent of the people who answered the doorbell said, you betcha I'll sign that thing. I'm glad to sign it. And so we're still going. Back in 1989, there was a movie, Field of Dreams. It was a story about a man's baseball fantasy. And the theme was, if you build it, they will come. And that theme is playing out right here in this county as data center monstrosities sit idle, waiting for someone to come along and plug them into a wall socket somewhere. Now, how long will our board of

[00:50:49] supervisors act in what seems to be short-sightedness as they continue to consider such insanity, not to mention the constant waxing and waning of moving targets like overlay and by-right and grandfather clauses. When are we going to decide what we're actually going to do?

[00:51:08] And years from now, this technology will be antiquated, but the huge concrete tombstones will still be there. And yet those who continually bear the brunt of this foolishness are the people who live here, the very people whose lives are supposed to be improved and supported by our elected officials. Now, according to national news, data centers are becoming increasingly seen as the newest scourge on civilized neighborhoods, especially those built within less than a mile

[00:51:41] of homes and schools where people are trying to live out their field of dreams, dreams that are not fantasy, dreams that are hard-earned through human merit and yet so vulnerable to the technological parasites that seize opportunities with no regard for families. Now that national news will become increasingly focused on this county and those who have allowed that to happen.

[00:52:09] Their names are a matter of public record, and I say this lovingly, the rationale for their actions will make them look like court jesters instead of wise elected leaders. Now, that image is not something the voters have imposed on you.

[00:52:27] No, it was self-imposed because of empty promises instead of action. But all is not lost. That image can change starting today by the way you vote from now on.

[00:52:46] Listen to your people. Thank you. No, I'm so sorry. Before we go on to the next speaker, I just want to explain. We have a few rules. We do not have outbursts, and I want to keep the meeting moving.

[00:53:02] We have quite a few people who want to speak today, so I want to make sure that we're respectful and not having any unnecessary delays. So no outbursts. And also, Rachel Ellis, I just got the sheet. If you want to get in line, too, you can. All right, next speaker, please. Patrick Harder's Gainesville District.

[00:53:17] I don't need anyone clapping. There's one thing that's very unique to the American political system, and that's one characteristic that transcends all political parties, and it's resolve. The politician, the elected official that has resolve, that stands up for the people, is the one that becomes beloved, from Washington to Lincoln to Roosevelt.

[00:53:38] We have the resolute desk that, since Jacqueline Kennedy dusted it off, every president sits behind that, and it's a reminder that presidents need to have resolve. They need to stand for the people. We have four issues that should be coming before the board today. One is the overlay, and to look at that, that's much needed.

[00:53:55] we're so far behind on that. Loudoun County's a year ahead of us in this. But the 90-day grace period, grace is unmerited favor. The data center industry has done nothing to earn grace. Grace cannot be earned, but they've done nothing to earn our trust. In fact, they have been very destructive to this community. And this national change that we have seen in data centers began in this very chamber. This is where the opinion on data centers began to change back in 2021 and 2022 and 2023. This is where that began, and now it's a national outcry, and every politician is running from data centers. We just heard Governor Spanberger give a message, which even

[00:54:33] our own party was calling her data center diva because she was so pro data center. We still need to work on some of our national Republicans on this issue, but we need to offer no grace. They have earned none. We need to give them zero days. We need to follow what Loudoun County's done. We have a small area plan. Supervisor Bode said that the Gainesville District has been through enough. They need to meet with their supervisor and come up with a plan for the district or for our district. And we have done that. We have met with our supervisor. We have met with the economic development team. This is something that needs to happen. It requires very little infrastructure from the county. It is what's best for the county. It preserves our historical national treasures

[00:55:11] and promotes tourism and diversifies our income. We need to vote on this. We need the one-year pause when i talk about resolve this is what we need is somebody they'll stand firm and say i want on the next meeting to have a vote on a one-year pause we need to send a message to the data centers they need to be good neighbors they need to follow our community guidelines without that they are not welcome and to open the doors and sound a starting gun that will go off that will say hey you have 90 days or 120 days to get as much through as possible nobody is needing that And I am sure in this next election, you are not going to want to see a lot of data center applications coming in as we get to next November.

[00:55:51] And finally, we have the substation vote. That has to be defeated. We need to send a message that we are not building substations near homes. Very simple. So I'm asking each of you to call in that inner child and say, have the resolve to protect the people, to give a voice to the people that are voiceless, to not be in the pockets of all the data center money and all the housing sprawl and everything else, but go for good development, smart growth, and promote the greatness of Prince William County.

[00:56:22] Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[00:56:32] Good afternoon, members of the board, people in the audience. Please adjust the mic. We can barely hear you. Bring it closer. Can you hear me? Yeah. Good afternoon, members of the board, people in the audience.

[00:56:49] My name is Ed Hellebrand. I'm a licensed realtor for over 40 years, and I'm a proud resident of Four Seasons for over 15 years in Dumfries. I'm not here to repeat the same complaints that you've heard before, but I'm here to give you my opinion of the market reality check.

[00:57:08] As a realtor, I know exactly how market perception works. The exact day you approve six massive industrial data centers next to Four Seasons or other communities like this, you place a permanent buyer warning label on this entire neighborhood.

[00:57:24] To protect our reputations and our clients and any competent agent would look potential buyers in the eye and tell them they're moving next to a 24-7 industrial noise zone. In real estate, when you force that kind of negative market disclosure, you destroy buyer demand.

[00:57:43] When demand dies, home equities evaporate and your residential tax base plummets. ask yourselves this would you any of you choose to buy your retirement home next to a massive humming industrial complex if you wouldn't want it in your bark yard please do not legally force it and tell us the market and put it in ours vote no thank you thank you so much rachel you're

[00:58:10] going to come okay rachel ellis gainesville district i just wanted to briefly state support for Supervisor Stewart's directive on the small area plan for the Gainesville District.

[00:58:32] I've closely been following and participating in the county's agro-business and agro-tourism study, and I'm excited to see this on the agenda. I've chatted before with county staff about how keeping the rural character of this area is important to draw and invite people to the vision of the agro-tourism and arts overlay district in that study in particular.

[00:58:54] I strongly feel without a small area plan for this corridor, we will end up with a hodgepodge of bad high-density housing projects that are solely motivated by the sale of the property owners. Prince William County gets one chance to prioritize the rural, historical, cultural, and environmental resources of this area.

[00:59:12] Once development starts, it's gone forever. We should also protect the integrity of the battlefield experience as a tourism destination, and I think there is an opportunity to incorporate that into the future development of this corridor. Thank you. Thank you so very much.

[00:59:28] Supervisor Angry, if you would like to move on to remote. Thank you, Madam Chair. Chris, we have remote speakers. Yes, we do. Our first speaker is going to be Laura Harders. Ms. Harder, go ahead, ma'am. Good afternoon, Board of County Supervisors and Chair Jefferson.

[00:59:49] My name is Laura Harders. I live in the Gainesville District, and I wanted to first just share that I am excited to hear about the Gainesville Small Area Plan. This is something that is very much needed, and during the meetings where the Sanders Lane Assemblage was discussed and uniformly turned down, that was for the Dulles South Innovation Center project.

[01:00:18] Many of you on the board stated that we needed to, you, the board, needed to meet with the local community and figure out a plan. And so that's exactly what we're seeing brought forward today. And I'm very excited to hear more about that.

[01:00:35] I also want to state that I believe the data center opportunity zone overlay district should be amended, but we should not allow a 90-day grace period or longer.

[01:00:51] it should be zero days um i also i just i shared at the planning commission meeting just some of the frustration regarding this i know you have a lot of people speaking about data centers and about um this item on the agenda later um just wanted to share my two cents um i think that's all i'll be sharing right now during public common time thank you and i will talk to you later thank you ma'am next speaker please our next speaker is marianne jensen uh marianne vincent go ahead

[01:01:26] ahead ma'am hi my name jensen oh jensen okay excuse me ma'am thought i heard vince in there jensen sorry about that go ahead ma'am that's okay i heard it all um my name is marianne jensen i live in the brentsville district i first of all want to thank supervisor gordy for taking the lead on this i asked the board to approve the zoning amendment as written eliminating the data center overlay district with the 90-day grace period this version is good as is so please vote yes thank you thank you ma'am next speaker speaker is ashley miller miss miller i believe you said

[01:02:03] pat is that uh yes sir ashley miller okay there we go yes go ahead miss miller thank you um members of the board and um my name is ashley miller i live in the brentsville district and i'm here today to ask you to consider the zoning amendment and eliminating the data center opportunities zone overlaid district as written. Specifically, while I know we'd want them gone tomorrow, absolutely.

[01:02:31] I also recognize that they need the time to get their jobs done and get out of our area. The destiny of the people lies within the land. And what we do with this land is critical to the future of not just principal district, but to our county. And so I'm asking that you would vote yes and approve this amendment as written. And thank you for your leadership and consideration thank you ma'am next speaker we have uh no more speakers all right thank you sir manager back to you all right thank you so very much and this concludes our public comment time

[01:03:10] we are moving on to our public hearings i just want to give everyone some instruction i we're going to separate out 70 i know that's the main action here today but we have other things that we need to take care of first. So I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearings for 7A through 7C. I believe Supervisor Gordy, did you have? Yeah, Madam Chair. I'm sorry. I'm going to open them shortly. I'm going to close it out because I want to hear what you have to say, and then I'm going to reopen the public hearing. So what did you have for 7A? Yeah, for 7A,

[01:03:49] we just need to amend the signature page to, it says Seth Vindler-Hoss. We need to change that to janet bartnick as the acting director of parks and recreation so we need to just adjust that make that amendment in the document on page four all right and so it would be an amended motion um as a result all right so when we get there i'll have you stand out again so i am opening the public hearing for 7a through 7c do we have any in-person speakers all right supervisor angry

[01:04:24] thank you madam chair do we have any online speakers we do not have any online speakers All right. Thank you, sir. I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing for items 7A through 7C. I would like to get a motion.

[01:04:42] And for 7A, it's going to be the signature page, page 4. It's going to be amended to show Janet Barknett. Am I correct? As the acting director of Parks and Rec. As the acting director of Parks and Rec. Can I get a motion including the amended signature page for 7A?

[01:05:01] So moved. Second. All right. I'm probably moved and seconded it. Any discussion on 7A through 7C, Supervisor Bodie? Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Just wanted to quickly mention 7C. This is a special use permit. The Occoquan, just for the truest Smoketown station, the additional drive-through lane.

[01:05:18] Just wanted to say thank you to staff, thank you to the applicant. It's going to be a well-needed change to the bank in that area, and just happy to see it move through. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, anyone else? All right, let's go ahead and take our vote on those items. Vote unanimous.

[01:05:41] All right. Now we are moving on to the fun part, and that is 7D. Before I open the public hearing, I just want to give some instruction for people who are new. You're going to go to the back and speak. Please, please, please, I cannot say how important it is to adjust the microphone.

[01:05:59] Make sure it is close to you so that we can hear you. I'm going to call people up in groups of five. Please start with stating your name in the magisterial district in which you reside. up there on the screen it's going to be a countdown you have three minutes to speak if you're with a recognized 501c3 you can have up to five minutes please request the five minutes at the start of um your speaking or before i'm sorry before you start to speak and i ask that everyone please in the boardroom have a seat unless you are in line waiting to speak i'm going to start with

[01:06:39] Mr. Will Archer, Ed Hildebrand, Charles Seltman, Jess W., and Perry W. I mean, I'm sorry, Perry F. If each of you can go to the back.

[01:06:59] And again, I ask that we maintain decorum. Everyone deserves a chance to be fully heard. All right, Mr. Archer. Good afternoon, Chair. And distinguished members of the board, it's great to be with you. My name is Will Archer.

[01:07:15] I come before you today grounded in deep civic roots across this community and as a pastor who has had the sacred privilege of shepherding families across every corner of this county. Having previously called the Potomac District home, I am very honored to say that my wife and I now reside in the Gainesville District as proud empty nesters and very, very excited about that.

[01:07:46] As a local entrepreneur who's founded multiple enterprises, headquartered right here, and as a civic steward serving across several county boards, Prince William is woven into the very fabric of who I am. I love this county to my core.

[01:08:03] And I stand before you today as an independent, future-oriented voice committed to principled, long-horizon stewardship. I respectfully urge this board to approve the zoning text amendment dissolving the data center opportunity overlay district as written, specifically retaining the 90 day grace period.

[01:08:32] Now, this transition window is not an indulgence. It is a critical instrument of regulatory certainty and governance continuity. I want to specifically command Supervisor Gordy for his discerning foresight, steady leadership, and proactive orchestration of this policy's framework.

[01:08:55] Navigating structural shifts require an architectural mind, not a reactive impulse. And this deliberate approach and his deliberate approach provides exactly that. I want to encourage the dais, all of our board members, to resist the political temptation to capitulate to factional extremes. King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, whoever fears God will avoid all extremes. When governance acquiesces to vocal short horizon

[01:09:33] activism, it telegraphs acute institutional instability. Capitulation signals to our partners, to our employees, to our regional stakeholders, that Prince William is mercurial rather than principled, reactive rather than future-focused. True economic diversification is essential, and I encourage you to pursue that goal. But it cannot occur through abrupt fiscal and regulatory whiplash. Real diversification demands calculated strategic

[01:10:11] foresight, not the destabilization of our core commercial tax base. Thank you, sir. It is my pleasure. Thank you, Madam Chair. Amen. I'm being an empty nester and folks, that's loud. That's what you need to do to make sure we're heard. All right. Next speaker, please. I like how you, all right.

[01:10:37] My name is Charles Seltzman. I live on Bonnier Drive in the Gainesville District. I've lived in Prince William County for 45 years now. And I've spoken to this board before numerous times, but I personally do not live next to a data center. However, but I go anywhere. Wellington Road, Sudley Manor Road, 66, you name it. They are everywhere. I mean, I went out to Gainesville

[01:11:13] this morning. I mean, it's just incredible. At this point, guardrails are few and far between. I'm asking you to vote for the amendment. Enough already. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My name is Jess Wagner from the Coles District. I'm here to request from the body who represents our county to please listen to our county residents. This ZTA is not as strict as

[01:11:50] we need it to be. Please make the decision that will reduce the development of by-right data centers. Why should these centers have the right to exist? What about my right to clean air? What about my right to not pay for electricity I haven't used? What about my right to a quiet county without constant noise, slowly damaging my ears and other people's ears? I understand that there are two factors at play that this board can't control. The Virginia state government vote for citizens to subsidize data center electricity costs, and then Dominion Energy billing their customers to make up this cost. But what you can do is you can control the addition of data centers to this county. Each new additional data center increases citizen costs, reduce air quality,

[01:12:29] and continues to reduce our county to these giant square buildings. Recently we saw in the news that Dominion Energy has shortened $900 million. Who is going to pay for all this? The citizens of Virginia, specifically Prince William County. Will Dominion stop bailing out these data centers?

[01:12:47] not anytime soon. Data center addition to our county is a net negative contribution. It creates minimal, low-paying jobs once built, which I know I have family that works security at these. They make minimum wage. They work 16-hour shifts, no overtime. It takes land away from literally any other kind of housing, retail, park, or work development. And I guarantee within the next five to ten years tech will have moved on and we'll be left with the mess to clean up please

[01:13:22] listen please stop this thank you all right and i ask that people please until i call you um please remain seated until i call you before i allow the next speaker i want to call up the next group um first of all ed hillebrand did you want to speak again if not i'm going to strike you out all right roger um roger kamarski elizabeth rima luna kinsley jason romero martinez and sheila mcconnell

[01:14:01] you guys can get up there wait hold on sir there's one other person ahead of you i'm just calling up the next group can you just let him speak i believe that's perry all right i'm just calling up the next group of people because you guys can stand behind and wait and it makes it a little bit easier. So if I called your name, Roger Kamaski, Elizabeth Rima, Luna Kinsley, Jason Romero, Martinez, Sheila McConnell, if all of you can stand in the back. Sir, you may proceed.

[01:14:32] Good afternoon, Madam Chair Jefferson and supervisors. This is going to be short and sweet. My name is Perry Francis, and I reside in the Coles District, and I support the resolution as written, and I think that the overlay going away while grandfathering in current projects on the books is a good compromise that puts residents first while also showing that Prince William County is business friendly. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker. Hi, my name is Roger Kazmarski. I'm a 15-year resident of this area. I live in the Keswick Estates HOA. I'm a

[01:15:10] former IT person who worked 20 years in IT. I could not be more opposed to what we are trying to do with data centers. I've seen up close. I've worked with many of the things that they're talking about. What I worked with in 1988 when I started was a little nine-inch computer. Now we're talking huge, huge data centers. I live very close to Four Seasons. Those data centers should

[01:15:42] never be built. They just have increased. My electric bill has been going up. My water bill over 15 years has gone up. The amount of noise pollution associated with IT and having worked in it is absolutely crazy. I grew up in a place called West Point, Virginia, which is about two hours south of here. We had a paper mill that was the basis of our town. It was constantly polluting the air. We had people come up with cancers. We had people who moved out because of

[01:16:22] the pollution. I can assure you that if you approve this, which is allowing the data centers to go forward, that is absolutely crazy. You need to stop this. You need to vote for this amendment.

[01:16:38] If you do approve these data centers, tax them like they're people. For every one of the, if you will, tax them as if they're one human working there.

[01:16:56] In a data center, that would be 3,000, 4,000 people. I pay taxes. I just got a tax bill for $7,000. Let them pay their taxes. Don't tax us. Listen to the people.

[01:17:13] don't listen to the industry. The people do not want these built here. One of the most recent things you approved, and I was at this meeting, you approved a Sonic at 234 and Talon Drive.

[01:17:34] Of course, our water's been affected now. We have the water company out there because they're building these and they're polluting our water and our community. Columbia Gas was out there this week because they're having a problem because you approved the day uh another center stop listen to the people that's all I have to say thank you thank you so very much next speaker please hello I'm Elizabeth Ryman please adjust the microphone sorry I'm Elizabeth Ryman I'm

[01:18:14] speaking on behalf of Wentworth Green HOA so if I could have five minutes please yes five minutes Thank you. I'm a resident of Wentworth Green, as I said, which is the Brentsville District, a community threatened by data centers, and I'm the president of the Condo Association.

[01:18:33] My husband and I moved to Prince William to retire, downsizing our home because our kids are grown and gone. Your decisions affect my health and property value, as well as others in my community. I'm asking the board to take a bold and meaningful step to strengthen the proposed text amendment to protect my neighborhood and all the residents from the impacts of by right data centers.

[01:18:59] This text amendment is an opportunity for the board to finally prioritize homeowners over developers. I'm asking you to reject what the planning commission put forward. Two commissioners actually mentioned the residents that live in neighborhoods impacted by data center development.

[01:19:20] The other members were only concerned about large landowners and developers. It was quite obvious who was on the side of the residential communities, and their decisions reflect on you. So please pass the ZTA to stop by right data centers.

[01:19:37] Eliminate the existing data center overlay boundaries. Vote for at least a 12-month pause on all data center applications, at least. No grandfathering in-process site plans and applications that would place data center buildings within 2,500 feet of residential areas, as Mr. Shake had originally asked for.

[01:20:00] Providing meaningful protection for communities. There should be no grace period for developers. Anything less is the board showing their concern for developers instead of actual residents who live here. Developers don't need more time.

[01:20:18] Providing an additional 90 days or more would cause a run on every single property within the overlay, which is mostly in Brentsville. Put the residents that live next to the overlay first for once. This amendment should take effect immediately.

[01:20:37] It's time for Prince William to recognize that residents are not obstacles to development. We are the people that live here. Our homes are our investment. For some, their home is their only investment. My community is not made up of people who have acres and acres of land.

[01:20:55] They can sell or develop for millions of dollars when a data center comes along. We are homeowners in residential neighborhoods. We aren't being offered millions of dollars for our homes. Instead, we are being asked to accept massive industrial buildings, substations, power infrastructure, noise, construction, and changes to the character of our neighborhood that negatively affect the value and marketability of our homes.

[01:21:26] You do not have the right to affect our health and wealth by making bad or weak decisions in favor of a few. Maybe this is your idea of creating affordable housing. I don't know. Developers profit, large land owners profit, politicians profit, but the average homeowner is not getting a check for millions of dollars.

[01:21:50] We're simply being asked to live next to it. Prince William County should be known as a great place to start and raise a family, retire or start or grow a small business. Instead, we are known for data centers and the local government that disregards its very citizens in favor of developers.

[01:22:12] We're the very epicenter that has awakened the entire country to the devastating effects of these communities like mine. You'll have a chance to finally change that and listen to your residents. Put residents first over developers, make this text amendment stronger, and protect communities like mine.

[01:22:33] Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello. My name is Luna Kinsley, and I live in the Brentsville District. I think it's important we're protecting the residents first while also making sure Prince William County supports the business community.

[01:22:52] So we have tax revenue to keep our county as a leading locality in the Commonwealth. For these reasons, I hope you'll join in supporting the resolution and putting residents first. Thank you. Next speaker. Oh, sorry. Before I actually get to you, let me call up the next group. Sheila McConnell, if you are here and want to speak.

[01:23:11] Rachel Ellis, Lisa Polgar, Gifford Hampshire, and Elena Schlossberg.

[01:23:40] All right, sir, you may begin. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and board members. My name is Jason, and I am a resident of Brentsville District. That is Brenner Spa has gotten out of hand, and one way to end that is to end by right developments in the overlay.

[01:23:57] At the same time, it's important we evaluate every case individually and end by right development. For those reasons, I support the resolutions before you today. Thank you for your time. All right, thank you so very much. Next speaker, please. That's you, Rachel.

[01:24:17] Rachel Ellis, Gainesville District. Respectfully, this CTA currently presented is simply window dressing. It's smoke and mirrors for the public to be tricked into thinking this board is reigning in the data center industry.

[01:24:34] It is also right in time with next year's election cycle for you guys to boast that you've taken a stand against the data center industry. Prince William County is a national example of what not to do when building data centers. What if today this county became an example of how to take a stand to protect residents and communities?

[01:24:53] I am challenging you to draw a line today, a line that protects our communities from future impacts of the industry, eliminate all bi-rate data center development, eliminate the existing data center overlay zone, require all data center developments to submit a special use permit. Since this CTA was initiated over six months ago, this industry has been well aware of the intention of this board. No grace period. Add in protections to eliminate grandfathering for sites within a thousand feet minimum of residential homes and schools. Anyone that is actually in this fight understands how the industry can and will take full advantage of

[01:25:32] this CTA. And when another county business employing over 300 people that has been here for 50 years sells to data and relocates to an adjacent county it will solely be on this board. Tonight you take up a case which is a direct result of the unintended consequences of unchecked data data center build out. But right now with this vote this board has the opportunity to take back control of how our communities are impacted. I am again asking you to fight as if it was your district impacting your constituents. I have watched some of you go to bat for the data center

[01:26:08] industry and i'm asking you to fight like that for the other residents in the county this vote actually ultimately comes down to two questions do you give the residents a voice on all future projects or do you silence them and i have to admit like i was thinking about this zta and i was like how did it get bipartisan support and it's because those of us that know know there's no teeth to this and 13 of 14 data centers have been approved in the past two and a half years with this board 13 of 14 and a lot of that was by right in the overlay but they asked for more and

[01:26:46] you guys had to approve more do better do actually something you guys have the power to do something i'm asking you to use it thank you next speaker please i think it's me i'm not sure um my name is lisa mcferron polgar i'm a resident of the potomac district i have been a four seasons residents for 18 years now and what we have been dreading for for over a year has come to pass.

[01:27:22] Developers have submitted applications for six data centers 100 feet from my Four Seasons neighbor's property. The applications are currently before the planning office which has made it clear to us that they will not support the current application because of their incompatibility with the terrain, the building height, the effect of noise in our community, etc. We hope that any changes to the current applications will also not be supported by the planning office because data centers do not belong next to homes, schools, or parks. The current zoning for the property next to Four Seasons is not by right since it's not in the data center overlay district but requires

[01:28:01] a special use permit. I strongly support the board's decision to get rid of the by right overlay district that will not allow data centers to be built by right but would require that they go through the same scrutiny that the Four Seasons Data Center applications are going through with this SUP. I also urge you not to give any time for any new buy-write applications to be grandfathered in, just as Loudoun County has done. Developers have known for six months that the overlay was going to be eliminated and had plenty of time to submit their applications. Some on the Planning Commission have indicated that we need to be fair to developers and to be fair to

[01:28:41] developers. Well, who is being fair to our residents? Who is concerned about the aftermath, the residents that have nothing to gain and all to lose? We don't own, we are not flush with acres of land to sell. We aren't a developer that stands to make millions. We homeowners own a little plot of lawn, a little plot of land in a neighborhood where no one is coming to ask if we think it's fair that these corporations violate our property rights and property values. One of my Four Seasons neighbors told me I had a potential buyer bail on a contract because of the potential data centers

[01:29:18] and other homes are selling far below the values they should be comparable to homes in the area. She continued, it bothers me that the people who need the money more than any at any point in their lives are being shorted in this way by the government who's supposed to be serving us.

[01:29:34] If applicants are not grandfathered in, they're not denied the opportunity to apply. They can just do a special use permit. Why not go through the whole process that everybody, all the other data centers are having to go through?

[01:29:52] Eliminate by right. Eliminate the overlay. Zero days of grandfathering. Thank you. All right, before we get to our next speaker, I believe we're in Fairfax. So we generally let residents speak before non-residents. Elaine, if you can go, and then, sir, I'll let you close out.

[01:30:16] I am going to need Elmo, please. My name is Elaine Schlossberg. I live in the Gainesville District. I'm the executive director for the Coalition to Protect Prince William, so I'd like five minutes, please.

[01:30:35] So when I look at everybody on the dais right now, do you know what strikes me? Not one of you is under threat from a data center, a substation, a transmission line, diesel generators.

[01:30:55] Not yet. You have an opportunity. We can vote that down. And I guess that's my ask of you, to act like you are, to have a sense of urgency.

[01:31:11] Because whether you know it or not, our house, it's on fire. And we need you to show up with all your equipment, all your fire hoses. I'm glad that we are finally seeing some movement towards change.

[01:31:31] Maybe for some people who haven't been paying attention to this data center issue, it's been years. Let me tell you, removing bi-right does not feel rushed to me with no grandfathering and no grace period. It is way, way overdue.

[01:31:49] So, is Elmo up? Okay. Let me explain what happened with Microsoft and why they had that huge fine. Because their data centers ran for seven days.

[01:32:05] It was because they didn't report it. It's not because they ran for seven days. It's because their substation had fire. And right now, we do not have the regulatory oversight to stop diesel generators from turning on.

[01:32:25] Ergo, this campus in Sterling. I know that, I don't know if everybody here has not visited Data Center Alley and this particular community, but you should. Even if you don't like traveling outside of Prince William County, Mr. Shorter, I'm more than happy to take everybody on a tour so that you can see what this community is experiencing.

[01:32:48] This is the future. Data centers are not going to wait. 10 years, 12 years, 15 years for power. They're going to try and do it through gas turbines. And when those gas turbines shut down, they will be running on diesel generators. Also, we are in a water crisis.

[01:33:07] Now, what we don't have is the Occoquan Basin Study yet. We don't know what the groundwater is in the western end. But I'm going to tell you right now, it's probably at risk because the Occoquan Water Study is not looking too good right now. I'm going to say it again so everybody can hear it.

[01:33:28] It is not a question of if. I'd like, please, everybody could just eyes on me just for a moment so I know you hear this. It is not a question of if we have a cascading blackout. It is only when.

[01:33:48] And you all, like, the evidence is out there. You know that. This is, I didn't write this. This is not Elena's propaganda. You need to read this article. They are predicting there will be multiple cascading blackouts. Dominion, Dominion just gave a tour.

[01:34:06] got to hear a little bit about it. Man, everybody needs to go on that tour because do you know what they are describing? Everything we have been talking about and every single data center that you all approve, you are contributing to the risk of blackouts. You are contributing to the risk of water quality resource demand. You are contributing to the harm of more transmission lines, of more substations of more diesel generators cutting on. So in case you didn't know, on July 2nd,

[01:34:42] for a moment, we were minutes away from every single diesel generator turning on in Loudoun County, and we will be there again. You don't have time for 90 days. You have to implement this now, and then we need to have a pause for a year. Okay, so I'm going to play you something so that

[01:35:00] you all, and I can give my code, can hear what it's like living next to gas turbines 24-7. It's

[01:35:37] time to end this nightmare now. Approve the ZTA with new grace. Thank you very much. Now we have one other person who had signed up, Carolee Carrington, and then we'll go to you, Mr. Hampshire. Good afternoon. My name is Carolee Carrington. Please adjust the mic. Good afternoon. My name is Carolee Carrington, and I've lived in the Brentsville District for about 15 years. I went

[01:36:13] to school in Brooklyn, New York, and we had a simple slogan, a tree grows in Brooklyn. I never thought that we would be faced with probably a tree grows in Brentsville. I'm standing here worried whether or not things can actually keep growing in Brentsville because of the data center opportunity overlay. I'm not opposed to growth. I'm not opposed to progress. Communities change and change can be good, but this overlay isn't about growth we chose together. It's about a

[01:36:51] zoning tool that allows data centers to be built by right without the same scrutiny our neighborhoods would face for anything else. And we all are living, and we all are the ones living with that tool that has already allowed many data centers. We now live with flickering lights in our homes. We live with water pressure that keeps lowering, and we're feeling the effects of emissions that we can't see with our own eyes. But make no mistake, we are already feeling it

[01:37:27] because of these current data centers. This isn't theoretical. This is our life now. In a recent community meeting, we were told something important, that the power lies and sits with Richmond lawmakers and ties the hands of the board. But the overlay district is not a Richmond mandate. This is a local zoning decision that was written and adopted right here

[01:37:58] and can be undone right here. I'm asking that the board ends this data center opportunity overlay for our district. I'm asking Supervisor Gordy to use the tools that he has, every ounce of every local authority every relationship every public platform to fight for this district as hard as he has fought for his own home because a tree grows where it's planted not and protected Brentsville

[01:38:36] deserves the same right thank you all right thank you final speaker please good afternoon madam chairman members of the board I'm Gifford Hampshire I'm with a law firm of Blankingship and Keith. It's based in Fairfax City, but I'm here tonight representing a corporate landowner in the Brentsville Magisterial District who's interested in this data center overlay district amendment. And I think it's good to keep in mind that we are talking about an amendment to an

[01:39:14] existing zoning ordinance to this board, as the lady before me said, put in place. And therefore, when you are talking about amending an existing law upon which landowners have relied, it's quite right and proper for this board as it has done through this initiation to think about vested rights.

[01:39:34] And so it's, as the pastor said, it's a delicate balance between the rights of citizens to protect their property, the major investment that they will make in their life, probably their home, but also to balance that against corporate citizens and other citizens who have also invested in property in reliance upon existing zoning.

[01:39:57] And I would suggest to you that this proposed amendment does just that. It contains a set of five criterion that you're going to hear about from your staff that seek to both assert the legislative will of the board to scale back on data center development, but at the same time protect the vested rights of those people who have received specific affirmative governmental acts to develop as data centers.

[01:40:24] And that's a concept that's vested in the state code, in Virginia Code 15.2-2307. That's what those vesting guidelines set forth. We suggest that a 180-day period is needed. It shouldn't just be 90 days. It should be 180 days. Because as any engineer will tell you, it takes a long time to do the tests that are needed to get an application for a site plan, not just filed but approved through quality control in this county, and properly so, because the staff wants to make sure that all the boxes are checked.

[01:40:56] Sometimes you need soil studies, sometimes you need surveys and other things, so that takes a while. And I would just say in response to some of the other speakers who have said, as some people in the Planning Commission said in considering this, don't worry about the development community because they knew about this for a long time.

[01:41:11] They knew this was going to happen. I would suggest to you, you cannot legislate that way. You cannot say to somebody, it's going to pass necessarily. If it were going to pass necessarily, we wouldn't be here today. there's a chance from the development community's point of view that it won't pass or it will be deferred.

[01:41:27] So they need to be able to rely upon a reasonable period from whatever date the board approves it to get their site plan in, to do the studies that are necessary to get the site plan in, and that means to do all the reasonable tests. And we suggest to you that it's 180 days. It should be no less, in any event, than 90 days.

[01:41:46] With respect to Loudoun County, if you look at what Loudoun County did in the five seconds I have left, I'll just say that they did no more than just say we're going to act within the 12-month period that's prescribed by law anyway. So I'm out of time, and thank you very much. Thank you so very much for everyone who's come in person.

[01:42:04] Supervisor Angry, if you would like to go to virtual. Thank you, Madam Chair. Do we have virtual speakers? Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Yes, we do. Our first speaker is Vida Carroll. Ms. Carroll, go ahead. Can you guys hear me?

[01:42:20] Yes, ma'am. OK, but if you're at Brentsville, I would just like to say it's an abomination that you want to have. Ms. Carroll, Ms. Carroll, you're coming in and out. You're breaking up on us.

[01:42:38] We can't drive and drive in a car. Ah, OK. So that's my first point. Can you hear me? Ms. Carroll, can we try to make you last and maybe you can get to a better area? You're breaking up and coming in and out, so we really can't hear you. Yeah, you know what?

[01:42:55] is that is that okay if we try that chris can we try to bring her back uh safer for another time uh yeah just i don't know how many speakers we have online but maybe um miss carl i don't know how close you are to home or to a place where you can get a better signal but you're you're breaking up on us yes i can go last that's fine okay all right thank you ma'am so chris if we can move on we'll just come back to her hopefully she's in a better uh place sounds good our next Speaker is Sabrina Januszewski.

[01:43:27] Ms. Sabrina, go ahead, ma'am. Hi, everyone. My name is Sabrina Januszewski, and I live in the Wentworth Green community in the Brentsville District. I grew up in Prince William County, and about four years ago, my husband and I decided to move back to Prince William from Fairfax County as we thought about where we wanted to start and raise a family.

[01:43:49] We chose Prince William County because we believed it was a safe community with strong schools and a place where we could build a future. Today, we're facing a growing sense of frustration and uncertainty about the future of the community that we chose to call home. It's incredibly disappointing to feel like Prince William County is becoming a place where residents can no longer feel confident about what the future will look like because of data center development, taking over the community, and threatening the value and safety of nearby residential communities.

[01:44:19] But you all have the opportunity to change that. I'm asking you to eliminate Byray data center development and the overlay map boundaries. Residents deserve a meaningful voice in decisions that will shape our communities for decades to come, particularly when those developments could have such impacts on neighborhoods where people already live.

[01:44:39] I'm also asking that you strengthen the proposed amendment by including protections similar to those adopted in Loudoun County, including meaningful setbacks from existing residential homes. This should be well over 500 feet. I'm also asking that you prevent a grace period that could allow data center developers to move forward under existing rules while these new protections are being considered.

[01:45:03] As a young family, we want to feel confident that Prince William County is a place where we can invest in our home and continue to build our future. Stronger guidelines would help protect communities like mine while allowing the county to thoughtfully manage future development. Thank you for listening and for considering the voices of residents who call Prince William County home.

[01:45:21] You're welcome, ma'am. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Nathan Grishbosch. Go ahead, Nathan. Yes. First, I'd like to thank the chairperson and Tom Gordy for coming out and visiting. I'm in favor of the amendment.

[01:45:41] I'm in the Brentsville district. The main point I wanted to make was, number one, please consider a larger setback and also go to a zero grandfather time, opposed to the proposed uh sir i'm not sure if you're finished but you two are uh coming in and out and breaking up um were you were you done yes sir okay all right all right thank you sir uh

[01:46:14] next speaker please our next speaker is ben baldwin uh okay mr baldwin go ahead sir yep ben baldwin from coles i'm here today to speak in support of the proposed amendment to the data center overlay district this board should vote to approve the zoning amendment as written with the 90-day grace period while we have seen tremendous growth within the county over the past few years that has not come without controversy i do believe this amendment meets the needs of all parties involved and is a positive step toward the balanced growth approach i believe the 90-day grace period is acceptable and does strike a common sense middle ground it does take time and resources for

[01:46:52] businesses to come into compliance with rule changes and setting no grace period at all as some have advocated is illogical their argument would lead to more lawsuits as setting no timetable for compliance will be seen as arbitrary and cause financial damages, which these businesses will have a right to recoup. This board has already lost once in court because of the data center overlay district. It would be foolish to do so again, but only now to developers instead of residents. The board should try as a matter of principle to avoid losing lawsuits. Ann Wheeler's folly has already cost this county too much. This amendment strikes a good balance to avoid the

[01:47:28] mistake again lastly i want to commend supervisor gordy supervisor vega and supervisor la croix for leading this effort in striking an appropriate balance i encourage the remaining supervisors to vote in favor of this amendment as written and hope the vote will be unanimous thank you thank you sir next speaker please our next speaker is jessica grove mr grove go ahead sir oh did you say jessica oh we're back to miss grove miss grove with an e ma'am go ahead

[01:47:58] Good afternoon, Supervisors. This is Jessica Grove. I live in the Gainesville district. I'm a lifelong resident here. I want to stress to you that Prince William County is the laughingstock of the world right now.

[01:48:18] We, along with Loudoun County, are the largest concentration of data centers in the literal world, in here in northern Virginia. You have the opportunity to rein that in.

[01:48:36] And again, remember, we just had the JLARC study done where they talked about unconstrained data center growth. There is no need to give any sort of grace period for the data center industry.

[01:48:53] This does not prevent them from putting in applications. This is just like happy hour. You can't, this has been happy four years for the data center industry. Just because happy hour is ending doesn't mean you can't still order a drink. It just means you have to go through the right process.

[01:49:11] End all by right data center approvals. Do not let them have any more height, any more extras at all. Give the public a voice to say no.

[01:49:31] Keep everything at least a minimum of 1,000 feet from residences and schools and eliminate the grace period. They have had plenty of time to get their applications in. Even if you never approve another data center, not even a single one, we will still be the largest concentration of data centers for years.

[01:49:56] Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Keith Snyder. Mr. Snyder, go ahead, sir. Yes. Hello. Borg, how are you doing today?

[01:50:14] Glorious that we're meeting on this particular hot topic of the entire planet. In case anybody needs to be reminded, there's a large movement to slow down or put a pause on data center development.

[01:50:33] One of those great reasons is the fact that we in Virginia happen to have 300 data centers that are without power, according to Prince William Times, along with some other research development. And I last I checked that those non-operating data centers aren't bringing in any revenue, how quickly the tables have turned.

[01:50:58] So please keep all this in mind when voting mindfully and logically for a brighter future vision for all of us. Or you could blindly agree with Donald Trump, but I don't suggest that.

[01:51:16] Y'all have a good one. Thanks. Love you. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please. Next speaker is Donna Gallant. I'm sorry, you said Donna Gallant. Go ahead. Go ahead, ma'am. Ms. Gallant, go ahead. Mr. Angry, can you hear me?

[01:51:32] Yes, ma'am, I can. We can. Okay. Can you please make sure that I have five minutes? I'm representing Devil and Defend Corporation, so I'd like my five minutes. Yes, ma'am. Five minutes. Okay. So in front of you this evening and what we're here to talk about is the zoning text amendment. And I've listened to all of the previous speakers. And the one that stuck with me the most is the gentleman from the Blankenship Law Firm. And he mentioned something about vested rights, that the industry has vested rights, that residents and citizens have vested rights. And I will tell you, as a resident in

[01:52:08] excess of 30 years, where were my vested rights protected by some members on this board and the previous board when the Hunter Trust property was rezoned, which was, by the way, outside of the overlay district, but to appease the developer based on campaign contributions. And Mr. Angry, you know who I'm talking about, Mr. Chuck Coon, because you got your nice fat contribution for your fireworks. Where was the vested interest in the protection, the vested rights of all the

[01:52:45] residents when the Devlin Technology Park was approved, which was residential? Where was the vested rights protected of those next to the Village Technology Park? Those are just three that come to mind. So the question on the table is, whose vested rights are each one of you going to represent and protect? The next thing I'm going to say is 10 years. 10 years. 10 years have lapsed

[01:53:19] since the creation of the data center opportunity overlay. We are talking about putting a moratorium and a hold on buy-right development within that overlay. There should be absolutely no grace period. If in 10 years they can't get their applications in, last time I checked, 10 years is a long, long, long amount of time for these developers to submit. Why do we continue to

[01:53:50] placate the most predatory industry at the suffering of the residents that, before the data centers, had vested rights in this county? They paid their taxes. They served their communities.

[01:54:07] And this is the thanks that we got. And I know there are some that sit on this dais that are the yes men, yes men for the industry. There are those that are the puppets for the industry, as clearly demonstrated by the bogus noise ordinance.

[01:54:25] The siting and sitting of data centers, 500 feet, 1,000 feet. I currently sit 2,500 feet from Mango, 2,500 feet from the Mango property. And guess what I hear? a locomotive train 24/7 from the Mango property. The noise ordinance is a joke.

[01:54:49] We as a county, you as elected officials, need to protect the vested rights of each and every citizen. And I know Supervisor Angry, Supervisor Bodie, Supervisor Bailey, well, you're on the hook right now for the people in Four Seasons. Supervisor LaCroix, none of you have data centers in your area. Maybe your constituents would feel differently if each one of you had the gift of a data center complex in your area, and you could hear the pain and suffering that

[01:55:25] everyone in the western part of the county is going through. So yes, I support the zoning text amendment, but I think that the date, and I want the grace period removed. If in 10 years they can't get their applications in, that's a them problem, not a me problem. So I say you vote for the ZTE or ZTA or whatever it is, but remove the grace period. The balance is over. Shift the balance to the protection of the citizens for which you were elected to represent it. It's your fiduciary

[01:56:00] responsibility to protect the citizens. And you don't have your data centers yet to the supervisors that i named but they're coming to your neighborhoods so at that i would say how much more time do i have left what's that buddy you should be able to see it on your screen i cannot no 15 18 18 seconds 18 seconds thank you so much so i support this and also i support getting rid

[01:56:37] of the data center opportunity overlay in totality you want to be loud in county put a moratorium

[01:56:43] Thank you ma'am. Next speaker please. Our next speaker is Laura Harders. Ms. Harders go ahead ma'am. Hey good afternoon can you hear me? Yes ma'am we can hear you. Thank you this is Laura Harders with the Gainesville district. I just wanted to state that I believe the data center opportunity zone overlay district needs to be amended. This is long overdue but what is being presented could be strengthened for sure.

[01:57:20] When we talk about the 90-day period by which more applications, this grace period for eligibility criterion 5 for pending development and when we discuss grandfathered projects, this is not where it needs to be in light of the current situation here in the county.

[01:57:46] I have been pleased to see quite a few faces speaking today on this issue and during public common time that I don't see come to the board that often. And it seems that most of them maybe were asked by a certain supervisor to speak in favor of this as is. But you will hear quite a citizens bringing bringing up deficiencies and weaknesses in this and um it it does come across

[01:58:22] curious to me why certain people feel the need to state this at this time now everyone has a right to speak before the board especially on this issue this is a national issue which people are very concerned about but those of us that have been fighting against the data centers for for several years and have been very involved in these projects are looking at this and saying this is weak sauce this is not what it needs to be so yes kudos for bringing the zta up but this is not

[01:59:01] where it needs to be and even watching the planning commission move back and forth on extending it to 180 days compromising at 120 days moving it back to 90 days for the citizens it's um it is frustrating so i'm asking you to make a zero grace period but i'm honestly not sure that you're going to make that decision but i'm going to state that that's what i would like to see um i am so thankful that this conversation is has gotten so much attention on a national scale

[01:59:39] please vote to amend the zta with a zero day grace period thank you thank you ma'am next speaker please our next speaker is um miss viada carol she is now at a stable connection yes thank you chris miss carol go ahead okay arguably stable right um can you guys hear me now yes ma'am we can hear you yes ma'am we can hear you okay we can't hear you i'm sorry chris is she still with us yes she is okay are you there yes yes she's back yes ma'am we can hear you okay can i not

[02:00:19] close the zoom app and while i'm there can you guys still hear me yes ma'am we can still hear you okay because i'm trying to oh it has me in safe driving mode hang on okay can you guys hear me yes ma'am we can still hear you okay vita carol brentsville hopefully my three minutes are beginning my first complaint is while i am so glad this conversation is finally taking place in a tangible vote particularly after you guys have been discussing this since the spring of 2024 so literally two and a half years i don't understand why this couldn't have waited till

[02:00:58] 7pm. And that folks like me are having to drive my kids home from school and try to navigate technology to partake in this conversation. So, you know, it's really it just showcases how little the community has been thought of when developing this ordinance. I don't recall a single community meeting for residents, you know, to get any community feedback, any survey, any, any type of outreach to those impacted. And that's a shame because constituents like myself and like my neighbors and like my community are the ones feeling the brunt of impact from buy right data

[02:01:37] development. So I think we're all on the same page here that we need to invite right data development in Prince William County yesterday. And I want to be clear that this zoning text amendment would grandfather in all existing and in-process site plans and data projects. The 90-day grace period will allow for new by right data development it will not impact in progress projects this is not legally necessary in loud and they actually retroactively applied their zoning text amendment

[02:02:12] equivalent and what this would do is it would create a gold rush to cram data down into every last inch of the existing overlay an overlay which predominantly lies in my district and an overlay that was last adjusted seven years ago when the industry looked nothing like it does now.

[02:02:28] I think you all are reminding me a lot of Abigail Spanberger and her executive order right now because at best, it's pretty much a too little, too late executive order. And at worst, it is damaging.

[02:02:46] And that is exactly what the zoning text amendment is. At best, it's too little, too late. Pat yourselves on the back. You finally did something. But at worst, you are setting us up for millions of more square feet of data to be submitted within 90 days. And for those of you who say, oh, the industry isn't going to submit anything.

[02:03:04] Data is dead in this county. There's no energy. It slowed down. Tell me why, then, a developer's attorney was standing here advocating for more time. Tell me why, then, we're receiving site plans in every week. A new application in Nooksville just last month.

[02:03:21] The gold rush has not stopped in Prince William County, and it will not stop until there's an end to buy right data, zero days grace period, protections in place for residences, and a 12-month moratorium on all data in Prince William County. Thank you so much. Thank you, ma'am.

[02:03:37] Chris, was that our last speaker? No, we have one more speaker. Okay. Our next speaker is Nicole Riley. Nicole Riley, go ahead, ma'am. Hello. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Nicole Riley, and I represent the Data Center Coalition.

[02:03:53] whose members include many of the county's leading data center owners and operators thank you for the opportunity to comment this afternoon regarding the proposed zoning text amendment related to the data center opportunity zone overlay district we believe the proposal provides a balance between thoughtful and responsible data center regulation and the legal and reputational importance of the county honoring its commitments to the business community we acknowledge and appreciate the board's intent to modernize the overlay district to reflect updated land use practices as well as

[02:04:28] to strengthen siting and design standards at the same time the transition from by right to a special use permit process must align with virginia law and protect the rights of applicants who have acted in good faith under the existing by right framework by adopting this proposal with the inclusion of provisions for those projects already in the approval process the board will be setting clear predictable and workable standards for responsible data center development while maintaining the county's business climate and reputation. This rule is consistent with similar ordinances in the region and complements the vesting protections recognized in Virginia law.

[02:05:06] We understand there could be calls to include large setback provisions such as a 2,500 foot setback of an identified property for many school or residents. This would likely impact a significant number of current properties and would be inconsistent with other setbacks established in neighboring jurisdictions we recommend the county look at this issue at a later date when its impact can be fully determined it's important to note the significant economic impact the industry has had in the county this year the data center sector will generate approximately 550 million dollars in local taxes representing 28 of the county's total tax revenue beyond their

[02:05:44] fiscal impact data centers and their associated ecosystem and supply chain support thousands of jobs in the county for these reasons we respectfully urge the board to accept the zoning text amendment to the data center opportunity zone overlay district as recommended by county staff thank you for your time and consideration thank you ma'am i believe chris is our final speaker yes sir those are final speakers all right madam chair back to you and thank you chris all right i'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing for item 7d um at this time i'm going to ask for

[02:06:20] a motion and a second to go into closed session madam chair i move uh motion to go into closed session second madam chair members of the board if i can read the closed session yes the law requires specific provisions so it'll be consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such council pertaining to land use law where such consultation discussion or a briefing in an opening open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position negotiating strategy or litigating posture of the public body and this item is appropriate for closed session pursuant

[02:06:54] to 2.2-3711a8 of the code of virginia so moved it's been moved and seconded twice actually

[02:07:03] first time with gordy and vega so we'll go ahead and take our votes vote unanimous all right thank you we are just going to take a brief moment to go into closed session no breaks guys let's go to

[02:07:39] the back closed session if i can get a motion to certify so moved second probably moved and seconded let's take a vote kind of feel like an auctioneer i'm going so fast vote unanimous all

[02:08:16] right thank you very much this is a very weighty topic i know we've had a lot of people come out and testify i am actually going to invite our planning staff to get up and do a presentation on this. Good afternoon. My name is Reza Ramyar, the case planner for this ZTA, DPA, DPA 2026-00006 data center opportunity zone overlay district zoning text amendment as an associated map

[02:08:54] amendment. On March 3rd, the board initiated a data center opportunity zone overlay district ZTA and after that, staff began working on this CTA.

[02:09:10] At April 23rd, we had a meeting with DORAC, get feedback from industry, and following public and industry feedback, the board on June 9th initiated a new CTA and rescinded the March 3rd initiation.

[02:09:27] Staff has been directed to give this CTA the highest priority with the target of returning back this CTA to the board for a public hearing and potential adoption in September 2026. County staff discussed this CTA on March, on July 15th with DORAC, in DORAC meeting and on, sorry, discussed this CTA with CDC on July 15th and with DORAC on July 23rd to get their feedback.

[02:09:59] On September 9th, the Planning Commission had a public hearing on this case and vote and recommended approval of this CTA with staff proposed change to the CTA with two amendments.

[02:10:16] Planning Commission recommend extending eligibility window from 90 days to 120 days for criteria five post-adoption and also requiring minimum of 500 feet setback between data center buildings and existing home and schools for the property eligible in criteria five.

[02:10:44] With this ZTA, the properties remaining in the overlay must meet one of the five criteria. They should approve proffers identifying data center used by date of ordinance adoption.

[02:11:01] They should approve or they should approve preliminary development plan for a data center by date of ordinance adoption, they should approve or they should approve final site plan, final plan, final plan of development for a data center by date of ordinance adoption or final zoning determination for a data center or have a pending legislative or development plan application accepted for quality control review by 90 days from date of ordinance adoption.

[02:11:36] With this criteria, any properties that meet criteria one to four, the property owner can pursue data center development by right. And for properties that meet criteria five, if they have pending site plan, it means that their property is zoned industrial office, so they can pursue data center development by right.

[02:12:04] For pending land use cases, it's not by right. They need to get approval from the board to have a data center in their property. Out of the overlay, if properties zone B1, OL, OH, OM, OF, M1, M2, MT, or have industrial or office land use designation in PBD or PMD zoning district, they may apply for SUP to have a data center in their property.

[02:12:35] This slide summarizes the data center development based on this CTA. As you see, if a property meets one of the five criteria, then the property will remain in the overlay. For the properties that meet criteria 1 to 4 and also has pending site plan application based on criteria 5, then they can pursue data center development by right.

[02:13:00] For the properties that has pending land use cases or pending public facility review, they need to get approval from PC, and for pending land use cases, they need to get approval from the board to have a data center in their property. For other property out of the overlay, if they zone industrial or office, then the data center development is subject to SUP.

[02:13:26] Out of this eligible zoning, they are not eligible to have data center in their property. This slide compares data center development framework with current data center development framework versus proposed framework.

[02:13:44] As you see, there is no change on the process. And how this ZTA works, mainly the ZTA reduce the size of the overlay and close the overlay boundary. So then we have less eligible property in the overlay to have data center in there.

[02:14:06] Staff reviewed this ZTA and recommended three key revision to this ZTA. First one, staff recommends separation of boundary determination and development rights. With current initiated language, these two functions are in one section.

[02:14:26] Staff recommended separating these two functions and put them into separate sections. Staff also recommend clarifying that all listed application for criteria five must be for a data center proposal.

[02:14:42] And also staff recommend clarifying on overlay district boundary interpretation and all eligibility evaluation applies only the properties that are in the existing overlay district.

[02:14:59] This slide shows how this ZTA impacts on the acreage of the overlay. We prepared this on August 31, and so it's not the final information. As of August 31, almost 3,641 acres meet one of the five criteria, so they will remain in the boundary.

[02:15:26] From these properties, 41% of this area meet criteria 5, 48% meet criteria 3. These criteria 5 and 3 are major properties that put the property remaining in the overlay.

[02:15:50] 0.5% meet criteria 5 and 0.5% meet criteria 1. And you see that this CTA almost reduced the size of the overlay almost 62%.

[02:16:07] Staff recommend approval of this CTA, incorporating the staff recommended change to the CTA. That's in my presentation. I will be happy to answer if you have any questions. Thank you so very much. If anyone has questions, please jump into the queue.

[02:16:23] Supervisor Bailey, then Bodie. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. Reza, thank you for presenting. I'm going to ask you some very remedial questions, and it's going to be basic, but just please bear with me, okay? So one of the questions that I want to ask, the staff recommended for the ZTA was 90 to 120 days?

[02:16:50] No, it was PC recommendation. Say it again. It was PC recommendation. Okay. Planning commission. Planning commission, okay. Yes. And what was the time frame again? from 90 to 120 days okay from 90 to 120 days yeah for criteria of five and so your recommendation is for our recommendation is tanya washington planning director um you will note in the staff report we have no recommendation or no comment related to the time frame related to criterion

[02:17:25] five uh the the zta the board initiated zta uh says 90 days and we didn't have any issues or questions about that so we did not comment on that or have a specific recommendation okay so no specific recommendations from your department yes okay and then the other the other thing that I had was for the you define the boundaries in this but for the by right portion designation in the overlay could you explain that a little more in depth for your recommendation you're

[02:18:03] talking about or revision yeah yeah so with the existing language there it's not clear that that all criteria defined for for the property that are are in the overlay so our recommendation to make it clear that that eligibility evaluation is for the property that are in the existing overlay so we don't not outside of no we don't want to yeah it's we understand the intent of the board is not adding any property out of the overlay to the boundary so we need we limit the evaluation only for the properties that are in the existing overlay okay okay

[02:18:42] thank you Tanya did you have something okay I'll come back thanks madam chair Bodhi thank you madam chair thank you Reza for the presentation thank you director Washington for adding to it so Supervisor Bailey I appreciate asked about the buy right and the recommendation or non-recommendation from you all for the day, grace period, grandpartner, whatever you want to call it.

[02:19:06] The other thing that has been mentioned by a lot of the constituents is the 500-foot setback the Planning Commission recommended. Now, I know they went back and forth, 2,500, 500. They eventually recommended 500 feet. Can you all talk about that and also talk about any work you're currently doing on setbacks already and when we might be able to expect that piece of it?

[02:19:28] Certainly. So for the planning office, so that specific recommendation, again, came from the planning commission. During the public hearing, it came up during one of the motions. And so during the discussion portion of the hearing, we were not asking any questions about it.

[02:19:45] It didn't come up at that time. So we didn't speak to it. With regards to looking at setback distances for data centers, that is a part of a project we do have underway per an earlier board directive to update the development center sorry data center standards that are within the zoning ordinance and the design and construction standards manual so we are currently working with the consultant to wrap up that work so that we are currently looking to we're currently aiming to get that to the planning commission in november and to the board in january that's our current time frame and so that work is looking at providing recommendations

[02:20:24] related to setbacks for data centers. And thank you for that. And to be clear, that's all data centers, not just those within the overlay, correct? Thank you. All right. Does anyone else have any questions for planning? Questions? Supervisor Gordy. Madam Chair, thank you so much.

[02:20:40] Thank you, Reza. Thank you, Director Washington. And just, yeah, I just want to add on, thank you for giving us an update on the design standards on that earlier directive, which goes back, just for the public's awareness, it goes back to 2023. And so these are things that I really appreciate the effort to bring those forward as we are continuing to try to refine and to basically, in my view, provide better protections for our community from data center development.

[02:21:18] from the uh from your analysis of the areas and the acreage that's left within the overlay have you determined how much of that is currently occupied land versus what would be greenfield development we didn't we didn't have these okay so um well you know just looking at the map and we and i've said this and um much of it is already owned by other people it is already economic activity. There are businesses currently on that land. And so part of the reason why this is so

[02:21:56] important is that while the people who are occupying those businesses on that land, they don't own the land. And so the people who own the land don't necessarily live or work or operate in Prince William County. They're just landowners. So it's very important for the good of our community and for our small businesses that we rein this in, that we get this data center overlay.

[02:22:23] I've had lots of conversations over the last two weeks with businesses that are being threatened for displacement and, again, trying to find other places for them, which there's very little. So this is very, very important as it relates to, you know, not just for the impacts of data centers, but it's also to stop the predatory practices that are taking away our other small businesses.

[02:22:51] So I really appreciate the work that you've done to help us get here, and I look forward to our further discussion. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. One question I have, and I don't know if this is for the county attorney or if it's for y'all, so just bear with me because I'm not a planner, okay?

[02:23:09] But when we talk about projects that, between this time period, 90 days, whatever it looks like, grandfathering, where does that, what is that, the grandfathering?

[02:23:27] Is that, could you explain that, please? Because that term has been kind of thrown around, if I can get the county attorney's opinion. Madam Chair, members of the board, the fifth paragraph is basically a grace period, That if the board chooses to enact this, that you're giving an additional grace period to people however many days afterwards to file there.

[02:23:53] Okay. Okay. I just wanted clarity on that. That's all. Thank you. Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just got to ask, because we're talking about this 90-day grace on slide four. I see it at the bottom there.

[02:24:09] But if, and I get planning commissioners just to recommend it, well, they just give us recommendations. But if they had 120 days, how would it say 90 days there? Like, if you all didn't make a recommendation for 90 and they made a recommendation for 120, I'm just curious about it says 90 here.

[02:24:29] So our presentation reflects what the current ZTA, the board-initiated ZTA states, which includes 90 days for Criterion 5. And then we have a slide that includes our staff recommendations. because of the timing of getting materials ready for this hearing and having to redo the Planning Commission public hearing, we were not able to include the Planning Commission's recommendation in the presentation text, but Mr. Ramiar, you know, delivered that verbally.

[02:25:00] But essentially, the majority of the content that's in a presentation reflects what's in the current board-initiated CTA. Okay, all right. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm sorry, because I missed that part when you briefed it, so I apologize for that. All right, does anyone else have any questions?

[02:25:17] Going once, going twice, you guys may want to sit down or run to the atrium, whatever you choose. All right, Mr. Gordy. Madam Chair, I want to thank everyone for coming out today, for offering their perspectives.

[02:25:36] As we can see, we've got varied perspectives across the community as it relates to what we're doing. But the one thing that everyone is unified is we must get this done. We need to end by right development of data centers in Prince William County. And so, Madam Chair, I move item 7, is it 7D, for approval.

[02:26:00] Second. All right, it's been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Supervisor Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do agree with Supervisor Gordy about getting this done.

[02:26:16] I think how we get it done matters. And I don't feel comfortable with this 90-day grace period at all. What we really need to do is take that to zero.

[02:26:35] And, look, the overall arching goal, yes, is to get rid of the overlay district. But I think right now that, like, this is time to send the planet a message about Prince William County and about what we're really up to and really, at the end of the day, having this be about our constituents.

[02:26:59] I think we've bent over backwards enough for the industry or actually bent over forward enough for the industry. Now it's time to stand up for the people that have to live with these monstrosities in their community.

[02:27:19] And I just wanted to bring that up. Thank you, Supervisor Angry. Okay, Sarah, anyone else? I'm sorry, Supervisor Angry does want to speak.

[02:27:35] I'm sorry, I did, I did, because you made a motion, so I'm going to offer a friendly amendment to 120 days. I do not accept the friendly amendment. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone else?

[02:27:53] Before I get to you again, Supervisor Jarrett, I'm going to say this. It has been a long time coming, and certainly I've heard all the voices. I've heard that this is window dressing, that this isn't time for next year's election. I heard that no one on the dais is under the threat of a transmission line or data center in our homes.

[02:28:13] I've also heard that eliminating the overlay is way overdue, because it is. And there are some people who do have that imminent threat or are already living next to one, and we do want to be sensitive to that. I also want to be clear what this is and what this is not.

[02:28:30] It doesn't mean that there will never be another data center application ever again. It doesn't mean that applicants aren't still going to come before the board. I'm not a fan of the 90 days, but it is the compromise, and it feels like this is where we've been able to get a majority of people.

[02:28:50] And I want this to be done. Yes, I understand, you know, how we do it matters as much as that we're doing it. I don't want to belabor this. I don't want to prolong this. I want to make a decision. I know there are some people who are uncomfortable with where we are today.

[02:29:11] And we had a break protocol because I wanted to make sure that everyone on the board had the same information, that everyone was comfortable with where we find ourselves today. And we did have planning come up to present, which is unusual during these times.

[02:29:29] of hearings. But this is a very weighty decision before us. And I hope that everyone on the board has thought long and hard about what direction they want to go in, because our actions have consequences. They matter. The decisions we make, the policies that we make, impact people on such a personal level. I don't want us to lose sight of that. Being an elected official is a huge responsibility because people have put their trust in us. The trust that we will prioritize them and the trust that we will put their best interest above all else of a few people

[02:30:08] in the queue i'm going to start with the people who haven't gone one time so that's bode then i'll go to stewart and bailey yeah thank you madam chair i also want to thank everyone who came out um as supervisor gordy said there's a wide variety of perspectives here um and i do know that as was said before everyone acknowledges understands that we need to get rid of by right data center development in this county. It's been long overdue. I know that some folks, it feels like it's as well-timed what have you, but I'll remind folks that the work on the overlay has been going on since 2021. Eventually became the Stantec report, which sat on a shelf for a little while.

[02:30:46] Madam Chair made some directives about it. We got that done earlier last year. Several of us have been talking about doing this for a while. I had not one, but two directives almost a year ago to get rid of the data center overlay and then to expedite it. So I know it's nice and politically convenient to say these things are politically timed, but frankly, the board has been trying to push this down the field for at least two or three years, if not longer.

[02:31:12] That said, we are very close to the finish line on this. That said, there are still folks, like Madam Chair said, that still have concerns around impending by-right data centers might be coming to their backyards. I'm not going to try to mince around that.

[02:31:29] At the same time, we have situations where folks have made investments and they want to make sure that there is some kind of off-ramp here for them. Now, I'm not saying in defense of them. I'm just saying that it's what a lot of people are expecting, and I appreciate, Suarez Agorda, you denying Supervisor Angry's friendly amendment because I wouldn't want to go to 120 days either.

[02:31:54] If I had my way, we'd be putting it starting the day I gave my first directive a year ago, which would probably give people only about 20 days and change. But reality is we have to get this done, and I'm willing to go along with the majority on where I believe this is going.

[02:32:09] I appreciate the conversation that was had about the other part of it, the impacts, because that's the true nature of this. This is why we're having this conversation. This is why the overlay has been, unfortunately, as it's been played out, a lot more damaging than anyone who put it into place intended is the actual sighting and distance from residents is the impact that these data centers have.

[02:32:30] That's why I appreciate, Director, watching you talk and giving us that update on the work on the impacts, again, started in 2023. So really looking forward to that conversation as well, literally looking forward to the work that you all will be presenting to the Planning Commission and to us in the coming months on that.

[02:32:47] Because I think that's where the real meat will also be, and we'll really be able to set a new standard and a new declaration of where we stand in protecting communities from data center development. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Actually, I call out an order because, Bailey, I don't think you've said anything during discussion.

[02:33:03] I know you asked a question, correct? Well, no, I'm saying, but if you haven't spoken once, I want to make sure I get the people who haven't spoken. If you haven't spoken once during discussion, I would like to go to you. Thank you. Thank you.

[02:33:21] I'll take it. I appreciate the discussion, as my colleague has said, you know, and I just, this is a big decision for us, and I just want to make sure that we're covering all bases, and legally we're okay down there. Hopefully, legally we're okay.

[02:33:38] Michelle, are you with me? There you go. Got the smile. And I also want to refer back to something that my colleague, Supervisor Gordy, a tool that we have in our toolbox that happened in 2023. I'm looking forward to utilizing that tool that the previous board created to help us go through this whole process as it relates to getting rid of the overlay and what that looks like with the current applications that we have.

[02:34:08] I think that's really important. And also to bring the community along with what that tool is and reminding the community of what it is because we never know in the past what we've done that's good. And I think that tool that you're going to bring back, without talking about it, is a good tool that we used in the past as it relates to data centers and overlays and all like that.

[02:34:31] So I appreciate the discussion that we've had. I appreciate the planning department, what you did. To get us to this point, I would be remiss if I didn't say I want us to be tighter when we're presenting things for public hearings.

[02:34:48] It's real important that we do that. And, Tanya, thank you for entertaining that conversation with me on that. Because what we give to the public, as we've learned from the D.C. background, digital gateway, we have to be transparent.

[02:35:04] That's real important to me. And if you saw any hesitancy in my face today, that's what it is. When we advertise things, it has to be transparent. If not, we're not telling the truth to the public. So I just wanted to say that.

[02:35:19] Madam Chair, thanks for the opportunity. All right, Stewart and Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is going to fire a starter pistol for the next 90 days.

[02:35:35] There's going to be a race. I can see it. With that said, I'd like to offer a friendly amendment to the motion for Section 32-509.02 to strike Paragraph E for 90 days.

[02:35:56] I will not accept it as a friendly amendment because if it does and it fails, then we're done. And so I would prefer us to vote on the amendment to ensure that whatever comes, our final vote, gets us something that will pass.

[02:36:19] So if you want to make it an amendment and get a second, I would prefer to go that route. So what you're saying is that if he goes ahead and makes a substitute motion, we'll have a discussion on it.

[02:36:38] then what would happen if it, you know, got voted down, we return to the original motion? Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want it to be a friendly amendment because I don't want it to be done. I do want to get rid, at the end of the day, I do want to get rid of the overlay district.

[02:36:57] And Madam Chair, while I appreciate that, I also don't want to walk out here today without having ended by right development of data centers. And if I take it as a friendly amendment, then that becomes our vote. And if it fails, we're done.

[02:37:14] We have not accomplished what we set out to accomplish. So I would rather vote on the amendment so that we know what we can, as a substitute motion, you can amend my motion, we can vote on it. If it passes, great.

[02:37:31] If it doesn't, then we know what we have to do going forward. I hope you understand that. I just, I don't want to take the risk that we don't have the votes for something less than 90 days. For the final vote. So if I may, I'm just going to explain.

[02:37:50] A friendly amendment is different than a substitute motion. Those are two different things. A substitute motion, you would basically make a motion. It would be seconded. We would vote on the zero days. If it fails, we go back to the original motion, which is the 90 days.

[02:38:08] There is lower risk in doing a substitute motion than there is in a friendly amendment. They are both getting at the same thing. It's a procedural. question so procedurally if what you want to do is have a vote and and look at the zero days you want to have a substitute motion yes so then you need to make it okay make a substitute motion um

[02:38:38] for uh section three two dash five oh nine point oh two that we strike uh section e and have have it uh be zero days instead of 90. i'll second it all right it's been properly moved and seconded we are going to be discussing the substitute motion zero versus 90 days does anyone want to

[02:39:05] jump in the queue all right i don't see anyone so let's go ahead thank you motion fails three to

[02:39:43] five supervisors angry bailey la croix vega and chair jefferson voting nay all right thank you very much we are going to go back to the original motion and i'm actually going to speak i um before i get into everyone i didn't want to deadlock i'm not going to deadlock we're going to make a decision today. I think that's the least that we owe the public, is that we're going to make a decision today. It's not going to be a decision I necessarily like or want, but we are going to make a decision before we leave here, because the can has been kicked down the road too much. I

[02:40:23] apologize. My speaker list has cleared, so if everyone... Oh, sorry. You're getting me back. All right. Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. We get to a place like this not because we're being passive. We get to a place like this because we have been actively working this issue as a board

[02:40:54] and our staff. And we have been working to find the solution that gets us to where we want to be with what can be achieved. I know it's not the answer that everybody wants, but it's the answer that we can achieve. But at the end of the day, if we vote yes for this, we will end by right development, we will start, we will set in motion the opportunities to protect homes, protect

[02:41:25] neighborhoods, protect schools, and protect our small businesses. And we, and so, and protecting jobs. There is a lot of jobs at stake because of what is still left in the data center overlay that is currently occupied by other businesses. And so I appreciate not just the work of my colleagues. I really appreciate the work of your staff because there have been thousands of conversations over the past eight months as we've tried to figure this thing out. And so I appreciate

[02:42:02] the partnership, the work that we've been doing together. And I mean, and I think that's what the community expects of us is that we're working together towards a solution instead of just turning everything into a political fight. And so we, political fights, we tried this through a political fight earlier on with this board and it did not pass. And so, so this is not our first time to try to, to end the, our first vote to end the data center overlay. So, so now we have this

[02:42:39] opportunity tonight to do what we believe can be achieved in, in a responsible way that I believe is bipartisan and something that we as a board, again, have worked together on, along with our staffs, to get to the solution. And I just want to thank my colleagues. I want to thank the community. We've had lots of conversations. We have gone to neighborhoods. We've listened to your concerns. We've gone to, especially those like Wentworth Green that's here, that woke up one day and all of a sudden found out that somebody bought the land right next to them

[02:43:17] because it was in the data center overlay. And so this is the kind of thing that we have to bring to an end. And so I urge my colleagues to let's do this, and I urge your support. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey?

[02:43:34] Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Navy man Gordy. We did work together, and I'm just going to say it. We worked together for the good of everybody, and I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud of that.

[02:43:50] This is BIRIGHT data centers in the overlay, correct? Not BIRIGHT that's outside of the overlay, okay? So I'm just making a statement, and, you know, we still have work to do.

[02:44:08] We still have work to do. So I want to say that because it's important as we are working with staff and trying to do the best that we can to make the best decision about communities. it's not going to happen overnight it's not but we work towards it happening overnight get a little bit of sleep and wake up and we try to make it happen again and so I you know this has been a long time coming but I think that we have really done good as we've gone through all the gyrations

[02:44:46] of what it means to get to this point and to understand to this point and so I I just I just felt the need to say that. I know I'm partificating. I'm sorry, but I have to because it's important when we work in this way for the good of the community. It's important for you to see and hear and to know that we're going to continue to work for those opportunities that may not be up on this board tonight. So I just wanted to say that. Thank you for your partnership, and I'm done.

[02:45:20] City Reviser LaCroix. Well, I'm new to this here, and I absolutely want to get rid of the overlay. for sure. But of course, in the last week, I've had so many calls and emails, and I've been trying to figure out what's what with all of this. And as I said to you before, I was a court reporter for 30 years. And if there's one thing I learned was that when both sides go out feeling a little

[02:45:59] discouraged, it's probably a good deal. And so somewhere in the middle is exactly where Tom is advocating. And even though one side may not like that and the other side wants something else, it is closer to where we were two years ago. And I think it's a happy medium. And even though I would like more time so I could ferret out what's going on, I think it's really, really important that I stop and go you know what nobody's happy here but i need to support tom because he's been doing all

[02:46:37] the work and so that's going to be my vote thank you supervisor angry thank you madam chair um let me say um we all on this board agree that it's time to do something about the overlay district so that's exactly where we are i'm not a fan of that 90 days i want 120 i actually want 180 i actually agree with our planning commission that they said 120 um but here we are at 90 But let me just remind this board what this really is about and how we got here.

[02:47:11] 2012, an overlay district was created by 2016, excuse me, by citizens and by certain board members. And that overlay ran right through neighborhoods and schools with the purpose of not building more homes. And I'll say that.

[02:47:27] It's gotten out of hand. We've learned those lessons. That's one issue that I had with data centers because it was designed to do just that. The second was once we got them in here, of course, every landowner has a right to try to maximize their financial gains.

[02:47:44] And land went crazy. It became a million dollars, two million dollars an acre, and that created problems like a wildfire. So that's the second problem. The third and the ultimate one is that we have an energy issue where we need to figure out how we're going to get this grid corrected from what the development we've done, which is another conversation to have.

[02:48:00] But with that, I understand why we're doing this. And we've been discussing doing this for a couple of years. I actually mentioned it once a few years back that we need to look at getting ready to Ovalet, and we've all had that discussion. So we're here. So something has to be done, and we're doing it. I want to say this, and I'm going to thank my planning office and all my professionals who work for the county who bring us this good information because it's very tough when we have to sit here and we hire great staff to do this great work, and then we have what I call the sixth man that comes in and starts questioning and prodding out everything that we're doing.

[02:48:30] I understand the citizens have a role to play in this, But this is why we have departments and have professionals that do this work that we need to listen to and figure out and understand. And I'll thank our planning commissioners for what they do because they've got a part to play in this as well. So here we are now making this decision to move on.

[02:48:47] And compromise is everything. That's why they called us a democracy. That's why we have this board. That's why majority vote rules, and we move on. So, Supervisor Gordy, thank you for the work you've put in to get us here. I tried my piece. I'm not going to let this thing fail because we all need to get this done.

[02:49:05] And so let's get this thing done. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I don't have anyone else in queue, so let's go ahead and take our votes. Vote unanimous.

[02:49:25] All right. Thank you very much. We are going to now move on to agenda item number eight, and that is county executive time. Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours. All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. A few quick updates. The board passed, as you recall, a resolution during your last meeting to direct the county executive to provide recommendations on a potential ordinance to establish a program regarding the IDA performance grants for affordable housing projects.

[02:49:53] This was assigned to our finance department. There was also one resolution closed since your last meeting, and that was to initiate an amendment to the zoning map for properties on Noakesville Road, and this item was on your September 1st agenda. Since your last meeting, I've sent a few memos to the board.

[02:50:15] One, the process for board members to submit new capital improvement program project requests for consideration. And as a reminder, those requests will be due on Friday, October 30th. I also sent the board a message with the good news that the county received the highest form of recognition for governmental accounting and financial reporting.

[02:50:39] and that is the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the county's FY25 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, as well as the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting for FY25.

[02:50:56] Congratulations to the finance team and all the work that they do every year to make sure that we are excellent. The county also received two Commonwealth Technology Awards for the county's enhanced build-out analysis and for the PWC 311 system.

[02:51:17] The awards recognize outstanding public sector information technology programs and projects from across the state and local governments in Virginia and highlight innovative uses of technology that improve government services, efficiency, and customer experience And certainly want to just acknowledge our planning team for the great work with the build-out analysis, as well as our DO-IT team for the great work with 311.

[02:51:45] We have been getting quite a lot of recognition really nationally, and so it is great that the state is now recognizing the great work. So thank you to the teams. I would also like to just quickly shout out our Office of Communications and Engagement for winning three National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors Awards.

[02:52:08] The organization recognizes excellence in broadcast, cable, multimedia, and electronic programming produced by local governments, public school districts, and government-related agencies. Our office won an award of excellence for Trashy, which we all know, as well as two other awards for How I Serve Videos, which the team really does a phenomenal job with the How I Serve Videos, spotlighting employees really around the county.

[02:52:40] And so I just want to give them a round of applause. Just thank you for all of the work that you do. Yep, yep. And particularly our video team, they just do phenomenal work. We see their videos and spotlighting the county online, on social, everywhere.

[02:53:00] So that is all for me, Madam Chair. All right, thank you very much. Anyone have a thing for County Supervisor Bailey? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just congratulations to the county exec and his team for putting Prince William County again and again on the map and for the hard work that you do.

[02:53:22] Finance is not easy, as no one else's job in the county staff, but finance, I wouldn't want your job. But congratulations. We are very proud of the work that you do and how you assist us. All right.

[02:53:39] I don't see anyone else. Thank you, Mr. Shorter. I'm going to move on to agenda item number nine. and that is county attorney time. Madam County Attorney. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. This afternoon in closed session, we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding legal advice and personnel discussion regarding the following pending internal audits on fixed asset management and residential site inspections and record keeping where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position, litigating posture, and negotiating strategy of the public body.

[02:54:10] We will have personnel discussions relating to the appointment of the director of the department of information technology. We will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to discussions concerning economic development item regarding a prospective business or industry where no announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest in locating their facilities in the county along with the related discussion or consideration of the investments of public funds for an economic development matter where competition or bargaining is involved where if made public initially financial interest to the county would be adversely affected all where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture, bargaining position or negotiating

[02:54:48] strategy of the public body. We will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to discussions concerning an economic development item regarding a prospective business or industry or the expansion of a business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest in locating their facilities or expanding their facilities in the county, along with the related discussion or consideration of investment of public funds for the economic development matters where competition or bargaining is involved we have made public initially the financial interest of the county would be adversely affected along with the discussion of the consideration of the disposition of publicly held real property all where discussion in an open meeting and

[02:55:27] would adversely affect the litigating posture bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body and we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to discussions and consideration of the disposition of publicly held real property for an economic development matter where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture, bargaining position, or negotiating strategy of the public body.

[02:55:49] These items are appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2-3711A13568 of the Virginia Code. So moved, Madam Chair. All right, let's go ahead and take our votes. Vote unanimous.

[02:56:11] All right, thank you very much. Mr. Shorter. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. So with item 10A, I'm going to invite our Chief Procurement Officer, Shana Terry, to provide a presentation. We're going to be getting an update on amendments to the Prince William County Procurement Regulations. Ms. Terry. Thank you, County Executive Shorter, Madam Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the board, here to provide an update on our procurement

[02:56:48] regulations. As part of our continuous improvement process, we take a look once a year at our procurement regulations to see what changes we may need to implement and if there are any legislative changes that have taken place that require us to update our procurement regulations.

[02:57:06] These regulations have been reviewed by myself as well as a county attorney's office. We have major changes, two major changes that we'll go through. The first one is the section 100.11 contract form. And the purpose of this change is to make sure that all of our vendors are aware that we will not be bound by any terms and conditions that are listed in websites through click-through.

[02:57:42] We've seen an increase in the use of click-through terms and conditions that are on websites and hyperlinks. And we may be agreeing to some terms and conditions that may violate the county's terms and conditions. So the intent here is to make sure that we are only going to be bound by contracts, terms, and conditions if they are incorporated in our contracts or our purchase orders. The next section is 300.10 additional exemptions from exemption. So here we are

[02:58:18] changing our process to allow direct pay for payments to, for grants as well as financial assistance, rebates, and for payments that really do not require a procurement process. So an example would be like payments for our community partners program. There are other changes to sections that are minor, our definitions, authority to suspend and debar, construction,

[02:58:53] bid submission, bid bonds, and award and rejection of bids. In these sections, they are just minor changes, clerical errors, and clarifying language. So there's not really much to go over in this section but all of the changes were redlined and provided for you and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have all right thank you very much I just also want to give everyone a time check it is almost 5 30 we still have supervisors time and closed session and before I may have to move things around based on our seven o'clock so with that supervisor Bodie

[02:59:30] thank you madam chair thank you miss Terry as always for your updates and all the work you continue to do to modernize and help improve our procurement processes if you had to give an elevator pitch to constituents on this because it gets very technical and very dry but even though it's really important also especially helps diversify the kinds of folks that we have doing work for the county how would you how would you pitch it to constituents i would pitch these changes as ways for us to look at our processes and make sure that we are in compliance with the county's terms and conditions we're in compliance with the virginia public procurement act and that

[03:00:09] we are being a steward of taxpayer dollars and making sure that we are efficient in doing business for the county. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. If there are no other questions, thank you so very much for this. All right. Thank you. Can I get a motion? So moved.

[03:00:29] I'm probably moved and seconded. Any discussion? Awesome. Let's go ahead and take our votes. Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you very much. Supervisor Bailey. Oh, sorry. So I'm going to, We may have to go around the horn a little later.

[03:00:56] I do want to give people a break. I do also want to be mindful that we have closed session. And so I'm going to do a quick check-in. I don't know, just quickly, would anyone rather go ahead and go to supervisor's time? My preference is maybe to go into closed session. Does anyone have any strong feelings?

[03:01:13] Closed session? All right. Yeah. Yep. So we are going to go ahead and take a break. We are going to go into closed session. We will do supervisor's time later. All right, everyone.

[03:01:48] If we could take our seats, we are back from closed session. I'd like to get a motion to certify. So moved. Second. I'll go to Vega and Vega Gordy. I don't know. Y'all need to vote.

[03:02:14] Vote unanimous. All right. We have a few things to report out. The first one, Supervisor Gordy. Madam Chair, I move to authorize a public hearing to consider approving a sale agreement with Silva Holdings Innovation Gateway LLC for the sale of property 3.09 acres of county-owned property located at 9349 Hornbaker Road, Manassas, Virginia 20109 Brentsville Magisterial District Second. All right It's been second. I'll give it to Stuart Oh, Bailey

[03:02:48] Courtney Stewart. Vote unanimous

[03:03:28] All right, the next sign to report out, Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair I move to accept the following internal audit report, fixed asset management and residential site inspections and record keeping Second. All right then let's go ahead and take our votes vote unanimous all right and then the third item supervisor voting thank you madam chair i move that we accept the appointment of duane profit to the

[03:04:02] department of information technology second go ahead and take our votes vote unanimous all right thank you very much mr shorter thank you very much madam chair members of the board thank you for your concurrence and support really want to also thank dr hart for her stewardship through this recruitment process, and I want to welcome Dwayne Proffitt to Prince William County. Mr.

[03:04:34] Proffitt, I want to invite you to come down as our next Director of Information Technology. Mr. Proffitt has over 25 years of experience in this work, and I am excited and looking forward to your service here in Prince William County. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair, the board.

[03:04:55] I'm excited about this opportunity. I'm ready to serve Prince William County and the community. I thank you again. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. All right. So we have roughly 40 minutes to our next meeting, and I do want to give people a break.

[03:05:17] But what we're going to do is we're going to do just a little bit of supervisor's time so we can cut down on it later. But I am going to give us time for a break. So I believe that you would like to withdraw 11C, Supervisor Bailey. Okay.

[03:05:34] so um we are going to withdraw 11c i'd like to get a vote on 11a 11b 11d and 11e so moved second it's improperly moved bailey okay so we have bailey bode for the motion in the second wait i'm sorry hold on so what happens when we do um we've got to be better with the agenda with getting things in so i believe that you had something it's going to be on october 6th so we're good

[03:06:05] um it's going to be on october 6th but right now we have a motion and we have a second it's for 11a 11b 11d and 11e and that was bailey bode that's a bb special 11c has been withdrawn

[03:06:26] unanimous all right thank you so very much i think again we're i'm really paying attention to time we are going to do 11f and i'm going to see how much time each of these takes because i would like to give people 15 minutes for a break between meetings so for 11f supervisor bode yeah thank you madam chair i'm going to be brief um i introduced this this resolution last week

[03:07:05] uh quick synopsis you know last year or this year during the general assembly session there was a bill to do a deq groundwater study of western uh foc here and loudon county that failed as a bill but came back as a budget amendment that was then subsequently passed i think because of how the water flows and the watersheds in this community go it shouldn't stop at the at the county lines and that we should at least ask to be included in that study so this resolution does exactly that it petitions the governor and deq for us to be included in that groundwater study and therefore i will move 11f forward for approval it's been probably moving seconded any discussion all right

[03:07:45] let's go ahead and take our vote on that one vote unanimous all right i've gotten a request to kind of hold off on the rest because i know some people staff is also going to need a break so we're going to pick up with 11g after the seven o'clock meeting and then everyone will be able to go around the dais and give their updates so for now we are going to be in recess until

[03:08:11] seven o'clock that means seven o'clock seven o'clock all right seven o'clock all right thank you everyone if we can find seats if everyone who wants to be in board chambers can come in and find

[03:08:42] a seat it is seven o'clock and we are going to begin shortly uh before we do i just wanted to do a couple of housekeeping things since i see a lot of new faces a lot of people have come today we have sign-up sheets outside for public hearing and for public comment time there are separate things i'm going to make the assumption that many of you are here to comment on the vent hill substation we will have a public hearing on that please make sure you sign up you will begin when

[03:09:20] we get to that point you'll say your name where you didn't reside and i will give you the instructions again. That is different from public comment time. Public comment time, you can stay late, you know, hang out with us. Public comment time is if you want to talk about anything on the agenda, off the agenda. I joked earlier, if you want to say chair, you look great in green, you can do that too. The public hearing is really going to focus on Vent Hill. So with that, we are looking at something. One of the things too, I'm very big on decorum. Had a conversation about this. I think

[03:09:59] of a lovely person, but I care a lot about decorum. We do not make comments when other people are speaking. We don't have outbursts. We don't, you know, jeer or cheer. I want to make that very clear because everyone who comes up should have the opportunity to be heard. And when you get to the microphone, I'm going to ask probably at least five times for five different people, make sure that we can hear you. Make sure that mic is close to you. So what we are going to do is we are going to begin um with county staff um they are going to come up and we're going to have a discussion

[03:10:38] so or did we have the applicant we have okay i'm sorry we have the applicant all right we have we are going to start i'm sorry didn't realize dominion had any so we're going to start with the applicant and again i know that this is a really hot topic i ask that we maintain the quorum

[03:11:02] Then we wait for it. Okay. It's just the opening slide. Good evening, Chair and members of the board. I'm Tracy McDonald, Senior Siting and Permitting Specialist with Dominion Energy, here to present the Vent Hill Switching Station application.

[03:11:25] Please adjust the mic. We cannot hear you well. Or lean in a little more. Is that better? Okay. I'm Tracy McDonald, Senior Siting and Permitting Specialist with Dominion Energy, here to present the Vent Hill Switching Station application, SUP, 2025-05.

[03:11:41] 0 0 0 0 9 out of respect for everyone's time and per your request we won't go through the entire project presentation again but instead we didn't want to respond to questions and concerns raised during the June 23rd hearing as well as answer any additional questions you may have we do have with us tonight a number of subject matter experts including Dominion's gas insulation expert Jim stage and transmission planning expert Steve Schweiger. But before we begin, I do want to

[03:12:17] say how grateful we are for the many opportunities this community, staff, and this board have given us to engage on the project. That access has made us better listeners and we hope better neighbors. Through open houses, community meetings, phone calls, and mailed information packets, We've had the privilege of connecting with more than 1,000 combined residents and stakeholders in the county, which did allow us to go beyond what the county's community outreach guidelines ask of applicants.

[03:12:52] That did include 32 neighbors who joined us at our July 2025 open house and roughly 60 more at the May 2026 meeting with the Braemar community. Dominion also hand-delivered 202 door hangers across three rounds of notice ahead of soil boring work, and 615 residents and stakeholders were included on the distribution for our project launch letter in May of 2025.

[03:13:24] We were also glad to take one-off phone calls and to appear at additional community gatherings on Vent Hill, including the Noakesville to Bristers open house. And we were pleased to host supervisors and county staff on several tours at our Brambleton substation in Aldi.

[03:13:42] Because Brambleton uses the same gas-insulated technology proposed at Vent Hill, those visits gave us a valuable chance to answer your questions in person and to speak directly with the concerns supervisors and staff have raised.

[03:14:00] On a number of occasions, we've made those internal subject matter experts available on planning, design, construction, and gas-insulated switchgear technology to answer technical questions for members of the public as well as for county-elected officials and staff.

[03:14:19] We've also appreciated the chance to work alongside Prince William's Department of Fire and Rescue on SF6 and its use at Bent Hill. In February, Fire Chief Tom LaBelle did share an update with this board on his department's preparedness.

[03:14:36] He did report that the county's hazardous materials response program is fully capable of managing SF6 incidents using existing training, procedures, and equipment. No operational gaps were identified, and that response actions are consistent with those used for other inert compressed gases, atmospheric monitoring, scene control, source isolation, and control ventilation using standard protective equipment.

[03:15:09] We were also grateful to host a System Operations Center tour in person at Magnolia with Supervisor Angry and Chief of Staff for Supervisor Gordy and virtually with Supervisors Bodie and LaCroix, as well as their staff.

[03:15:27] The goal was to share why critical reliability projects are needed and the role Vint Hill plays in those. To the supervisors whose schedules didn't allow you to attend, that invite still stands, no matter the outcome tonight. You're always welcome.

[03:15:44] All of these engagements have been helpful to us and hopefully to you as well. After our June 23rd meeting, we delivered to each of you a detailed project FAQ at the beginning of August. We certainly know there's more work to do, and we remain committed to being available to this board, to county staff and to the residents for as long as it takes.

[03:16:09] So this evening, we'd like to focus on three things. First, I'd like to bring up the GIS expert, Jim Stage. He's going to speak to you about SF6, how it's regulated, why Dominion is using it at Vent Hill, and also walk through the SF6 alternatives the board specifically asked about.

[03:16:28] In particular, I know Supervisor Stewart, you had named a few, Jim can speak to. And second, our transmission planning expert, Steve Schweiger, will address the project need, alternative sites that you also asked about, and what this project does for reliability in the region.

[03:16:47] And, of course, last, we'll answer any additional questions you have, and we'll certainly keep technical details to what's useful. I'm happy to stay for as long as the board has questions. So before you turn to anyone else, did you have a presentation that was prepared? Yes, ma'am.

[03:17:02] I would like for you to do the presentation because we have a lot of people in this room from communities who may not have caught it the first time So if you would go ahead and begin with a presentation then you can turn over and we will ask questions Okay, I think I misunderstood. We were asked not to go through the full presentation. So I brought back a response presentation It's not the full one. Okay, but then but we will go through that you can go through the presentation that you have prepared I will bring up Jim Stage. Thank you.

[03:17:36] Good evening, Chair and members of the Board. My name is Jim Stage. I'm a strategic advisor with Dominion Energy. I've been with Dominion for 22 years, focusing on high-voltage switchgear, gas insulated mainly.

[03:17:54] Prior to that, I was employed by one of the equipment manufacturers for 14 years, and I did GIS projects all across North America. So let me start with a quick refresher on SF6. SF6 is the insulation inside of our equipment.

[03:18:13] Think of it as the rubber coating on cables. Only here it's a gas. It's colorless, odorless, non-toxic, and non-flammable. It doesn't react with anything. It just simply sits there and insulates our equipment, which stops electricity for parking where it should.

[03:18:35] It's been used all over the world since the 1950s and is already inside equipment in the overwhelming majority of our substations in our circuit breakers and other products.

[03:18:52] It is a non-toxic, pardon me, it's not exotic or new. Doctors inject SF6 into the eyeball for retina surgeries. It's in medical imaging equipment, such as ultrasound, CTs, and MRI machines.

[03:19:10] For decades, it was used inside of double-paned windows make homes and offices quieter. As mentioned during the June hearing, SF6 has in fact been phased out of some of those consumer products. That's true. It's an important distinction. In a window, you can swap out argon for SF6, but with high voltage electrical equipment, that just doesn't work. So at 500 kV, right now, there's no proven substitute. On regulation, every

[03:19:48] Every pound of SF6 gas that Dominion purchases is accounted for. It goes through our Fishersville shop and then it's distributed out to the field for use in the equipment. EPA requires us to annually report our emissions.

[03:20:07] OSHA sets the worker exposure standards and we comply with both. We also have joined EPA's Voluntary Emissions Reduction Partnership, which we were not required to do. I hear that other places have phase-outs or bans on SF6 gas, and I want to correct that gently because the distinction matters.

[03:20:29] No jurisdiction has completely banned it. A few states restrict future purchases of new equipment that contain it and starting on future dates, and even those states wrote in exemptions for exactly our situation where no supplier can meet the technical specifications.

[03:20:51] to European grids also came up the June hearing. And you're correct. Europe is the strictest regulator in the world on SF6 gas. Even so, Europe allows SF6 above 145 kV until 2032 because European regulators concluded that alternatives aren't mature at the higher voltages. Moreover, European grids have little to no 500 kV infrastructure. So it's not a straightforward apples to apples comparison. And I want to be clear, we're not resisting

[03:21:30] alternatives. It's just that we want to be realistic about where technology actually is today. So why SF6 at Vent Hill? Here's the standard. Dominion does not pick equipment by preference. We pick it based on whether it can be relied on at a facility where failure affects an entire region. Venn Hill is a critical reliability facility. It has to work every

[03:22:07] hour of every day. GIS with SF6's proven technology with decades of reliable service across global electric utility industry. It operates in a closed loop, which is a phrase I want to explain once and plainly. The gas is still sealed in to the equipment and it stays there. We don't have to recirculate it at any point or change it out at any time doing the life of the equipment. There are no emissions in normal operation. It's not like a

[03:22:40] smokestack. And today, no available SF6 alternative meets our operational reliability or space requirements for this project. I ask you to hear the conclusion this way. At a station this critical, introducing untested technology is a riskier choice, not the safer one. Supervisors asked specifically about alternatives such as C4FN and Air Plus by name. Regarding Air Plus, a C5

[03:23:19] fluoro ketone mixture produced primarily by 3M, the answer is short. The manufacturers stopped making it. 3M exited that product line as part of getting out of the PFAS or forever chemicals people have read about in drinking water coverage. And separately, Air Plus was never offered an equipment rated for the voltage that Ventil requires. As far as C4 fluoronitrile, C4FN,

[03:23:53] which is used by some manufacturers including Hitachi and GE Renova, I want to be fair here, it's real, it is in use, and the manufacturers are advancing it. Our issue is not the gas itself, It's the specific breaker design available at 500 kV, which I'll come to in a moment.

[03:24:16] So what does Vinhill actually require? We have 10 500 kV circuit breakers rated at 63 kiloamps and 14 230 kV breakers rated at 80 kiloamps. No SF6 alternative supplier currently meets the 500 kV specification and none is available at all at the required 245 80k rating.

[03:24:41] On Hitachi's C4FN 500KB breaker specifically, I want to state clearly, we didn't reject that breaker on a hunch. We rejected it based on 40 years of global failure data.

[03:25:00] Let me take this slowly because it's the most important technical point I'll make tonight. So a breaker's job is to interrupt current flow and clear arcing during a failure. The Hitachi breaker is a double brake design, which means it has two interrupters within one chamber, and it requires grating capacitors to balance the power evenly across those brakes.

[03:25:30] More parts, more ways to fail, and the Hitachi breaker is double brake, and we require a single brake. Here's the finding that matters. Seagray, which is the world's foremost authority on power systems, and I'm a working member of that for 20 years, studied 40 years of equipment performance and found that the very component this design requires, the grading capacitors, is the number one cause of failure in GIS equipment.

[03:26:05] And there's one more difference. Hitachi uses a hydraulic operating mechanism rather than a spring or pneumatic operating mechanism, and our operating history supports that hydraulic systems involve fluid under pressure and in our experience more maintenance and more failure points and i want to be clear we're not saying it's bad equipment we're just saying it's the wrong equipment for this situation at a station survey the region with identified reliability violations installing insufficient

[03:26:43] insufficiently vetted equipment risks catastrophic failure and grid instability that's a public safety concern and not a preference let me show you where the where the alternatives stand because i don't want to overstate this here's the 25 year arc in the technology and where vit hill sits on that Thinking of this as a voltage ladder, between the year 2000 and 2010, alternatives became viable at the bottom rungs.

[03:27:23] Lower voltage distribution networks up to about 52 kV. From 2010 to 2020, the technology climbed from 52 kV to 420, mostly in pilot projects in Europe. And from 2020 to today, progress has continued, including a possible 500 kV breaker from Hitachi using the C4FN gas.

[03:27:49] To give you a sense of scale, 52 kV is neighborhood-level voltage distribution. 500 kV is the interstate highway of the power grid. Those are not the same engineering problems. Two things about that climb.

[03:28:06] First, most of this work happened in Europe, and European grids have little to no 500 kV infrastructure. So there's very little real-world service history at our level to learn from. Few of those pilot projects sit at the high end of the range at all.

[03:28:27] And I want to be fair and precise about this. I'm not claiming the industry is standing still. I'm showing you that currently the focus does not yet land on this Vinhill's requirements. Safety. This question that matters most to the families who live nearby, what happens if something goes wrong? And here's the answer. Every gas compartment in this equipment is

[03:28:58] continuously monitored with pressure switches in a two-part pressure switch system. When we get that first alarm, then we dispatch technicians to the field to investigate. And And the system notices the changes long before a person would.

[03:29:21] At the first alert, we have the alarm. If the levels keep dropping, the equipment takes itself out of service through operating relays. And then we have to investigate further. And nobody has to be there for that to happen.

[03:29:36] The way I put it is this. Any loss of gas is detected and addressed long before it can reach a level of concern. Second, the equipment is compartmentalized. Think of the watertight compartments in a ship.

[03:29:54] A problem in one section stays in that section. Individual gas compartments are limited in size, which limits the amount of gas that could be released from any one section. And the gas barriers isolate those compartments and limit gas intrusion between sections during maintenance.

[03:30:14] So what happens if the gas were to escape a compartment? And what does that mean to the neighbors? Is it possible to clean up or contain a leak gas? Now let me talk about what the neighbors will actually see and hear because that's the part that shows up in daily life.

[03:30:37] This design encloses much of the equipment that otherwise would sit out in the open. That means less industrial-looking sites, less sound coming from the stations, and less impact on land. And the view along Event Hill frontage is designed to improve.

[03:30:56] Dominion is committing to 381 new trees, 1,451 new shrubs, supplemented buffers, a new berm across the road frontage, improved stormwater management, and a 20-foot minimum security wall to limit visibility into the facility.

[03:31:20] The cross-section on this slide shows what that screening looks like from the road. The standard this board applies is whether the project preserves the public health, safety, and welfare of the community. Our position is that it does not merely preserve it.

[03:31:38] It improves on what is there today. And with that, I'll pass it on to Steve Schweiger to discuss the need and evaluation of Turner's sites. Thank you. Doing a quick sound check.

[03:32:01] I'm not sure to raise this. Sound coming on? Okay. All right. Thank you. You can also raise the podium if you need to. Thank you. Good evening. Chair and members of the board, my name is Stephen Schweiger with Dominion Energy.

[03:32:19] I'm the transmission area planner specifically for Prince William and Falkier County. Thank you for having us tonight. What the project does is fairly straightforward. It takes power off of the existing 500 kV lines and switches it onto the region's 230 kV system.

[03:32:36] It relieves Brister's station in Falkier County, which was projected to exceed capacity by the end of 2027. I also want to be clear that this project does not create demand. It serves existing customers and development the county has already approved. Additionally, it does not directly serve any customer of any load type, but rather, to repeat again, switches the 500 kV to source the region's 230 kV system.

[03:33:06] We've heard questions about alternative sites and why this location was selected for the project. At the June hearing, supervisors specifically asked about Noakesville, Clover Hill, and the Wellington Road areas, and we'd like to respond to that. The common thread for each of these is that every alternative site, including Noakesville, Clover Hill, and Wellington Road, meant building more across more property and affecting more people. Starting with Noakesville, in plain terms, it's a site that can route tower but cannot connect lines. Rebuilding it to do this job would require new transmission lines, a wider right-of-way,

[03:33:42] and new easements across private property. Clover Hill is simply too far from the source. There's no nearby 500 kV infrastructure, and the right-of-way in that area is extremely scarce. Past corridor upgrades nearby were deemed infeasible, and it overall wouldn't serve the broader county anyway.

[03:34:03] You can't switch power in this case that you can't reach, meaning this location will also require, again, new transmission lines and easements across private property. Wellington Road also has no 500 kV sources nearby, especially west of the main corridor.

[03:34:19] There are no 500 kV sources. And simply put, there's no room, and what room exists includes public and culturally sensitive resources. Every alternative site meant building more across more property and affecting more people.

[03:34:36] Vinhill uses land that has been held for transmission infrastructure since the 1960s and will not require additional land acquisition or transmission lines. This brings me back to the need and what's at stake. The need was first identified in 2022, working from the five-year route, loading forecasts, that the company and PGM uses, and demand growth has accelerated ever since. PGM projects that the load forecast for the Woodbridge zone, which is defined as the combination of the loading in Prince William and Fauquier counties, will more than double between 2026 and 2031. That's over

[03:35:14] five gigawatts of growth. Going to the specific constraints that this project is trying to mitigate, for the first, the Brister's Transformers 1 and 2 next door in Fauquier County are projected to exceed capacity by the end of 2027. That is a hard limit, not a preference. They're at their maximum design capacity for the space available, and we cannot install a third at that station because of short circuit protection limits. There's no version of a solution at Brister's where we can simply add more equipment there. The next constraint is on line 2101, which runs

[03:35:53] from Brister's to Noakesville to Vinhill. It is projected to overload between the summer of 2028 and 2029 beyond our highest rated conductor. There is no wire made that fixes it in this case and upgrading that line is not an option that exists. Additionally, other approved regional reliability projects have also been already planned assuming that Vinhill is built. Vinhill is not a standalone project anymore. For several years now, regional planners have treated this station as part of the baseline grid. Other reliability projects approved through PJM's

[03:36:30] regional planning processes, open window solicitations, and supplemental planning were designed on top of that assumption. In this case, we can think of Vint Hill as a foundation, and removing it doesn't just cancel one project, it weakens the rest. And those also have been approved through the same processes, and things have been planned around it. Significant modification to the approved scope could undermine the effectiveness of those projects. Also, the grid is a single connected system. A constraint here doesn't just stay here. It pushes onto neighboring

[03:37:06] lines and stations. The project mitigates transmission overloads identified in the 2027 planning case and the consequences of not resolving them would extend well beyond Prince William County to the border regional grid. To put it another way, we're not asking the board to take our word on the urgency. Instead, we're describing how regional planning has already accounted for this station and what changes if that assumption is removed. One term I would also like to clarify because in the planning space we say it a lot would be NERC. So you may hear NERC reliability

[03:37:42] violations, NERC, you know, what have you. And in this case, NERC, to define it, has received federal authorization to develop reliability standards that every utility in North America has to meet. Violations are not just paperwork problems, but they signal that a system is operating outside of its safe margins. I also want to be careful here and apologize with my tone. I'm not trying to see harsh or in any way threatening. This is just information that we feel the board needs to hear in order to weigh the decision fully. Given these already identified reliability violations,

[03:38:19] delay or denial of the Vinhill project hinders Dominion's ability to serve load growth and existing customers. To end on the final note, Dominion is committed to building a facility that is safe, wider, better screened, and smaller in footprint than any alternative design could produce.

[03:38:40] And with that, I thank everyone, and we are open to questions. Thank you. All right, thank you so very much. As people are jumping in the queue, I'll start with Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Swiger, if you wouldn't mind coming back up, you mentioned that there's no additional transmission that's coming in or out of this site, But some of your previous plans showed transmission lines going to Yeet, to Loudon, to Rollins Ford, to Devlin, to Sapphire Ridge, to Novick-Vent Hill.

[03:39:16] There was a 500 kV line to Yeet and a 230, also to Wheeler and Noakesville. Are any of those new routings, any new transmission routes that have to be planned and connected to this site?

[03:39:32] So to clarify, Vinhill, as it sits today, is sitting in a main 500-230 kV corridor where there are two 500 kV lines, two 230 kV lines that sits adjacent to, and then there is one additional 230 kV corridor that runs west of the site.

[03:39:51] When this planned Vinhill solution is going to bring in those 230 kV lines and the 500 kV source will be one of those existing 500 kV lines that are there today. Aside from that, in the existing 230 kV corridor that is running to the west, there will be one additional circuit, but that will remain within the existing corridor.

[03:40:16] Once that plan is there, Vinhill is completely tapped out. there is there is no additional room for any additional terminations so aside from what is there today is one additional 238 kv line but it will remain within existing corridors that are there today so so for each of these additional things that are shown that you have circuits going to each of these different substations there's not going to be any new towers needed any more new rights of way leaving from this site in order to facilitate these circuits yes

[03:40:51] So for Vint Hill, yes, it will either be taking in the 230 kV lines that are already there today or the one that I had mentioned that will be running in the existing 230 kV corridor to the west. So instead of one that is there right now running to the west, there will be two, but it will remain within existing corridors.

[03:41:08] Okay, so just to be clear, so if you say there is a transmission, there's a circuit that goes to a Loudoun 500 kV, there's no need for any new rights-of-way, any new towers, any new more things to take power to Loudoun from Vent Hill substation?

[03:41:28] Correct, that 500 kV line is existing today. Okay. In terms of the Yeet substation, is that part of the Valley Link network? That would be a solution that is, or I guess maybe you can clarify, but that would be a completely separate need.

[03:41:49] Okay, could somebody please clarify? I can clarify that Yeet is a Valley Link station, yes, sir. Okay, and so in terms of how would the line get from Yeet to this site?

[03:42:06] The line already exists. So the whole new Valley Link right-of-way or a transmission route would not be routed to this site?

[03:42:21] It's not going to come to mid-hound, no sooner. Okay. At least as of today. You know, I should mention that project's not finished. See, there we go. All right, hold on. Hold on, guys. You know, I mean, planning always changes. And that's my problem. And this is why I asked, I've asked twice for you guys to come give me a briefing on the full scope of what would emanate from this site.

[03:42:45] We have briefed you, and that is the answer. No, you didn't. You've taken me to sites. You've shown me what this is. you've not given me, when I asked you for every transmission route that would lead into this site or lead out, I asked for a meeting to discuss that. That meeting has not taken place. I've asked for it twice. And so, and this is the kind of thing, and I would remind you, this is an area, we have neighborhoods getting ready to be built all around this area. And we have existing neighborhoods around this area. This is not an industrial area. This is residential. And so,

[03:43:21] You know, and what I'm looking at is this serving as a major connector hub for numerous transmission routes that could industrialize an area that we've been designing and planning for a high-quality community.

[03:43:37] And so, and even your own words just you said, not at this point. That's the part that makes me nervous. What is the next shoe to drop? I'm out of time, so I'll come back later. Thank you, Madam Chair. Am I allowed to respond to that? You may respond.

[03:43:53] In terms of the transmission lines that are coming in, I will reiterate what Steve had stated and was also provided in the FAQ. The expansion will allow to bring in four 230 lines that are new to the station, but three of those lines already exist, and they're already connecting.

[03:44:13] So we don't have to expand them. We don't have to build new structures. We don't need new land. That fourth 230 line was just approved by PJM in May of 2025, has not gone to the SEC yet, but is proposed on existing structures within an existing corridor that already connects to Vent Hill.

[03:44:32] Beyond that, the expansion will not accommodate any new lines. So no matter what happens with Joshua Falls to Yeet, coming to Vent Hill will not be an option for that project in terms of, you know, terminating. That's not going to be an option. this expansion would not accommodate that line is that accurate did that answer the question a little better about the broad scope all right so before i go on to the next i again i know that this is a hot topic we've got the cameras i'm going to ask for decorum because i want to make

[03:45:09] sure that we get through this meeting i've never had to clear board chambers and i hope will not happen tonight i'm going to go into supervisor stewart and before i continue also with the people on the board. This is for questions, not comments. So I want to make sure everyone that we are going through questions. We will have time when there's a motion later tonight. So Supervisor Stewart.

[03:45:30] Thank you, Madam Chair. So this next question is for Jim. All right. So you stated earlier that SF6 is non-toxic. Correct. And that is true. However, if it's exposed to an electrical arc, it becomes poisonous.

[03:45:57] That's number one. Number two, even in its non-toxic phase or existence in that stable state, there is an asphyxiation risk that's associated with it.

[03:46:12] And thirdly, because this was spoken about in the intro, about the county's HAZMAT program, hazardous material cleanup program, why does Dominion not have a HAZMAT program of its own? I believe we do, but to address the SF6 leaks, it's not leaked out in a large enough quantity that it would be of concern.

[03:46:48] Okay, well, say a little bit more about that, because I want to drill into that. Say a little bit more about that. I don't know if you've visited the sites, the Brampton site. I have. So we have it contained into smaller sections.

[03:47:07] So all of the gas, the way we design the equipment, all of the gas cannot leak out at one time from the whole system. That's not what I was told when I visited the plant. I was told that, because my chief of staff asked specifically, if all of this gas comes out, what's the plan?

[03:47:29] And the plan was stated that, well, it would all settle to the floor because it's heavier than air. And then the cleanup process is open the doors. That's kind of a misunderstanding of how much can leak out at one time.

[03:47:47] Like I was saying, we contain it with gas barriers. So 1,200 pounds of gas is the largest quantity that we would allow. Most of the zones are much smaller volume than that.

[03:48:04] So you can only, without having a major catastrophic event, which I couldn't even comprehend. Well, that was going to be my next question. Yeah, I can't even comprehend what that would be. But that would require these gas barriers, the containment walls, if you will, within the equipment.

[03:48:26] They would all have to break at one time and then have a leak. Right. And so in that catastrophic instance, and look, anything made by the hand of man is subject to fail, period. Titanic. We'll just use that as an example. But what I'm saying is because, you know, we don't want to get into hubris about what can and can't happen, right?

[03:48:47] I think that's a flaw that we have as a species, and so I don't want to really go down to that. But to cite the EPA's findings, Dominion's releases are steadily and dramatically increasing in recent EPA reports. Can you tell me about that, right?

[03:49:03] And especially as it pertains to global warming potential, which is 13,500 times worse than CO2. Yeah, so if I can explain that a little bit to you. So what makes SF6 a greenhouse gas is that, again, it is heavier than air.

[03:49:25] And what it's doing, so the sunlight warms the Earth, and the Earth emits that energy back towards space as infrared radiation. SF6 molecules absorb portions of that infrared energy and re-radiate it and reduces the amount that can be returned and escaped to space.

[03:49:53] So that's how it becomes. It is a greenhouse gas. So, again, going back to, you know, the way we regulate it and then the EPA's information, some of that we're clearing up internally because we think it's reporting errors on our end.

[03:50:20] So you're reporting leaking too much? What's that? So you're telling me that you're telling us that you're reporting too many leaks? Or are you reporting them accurately? It's just the calculations that are done on the gas.

[03:50:36] So one of the things that we're studying right now is the fact that we were, Most of the gas for our current substations, for the SF6 breakers, as they sit, it comes from our Fishersville shop.

[03:50:53] A lot of the gas that we're getting with the GIS projects is coming from the manufacturers, and we're not accounting for that properly. So what we've done starting this past year is all of the gas that goes into our equipment goes through our Fishersville shop, so we have a better counting of all the guests that we bring in and send out to the field.

[03:51:17] So your time is up. If you want to go again or if you want to hold your next five minutes, let me know what you would like to do. I'll hold because I want to give other people a chance, but I do need another five-minute spot. Okay, Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't want to call you Jim. What's your last name?

[03:51:33] Stage. Mr. Stage, all right. You kind of described when you went into on slide four, you talked about the first alarm, what note, what catch. You know, the whole conversation here today is, you know, folks don't understand.

[03:51:52] I don't even understand. And could you just give a little more detail? Because you said the gas is detected long before a problem can be created. But then, like, what happens? Like, I'm a firefighter, a volunteer firefighter, so I know what I do when I go in a house for a gas leak, like a process.

[03:52:09] So, like, what actually happens, just if you can, in layman's terms, break that down. Okay, so let's imagine, you've seen the stations, so we have the gas bus that runs out and connects. So each of those gas zones that we have has a gas density monitor on it.

[03:52:30] So the gas pressure in there is approximately 80 PSI, okay? Once that pressure reaches 76 PSI, we get an alarm. So that's just the indicator there's an issue that we have to investigate.

[03:52:50] And then we usually, not usually or typically, always, dispatch technicians to identify where the problem is. And we have specialized monitoring equipment, camera systems, and then sniffer systems like you might see your HVAC guy use to detect gas.

[03:53:10] So they'll identify the leak, they'll notify our office in Innsbruck, and then we'll either contact a manufacturer to come in and repair, or we'll have the equipment to do that ourselves.

[03:53:28] The second stage alarm comes at about 5 PSI lower. And once we reach that point, the system automatically trips out the system. So the circuit breaker opens, we're de-energized, and we have to address it at that point because we've kept the electricity.

[03:53:47] And then addressing it means probably catching up to what you were talking about, whatever. Correct, same thing. So that's why we're trying to catch it as early as possible by doing that. We also have another system, which goes back to what we call our engineering server.

[03:54:06] And it takes a reading every night at 2 a.m. because it does expand in the sunlight and so on. So we take a reading at 2 a.m. on that, and then if there's a 0.05% change for five consecutive days, it sends a notification to us so that we're proactive even before we get to that alarm point.

[03:54:31] Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right, Supervisor LaCroix. So thank you for your presentation. Thank you. These are the questions that I gave you the other day that are straight from the citizens. The first question has three parts to it.

[03:54:48] What noise levels measured in decimals are expected at the facility boundary and the nearest residential properties during normal 500 kV operations? How will those levels compare with the existing 230 kV facility?

[03:55:06] And has an independent noise impact study been conducted? Remember, I gave you these when we were talking. Okay. Yes, a noise study has been conducted by an independent party.

[03:55:27] It is on file with the planning department. And what I can say is the study showed the sound levels at nearby residential homes and at the property line will be less after the expansion than it is now.

[03:55:43] It also showed that ambient conditions, meaning current sounds, insects, traffic, would actually be louder than the station. Keep in mind, even though it's bigger, a lot of the equipment is contained because it's going to be GIS.

[03:55:59] So that's why even though it's bigger, it will become quieter. And just to add to that, how about the transformers? What was the question on the transformers? I'm sorry? What about the noise level on the transformers? All of the noise combined will be less. So it's going to be under 55 decibels.

[03:56:16] Now, there were, I believe, 15 points where data was collected. and evaluated from so it ranges from 31 decibels to 55 at the maximum across those those locations and again we can um your staff can provide you a copy of that sound study okay and then what is the total estimated cost of the vent hill upgrade including equipment construction and ongoing maintenance it's estimated at 300 million thank you yes ma'am all right thank you supervisor voting

[03:56:51] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the presentation. I'm going to jump around a little bit, but I'll start where Supervisor LaCroix just left off. And it goes back to something that Supervisor Gordy said. So where you all measured for the sound study, and you said that staff has it, but did you only test at the existing homes? Did you test at where, as Supervisor Gordy said, we're going to be having new communities? Where all did you test from?

[03:57:21] Sure. So certainly along the property line, as that had been requested, and then we selected the nearest residential homes. There is a map included in the study, and I have a hard copy that we can make some copies and provide to you all as well tonight.

[03:57:38] Appreciate that. And then, so thank you for that on sound, because I'm curious to see, again, there's going to be changes to that area that will sort of change, I would think, the sort of sound profile of the area. To go back to the SF6 and the gas for a second, it was mentioned at the outset that staff did work, or that you all worked with the fire department.

[03:58:06] That staff, you all worked with the fire department to sort of talk through what that might look like. Why do the conditions defer hazardous material inventory and spill notification plan until final site plan versus being proactive about what that may look like before we approve the project, if we were to?

[03:58:33] I'm sorry, can you repeat the question? Sure. The conditions defer the hazardous material inventory and spill notification plan until final site plan. Is that right? I think frequently, don't correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of those details don't get worked out until site plan status.

[03:58:53] Understood. Yeah, someone looks like there's a stand-up.

[03:59:10] Okay. Provided at the site plan because it's more about final design, whereas right now it's a little more conceptual. Okay. And then in terms of prevention measure, secondary containment capacity, and stormwater pretreatment, has that been worked through, too, if there's a leak that isn't just gas, but there's other facilities on site that have chemicals and things in them, has that been worked through alongside the stormwater management of the site?

[03:59:37] I'm gonna bring up our stormwater expert John Stoke latest week to that But I I can add an emergency spill release notification plan to fire and rescue Will be provided during the site plan the stormwater management pond collects everything along the eastern side of the site It goes into the storm drains and then goes to our pond We have a wet pond in there, and it's a basically a sediment basin. So everything's going to sit there and kind of filter in and slowly release out we're still in the final stages of the stormwater

[04:00:16] design though okay and appreciate that to go on that beat and i have no idea how much time i have left madam chair i'm sorry um you got you um before don't walk away too far sir i'm not done with you yet um so that said knowing again the specific kinds of chemicals and other things that are going to be on this site um do you all plan for the fact that if there's a spill you don't have the stormwater management system then slowly releasing pollutants and chemicals into the groundwater the surface water around the site right uh good evening stefan haas project manager

[04:00:56] for dominion energy so um i think the big thing we're probably talking about here is the transformers and like potential oil containment yes sir so each transformer there's gonna be seven different units on this at this site um each individual unit will have um secondary oil containment for the full capacity of all the oil that we use in there so um to your point it's not going to leak into the stormwater system and subsequently get processed like stormwater where they'll be contained, and then Dominion staff will be on site to manage it in accordance with the proper standards.

[04:01:28] Okay. Thank you for that. And my last question goes back to something the first gentleman was talking about in regards to the alternate sites that you all looked at. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Because, again, per our comp plan, you all should be looking more at industrial sites, what have you.

[04:01:45] I get that this is a very convenient location because of the existing infrastructure around it but did it did your analysis determine that all those other sites were unfeasible or they just weren't preferred um so infeasible and and not as effective so to use clover hill for example um if we want to think of it as a load pocket ignoring everything else and just think of the clover hill area um it has 230 kv transmission we that is constrained which is what Vinhill is trying to resolve, there is no near 500 kV infrastructure.

[04:02:20] So, and on top of that, projects in the past, be it even reconductoring or anything to the existing transmission infrastructure, has either been deemed infeasible or has been very, very difficult because there is little to no right away available.

[04:02:39] So even beginning to contemplate 500 kV running to the area would be impossible because it just cannot get there based on the area that it's in. Similar to the Wellington Road area, there is no infrastructure to the west. So we're in the same scenario where even if we want to get something there, there is nothing that exists. Then on top of that, in a hypothetical scenario, if we were, let's say we can get 500 there, that may help that, again, that load pocket, if we want to call it that. But that doesn't help the remainder of Prince William County or the

[04:03:17] system overall. So that power needs to serve that load pocket, but it also needs to get elsewhere as well. And then we run into the scenario where then Hill is located right next to that main 5-2 path, 5-2 meaning 500 and 230 kV lines, but the others are not. And if you're trying to move all that power from somewhere that maybe doesn't have that amount of infrastructure and bring it towards somewhere that does, now you're going to run into additional bottlenecks where can those 230 kv lines support it very likely not and and in that area again we run into the issue of

[04:03:55] the 230 kv conductors are the highest that we can install so yes to answer your question both infeasible and not as effective as the hill okay thank you thank you i'll take more time later all right thank you so very much supervisor bailey thank you madam chair um just to circle back on something that Supervisor Stewart mentioned and then piggyback off of what Supervisor Bodie just mentioned for clarity for for the community at are there and I visited your Aldi site I didn't go to Richmond but I saw your

[04:04:33] Aldi site to get a understanding of what it is are there any proactive hazmat provisions incorporated in the expansion of this plan for the community for the community understand plans of what happens what should happen what should not happen if it happens you know what's the hazmat provision for the community so first off we we mentioned the art sf6 gas that is fully contained within this within the enclosures of the switch gear okay

[04:05:10] And we have specialized equipment to remove the gas, the arc SF6 gas, filter it, and put it into cylinders and ship it off for processing. SF6, it's a very unique gas because once it's arced, it recombines.

[04:05:32] So it breaks down to another gas but then recombines as SF6 again. So it is reusable, but if it gets arced to a point where it's not usable, it's shipped off to facilities, manufacturers of the gas, and it's incinerated.

[04:05:56] So they incinerate the gas completely, and then it becomes actually gypsum, gypsum that's used to make drywall. So that's how we contain it. so that that doesn't go out into the into the atmosphere okay right okay and then our technicians and all of our service people uh there are certain ones that are allowed near the near the equipment once it's has that art so we like i said we we remove it we filter it and then there's specialized

[04:06:35] equipment that the specialized respirators, full-face respirators, and they vacuum it out with HEPA filter. And then you can dilute the SF6 gas by using baking soda and water. So those are byproducts that could become acidic. We use baking soda and water to neutralize it.

[04:07:01] Okay. A lot of baking soda in water to do that. Okay. But the other question I had, in terms of the citizens, what... Supervisor, may I just jump in to add on to... Yes, you can. So, good evening, Supervisors. Steve Precker, I manage our electric transmission communications team. So, I think that your question is, should an incident occur, what do we do?

[04:07:23] Yes. Right. Yes. I was going to come back and just say it's just simple. But yes, what do we do? We have trained incident management personnel. So the first thing that happens, should an incident occur at any substation, whether it be a gas insulated substation, whether it be an open air substation, alarms start going off at the substation.

[04:07:44] And then in our system operations center, which some of you have had the opportunity to tour both in person and virtually, we get a lot of alarms going off there. That triggers the response, and we have specially trained personnel who can respond to the incident, whether it is taking care of gas cleanup, whether it is identifying where in a facility the incident has occurred, whether it is a fire at a facility.

[04:08:15] We do have trained personnel to achieve those results. That's also where we work very closely with locality emergency response personnel as well. Okay. And then my other question is, you know, with the future phases of the project, how can residents continue to provide feedback to Dominion in terms of their concerns and what's, you know, to go along with the, if this is approved, you know, to go along with the process to express how they are feeling about our questions they have about it.

[04:08:54] Absolutely. My team is in charge of community engagement, okay? We understand, and many of the supervisors up here, Supervisor Gordy, you know, we've met with you numerous times on many of the projects that we've had.

[04:09:09] So it also does distress me that you're not, you know, you're saying you're not getting answers to your questions. In the times that we've met with you and times that we've met with other supervisors, we do prioritize community feedback we are always open to questions we have had we have community open houses with regard to construction should this project be approved we will continue to be very transparent with the community in terms of what that schedule looks like what are the steps

[04:09:44] what to expect um we will be out in the community talking about that um happy to host another community meeting to for for residents to learn about what those next steps look like again should this be approved um we have our online inquiry system power lines at dominian energy.com uh phone number associated with that as well so nearby residents general public can And always reach out to us with questions that we're happy to answer.

[04:10:20] Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Before I go on to people who want a second round, I just had a question. You said there was an restart study, and it's on file with planning as part of the application? I thought it was, but I think they just mentioned maybe it was lost.

[04:10:35] Is that accurate? Or you didn't? We haven't. We don't know. We don't know. We're double-checking. So I will resend it. Okay. I also have hard copies I can provide to you tonight. I think it would be great to give it to the clerk who can distribute it to the board.

[04:10:52] Sure. All right. So I know some people want to speak a second time. Supervisor Gordy, did you want to go a second time? Well, a lot of my questions have been asked by my colleagues. I'll just defer and wait until the planning staff wants to make their presentation.

[04:11:17] Thank you. Stuart, you mentioned wanting a second round. Do you want to go now? Thank you, Madam Chair. So just looking, taking some notes I took from the comp plan and some that were provided to me as well.

[04:11:37] I'll just kind of go with these in order. About locating electrical utility facilities to provide maximum service levels as unobtrusively as possible. And also in that same section of the comp plan, designing electrical facilities to minimize negative impacts on existing and future communities.

[04:11:58] Existing and future communities. Um, number three, support and encourage alternative green energy infrastructure. Now, one of the things that we talked about earlier with the noise study was, um, did you include wideband and tonal sounds in your noise study?

[04:12:18] Yes. And in fact, because the study was done, um, in August of 2025, um, and then there was an amendment to the noise ordinance we had them go back and do a little additional study and provided an addendum to the original sound version okay got it and then so another question um and this is this is for steven so a couple of things that you mentioned in your presentation about

[04:12:53] bristers um and about how this will relieve uh the brister station in focure right so why can't we build this over there uh so i guess with i guess first with the the brister so um the point there being at bristers we can't expand any further so that that's one but then to build i guess to build a completely separate station over there um you would you would have to then

[04:13:30] take the lines that are going into vinn hill and now somehow get them there as well so even though So even though a new station would be on that main 5-2 corridor that I mentioned before, or to rephrase it, the lines that Vinhill is directly adjacent to, those lines going to the west also need to get there as well.

[04:13:49] So to route them to that site would be completely greenfield or outside of the corridor. On top of that, Vinhill is quite centralized. So if you just put something near Bristers to essentially make Bristers number two, then you're still going to have that constraint along the 230 kV line, line 2101 that I had mentioned that goes from Bristers to Vinhill to Noakesville. By pushing more power up from Bristers, that line still stays overloaded. So by going to Vinhill and having the 500 kV source be at Vinhill,

[04:14:29] you're going around that 2101 line so you can further push up north and to the sides and to the west so essentially we have to there's too much power already being pushed through the 230 kv lines stemming from bristers and so if we just create something near bristers you're still going to have that same issue we may solve the issue at bristers but you still have that other issue that the vent hill solution is trying to solve well no because that that's what i'm not getting because you said the so this is the solution for for bristers so if you correct it at bristers then

[04:15:04] what solution is there remaining at vent hill to solve yes so the the vent hill solution solves two issues the first issue is brister's transformer number one and two and then the overload of line 2101 so the first violation shows up that we identify for 2027 the second one shows up between the summer of 2028 and 2029 so there there would be two two solutions that that vent hill is solving here or two issues that it's all okay got it and all right thank you very much but so back to the

[04:15:39] noise uh one other thing about back to the noise so will will dominion commit that the station won't be so loud that it would not harm residents and students physical mental um health and educational attainment or or work productivity will you commit to that and how will you commit to that financially um well what i can say is absolutely we can commit to that um and the sound study shows that we're committing to it because it shows it will be within the ordinance that's

[04:16:17] allowed and we believe the ordinance does provide for safety in terms of sound that it will not harm people but no i i'm not sure what you mean by a financial um commitment if you can expand

[04:16:33] I'm out of time, but as far as potential damages would occur, what would a set aside, what would an insurance be, what would the community have as some sort of backstop to say, hey, Dominion is doing this, in fact, they're coming in below the sound ordinance, they're doing what they need to do, because one, I can't remember which person it was that said being good neighbors, right, I want you to be great neighbors.

[04:17:06] right and so what does that look like I guess my answer to that that could vary what you're describing in terms of feedback of even if we are under the sound ordinance that people could still be distressed by it and what that would look like I believe what we can say is we would have to evaluate it on a case-by-case basis if it's causing harm and based on that evaluation move forward in mitigating but it does sound like that would have to be evaluated case-by-case Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[04:17:39] Supervisor Brody. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of final questions from me. This is obviously, for all intents and purposes, an expansion of existing facility, but that expansion also draws it closer to existing residences, and there's taller, larger infrastructure in terms of profile and scale.

[04:17:57] When you all were going through preliminary engineering, analyzing what the site might, how the layout might be, what have you, did you look at alternatives that didn't bring the site closer to homes and closer to bent hill and or smaller scale buildings towers what have you knowing what this this area is like and the compatibility with it we absolutely did um in fact i think our engineers probably hate me because i went back to them so many times and asked them to reevaluate and see if they could redesign to get it further from the road unfortunately we've gotten it as far as we can um yes sir

[04:18:35] So I think one of the challenges and one of the items that's pushing Vent Hill closer to the road is that the fact that we have an active switching station shown there on the right-hand side of the screen.

[04:18:55] That needs to stay operational during this construction phase. There's really no way around that. To your point about seeing if we can shrink building sizes, et cetera, that's why we're utilizing GIS. GIS technology takes up approximately a third of the space that Aaron's switchgear would take up.

[04:19:14] So, on this site, you know, with our final boat, we're fighting for feet at this point. It is a tight squeeze just to get all the infrastructure in here utilizing GIS technology. To Tracy's point, I think we've done almost everything we can to minimize impacts, to reduce sizes, to get as far away from the road as possible, enhance bufferings as best we can given that we have transmission lines flying over that area.

[04:19:39] So I'd say, yes, we've done, we've looked at this every which way, and this is the best solution that we came forward with. Sure. Now, good manager, just two final questions. To that end, you are obviously cutting down trees next to the road, going to do some supplemental plantings, what have you.

[04:19:56] Was there any analysis of tree save, especially, you know, this mature vegetation there versus what you have to replant later? There were certainly a lot of restrictions because of the overhead lines that are in the vicinity.

[04:20:13] There's only so much that can be planted in them. So we did preserve as much as we could. There wasn't really any old growth there to preserve, if that's what you're referring to. My last question is the other neighbor, which is the Reed Energy Center, how much have you collaborated with them?

[04:20:31] And is there any sort of joint emergency response interaction with them, knowing their use versus your use? I'm not aware of collaboration with them on the transmission side, but I believe Generation part of Dominion has collaborated with them.

[04:20:47] Due to regulatory laws, we have to operate those entities separate, so I can't really speak to what that engagement looked like. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, thank you so very much. I don't see any more questions in the queue, so I will now invite the county up to present.

[04:21:12] Good evening, Chair Jefferson, board members. My name is Alex Venegas from the Planning Office, and I will be presenting the Vent Hill Substation Special Use Permit 2025-0009.

[04:21:36] With me tonight, I have Vanessa Watson, who's the case manager for this application, as well as our professional county staff here that are part of the review agencies that reviewed this application. So what we have is a request for a special use permit to allow an electrical substation to be placed at this site.

[04:22:01] This case was originally heard by the board on June 23rd, 2026. And at that time, there was a recommendation to defer to date certain, which is September 22nd, 2026. And that's why we're here tonight.

[04:22:18] Our zoning ordinance, Section 32-201.11, allows for electrical substations through an SUP process within any zoning district outside of the data center opportunity zone overlay district.

[04:22:33] That's why the applicant's here with this special use permit. The property is approximately 23.41 acres, and they do have an existing substation at this location right where my cursor is.

[04:22:49] This is the property. The property is approximately 420 feet west of the intersection of Reed Lane and Vent Hill Road. There's also a Novex substation right here. And behind it, as you just heard, was the Reed's battery storage facility that's adjacent to this property.

[04:23:16] Staff is recommending approval for this application. There was a public facility review heard by the Planning Commission, and they did find it in substantial accord with the comprehensive plan based on the general approximate location, character, and extent.

[04:23:36] This is the long-range land use map for this application. It's currently C-Res 1B, and again, substations are allowed in both the A-10 Zoning District, but it is an allowable use in this long-range land use designation.

[04:24:01] Across the street, we have Braymeyer, which is a RPC. It's a subdivision. The RN2 area was the recently approved Green Haven at Broad Run application. To the west, the C-Res 1C was the Alderwood at Kettle Run application, which is right here.

[04:24:25] And then the other big residential application was Hawthorne at Kettle Run, which is a C-Res 1B area. The zoning district is A-1 for this application.

[04:24:41] These areas that I just mentioned are actually PMR now. So they're planned mixed residential. This is the special use permit plan for this application. As you can see, the applicant does have a 50-foot buffer on the south side of the application as well as the east side of the property.

[04:25:11] The north side that's along Vent Hill Road, they do have a 30-foot buffer. And as they had mentioned, there's additional supplemental plannings to add to that buffering area. This is the site of the existing substation, which will be decommissioned once the new facility, if it's approved, the new facility is built.

[04:25:38] And then this will become a stormwater facility. The main portion for the commercial ingress and egress is at this location. and they do have an emergency access point at this location.

[04:25:54] And this is a layout illustrative of what it would look like once the application is complete with the neighboring Novec substation here. Staff has recommended approval of this application.

[04:26:10] The Planning Commission heard this application at their September 10th, 2025, and October 29th, 2025. The first hearing, there was a motion to deny the application, and that failed. And at the second hearing, no action was taken, so therefore we had to wait the 90 days before we brought this application to the Board of County Supervisors.

[04:26:34] Staff does recommend approval of this application, subject to the conditions dated July 31, 2026, with the SUP plan dated April 23, 2026, for the following reasons. First of all, a public facility review was done by the Planning Commission.

[04:26:54] They found the general approximate location, character, and extent to be substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan. The SUP specialties permit is favorably aligned with the county's objective to encourage profit-generating business expansion, new business development, and redevelopment that enhances and complements targeted industries.

[04:27:16] The project will also have limited impact to the county level of service in terms of traffic, road, infrastructure, schools, parks, and minimal impact on police and fire. And the substation will be designed to accommodate the immediate need to maintain and improve our electrical service to the customers in the county.

[04:27:39] And with that, we'll gladly take any questions that the board may have. All right. Supervisor Bode. Madam Chair, unless Supervisor Gordy wanted to go first. Thank you. Thank you, Alex, for the presentation, and I know you're being put on the spot again knowing everything going on with this project, so I appreciate the work you and Vanessa and everyone else on the staff has done.

[04:27:59] I didn't want to start without saying that. A couple things. Looking at the zoning ordinance, the definitions of substation and switching station are not thereof. Can you talk a little bit about that, when the definition of substation was established, and how staff sort of interprets that in this context?

[04:28:20] So there is a difference between a switching station. This application, when we received it, the applicant indicated substation, so therefore that's the name. But technically, the existing facility is a switching station, and it's primarily in the way that a substation can distribute power to particular areas, like if you have a data center there or a big user, that's what the substation does.

[04:28:48] The switching station, as described by the applicant, allows you to continue service and either stop service or, you know, continue the transmission of that service. So the zoning ordinance has a deputy or a substation but not a switching station?

[04:29:07] It has. That's correct. Okay. And this is, even though it's called substation, it's actually a switching station, or is it both? So I believe technically it's just a switching station. Okay, appreciate that. I just wanted to establish that for clarity because I'm going to talk a little bit about that later when we go into discussion.

[04:29:29] That said, electric utilities 1.3, that sort of talks about, you know, the consideration of new facilities, what have you. Since this is expansion, did you all consider this, since it is adding new 500 kV equipment, GIS building and some other substantial things that didn't exist on this site, Are you guys considering this a new facility or an expansion of an existing facility?

[04:29:55] So I think we looked at it as an expansion of the electrical facility that was approved by the Board of County Supervisors back in 2017. We do also, in the electrical utility service plan, we do have several policies that we evaluated to determine whether this complied with the comprehensive plan as it related to that specific plan.

[04:30:27] And one of the big ones is co-locating facilities. So since we have several facilities in this particular area, based on that particular policy, staff felt like it made sense to continue that as an upgrade to the existing facility, although the current existing switching station will be decommissioned when the new facility comes on board.

[04:30:55] and along the same bead alex is this area is conservation residential in the comp plan again as was said before there's gonna be several communities that have already been approved that we're building out from a compatibility standpoint and open space requirements how does this and knowing the scale of these structures some of which are going to be 120 feet and in height how does that come how is that compatible with the surrounding area so there's existing transmission lines in that area. You have several existing switching station, substation, and then the Reed facility that was

[04:31:32] approved. In that context, we believe that it would make sense to have the development of a switching station at this location and understanding that the applicant will be commissioned in this, but they need to keep it running while they uh construct the new facility it just made sense you know that this was in context with what is existing at that location at this time okay and then my last one madam chair um with what

[04:32:08] remains visible and relevant to homes around this area knowing that again they had to build this closer to the road because that existing uh infrastructure that you talked about um again there's they're planning on doing some planting and what have you can you talk about how that demonstrates compliance with electric utilities 2.2 and 2.3 so knowing that the nearest the closest development of course is on the other side of vent hill road the raymeyer subdivision

[04:32:42] as well as green haven which will be coming soon and then the close the next closest was Hawthorne, those are the areas where we felt like we needed more extensive buffering. The side where you have an existing substation, technically you don't need buffering between two similar uses.

[04:33:06] So staff's position was, look, you need to work on providing a berm as well as some buffering, 30-foot and that matches the other approved Residential projects so that way we have a streetscape along that Hill Road. We wanted that consistency throughout and then the additional Supplemental plannings will occur closest to where Hawthorne will be developed And since right next door is another is the Novak substation and read that

[04:33:43] we felt like they didn't need that extensive buffering in those locations thank you alex thank you madam chair all right thank you supervisor la croix alex how is this considered an upgrade when the project involves constructing a new facility and subsequently de-energizing and removing the existing facility so an upgrade refers to modernization and expansion of the this facility it does not necessarily mean that all existing buildings and equipment will remain

[04:34:19] in place and that's similar to most facilities that are public facilities if you are making improvements or expansion as part of the public facility review process that's one of the things that we look at and seeing as they need to maintain the old facility in order to build the new one and then decommissioned the other one, it's still all on the same campus.

[04:34:45] And so staff felt like it's an upgrade to the existing facilities because it will be able to handle more of a load. Okay. The staff analysis did not identify any concerns or weaknesses regarding electrical utility services plan policies EU1 and EU2 despite the project's potential impacts.

[04:35:07] How were these policies evaluated? So, again, we did a public facility review and found the Planning Commission did find it to be in accord with the comprehensive plan. We also looked at the electrical utility services plan, and during that process, we looked at, you know, the key features of it.

[04:35:31] And, again, one of the big ones was the policy EU1, which is locate electrical utility facilities to provide maximum service levels as unobtrusively as possible, but also to design electrical facilities to minimize impacts, as well as co-locate facilities such as electrical generation distribution and transmission infrastructure, electrical substations.

[04:35:59] So we looked at these things, and we wanted to make sure that, you know, the best opportunity is to co-locate it where you have additional substations. So from that perspective, we felt like between the public facility review as well as the electrical utility services plan, that we did address that when we looked at this application.

[04:36:24] Okay. How were potential impacts on cultural resources evaluated? so there's several ways we do that one they do uh one of our review agencies is our county archaeologist and his team they look at it and they identify any potential cultural resource issues that require mitigation on the applications this also went to the historical commission they reviewed it and they stated no further work was needed for this application and finally how were

[04:36:57] potential environmental impacts evaluated? So we, as part of our review process, we send the application out to our review agencies. They look at the comprehensive plan. They look at the zoning ordinance and the DCSM and how this application aligns with those different guidance documents. This did go to environmental management in the public works department. They're one of our review agencies. They looked at this application, and based on their feedback and the adjustments

[04:37:32] that this applicant made to address any concerns that we had, and based on the review, we feel like this application, you know, it's complete from the standpoint that we believe things have been mitigated.

[04:37:48] Thank you. All right. Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. Hey, Alex. I think it's the last slide. You were talking about the impact with police and fire you just use some terms and i just kind of want to just dial up a dick you said limited and minimal impacts you said it had limited impacts on um i think it's police and minimal and in um minimal impact so like what what does that mean like what are the

[04:38:21] minimal and the limited impacts so when we send this application out uh to the uh police department and Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal's office, they do look at these things, at this application. All applications have some sort of impact one way or the other, but our job is to make sure that we feel like the impacts have been mitigated.

[04:38:49] They've done it in the conditions. This is a little different than rezoning where you have proffers that are volunteered or provided voluntary by the applicant. In this case, we set the conditions, and we set those conditions based on our conversations with the review agencies.

[04:39:10] And, you know, based on the fire and rescue, we do have some conditions that are identified in condition number seven, fire and rescue.

[04:39:26] They did put things in there like an emergency spill notification as well as any hazardous materials. They'll provide a list to the Department of Fire and Rescue and also the emergency access to the site. So primarily those were the big ones that we wanted to make sure that we had an opportunity to have the information regarding any potential issues that could arise from this application and that the applicant provides us a plan that the fire and rescue will review, and that way they can incorporate it into their response at the facility.

[04:40:04] Supervisor Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. Hi, Alex. Quick question, and it's a nomenclature thing for me. So I count seven transformers, which would make this a substation, not a switching station.

[04:40:21] Can you unpack that for me? Supervisor Stewart, I don't have an answer for that because I don't know if there's seven or less at that location. This is the proposed. Looking at them on the photo right now. Yeah, this is the proposed.

[04:40:37] This isn't what the existing is right here. And I can bring the applicant up to see if they can address that. Do we have seven? So we actually differentiate between switching station and substation based on whether distribution comes out of it, not based on the transformers.

[04:41:02] And since there wouldn't be any distribution coming out, it's a switching station. I hope that makes sense. No? That's how it's defined. Okay, that's a reach.

[04:41:18] Is it? But no, I don't want to waste time with it. Thank you. But it's a substation. All right, again, we can minimize outbursts.

[04:41:34] I'm going to go on to Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to kind of continue on that discussion, you know, when you look at our county code, we really don't have anything that defines a switching station. And so our special use permit that we're talking about today is looking at this under the lens of it being a substation, but not a switching station.

[04:41:56] So, given the fact that this is a 500 kV and 230 kV switching station, I'm concerned that our standards for a substation, which is for distribution, are not sufficient to fully adequately evaluate a switching station.

[04:42:18] Do you have thoughts or perspectives on that? So, you know, when we have an application where a defined use isn't in there, because we, you know, we always have new uses coming up that we've never heard of before.

[04:42:34] We usually engage the zoning administrator for her to tell us what type of use is the best one to use to evaluate an application. and in this case you know we looked at the as evaluating it as a substation because uh that was what the applicants submitted on their application that it was a substation originally and the previous switching station that was approved was also a substation i'm sorry was a switching station not a substation yeah and and therein lies part of my concern um and this is something that i will be working on a directive to get this fixed within our county code um and and so

[04:43:13] this is where we have a void and to some extent um uh maybe even a little bit of a loophole how this is switching stations are coming in uh under the guise of a substation but they're two completely different entity active type of facilities um and in terms of their scale in terms of their um the infrastructure associated with them and so this is something that i think we we're going to have to address uh going forward but uh it it just highlights the fact that our review process um you know and we're going to have to this we're going to have to deal with

[04:43:51] this more um because the more we have 500 kv lines running through prince william county you're going to have to have switching stations to get to 230 to get down to distribution so um so these are going to continue to be an issue and uh madam washington i'll let you uh respond since you stood up so good evening uh madam chair members of the board tanya washington director of the planning office i was just going to add you know as you know we have our comprehensive zoning ordinance update underway and we will be looking at definitions um throughout the ordinance so this is definitely a good time to take a look at that and to address that gap thank you very much

[04:44:29] all right thank you very much um people are going in and out of queue so i'm going to go to stewart By the SCC's definition, it's a substation. Thank you. You're welcome.

[04:44:46] All right. Are there any other questions? Supervisor Bailey. Yeah, I'm not trying to confuse things for you, Madam Chair, by going in and out, but I don't want to be redundant when I ask questions because what Tom asked was what I needed to know.

[04:45:04] So just for clarity, so that I don't go in and out of this again, is it just a definition or what is it? So, Supervisor Bailey, we evaluated this as a substation because that's what the closest use was for this application.

[04:45:29] When we don't have a specific definition for an application, you're correct, we then have to interpret it. And the process that we use, we reach out to the zoning administration team they'll tell us what the best potential use is to look at to evaluate an application when the use does not exist in the definitions within the zoning ordinance.

[04:45:58] So that's why it's called a switching station. Madam Chair, members of the board, in the zoning ordinance, as Mr. Venegas states, we have different definitions. Right. And there's a definition of an electric substation. There is no definition separated out for a switching station.

[04:46:15] Ms. Washington said that's going to be looked at. But right now, the county's zoning ordinance uses the word switchboards or switches in the definition of an electric substation. I appreciate the county attorney's interaction.

[04:46:32] Thank you. Thank you. So we have a lot of people going back and forth, again, trying to understand the difference. My question is, functionally, is a substation a more intensive or less intensive use than a switching station?

[04:46:48] Or are they functionally on an industrial, in terms of industrial usage, the same? So I think the major distinction is whether it distributes power off to a particular user. And in this case, it doesn't. It goes straight through.

[04:47:03] That's what a switching station does. Whereas a substation, a lot of times you'll see them near data centers or whatever, or some high-intensive use, that's where you usually see substations because they distribute power directly to or step down the power in certain areas.

[04:47:22] So that's primarily my understanding of it. I mean, does that sound? Okay. I think that. All right. I just want to know, again, in terms of intensity of use or – that's really my question because, again, we keep going back and forth on it.

[04:47:39] I think that's the one piece that we're really missing is, like, is one a more intensive use than another? So I think they're compatible uses with the exception that if you're distributing power to multiple facilities around that substation, then that would probably be more of an intensive use than, you know, just a switching station.

[04:48:05] But, I mean, it's, you know, I'm going to defer to the applicant because, again, you know, we looked at it and evaluated it as a substation. Thank you. And from my perspective, it can be more intensive.

[04:48:23] Thank you. Steve Schreiger again. So to clarify, and I don't want to confuse anything, but how we do it internally at Dominion to differentiate a switching station and why Vinhill is a switching station is because 230 kV is the lowest voltage it reaches.

[04:48:38] We do not have any distribution voltage. So compared to a Vinhill DP, Novex substation nearby, which that would be something where that's at a lower voltage, and that will distribute power to residential, commercial, industrial, what have you in the area.

[04:48:56] And also to clarify on the seven transformers, with AC being a three-phase system, So it would be the transformers, three can be considered one transformer in a way, so not functionally, but you would have three transformers, one per phase, per circuit, and one spare for maintenance or, you know, if one were to have any issues, you can swap that one back in so things still stay in service.

[04:49:29] So I'm going to hold off. I'm going to hold off. And here's the reason. Everyone gets two bites at the apple for asking questions. When we have, after we have the public hearing, we are going to bring them back and ask additional questions based off what we heard and stuff like that.

[04:49:49] This has always been the process. We have a lot of people who want to speak. And I want to make sure that everyone who wants to speak has a time to do it before O-Dark-30. So are there any more questions from anyone who has not had their two bites at the apple?

[04:50:08] All right. Mr. Venegas, if you could turn off the microphone. Absolutely. Thank you. So before I open the public hearing, I'm going to give, again, instructions. again because we have a lot of people who are who seem to be here for the first time. I'm going to call people up in groups of five. You will begin by stating your name and where you generally reside. DeShawndra Jefferson, Potomac District. Up there on the screen is a timer. You have three minutes and I'm going to ask that everyone stay to their three minutes. If you are an approved

[04:50:43] 501c3, you know who you are. You may request five minutes at the top of your speaking. It is up to the board whether or not we grant it. Only one person per organization to speak. For example, I have two people from LOCA. Only one of them can get the five minutes. So Jack and Clancy, decide amongst yourselves. Again, I ask that everyone respect the process. I have one sheet, may have others but i want to make sure that the people who've come out here and signed up to speak

[04:51:16] are heard we also have remote public i'm sorry remote public hearing so after this after we do in person i'll turn to vice chair angry and he will call on people who sign up to speak remotely after that we close the public hearing we will then give the applicant and a county a chance to respond to any additional questions that have come up during the public hearing so So with that, I am going to open the public hearing for 13A.

[04:51:49] Dr. Jack Amujan, Hina Ansari, Clancy McQuig, Freddie Hardin, Rachel Ellis. So everyone who I've called up, you may stand in the back. Oh, you didn't number? Okay.

[04:52:10] And I ask, so over there, there's a sign, no standing. That's by order of the fire marshal. So that's not simply a chair rule. That is a fire marshal rule. So if you were not called to speak, hello, Rachel, take a seat.

[04:52:32] I'm sorry, you were? Oh, I did. I'm so sorry. Rachel, I apologize. She's a frequent flyer. She understands the rules. Madam Chair, members of the board, Jack Kuyumchun, president of LOCA. I'd like the five minutes, but how do you work this thing? I'm not quite sure. She's going to turn it on. Okay. Okay. Is it upside down or right side up? We have a lot of activity also going. As a public service

[04:53:10] announcement, we're having a LOCA pelt meeting Thursday night. It's virtual. If anyone wants it, We can give you the hot link. We have projects and stuff. But what I'm going to talk about is Civics 101 when I get a chance to use this thing, this device.

[04:53:28] Hold on. So hold on. Because of the storms, that's why we're getting the outages earlier, the blinking lights. It's not poltergeist. It's an electrical storm. So right now, thank you, Clancy, you get the reference. So right now, the ELMO is not working.

[04:53:45] Are you able to proceed without it? I can verbalize then. Okay, I'll verbalize. What I'm showing there on the slide that you can't see is from Prickly City, and it shows the two characters sitting next to a library box, and it says, finally, a data center that doesn't require electricity or water.

[04:54:09] You know, the data box that sits in front of people's homes, you put the books in. So just a little levity, and I just wanted to share with you, At the local health committee meeting, we took time to assess where we are, where we want to go, where we want to be as residents of Prince William County.

[04:54:32] Oh, I'm in the Occoquan Magisterial District, if I didn't say that. So Occoquan, that's where I live. So with respect to land use choices, our sense of community, our quality of life for us and for our future generations.

[04:54:52] So we had a discussion of a number of projects. We had a lengthy agenda. And what we ended up doing, I'm just trying to find it.

[04:55:09] In our Civics 101 portion of the meeting, we classified Prince William County's most pressing land use issues center on the following. Massive data center proposals, protection of the county's rural crescent, managing suburban sprawl, concern for placement of higher density products in the proper areas, rapid industrial and residential growth, impacts on residents' quality of life, affordable housing, that is, being able to live, work, and retire in Prince William County, and to have a land use

[04:55:48] plan and housing ordinance that addresses that, and sustainability issues. We saw that all of this leads to battles on infrastructure strains, environmental preservation, how to balance economic growth and development with quality of life. And we reprinted an article by Gary O'Brien with his permission on data centers on the types and the ownership management and use of enterprise co-location, cloud, and edge data centers. We talked about that. But we said, what can we do

[04:56:28] about data centers in Prince William County as citizens. Now, we worked with Midco and other civic groups, and we basically came up with a list of things. Now, keep in mind that the planning office and Tanya Washington has, they're going to come up with design standards, and we applaud that use, and I believe she has our agenda, too. So, but we had on there that no more blanket non-disclosure agreements, clean power agreements, underground power in buildings as much as

[04:57:05] possible, remove the tax brace, no buy-write uses of data centers. Industry pays for all infrastructure. That includes substations and grid, as well as grid hardening. No groundwater use, full disclosure of water and energy use, and a moratorium until impacts are worked out.

[04:57:26] And how do we achieve these goals? We talked about the legislation, the county proffers, the pressure in industry, and a number of other areas. But what we did say was that the substations transmission lines are an issue that are concerns because of the impacts on the residents

[04:57:57] and that residents do not want to subsidize the data center infrastructure costs, particularly for the substations, whether they're switching networks or otherwise, and concern that data centers could preempt other uses that are desired in the community.

[04:58:18] And we said, stay tuned, more is coming. So we basically are empathetic to the residents that live there. You've got a quality network with Braemar, Hawthorne, And we have basically a concern that the operators for the switching station, it is good that they have a priority for the grid network to make it a reliable system, and they have to look toward the future.

[04:58:49] And so we have to work with them. But we also have to look at the residents' quality of life and work that in as well. And you'll hear from many residents tonight that express those concerns. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. And I just want to make the announcement.

[04:59:05] Unfortunately, Elmo is down for the rest of the night. Elmo is our overhead director. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. I'm just using this as a table. Okay, ready?

[04:59:26] All right, my name is Hina, and I live in the Aquacon district. I was here that fateful June night where we were all subjected to the dog and pony show by Dominion Power without any dogs, ponies, or subject matter experts. And while I could spend all three minutes excoriating Dominion for their lackadaisical performance, it would really be a waste of breath and time.

[04:59:43] Although as someone who works in the school system, I've seen my fair share of bad group projects, and let me tell you, that one would have gotten an F. I mean, and they didn't send the A team or even the B team, or I could go through every letter of the alphabet. It still wouldn't encapsulate how unprepared this group was for what should have been basic questions. Which leads me to my next point, a topic that Mr. Stewart has kept coming back to repeatedly, and Dominion again tonight tap-danced around it, about the inordinate amount of time for the mystery guests that Dominion claimed has no reported adverse effects, and it was cutting-edge technology from 1980.

[05:00:13] Now, I myself am cutting-edge technology from 1979, and I have quite a few complaints for the manufacturer. But to rely on 50-year-old technology is a bold policy choice. There's another cutting-edge technology from 1983 that I wanted to highlight that also came with few warnings. In the tiny town of Pripyat in what is now Ukraine but then Soviet Russia, they built a brand-new power station.

[05:00:32] But three years passed, no problems. Then midnight, April 30, 1986, fourth nuclear reactor exploded due to innumerable clerical miscalculations. And I'm sure if Dominion were around then, they would say all those cases of cancer were completely unrelated to the nuclear power reactor powering the power of a Hiroshima bomb every 12 hours.

[05:00:50] It was just all untested technology. The main point I really want to make is this. While I really would love to make the Dominion reps cry, like really ugly cry, it doesn't matter. They don't matter. They're going to do whatever they want and whatever they feel like, and no one in this room can stop them. However, they are a symptom of a much larger problem.

[05:01:07] and as probably the only card-carrying socialist in the room, the real issue here is the reliance on capitalism to breed innovation when all it breeds is greed. The only thing Dominion cares about is to make sure they continue to be a multi-billion dollar corporation, but the issue is they're allowed to do that as a monopoly. There's no choice. There isn't even an illusion of choice.

[05:01:23] The Commonwealth of Virginia has allowed this monopoly to run unchecked and unchallenged for decades. The only recourse we have is something I stole from the history books. Americans are always an ingenious sort of people, and when corporations play unfair, then we don't have to patronize them. I'm most specifically talking about the Montgomery bus boycotts.

[05:01:38] If we can find a way to drastically decrease our power consumption, hit them where it hurts in their wallets. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. I'm Clancy McQuig, Jack's Jr. partner in LOCA from the Woodbridge District.

[05:01:58] The reason that I'm talking tonight is because one of the things I do is design data centers and the power distribution systems that support them. In my opinion, all data centers should be underground. There should be no above-ground data centers.

[05:02:14] beyond stupid building them above ground. The power distribution systems with all these above ground wires, Con Ed has shown time and time again that you can run all your power underground. I don't care what Dominion says about they like towers. Towers are your enemy.

[05:02:37] They're open to EMP interference, and they're open to environmental interference, freezing, hurricanes, et cetera, underground power, which is how Con Ed provides all the power to New York City, is much more reliable and much less dangerous. For the data center, I mean the switching station, my personal opinion is the switching station should be underground as well.

[05:03:02] And if it doesn't go underground, at least half of it could go underground. So the impact on the community is reduced by 50%. There's no reason for it to be a 120-foot tall building other than plain engineering laziness. Second thing they should do with this thing is make sure that there's a Faraday cage built into the structure so that the EMP cannot take it offline. And that's it. God bless you all. Thank you. And I want to congratulate your board on how much attention you all have paid to this. This is really stunningly good. Thank you very much for your attention tonight. All right, Rachel, before you go, I want to call up my next group of five. Mindy

[05:03:42] Deepenbrock, Tom Deepenbrock, Victoria Swanson, Temple Brown, and Virginia Rose. Rachel Ellis, Gainesville District. I'm asking you to vote no on the Vent Hill substation. We are now beginning to see the consequences of all the yes votes to the data industry. The industry continues to threaten this county because you do not say no to them. This substation is needed for one reason and one reason only, data centers. We hear the word reliability, but it is reliability for data

[05:04:22] centers, not us. Dominion Energy has been less than forthcoming regarding the specifics of this project. How many transmission lines? At some point, this board needs to decide who you represent. Is it the data center industry and the relentless need for power, or is it the residents that are being impacted daily by your decisions? The county is watching, the whole county, not just Western Prince William. We are wondering when Prince William County elected officials will prioritize residents first. You will hear from residents that will be impacted, and this is not all of them. I do not have to be living in this area to know that there will be significant impacts

[05:05:00] if approved. Please vote no. You have the power and authority to vote no. Use it. I am asking for an 8-0 vote to deny this. Thank you. Next speaker, please. May I claim five minutes for the Save Bremar Coalition? Yes, but please make sure you adjust your mic so we can hear you. Okay. Can you hear me? I'm Mindy Diepenbrock. I'm from the Brentsville District. I am a co-founder of the

[05:05:35] Save Bremar Coalition. I am here representing almost 900 people who have joined our group, and once again, I want to thank the supervisors that have met with our group over the last few months. It means a lot to us and the residents of Bremar who have been able to share our mounting concerns around this project. And once again, I wrote a really long speech, and now it doesn't apply, so bear with me. Basically, I'm here tonight because Dominion is just not asking for a simple upgrade. They want to replace a small switching station with a very large, high-voltage substation

[05:06:10] in the middle of residential neighborhoods. What Dominion told the public does not match what is in their application, and in public meetings, they call it a simple switching station and actually corrected residents and you all for calling it a substation. To quote, to clarify, this isn't a substation. It's a switching station over and over and over. And we have the transcription. You can hear it in all your planning commission meetings and the meeting on June 23rd. Dominion went out

[05:06:47] of their way to insist that this is a switching station and definitely not a substation. That seemed odd to us because on the top, as you saw, they call it Vinhill substation, not Vinhill switching station. And if you want to see the definition, Dominion has their own definition of what a switching station, a substation is right on their website, and it's not what we heard tonight. So basically, we were concerned when we heard that, so we looked closely at their application, and then we blew up Dominion's site plan by 600 percent so we could read it because

[05:07:25] it was illegible. You saw it right up there. Nothing is labeled. And what we found were seven huge transformers that Dominion never disclosed to residents, and they didn't disclose it to you in the June 23rd meeting. The presence of these transformers is what makes this a substation legally. It is not just a switching station. Also on that plan is a large generator that still hasn't been mentioned. We don't know if that's a diesel generator, a propane generator. What is

[05:07:57] that? And what is the hazmat containment plan? We also see on there seven 230 kilovolt lines and either two or six 500 kilovolt lines. And we don't know for sure because Dominion has filed two different site plans, which is on the County Z portal right now. And then we heard a completely different story tonight. So what is it? What's going in our neighborhood? Whatever this really is, it's clear that Dominion wants to build a major hub for high voltage power lines in our community. And this is not a simple no big deal switching station upgrade. It is a major heavy

[05:08:36] industrial project right in the middle of a residential area. There has been a complete lack of transparency regarding basic information about this project. And it's interesting that they come with some answers tonight because we've been asking Dominion the same questions for over a year now. And every call, email, and meeting has been met with obfuscation and feigned ignorance. So as you saw on their slide, they told us they are going to plant 381 trees and 1,451 shrubs, but not a single one of the representatives had any idea how many power lines would connect at that substation

[05:09:14] and where they will go. And tonight, I'm not sure we still know how many transmission lines they're planning to put in and out of that station. I didn't really hear a spill containment plan for the hazardous materials to be on site, like the SF6 gas, the transformer oil, and what is this generator. When I talked to a fire marshal earlier this year, they had no idea about SF6 gas and how to contain it. And Dominion avoided answering that question when they came to speak to us in May. The sound studies that they mentioned, I find very interesting because we

[05:09:51] asked for them and they weren't provided. And also the planning commission asked for them in September and they said they did them in August. I know I'm running out of time. So I want to say that we understand that Dominion has an obligation to provide power.

[05:10:07] We do not accept this outright refusal to be straight with us and our elected leaders. It's an insult. This high-impact facility belongs in industrial zoning and not near our homes, not near our schools or daycares. And for that reason, and because of Dominion's ongoing misrepresentation of this project, we are asking you to deny it.

[05:10:28] And thank you so much for your time and attention to this. We really appreciate it. All right, next speaker, please. Hi, thank you. I'm Tom Deepen-Brock. I'm in the Brentsville District.

[05:10:45] I was also going to say something completely different, but now I have a different thing that I want to say. And what I want to say is we have absolutely no idea what this facility actually is. After tonight, I have more questions than answers. First thing I want to say is tonight we heard for the third time from the third Dominion representative this phrase.

[05:11:07] It takes 500 kilovolts in and switches it to 230 kilovolts. This is a massively deceptive statement. You don't just switch it like that. You run it through transformers. You step it down. That is the way it should be referred to. The reason they use this phrase is because they're trying to hide the fact that these transformers were on there.

[05:11:25] The only reason they mentioned tonight, actually, there were seven transformers, is because we caught them with that. The reason that's important is because the presence of those transformers should trigger a whole bunch of extra conditions in the SUP. So planning said, and it also shocks me, the planning didn't know how many transformers were on this site.

[05:11:46] Are you kidding me? That's just shocking to me. So planning said that they evaluated this as a substation, but if you read this SUP, the enforceable conditions specifically say they only refer to the switching portion of this facility.

[05:12:02] Everything else that is on that site cannot be regulated if you approve this SUP the way it's written. So the transformers, the spill containment plan, whatever that is, the generator that's on there, which nobody has mentioned. It's the size of a railroad freight car, by the way, if anybody looks at that site plan.

[05:12:21] And that's the other problem, the site plan. Tonight we heard that site plan is largely conceptual. So what is it? We have no idea. One thing I do know is that you guys can't regulate other than the conditions that they put into the, here's what this SUP specifically limits you to regulating.

[05:12:40] And it is not the highest impact things that are on that site. Last time we were here, Dominion said they didn't even consider other sites. Tonight we heard a whole story about other sites that they considered, which is true.

[05:12:57] I don't know. Nobody knows. Sound study, Mindy mentioned, the fact that planning considers this an expansion is also ridiculous. That's kind of like these people who go build high-rises in their backyard and say, oh, all I was doing was expanding on the little Cape Cod that I had on that site.

[05:13:17] I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous. Let's call this out. They are building a massive new industrial facility, and then they're knocking down the old one. This is not an expansion of an existing facility. What this whole thing is, is a train wreck.

[05:13:32] It's a train wreck of conflicting, potentially false statements, insufficient controls, undisclosed lines, undisclosed future plans, unenforceable verbal commitments. The only thing we know is this is a really heavy-duty, massive industrial facility that doesn't belong in residential.

[05:13:51] Beyond that, we don't even really know what this thing is. And the only reason, the only thing we have are the words that these folks have said. There is nothing enforceable in that SUP for everything that we are bringing up tonight. It should be denied. Thank you. All right, if we can have our next speaker, please.

[05:14:13] Good evening. Temple Brown from Noakesville. I'm actually the guy that will be living across the street from this facility. So if anybody's got validity of an argument, I think it's me. I'd like to kind of shift focus for a minute and go down this road. So I purchased my home in 2018 because it was located in the rural Crescent and because the agriculture was zoned.

[05:14:34] I grew up in that kind of environment, and that's where I wanted to continue. Since my arrival, this board, maybe not all the members sitting here, But this board, conceptually, has consistently ignored our pleas to protect the Rural Crescent, our homes from development and projects.

[05:14:52] They have, at every turn, approved every major land development project before it. The former board chair, Ann Wheeler, ram-rotted through the data centers. Thank you for that. Ignoring the pleas of the Rural Crescent, do not put these in our backyard.

[05:15:08] At the time, the board was convening on this and having these public meetings. These issues were raised. Insufficient power on the grid to support the data centers. Insufficient power infrastructure to support the data centers. No environmental impacts or insufficient environmental impacts were noted.

[05:15:27] Destruction of farmable land, water usage, destruction of the rural crescent. All of these were ignored, and the sad part was every one of these claims had been proved factually correct Well, this board ignored everybody thinking we're a bunch of ignorant farmers complaining that somebody's building something in our backyard.

[05:15:47] That's not true, and it's disingenuous. I attended the State Board of Virginia Environmental Impact when the data centers decided that, oh, we don't have enough power to support our data centers. And they asked for an environmental waiver for all those generators.

[05:16:06] And I might ask the question, why is the state of Virginia solving problems the data centers should have identified before they ever broke ground? And the boards should have rejected because of insufficient data. So we continued on. And they were granted their waiver.

[05:16:22] What I'm curious about is this railroad car size generator, which they use downrange in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan that I got to stand next to. The decibel level of those generators are anywhere from 80 to 100 dBs at the source. Where is that noise analysis when that thing goes off?

[05:16:43] I didn't see that included in the plan, and I didn't hear it mentioned tonight. My specific concerns are groundwater pollution from seeping hazmat, and that data center is on top of a hill that runs down into Kettle Run's stream.

[05:17:03] You have a hazmat spill. It goes right into Kettle Run, right into Broad Run, right into Lake Jackson for an environmental disaster that you will not be able to control. This board has the opportunity to say no tonight. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[05:17:26] Good evening. I'm Victoria Swanson. I'm president of the Morris Farm HOA. We are of a community of over 660 homes here in Gainesville. We have two Dominion projects running through our community, two large transmission lines through our north side.

[05:17:45] I'm here to talk about the lack of transparency and to remind you of something simple. You guys are here representing us, not Dominion. Our experience with Dominion has raised concerns about transparency. At one of their open houses, we asked about EMF from our transmission lines that run along the north side of our neighborhood.

[05:18:07] We measured approximately 25 milligas, if I'm saying that correctly, near some of our homes. That's extremely high. Dominion, when we approached them with this information, they said, well, that must be a glitch or a temporary fluctuation.

[05:18:23] Dominion expected us to believe them and accept that explanation when we independently measured those frequencies. I think this example, along with what you heard tonight, is a pattern of lack of transparency from Dominion.

[05:18:40] Dominion has a responsibility to operate its system. You have a responsibility to represent us, the residents. These decisions can't easily be undone. Please require the transparency, the independent verification, and the answers that our communities affected by them deserve.

[05:19:02] Tonight, I did bring a member of the younger generation with me to remind you of the impact of our decisions.

[05:19:16] The younger generation does not want to speak tonight. Thank you. All right, before I call up the next speaker, I'm going to call up our next group of five.

[05:19:38] Hello? Sorry. A little bit closer to it, yes. Hello, hello? Okay, there we go. Some of you may know me.

[05:19:58] Some of you may not. What I'm trying to say is that for the substation, I mean, we say that it's a transformer, but what type of transformer?

[05:20:16] Is it supposed to be Optimus Prime or Bumblebee or whatever? But no. What I'm trying to say is vote no. And for the whole thing of saying that literally we would not have it, have the subway, we would not because, I mean, it's like, I mean, it's over like a thousand times power.

[05:20:56] So, yeah. Thank you. Before he goes, we're going to make this official. Can you say your name for the record? I am Draven Swanson. I'm sorry, first name again? I am Draven Swanson. All right thank you. All right I'm before you go I'm going to call for

[05:21:27] next group. I have J.K. Daly, Greg Reeder, Sarah Neff, Kimberly Crestwick. I think this is Marianne McCone if you're still here. I think that you've signed up. I also have a Zach. I don't know who that is. All right you may proceed. Good evening my name is Virginia Rose and I live in the Brentsville

[05:22:05] district. I live in Braemar and one of the homes closest to the proposed substation expansion site. I just wanted to come and share my concerns as a mom and as a resident of Braemar. I have two small kids that attend the local school, which is only, it's less than a mile away from the proposed substation. I'm concerned about living so close to this type of industrial infrastructure because I'm concerned about the FF6 gas. I appreciate Dominion's explanation tonight, but the climate

[05:22:41] is getting weirder and wackier every year. Tornadoes, earthquakes, and wildfires, and I don't think that a leak is so far-fetched. I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned about if there is an earthquake or a wildfire, what would be the potential consequences? The closest home in Braemar is only 340 feet away from the proposed facility.

[05:23:08] I'm also concerned about the noise pollution. I appreciated finally hearing their noise study tonight, but I am very concerned about the construction noise. At a community meeting, we were told construction could take approximately two years. What kind of sound buffer is going to exist in that time frame?

[05:23:26] I'm worried about the potential new transmission lines and additional infrastructure coming from the substation and through our community in the future. I'm worried about the potential impact on our property values for my family. Our home is our biggest investment. Like so many Braemar families, when we purchased our house, we chose Braemar very intentionally. We believe it is one of the very best places to raise a family. There's lots of green spaces and nature trails, excellent schools, and lots of families. Putting industrial infrastructure of this scale immediately next to our homes changes the character of the neighborhood. We understand that the infrastructure is necessary. We are asking

[05:24:04] that infrastructure of this scale be located in an appropriate industrial area rather than immediately bordering existing homes. We chose Bramar because this is where we want to raise our family. Tonight we're asking the Board of County Supervisors to protect our neighborhood from encroachment of industrial infrastructure and preserve the community that we call home. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Janice Daly and I live in the Brentsville District. I hesitated to sign up to speak tonight because I really have nothing specific left to say

[05:24:42] to convince you to do the right thing for Prince William County and its current citizens and future citizens by denying this irresponsible, shape-shifting application. Industrial development does not belong in residential neighborhoods, period, no matter how cheap, easy, and convenient it is for the applicant. I've been attending various meetings. I watched this afternoon's meeting, and I keep wondering how this has gotten so out of control and become the premier issue of our lives. And I know I'm not the only person that feels that way. And actually, that's a rhetorical

[05:25:19] question. Please don't take supervisor time later and answer it. Please. I do know, though, that we are all tired of the finger pointing, the blame, and the regret. What we want is a better path forward. I'll share something else that I do know. If it weren't for the unbelievable dedication of a handful of citizens literally spending the past year consumed with this project, keeping all of us informed and keeping all of you informed. I think we'd all be bulldozed over by now and scrambling to figure out our futures. I keep thinking of a famous quote, but my new version

[05:25:55] of it is greed is not good, which leads me to another silly question. Why must a very profitable corporation continue to put profits over people? Why do they refuse to work hand in hand with county government and affected citizens to plan infrastructure that benefits all involved?

[05:26:16] Everyone in this room and the county really needs to remember that this is only one spoke in a giant wheel. Pass or fail, we all need to put the same energy and pressure on those in Richmond and beyond to hold companies accountable to truth and transparency and to protect citizens, their homes, health, and futures.

[05:26:39] I want to thank the board for all the time you've spent on this issue tonight and going back, and especially those of you who have been engaged with us throughout this process. I realize that the board's powers are limited, and that's another thing that goes back to us needing to pressure Richmond.

[05:26:55] But please use the powers that you do have to prevent the opening of heavy industrial development through neighborhoods where so many of the residents have no idea what's coming. They will not believe it when they see it, and they can't even imagine the scale of it.

[05:27:11] Please deny this application and demand better from all future applicants. thank you for your time next speaker please good evening supervisors my name is sarah neff and i'm a resident and registered voter in the beautiful brunsville district i've been there since 2012 i come here tonight on behalf of my family of three young kids who are active in our neighborhood braemar and for hundreds of other busy families like mine who have reached out to you via email

[05:27:44] called you spoken out on social media strongly opposing this expansion of the vent hill substation Please don't put mine and hundreds of other families at risk with this improperly zoned heavy industrial GIS gas substation in a residential area when so many questions and risks exist well beyond today.

[05:28:08] We heard what Dominion and the Planning Commission had to say tonight about sending out their substation expansion for analysis and mitigating impact and only having minimal impact on the quality of life of the people who live there.

[05:28:24] But I just ask you to look around tonight, read the emails that we have been sent from the people who are directly impacted. those are the experts of what kind of impact this will have not their third party reviewers or whatever they say on the piece of paper i have not heard a single resident that says this is what we want in our community this is no big deal there are plenty of people who i've spoken to in our neighborhood who have not had the opportunity to come here and don't understand the impact that this will have on our community today, tomorrow, and years from now. So I urge you to deny that

[05:29:02] and insist that Dominion find a different site that is heavy industrial zoned or put it underground. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, my name is Greg Reeder. I'm here from the Braemar HOA.

[05:29:20] Thank you, Chair and members of the board. I did want to clarify, start by clarifying one thing. the switching station the substation if we look carefully it they're trying to have it both ways a switching station is regulated by the scc because it's higher power a substation is regulated by counties because it's included in the plan so by telling you both ways they're having both eventualities there's existing legal cases with dominion for this exact same situation where they confused the boards over what the terminology was but i'm not here to talk about switching stations

[05:29:56] I'm here because back in June, you told us that Dominion Energy didn't have what you need. Bramard also asked them questions, to which we got no answers. They told us tonight they value community feedback, but they haven't given us any feedback. So we're asking for three things for you as a board.

[05:30:12] First is to protect your own authority. Under Virginia law, once the transmission line carries more than 150 kilovolts, your zoning authority ends. That goes to the SCC. The substation is different. This is yours to decide tonight in this SUP.

[05:30:28] The moment you approve it, every transmission line that goes through that substation or switching station now moves to the authority of the state. You lose control once you approve this. And so it's almost like eating the poison apple or, you know, Sleeping Beauty's story.

[05:30:43] Once you sign over that contract and you approve this, you lose all your authority for any lines that come in and out of there from that point forward. This is the last chance you have to vote on that if you let it go. The second is you shouldn't approve this in isolation. I know you've heard this all over tonight, but there's a lot of things that are going in with this project.

[05:31:02] You saw on their own slide that Dominion said that they already assumed that you were going to approve this. That was one of the bullets on their slide that says you were going to approve the Vinhill substation, which, by the way, listed on the Morrisville-Wishing Star line on the Dominion site clearly says Vinhill substation.

[05:31:18] So if you want some clarification from them. They also said there wouldn't be any new towers built, but that's part of the application they have with the SEC is where they're going to wreck and rebuild bigger towers on that existing line. So we're on a war of words here whether what they're providing to you is correct or not.

[05:31:36] The third thing is set the standards for other counties to follow. Virginia law requires you to align with your own comprehensive plan. So it's a little shocking when the Planning Commission says that this won't have any impact because they didn't list that. They're bullets only listed good for business, won't affect county services.

[05:31:53] It didn't mention anything about effects on residents or any of the lifestyle changes that come with this power line. So to make these details clear, I've provided each one of you a copy that the Braemar attorneys wrote up. You all should have a copy of that already.

[05:32:09] I just wanted to give you kind of the highlights of what I had to say tonight and the more meat of the detail is in there. So we do appreciate your leadership. We understand you have a lot of things to consider. and we just thank you for your time and take this into consideration of how it affects the community. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Kimberly Creswick and I reside in the Brunsville District. Thank you for the opportunity in allowing us to speak tonight. I am here tonight, not just as a concerned resident, but as someone who has called this my home for most of my life. In 1981, my father moved our family here from Fort Silla, Oklahoma.

[05:32:49] this became our home. Years later, I made the same choice for my own family. I chose to stay in Prince William County. I chose to raise my family here because I believed it was a place where families could put down roots and, most importantly, feel secure about the future. This is why the proposed expansion of the Venn Hill substation concerns me so deeply. We are talking about an enormous expansion of electrical infrastructure in a community where families live, where children go to school, where I teach, and people have invested their lives and their futures. And we

[05:33:25] need to be honest about what is driving this unprecedented growth for electricity. The explosive growth of data centers is placing an enormous new demand on Virginia's power grid. If this infrastructure being built is largely to accommodate that growth, then the residents living alongside it deserve transparency. We deserve meaningful consideration of alternatives, And we deserve a voice in what happens in our community.

[05:33:54] I don't want my children and someday my grandchildren to look around and wonder why the community their family loved and chose to put roots in was transformed to accommodate industrial scale development that primarily serves multi-billion dollar corporations.

[05:34:16] We should be planning for growth without sacrificing the people and the communities that have made this area worth living and setting roots down in the first place. I have been here since 1981. I don't just happen to live here.

[05:34:31] My family chose this community. My family works in this community. My family has watched the Board of County Supervisors make good decisions and poor decisions over the past several decades. I am asking you to respect the investment that every family has made who has made the choice to reside in Prince William County.

[05:34:53] Please reconsider the proposed expansion and require that all reasonable alternatives be truly, fully examined before placing this enormous burden on a well-established community. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight.

[05:35:11] Next speaker, please. Mary Ann McCone, Brentsville. Dominion would like Brentsville residents, especially those in Oaksville and Braemar, to believe that the SUP 2025-9 is just an aw shucks, folks, this is just a little old upgrade, when in fact it is more hazardous than they want us to realize.

[05:35:38] As we all know, Dominion intends to expand the Ventil substation into a heavy industrial substation switching station, complex with huge transformers and massive generator emitting noise 24-7 and large amounts of SF6, one of the world's most dangerous greenhouse gases.

[05:35:55] Over the past couple of years, Dominion Power has obfuscated light and dissembled its real intentions to establish a massive hub that will enable them to run multiple high-voltage 230-500 kV transmission lines through our community to power data centers.

[05:36:11] This isn't an obscenity and will be ruinous to the residents of Noakesville-Bramar and others in the Brentsville District. Thanks to Save Bramar and PW Coalition to beat back Dominion's lack of transparency. Furthermore, Dominion's massive expansion of the Vint Hill substation is incongruous with the Vint Hill Corridor Small Area Plan goals, a project sponsored by Tom Gordy.

[05:36:37] On the Vinhill Corridor promotional page is a section labeled Success Criteria. Two criteria used to evaluate success are relevant to tonight's discussion. The first, and I am paraphrasing, planning smart infrastructure, not just more development.

[05:36:55] Instead of letting growth happen haphazardly, the plan will lay out where roads, community services, etc., but most importantly, make sure growth doesn't burden existing residents. The second one is promoting environmental justice for all.

[05:37:14] This plan will aim to ensure that no part of the community is unfairly burdened by environmental risks. Let me repeat, no burden to existing residents and no community is unfairly burdened by environmental risks.

[05:37:30] The Brentsville District, especially Noakesville, Bremar, will be unfairly and catastrophically burdened by Dominion's power, Vithill substation, and transmission lines. Further, Dominion Power is a bully. It's represented to obfuscate, lie, and dissemble.

[05:37:47] Their inability and refusal to respond to your questions, your constituents, those of Noakesville and Bremar questions, it is deliberate. Their display of contempt permeates their very interaction. At every box meeting, at every community meeting, Dominion officers and their representatives on ethical behavior must be stopped.

[05:38:10] Vote no. Next speaker, please. Hi, I'm Kathleen Flory from the Princeville District. Thanks for giving residents the chance to speak.

[05:38:28] Yesterday, in Secaucus, New Jersey, 5,000 gallons of diesel spilled into the Hackensack River as it was being transferred to a backup generator for a data center. These types of industrial accidents appear as one-offs, but they are in fact endemic and highlight the nature of what we are risking.

[05:38:48] The basic health of our rivers and waterways on which we depend. They also remind us of a basic fact. These companies have no incentive to tally up the full consequences of their actions. That's up to us. I've been living on Kettle Run Road right off Vent Hill since 1995.

[05:39:08] As someone who actually has to live with the environmental, economic, and aesthetic costs of the proposed substation on Vend Hill, someone who has to pay electricity bills that are already too expensive, that's before they start being raised to subsidize energy rates for massive data centers.

[05:39:27] I urge you to deny permission. Deny permission until the CEO of Dominion agrees to the substation down the road from his house, until he agrees to send his kids to school right next to the substation, full of hexafluoride, where they breathe in the fumes from diesel generators.

[05:39:46] What's at stake is a radical separation of cost and benefit in which Prince William County gets nothing but the cost. Should massive companies like Dominion again foist the true cost of these developments onto us while pocketing the profits?

[05:40:04] Should they be allowed to deface a particularly scenic part of the county? This substation isn't being proposed to lower cost. It's being built to lure even more data centers into our state, ensuring that our rates go up even further.

[05:40:22] Economically, environmentally, aesthetically, the public pays, while the people who profit will never set foot on Ventile Road again, let alone live with the consequences of their greed. as custodians of the public interest i strongly urge you to stand up for the common good and deny permission to upgrade this substation thank you for your time thank you for the next speaker i'm

[05:40:49] going to call up the next group um rena staff becky la mosco i'm capo okay ryan buehsler gabby santa maria and um before you also speak zach i want to understand something because i'm not sure what you put are you in prince william county or i'm um i'm from popper county i'm a popper um i don't have any money uh because i'm the court jester they don't pay this job it's crazy what we do is people who are non-residents oh no this is a joke i'm i'm from prince william county i got i

[05:41:27] think but prince in the popper mark twain yeah let's go all right zach attack uh doing punch lines punching up with my punch lines i think stand-up comedy gives us an opportunity to all stand together and get this revolution starting we are the 96 there's more of us that have things in common and we got to know that data center alley is uh is terrible and it shouldn't five times more energy to fund the approved data centers we don't need to put our energy into that kind of technology i am mateys ai is junk slop and it's got to stop so let's not do a cop out and i know some of you guys aren't voting green i know you wasted an hour and a half my

[05:42:04] time with that planning thing when it seemed like your mind's already made up but you should let the people speak right away. There should be freedom of speech. So join my party, international pool party. We swim in the Chin Center at night, adult swim. And there's a thousand of us. It's a bigger meeting. And we all stand cool in the pool and seeing, hey, yeah, I do agree with what you're saying. Universal basic income should be ubiquitous. I should be paid $2,026 by you guys.

[05:42:30] Because what's my tax money going to? Schools? No. I want to walk in walking schools. I want swimming schools like fishes. We're doing everything wrong and we need gardens. So Signal Hill Park is up in Manassas. That's where I do my gesturing. I love the game of hoops, but I was informed I cannot hoop in here because that, you know, we can't have a hoopla. We can't make a hoopla about hootenanny. But yeah, Dominion, you guys got to say no, no to feeding AI. And it's not debatable. It's just a fact that it's broken technology for billionaires to drop crap on

[05:43:04] peaceful protesters uh so i just i'm really saying if you guys don't vote no tonight just resign just get it over with because you're not helping the people in any way uh it's just it's just propaganda everywhere i go around here national night out you you're probably familiar with this thing it doesn't happen at night they just take over the basketball court and they do like distracted driving and it's like well the basketballers want to basket here you know that's the real game not this stadium dumb stuff we need to stop getting distracted by the spectacles and show some respect to our neighbors and such by saying nay to data,

[05:43:41] nada, don't need it. It's just a junk. And you guys got to vote no tonight or just stop because you're just making the world a terrible place. Five times more energy to power the current data centers. It's unfathomable that we would do this during climate crisis. It's a very serious issue of climate crisis. There should be gardens at the basketball court. I should have my peach trees. That's where the game was founded. And I'd like some lights out there, Dominion. Your $300 million proposal could go to making an oasis in our town because there's no food growing

[05:44:16] anywhere. It's food desert, in fact. So we should be having these meetings in the pool where we could have fun together and play and action speak louder than words and such. So I still love you to baby because you you guys got to grow up you got to get use your minds take it easy peace so quickly can you just give your full name again and what magisterial district uh sorry say again which magisterial district prince william county popper county it's not it's america we don't need

[05:44:46] princes potomac princeville the first one no ppw pew pew pew all right we're gonna go to the next speaker all right good evening chair jefferson supervisors and community members i'm rena stapp and I live in the Brentsville District.

[05:45:12] As a millennial, I can't help but say, oh my God, we're back again. I have already appeared before you to talk about how data centers and high-power transmission lines don't belong where we live, learn, and play. Let's add enormous substations to that list now.

[05:45:28] The proposed Brent Hill substation is just that. It is a large substation with high-power transformers on site. It's these transformers that will make it a substation and not a switching station, according to Dominion themselves and the SCC. When Dominion came to meet with Braemar back in May, they repeatedly corrected us whenever we would refer to it as a substation.

[05:45:46] Even though while the signage said substation, their SUP says substation, what they said when they talked to us was that it would switch voltage. And that doesn't sit well with me. I graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor's in electrical engineering. I worked at Lockheed Martin for six years on submarine systems. You don't just switch voltage. That's literally what a transformer does. It is only because a dedicated group of residents took the time to go over all of the plans that have been submitted to the county to find the transformers we're talking about.

[05:46:16] And they weren't called out when Dominion came to talk to the residents. Dominion reps actually lied to us and told us this was only a switching station. They kept telling us otherwise. And they lied to us when they said they didn't know how many lines were going to come out of it. They lied to us when they said they didn't know which other projects would be involved with this. We specifically asked those questions. We supplied those questions in advance of them coming to talk to Braemar, and we kept being told, they don't know, they don't know. Well, a few minutes ago, the transmission line planner told us this substation is involved in projects that have been planned for years. Dominion has repeatedly lied to you when presenting this project and not

[05:46:54] calling out these pieces of technology and using the wrong terms. These are very different pieces of electrical infrastructure, and they're differently regulated in other counties, specifically Loudoun County and Fairfax County. And Loudoun is where there's the highest number of data centers other than Prince William. Here in Prince William, we have some catching up to do with our regulation, which is what I'm hoping you all will help us out with tonight. There's a statistic that says 70% of Americans don't want to live near data centers. I don't know the exact stats on who says they want to live next to a substation with constantly humming machinery, but I'm guessing it's about the same. This substation is a couple hundred feet from

[05:47:32] Braemar Residence. Building a substation or data center so close to residential areas is not what anyone wants in this county. It's not what anyone would want anywhere. My ask tonight is that you listen to the people affected by this substation, the residents of Prince William County. Not just Brentsville, but everyone in Prince William County is affected. These lines will span across district lines. I need you to vote no on this SUP. Thank you. Next speaker,

[05:48:03] please. Hi, my name is Becky Lim-Kalko. I'm in the Brentsville district and almost a 22-year resident in Braemar. I'm here to support my neighbors and to protect my home. We put about four to five contracts on homes before we finally found Braemar. We went to Fairfax, South Riding, and we just felt like the infrastructure was kind of too diverse, too big, and we really settled in

[05:48:34] Braemar for the reason of the sunsets, the hills, and the trees. We noticed that there were power lines. I noticed that when we moved in. Actually, someone brought that to my attention at work one night they're like are you near the power lines and I'm like oh my gosh yes I am so at 11 30 at night I got in my car and drove out just to see what they were so I'm like oh shoot what have we done and I knew they were big and I actually reached out to a Dominion representative to walk my street with me so they could hear the buzzing and they could see how close the power lines were

[05:49:09] to the home so we could I could just feel comforted that they felt like there was no danger and there is no concern to my then two-year-old something else I thought about tonight I thought back to my younger self and how I did worry about those safety issues and I think about deterring future Prince William residents I'm an empty nester now and looking forward to my future chapters but my home then becomes my asset and my concern is of course selling to the next family with confidence that they'll have the same experience that I had in Prince William County please vote

[05:49:48] know. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Ryan Bissler. I'm in the Brentville District. I've been a Braemar neighborhood resident for about nine years. A couple months ago, I had a speech prepared regarding this switching station, substation. It doesn't matter. It's a mess. But I had to rewrite it all because things kind of went a little sideways over the past couple months.

[05:50:17] But tonight, frankly, I'm at a loss for words. I have a whole page written and a whole bunch of notes on top of them because of what has been stated here tonight. Hopefully, I get through it all uh 90 days ago this board had an opportunity to send a clear message to dominion energy that prince william county will not tolerate deceptive tactics instead the issue is kicked three months down the road only to bring us right back to where we started tonight did we really learn anything different from what these representatives told us tonight that we didn't know 90 days ago dominion is trying to strong arm you claiming brownouts are imminent if we don't get if we don't

[05:50:53] get their way but a very wise machinist once told me as i was working on a high priority project A lack of plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. They messed up. They haven't planned. Not my problem. Furthermore, this location makes no sense whatsoever.

[05:51:12] We've already heard many times tonight about how it's the middle of a residential neighborhood right across the street from a current residential neighborhood. It's all going to be houses. Would anybody think to take the middle of Braemar and plop a substation right in the middle of it today? No. Why? It's stupid.

[05:51:28] It doesn't matter if there's power lines there or not. they're just being lazy um furthermore i honestly have come to realize that i think i pity the dominion representatives here tonight based on what they've been telling us i don't know if they actually know what's going in does top brass at dominion energy actually provide the representatives here with the correct information it seems like the residents in this room know more about the project than what they do how many power lines are going in that's a huge topic that nobody seems to be able to answer tonight. Why is Dominion doing this? Profit. That's it. Profit. Shareholders

[05:52:07] trump everything. This expansion allows them to feed the power-hungry data centers, and that promotes huge money to line their pockets with. If they pitch a minor switching station and upgrade and build a massive substation, which it is going to be in some point anyway, what are the consequences? A fine? So they pay a few million dollars? Last quarter, Dominion posted $4.9 billion dollars with a B in revenue. A little fine doesn't, they don't care about that. I care about my home value though. There's a classic bait and switch. Our backyards are not Dominion's

[05:52:43] sandbox. Dismissing us won't hide the truth. There's a massive industrial square peg being forced into a residential round hole. We need to send a message that Prince William County is not the wild west of data center industrialization. I urge the board to deny this in full. Thank you.

[05:53:02] Thank you for the next speaker. I want to call up our next group. I have Elena Schlossberg, Amy Crosby, and Shelly Hogman. All right, you may proceed.

[05:53:18] My name is Gabriela Santamaria, and Madam Chair and members of the board, first of all, I would like to say thank you so much. I know it's a long evening, and I appreciate your time, but I also appreciate the opportunity to feel heard and seen, and a lot of your questions echo the questions and the concerns we've had.

[05:53:38] I'm glad that you're asking the tough questions that residents, so I'm originally from Braemar. I bought my home when I was 23 years old. I've had it for over 20 years, so I've seen it. I've seen the entire area when the power lines were really, really small, and then the Dominion said, oh, we're expanding.

[05:53:57] Our projections say we need bigger power lines. It's been three rounds of increases in power lines, and now, of course, it's the only one that has the power lines needed in order for a big substation or a switch station or whatever it is that they want to call it to go through there. But the entire time, they've told us this is the plan and these are the projections as of today. And it's interesting because I went to the meetings over the past year and as you guys have asked similar questions we have, I'm glad that at least you're getting answers

[05:54:32] because in Braemar, when the group came of the same people came to answer our questions, It was essentially quite frustrating, somewhat the same frustration you're having, but you have the authority to hold them accountable.

[05:54:48] And I ask you to please use that authority for the sake of the families and the people that are impacted. Because while they are saying that if you approve it, there will be community engagement meetings, there will be more information provided.

[05:55:06] up to now basic questions have not been answered to the community and basic questions have not been answered to you as the board of supervisors responsible and accountable to thousands of people so i don't think approving the application is going to create the transparency and the trust that is needed i think dominion has really failed to create that level of transparency needed and i think this is an opportunity to hold them accountable things could be better it does not have to be this way. But because they haven't been held accountable, the situation continues to

[05:55:40] be muddled and unclear. So I definitely don't envy the hard decision you have to make. At the same time, you do have the ability to create the change that is being asked of the residents that are going to be impacted. And I really do appreciate your time and your thorough questions and looking into, hey, you haven't been able to answer how many power lines.

[05:56:06] you show pictures but the pictures don't show the height we have to ask very basic things and so we hope that you hold them accountable and that you say no to this request for our benefit and our families thank you thank you next speaker please i wonder you can go good evening my name is amy crosby i live i'm in the brittsville district i've spoken a few times here at the meetings and i've listened online um i didn't write a speech but i really love everybody that took the time to do that it was very i have get nervous so i kind of appreciated that so i'm going to ask basic questions to the supervisors, some that I thought of that I want to know why y'all

[05:56:45] haven't thought of, and some that are directed at you. So for the first thing is, as Dominion mentioned, there one gentleman is very technical with his terminology. He is speaking, he said DC. People don't know that DC versus AC, they don't know what that means. So I think it's important that you get them to clarify that, direct current versus alternating current. Why can't we use specific types of those, and what does it mean? A couple gentlemen have explained that switching, And even one of the ladies' switching station means they're bringing in, they're not just switching it, turning off a light, and they're actually bringing in the transformers, which also carry their own hazard.

[05:57:19] So the gentleman, though, was saying that there are four lines that the new substation is going to be dealing with, three of which are already existing. Where is the fourth line going, and what is that connecting to? The Reed Energy Center is a thing, and it needs to be something that is considered for this.

[05:57:37] It is in the Dominion proposal, and it is something that they're using as a justification. It's not just a little bitty thing, and number one, it hasn't even started being built. It is that whole piece of land behind Novec and behind Dominion. That's important because I think they're going to use that to bring in power, to down power, and feed that battery depot.

[05:57:55] That's exactly what it is. Dominion has already purchased, the developer of that battery depot, has already sold two of their former battery depots that they developed to Dominion. So that's going to be a Dominion property, even if they don't want to mention that it's part of Dominion property. Or even if they're saying we can't speak on that, that is a different segment of Dominion.

[05:58:14] She even said that it's the generation department of Dominion that they can't speak on it. Why? Where is the legality there, and why don't we have those answers? They talk about the FS6 containment protocol and backup plans for the pressure sensors and the five-day evaluation that one gentleman spoke.

[05:58:31] What happens to the grid and the electricity when that system goes down? Does that mean when they say that, oh, the SF6 is dangerous and they shut it down because of these pressure sensors, does that affect our grid? Is that something that we have considered that way as well? Another thing would be the sound thing that they spoke about, taking that analysis.

[05:58:51] What will that look like when the generators come on or how will that affect us? Will the extra lines coming in make more sounds? Not just at the location where the substation is, but even all around it. As I drove by today on Vent Hill Road, because I live in Braymar as well, you can see where the lines are already going.

[05:59:10] They've already started putting down pallets where they're going to be able to drive, and they're going to be upgrading these lines. That's going to happen no matter what. They're going to tear down the old ones and put up the new ones. So I just think that that's interesting. And the last and final thing I'll say is we base our homes and how we can buy a home on 30 percent of our income dominion is for this they said it was 300 million that's 0.05 of their income please thank you thank you good evening thank you for having us my name is shelly hogman and i lived in the brainmark community for more than 20 years i now

[05:59:47] am i have moved out of the area um and part of the reason i moved out less than a year ago was the growing uncertainty surrounding the data center development and the possibility of the Dominion transmission lines impacting our community.

[06:00:03] My former home was in Tartan Hills, and I would have been directly affected by these issues. So I understand personally what it feels like to live with the constant question of what may be built near your home, where the transmission lines may go, and how those decisions could permanently change the neighborhood.

[06:00:20] I'm here tonight because even though I no longer live in Braemar, I still care deeply about the community and the people who do call it home. Braemar is an extraordinary neighborhood. It is a place where people raise their families, build lifelong friendships, invest in their homes, and expect to enjoy the community that they worked so hard to be a part of like we did.

[06:00:44] I'm back tonight to support my friends and former neighbors who are still living with that uncertainty. I have to say there's a tremendous sense of relief in no longer having that threat hanging over my home. But my relief should not come simply because I moved away. The people who remain in Braemar deserve to have that same sense of security.

[06:01:03] These decisions are not simply about infrastructure, utility corridors, or lines on a map. They are about people's homes, their property, their quality of life, and the character of an established community. I respectfully ask you to listen carefully to the residents of the Braemar neighborhood and protect the community they have worked so hard to build.

[06:01:21] Thank you for your time. All right, thank you very much. We are now going to go to remote public comment time. I also ask everyone aboard, please have a seat. supervisor angry thank you madam chair uh chris are we ready uh good evening first speaker is vita carol miss carol go ahead please okay i'm gonna make sure you guys can hear me before i start yes ma'am we can hear you okay um vita carol brentsville district so i'm at home with a sick

[06:01:57] kid and couldn't be there tonight but i want to applaud the awesome braemar citizens who have put so much time into this case and the HOA. I think this is the fourth time this case has been heard in chambers, and hopefully it's the last. And it seems like this is going to be denied. So, you know, that's a positive. And thank you in advance to the supervisors who support the community on this. But I do want to bring up something Dominion said, and that's when they were specifically stating that the need for this substation is 100% due to currently approved or in-progress data center growth. It's not for new data centers or pending data centers. It's all for

[06:02:36] projects already underway. So think about that and think about data centers that are coming. I mean, it's no secret there's a long line for power, years, decades. I mean, Merrifield supposedly has a 15-year wait for power. So my question to this board is, was the consideration for regional impacts given when you approved 13 other data center campuses since you took office? And yeah, just to remind you, you've approved 13 data centers, campuses, not just single buildings.

[06:03:03] You've denied one. I don't know what percent that is, but it's kind of crazy for a board that loves to say how anti-data they are that you've approved 13. If we get more applications coming in during the grace period, y'all just unanimously agreed to, where do you think that power is coming from?

[06:03:20] It's coming from the South and it's coming from the West. It's coming through Brentsville. It's coming through Brahma. It's coming down 28. It's coming through Noakesville. Where is the next substation going to be when Dominion comes back? And I don't ask all this to minimize the denial that hopefully happens later, but I ask this to challenge the board to do better. If you want to be serious about data center industry and slowing the impacts of this development, be so damn serious. Don't deny the substation and pass the next one. Don't deny the substation and then pass project industry. And I would say don't deny this substation and then give the data center

[06:03:57] industry carte blanche for the next 90 days. Oh, but you guys already did that. So, you know, just deny this substation. And what I will ask is that you immediately issue a directive for a 12-month call to all data center developments in this country, in this county, country two. What the hell? We're way past time for it. Y'all need to do better. The community is watching. Deny this one. Thank you so much. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. Speaker is Laura Barrett. Laura, go ahead, ma'am. Thank you. It's good to be here tonight. Laura Barrett,

[06:04:34] Brentsville District. I am a faculty member of the Speech and Hearing Department at George Washington University. I'm also a very long-time Braemar resident, and I'd like to talk tonight about noise. Switching stations, substations, both of them emit low frequency noise in the form of a continuous deep hum. These sound waves can travel a mile or more. They permeate buildings. They

[06:05:06] permeate windows. They are not stopped by the typical mitigations that can be done to prevent high-frequency noise problems. Low-frequency noise has health and well-being impacts. They cause sleep disruptions, migraines. They cause elevated stress, elevated blood pressure, elevated heart rate. They can result in reduced concentration, poor memory concentration,

[06:05:38] mental performance problems, inner ear problems, which can result in balance issues. Research shows that the age group most impacted by low-frequency noise is actually middle-aged adults. Well, I live within a mile of this proposed substation, and I fit squarely in that middle-aged adult age range. If you care about me, my health, and the health and well-being of other Prince William residents, you will vote no tonight on the Vint Hill substation. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

[06:06:16] next speaker please next speaker is nathan greebaugh uh go ahead nathan thank you can you hear me yes sir we can hear you excellent first uh thank you to the chair and uh uh supervisor gordy for holding a meeting at bridalwood i'm actually a member of the bridalwood board i'm in the brentsville district um i'm new to this issue and i would like to thank the folks at braemar and Morris Farms for speaking so eloquently on the topic that they've been fighting for so long.

[06:06:51] I'd encourage the board to deny this in full. I'd also, you know, sort of add that I'd just like to share my experience. Since I got on the board, I asked Dominion multiple times for information.

[06:07:06] Actually, three times I tried to reach out and contact them to get some information so we could pass it on to our community and we received no response. So in attempting to, you know, inform our 427 houses in our community, you know, I had to do the statement that, you know, this is as best as we understood because Dominion would not respond to our questions.

[06:07:32] And this was just questions about what was happening, what was the impact, how it would affect our community. So, you know, I just wanted to share that experience so that everybody understands that we're all in this together and we're all experiencing the same issues with Dominion and that the board should deny this.

[06:07:52] Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Chris Bates. Chris, go ahead, sir. Good evening. I'm Christopher Bates.

[06:08:09] I live in Brentsville District in Bristow in the Braemar community, and I've lived here for 20-plus years, one of the founding fathers, so to speak, of a Newcastle Village subdivision.

[06:08:26] We're close to where all this action has taken place. I'm speaking tonight to highlight my very serious concerns about the cumulative infrastructure burden that's been placed on our region by Dominion Energy and the data center industry at large.

[06:08:42] I outlined them thoroughly in an email I sent to each of you members of the Prince William County Board over the weekend, so I won't repeat the contents of those emails here. I'm here in person. I would have been here in person tonight, except that my wife had major back surgery last week, and I'm needed here to take care of her. But I just want you to understand the urgency of this issue that I would spend three to four hours online waiting for a chance to talk to

[06:09:16] tonight. This is an important issue, a critical issue to everyone in Braymore and beyond. The proposed ventile substation expansion is not an isolated project. It's part of a growing pattern of heavy industrial energy infrastructure development being cited in residential communities to serve commercial data center growth. And this is happening all over Virginia and all over the country. New York Times article talked about concerns about artificial intelligence and data

[06:09:49] centers driving that growth. And the house of cards that's being built, frankly, through private equity and other people who are involved in the data center development industry. Our neighborhoods should not be forced to absorb the costs nor bear the environmental and economic risks and further reduction in the quality of our life if this project is approved, along with the nearly complete large substation along Wellington Road, near Devlin Road, multiple data centers under construction on Wellington near Jiffy Lube Live and on

[06:10:23] University Boulevard near Route 29 in Gainesville, on Linton Hall Road and Route 28 in Bristow. All we can see, my wife and I, when we travel by car from our home in any direction are data centers and supporting power towers and substation infrastructure. Enough. This is not what we expected, wanted, or will tolerate in our part of Prince William County. We are tired, like I'm sure all of you are after all of these public hearings and moving targets in presentations from

[06:11:00] Dominion personnel by our continuous work to try and resolve this issue as concerned community residents, voters, and you on the board. And we've been very clear with you as our elected representatives, as well as those in Richmond, I would add, in Washington, D.C., about our...

[06:11:22] I'm sorry, sir, your time is up. Oh, sorry about that, sir. Your time is up. All right, Chris, next speaker. Our next speaker is Jessica Grove. Ms. Grove, go ahead, ma'am. The floor is yours. Good evening, Supervisors.

[06:11:38] This is Jessica Grove from the Gainesville District. There has been a lot said tonight, and I'm so glad that the community members came out to speak tonight. I know that they are not just speaking for themselves. They are speaking for all of Prince William County.

[06:11:55] This is not appropriate infrastructure in a residential area, and I feel that you supervisors do understand that. The one thing that keeps on coming back to me is that Dominion is responsible to their shareholders, but you on the board are responsible for us and our quality of life and our best

[06:12:28] interests, and I hope you vote 8-0 to deny this tonight. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker. Our next speaker is Victoria Nguyen. Ms. Victoria, go ahead, ma'am. Thank you. Good evening, chairman and members of the board. My name is Victoria Nguyen, Brentsville District resident of Braemar, and I'm asking you to vote an emphatic no on Dominion Energy's proposed Vint Hill substation expansion. Dominion Energy made approximately $3 billion in net income in

[06:13:05] 2025. Why should a company this profitable be allowed to put the consequences of its infrastructure expansion directly next to a residential community? Dominion calls this an upgrade. It's a substation. Its own documents describe 500 kilovolt equipment, 230 kilovolt infrastructure, massive transformers, and gas insulated technology. And this technology uses SF6, sulfur hexafluoride, an extremely potent, outdated, and persistent greenhouse gas. If it escapes from electrical equipment, it can remain in the atmosphere for a very long time and is

[06:13:44] dangerous beyond our understanding. Why should Bristow residents bear the environmental and community burden of this project. Dominion has choices with billions of dollars in profits. Residents have to live with whatever gets built here. Please don't make this community pay the price for Dominion's infrastructure needs. Please protect Bristow and vote no on the Vent Hill substation expansion. And I just have to observe, it seems like residents have to beg for protection and consideration from the very group that's supposed to support them. And I think that's

[06:14:22] really sad, and I hope you guys will start standing up for the people you're supposed to represent, so please vote no. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please. That is our last speaker. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Chris. Madam Chair, back to you. All right. Thank you so very much. I am going to go ahead and close the public hearing for 13A.

[06:14:43] I would like to invite the applicant back up to respond if there's anything you want to respond to, and I'm sure there's additional questions from board members sure can you hear me yes all right well thank you very much for allowing us to come back up and answer some of the the questions um first uh what i think we've heard there is a lot of confusion over the terms substation and switching station from what i understand our application used the word substation because that is your definition in the zoning ordinance

[06:15:24] the zoning ordinance mentions switching gear and other related things that we would typically say when referring to a switching station so if i also heard correctly supervisor gordy you were saying that maybe it's time to look at how definitions are applied in the county and i think that that's something that probably would be of benefit to ensure that that confusion doesn't remain but the point is this is a switching station. The definition that we would use as a substation is transforming voltage into distribution level voltage that would then be fed out to specific

[06:16:03] customers. The switching station does transform, yes, switches. I do know terminology is important, but I also think it is also a matter of semantics, but it does switch the voltage from that 500 kilovolt voltage down to 230 kilovolts that will then be fed back into the 230 system throughout the county that will go to other substations and switching stations where Novec is the service

[06:16:40] provider to provide that distribution level voltage. I also heard a lot about data centers. so again the the vent hill project is not to serve a data center yes the load is exponential in prince william county and across the grid as a whole yes that is from data centers yes it's from

[06:17:13] other growth residential other commercial but data centers are a primary driver of that um And I say this respectfully to this board, I know that not everybody on this board voted to bring data centers into Prince William County.

[06:17:32] I know that the actions that you took or are evaluating earlier today in looking at how to reevaluate the Tech Overlay District and maybe reevaluate data centers in Prince William, that is your prerogative, that is your authority.

[06:17:50] What we have to do is figure it out. We have to be partners with you in figuring out how you want to serve the industry and the economic development that you want to bring into this county. So we're not talking about Vent Hill providing power or providing capacity to future growth.

[06:18:15] The growth is here. We're talking about load that has already been approved. To vote for and reliability is a concern. The grid is under stress, period. I heard some commenters talking about, you know, weather and how we're seeing hotter days, how we're seeing more, we've seen more emergency actions by our regional transmission operator, PJM, in talking about capacity alerts, in talking about generation alerts.

[06:18:50] That's all driven from load, okay? We need these critical reliability projects to keep the lights on, to keep data centers that are already here from going on their backup generation and putting out those diesel fumes.

[06:19:12] We've heard from the community. We hear it. We hear it on every project. We get it. And it is our job to listen. It is our job to listen to you and to see how we can reasonably minimize impacts while keeping the lights on for all of our customers.

[06:19:31] So, certainly, I'll invite any of my other colleagues up to talk about specifics and talk about technical questions that you may have. But I did just want to clear up some of those pieces of information. And before I leave the lines, of course, that's a huge topic of concern, understandably so.

[06:19:54] period that as proposed and designed tonight the application that we're proposing will only Allow for those four additional terminations of existing lines in existing corridors It will not allow for any additional greenfield lines to come in here So I just want to clear that up off the bat as well. Thank you. And if there's anybody else from my team Okay. All right. Thank you. If anyone has Questions, not comments, but questions.

[06:20:33] Does anyone have questions on the dais? Supervisor Gordy, do I see you pushing? Yes, ma'am. Sorry, I can't get back to the button. So there were some questions, and I'm glad it was brought up because I was going to ask the question as well, but I'd run out of my second round, and that was in relation to the placement of the generator and the noise that is, can you explain the purpose of the generator, how often it operates, and what is the noise capacity? Because I mean, the latest design has it sitting right at the

[06:21:10] edge of the property. Correct. So we are proposing a propane generator at the very north end of the station. Under typical operations, just like a house needs electrical service, our station needs electrical service as well we're typically going to pull that off of the the 230 kb bus drop it down to operating levels that we need and feed our equipment from there essentially we need a a backup generator just in case something happens to that electrical feed so that we can go ahead and keep our control enclosures and equipment running and keep obviously the the equipment on

[06:21:48] or the uh yeah the equipment ongoing um during that that period of service interruption from our normal deed. As far as the specifics on the noise, I don't have that off the top of my head. I don't know if I can comment too much on it. I'm not sure if Tracy, if you want to. I can't speak to the specifics of the generator specifically, but the totality of all noise was incorporated into the sound study, so what I can confirm is that it will fall within the ordinance allowance for noise at the property line, as well as in

[06:22:22] the neighboring residential properties which have a bit of a stricter code so is there no way that could be located in the back of the property as opposed to right up at the road unfortunately because space is so constricted there that that was the only location i'm having a hard time believing that guys i think another another uh implication that has a co-location with the control enclosures trying to keep those distances as close as possible um so yeah that's the main

[06:22:57] reason we're we're proposing at the north end side of the station okay um and i'll tell you thank you i'll now direct a question related to uh other locations uh so mr swigert if you could come back um you mentioned that the the area in the vent hill or the wellington corridor you mentioned that there's the 500 kv lines are not available is that what i heard you say and that there's no place there to generate i mean aren't these same lines running right up through that corridor up

[06:23:31] into across wellington road no uh sorry just a circle back uh clover hill or or wellington oh wellington road okay yep so wellington road so it's it's the same five two corridor on the eastern side so more towards gainesville and so but the the source that trying to serve that load pocket If we would position a station there, there is no 500 kV infrastructure anywhere near that.

[06:23:59] If we were to try and run lines from a substation in that spot, we would be running back to that 5-2 corridor that Vint Hill is sitting on. But again, that would mean running brand new 500 kV and 230 kV greenfield lines because the existing corridors cannot support that.

[06:24:23] But isn't this all like a circuit, right? So, I mean, I'm trying to understand if these lines are moving up and you're trying to step those down to 230 in order to get that out to these other substations or, yeah, to other substations.

[06:24:41] I'm still struggling with trying to figure out how a two-mile, three-mile distance creates that much of a difference. Yep. And in the Wellington Road area specifically, it's less of a loop. And while we still have the one line running west from Vinn Hill does loop back up to Gainesville eventually, but the rest of the Wellington Road, again, I'll use the term load pocket, it's more branched off than it is looped back.

[06:25:11] And that also being 230 kV, so regardless of whether it would be a loop or not, there would need to be involvement of new 500 kV transmission to reach that. Because we are cutting an existing 500 kV line in the proposal for the Vinhill expansion, that wouldn't just be one 500 kV circuit to this hypothetical site, but it would be two.

[06:25:37] So that would be a brand-new right-of-way that, at a minimum, has two 500-kV circuits running through it. And we will also likely need additional 230-kV, making five two-towers, to replicate what is next to the Vinhill. Okay, I'm out of time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[06:25:54] I don't see anyone else in the queue. All right. So, Supervisor Gordy, turning to you for a motion.

[06:26:12] Dominion, I've tried to work with you. I've gone down to Richmond. I've tried to come up with a more strategic approach to the challenges we face. And on this one, I feel like you've completely dropped the ball.

[06:26:27] Every neighborhood that has reached out to you has mentioned just a lack of transparency, a lack of information, and I feel the same. The previous board meeting that we had on this, to be honest with you, it was embarrassing.

[06:26:51] And I don't feel that we are still at the point where we've got all the answers. And I understand what you're saying, where we are today, but I don't believe with where we are today is going to be the end state that we're going to have here. And that's the part that concerns me.

[06:27:06] And that moving forward with this only is a Pandora's box, because you just demonstrated that you've literally almost painted yourself into a corner here, that you have no other options.

[06:27:22] and I have a hard time believing that, but at the same time, if that's the situation that you've created for all of us, then that means this site is going to have to be solve a lot more problems than what's being presented here. And so, Madam Chair, because of that, because I don't feel that we've gotten the full scope of what we are dealing with here, that we've lacked the transparency, and that we need to have a better strategic approach, I'm moving to deny. Second.

[06:27:55] It's been probably moved to second end. Supervisor Bode, I see you're on the queue for discussion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want to start, though, by thanking staff. Alex, again, I know you were in a hot spot now twice in a row to us, and now what was said before, knowing also with PC that's going on four hearings.

[06:28:12] So I appreciate, Alex, you doing this. I appreciate all the staff that's done all the work on this. I know this is a unique case, and a lot of these substations come up very, very infrequently. But to Supervisor Gordy's earlier point, we will likely see more of these. So I appreciate the conversation around looking at our definitions and our zoning ordinance.

[06:28:31] So I want to thank Director Washington and staff for that as well. Also did want to thank Dominion for their work with staff on this and getting us this a little later than I would have wanted, but at least it's here. I do recognize what you all said around the need for reliable electrical service and the value of using existing infrastructure.

[06:28:50] It makes sense you guys own the land, what have you. Those considerations do deserve a real weight, and they do not end the land use inquiry before us, though. At the end of the day, as was said earlier, this isn't just a simple expansion of an existing substation. It's basically a tear-down rebuild into what was said last time, an urban-style, high-grade, industrial substation, switching station.

[06:29:16] I'm just going to say it that way right now because that's where we are. This would place a major 500 KB expansion in an area designated in conservation residential. Again, our in-progress Vent Hill Small Area Plan, the current comprehensive plan, say this is supposed to be conversation residential.

[06:29:36] This is not conserving. This is not green space. This is not going to do anything but tear down existing green fill and put a new substation there. Our electrical services plan directs electrical facilities to provide service as obtrusively as possible, as my colleague said earlier.

[06:29:56] EU 1.213 directs new facilities toward commercial industrial areas, provides residential locations when non-residential areas aren't available, and natural screening protects nearby or planned uses. Now, you all gave us a lot more information this time over other sites that you evaluated.

[06:30:13] Again, as someone from the public said earlier, you didn't give us that information last time, so I appreciate it. At the same time, though, I don't think we can safely say that the kind of screening and natural buffering you guys are doing here properly protects the residents.

[06:30:30] It's not necessarily completely your fault. There's a very constrained site, but like was said earlier, there's just configurations and some other things. It doesn't seem like you guys sharpened your pencils enough to really beef up the protections here. That same plan also directs county to minimize negative effects on existing and future communities, shield nearby residents from noise, maintain screening as substations expand, and mitigate visual effects on adjacent residential development in major roads.

[06:30:55] The land use chapter calls for the transition in scale and compatibility with existing planned uses. This is actually taking transition in the opposite direction. We have a very modest substation right now that you guys are then basically putting on steroids. You're actually intensifying the use when we are bringing new neighborhood communities to this area.

[06:31:15] And finally, I'll just sort of close out with the fact that this proposal includes 120-foot A-frame equipment, 60-foot backbones, 43-foot GIS buildings, and a minimum of 20-foot wall. Also replaces some existing frontage trees with shrubs and removes and replaces trees within part of the eastern buffer.

[06:31:33] These are concrete changes that require more than a general conclusion that the application has no weaknesses. Again, I appreciate the work that staff has done. When we look at this in the totality, it just increases the impacts of what's already there. Yes, there are industrial-like uses on two sides of it, but most of it's facing a new residential development, an existing Braemart community, and a lot of folks are going to be adversely impacted by this project.

[06:31:57] I just don't think enough has been done to mitigate that, so I'll be supporting the denial. Supervisor Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I just want to start off answering your question, Madam Chair. With transformers, it is a more intense use because, you know, nomenclature aside, a switching station is not like what one would imagine, like switching a light on and off.

[06:32:27] Stepping power in either direction takes a lot of work, which is even why they have a backup transformer to get that done. So listen, I read through your sound study, and there was no wideband or tonal study conducted.

[06:32:49] I'm not sure who paid Skelly and Loy to do the sound study, but that was missing. You know, ever since I've been elected, like my first meeting I went to was a Dominion meeting.

[06:33:07] And, you know, I've been dealing with nothing but this language, and it's a part of the brand, I think, for Dominion, of obfuscation and opaque vagarities, or just outright misrepresentation.

[06:33:24] And it's been like that with this company from day one. And then today, to top that all off, there's this veiled threat that, hey, if you guys don't approve this, then we're going to start doing greenfielding and running wires elsewhere, right?

[06:33:41] and even though you came in here unprepared a second time now that said i do get you know what the last person from dominion said about well listen you know as as a board of supervisors you guys you know approved all these data centers and so look we we have a legal obligation to to provide them power but you know the theme of today how you do it matters one of the the the individual spoke about how like con edison in new york city undergrounds everything i was born

[06:34:15] and raised in new york city and and and that's true the largest buildings in the country are on the island of manhattan there is no wire anywhere and there hasn't been wire there since before my lifetime and i turned 59 on this past sunday right and so this is off the shelf technology It's old.

[06:34:37] I think what Dominion is lacking is the will to make it so. And I get it because you have a responsibility to your shareholders. And the CEO of your company has only one job, and that's to make sure that the earnings per share for this quarter are higher than they were for the same quarter a year ago.

[06:34:58] That's it. Everything else doesn't matter. It's a zero-sum game. Somebody wins and somebody loses. Well, it's our job to make sure that our community is not one of those losers. and you do have a responsibility to the communities in which you inhabit and yes you do have a responsibility to deliver that power but how you do it matters and you guys have the best minds you have guys have the best engineering and i know you can do it 60 years ago we were landing human beings on the moon and bringing everybody back alive don't tell me you can't do this so you can

[06:35:35] either be an american or an americant that that's how it works for me i'm asking you i'm imploring you to go back, sharpen your pencils, get to work, and come back with something that works for everybody, for you to win, for your shareholders to win, but also for this community to win.

[06:35:55] And I will also be supporting denial. Thank you. Supervisor LaCroix. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank Vanessa for taking her precious time getting in the car And teaching me everything you know about substations or switching stations.

[06:36:19] And it was enjoyable. It was great. But I really do appreciate you doing that. And, Alex, thank you for answering the e-mails with all those questions so thoroughly. And I really do appreciate the two of you and everybody from this office that takes the time to answer our questions, especially since I literally know nothing about switching stations.

[06:36:42] Well, I think everybody else has basically said it, but the bottom line for me is this is a monster substation, and I just don't think it has anywhere, and it should not be anywhere near a neighborhood.

[06:36:58] It just needs to be in a different area, and I appreciate your all's time. You came to try to answer our questions, and I do appreciate that, and that's all. Supervisor Angry.

[06:37:15] Thank you, Madam Chair. There's just nothing worse than having to make a decision with two sides of a story. And I say that because I literally have gone out to Brahma and I've listened and I've had folks in my office and I truly understand all of this.

[06:37:34] And I've gone down to Magnolia and I've seen that big grid. And even though I'm colorblind, it was explained to me about, you know, the three minute and the real situation going on here in Prince William County. So we definitely have a problem. I got two problems, right, because I got a community who definitely doesn't want this.

[06:37:55] I've got, you know, my power creators, if you will, telling me we got a problem in Prince William County. I will say this one thing because, you know, we have, and I'm going to give it to me. I will give it to me because we have approved quite a few data centers. But I had never heard really, and I get it, Dominion's job is to create power.

[06:38:16] You don't ask any questions, you do it. But I really wish I would have kind of had a little inkling back in like 2021 or 22 that, hey, guys, slow this down because we got a problem that's being created where then I think we could have had some ownership in helping you with the situation that's going on now.

[06:38:33] You know, I'm with my motion here, and, you know, I just don't know what the solution is, but I'll give Supervisor Stewart some credit here that, you know, I'm really hoping you can sharpen your pencils and we can try to figure a way to get this win without, you know, disrupting the lives of this community.

[06:38:54] And I'll say this about Prince William County. We have a lot of communities, and at the end of the day, a community, some community is going to have to not win. And I don't know, I don't want to say it in that way, but we build a lot of communities here and a lot of things have to happen.

[06:39:11] I wish maybe this underground power of New York don't have wires in the sky. I don't know what that looks like here now we get there, but if that's a solution, I hope we can actually find that. So I just want to say, listen, this has probably been the toughest one for me because I understand the situation and I also understand the situation.

[06:39:29] So there it is. All right. Thanks, Madam Chair. All right. Supervisor Bailey. Thanks, Madam Chair. To the staff, thank you so much for being the stewards of us and helping us to understand the things that our skill sets are not necessarily crafted in.

[06:39:51] That's a pretty cute way of saying we don't know what we don't know. Vanessa, you and I just said that, but you always help us to know what we don't know, so we appreciate you. To Dominion, you have a big job, a big job in providing service to all of us.

[06:40:15] But the thing that really, I'm with Tom and what he said. I was a little embarrassed when we deferred this because I thought then we could do better. And tonight, I think we can do better.

[06:40:33] And it's because I know that, and I've seen in the past, as long as I've lived in Virginia, how you could be partners with the community. And so I think you really need to take a step back and think about that.

[06:40:52] And I know, as Georgia said, what you've got to do, big business, all that, you know, but you don't have to be the big bear. But you do need to step back and think about the community. And I really think that there is a lot of different creative, valued ways that we could do this other than the traditional way where the community has to be afraid.

[06:41:21] So I want to just say that as it is. And I thought about what one of the, in public government times, the lady says she moved here in 1981. That's building tradition and family and history and wanting them to come, her grandchildren to come back to what she's experienced.

[06:41:43] And so we collectively, as a nation, but as a state, we need to think about that. And so I, like Supervisor Angry, wish that I had known back when we started putting the 13 data centers here what I know now.

[06:42:02] But when the data centers came in the 90s, people didn't know either. So we're all growing and learning together. And none of it is intentional to harm anybody. It really isn't. But we have a balance that we have to do.

[06:42:17] And so, Dominion, you know, I'm going to support Supervisor Gordy in this. because I think that we need to partner to do better for the community. And we do need to make them number one or think about it differently and make them number one.

[06:42:35] And then the last thing I'm going to do is I'm going to apologize to the Braemar residents for not sitting down with you as I promised that I would, for no other reason not to ignore you, but I'm apologizing because you are important to me, not just Potomac.

[06:42:50] You're important to me. I did go and look at the example of the substation so I could educate myself, but I did not keep my promise to that. And so I am an adult. I'm not that little only child kid that my mom used to spank me when I didn't do what she said.

[06:43:07] But I want to be accountable to you. So I apologize for that. May not matter. Hope it does. I pray that it does. But you are important to me. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I'm actually going to go to Vega because then myself, I'm going to let you have the last word, Tom.

[06:43:25] - That's fair, it is your district after all. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm gonna take a different approach in regards to my comments here tonight. I first wanna start off by thanking county staff for all of their work, for their diligence in informing us, our respective offices.

[06:43:44] I also wanna thank Dominion. I don't envy you in the least. You have a very difficult job. It's your job and you have to do what you have to do. You know, during my first term in office, When the data center industry was first ushered in, myself, along with others, who are probably in the audience, some are no longer on the dais, tried to sound the alarm.

[06:44:10] We tried to slow things down. And yes, we were not successful, but we tried our very best. Many of you have been fighting alongside myself. Tom, when you were in the planning commission, you've been in the trenches since day one. I want to be very clear about that vote that is going to take place here tonight because history and context matters.

[06:44:32] I'm not interested in camera-loving politicians who do nothing but provide lip service when the cameras are on, when they've had a platform and a voice from the very beginning when this industry was ushered in and chose to do nothing and to stay quiet.

[06:44:49] That matters. The vote that is going to take place here tonight, if I'm correct on how it's going to go down, is happening because of three reasons. The first reason is because of you, the citizens of this county.

[06:45:09] To the Braemar community, Mindy, Lisa, you guys have done an extraordinary job. You exemplify what proper temperament looks like, what it means to truly be a build bridger and to get things done.

[06:45:25] thank you for driving all the way to my office and dropping off a thick binder of all of the research that you uncovered you are the main reason why this vote is going to happen the way that it happens second i want to talk about my colleagues on the dais i've been on the opposite end of a lot of our votes that is a fact but there's an old saying it doesn't matter how you start it matters how you finish i want to talk about the true meaningful collaboration that has

[06:46:02] gone on from this dais. And I keep finding myself talking about it because it's important and because it's relevant. We have not been on agreeing sides and that is okay. Part of being a true leader and part of being a public servant is learning and growing from your mistakes. It is a fact that we did not know a lot of the things that we know now about the industry. But I think that the biggest disservice that you can do to your community is not learning from past mistakes and trying to make

[06:46:36] amend and make it right. And here we are. Because of your advocacy, because we have worked together, because we've had the tough conversations, we are making meaningful progress. Sometimes it's slow, sometimes it's not pretty, but it's getting done. And I think that it's important for you all to know that. The third reason why this is happening is because of oftentimes silent, but very diligent and purposeful work of Supervisor Tom Gordy.

[06:47:10] Those are the three reasons why this is happening. Not those public figures, not those camera-loving individuals that will say whatever when the cameras are on, but true work, true partnership. And I challenge you all to not just listen to the things that people tell you, but to also follow their actions, because that too is important.

[06:47:34] I've seen my colleagues work on tough, challenging issues facing this county, not just on data centers, but on other issues. And it is a good day for Prince William County when your elected officials could care less about party lines and are working together to ensure that there's more accountability, more transparency, and an honest process in everything that we do.

[06:47:59] I am proud of my colleagues on the dais, and as my time is coming to an end, I want to say thank you, Supervisor Bailey, Stewart, Bodie, Angry, Chair Jefferson, LaCroix, and Tom Gordy. It's a new day. And I believe that our days ahead are going to only get better. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[06:48:21] All right. Thank you so very much. I am going to let Supervisor Gordy close. I normally do that, but I want to give that to him today. I want to address something that I heard. I believe it was Ryan Buesler who said, did we really learn anything new that we didn't know three months ago?

[06:48:39] The answer is no, we didn't. And it's actually really tough to acknowledge that. But we needed to take the time. We need to make sure that we got this right. We need to make sure that in order to deny this, we stand on very solid grounds.

[06:49:01] We make the laws, but we also have to follow the laws. And that is a big constraint. There are so many things we want to do, questions we want to ask. But within the bounds of the law, we do have our own constraints. Supervisor Gordy has worked very hard on this, but he also had to make an adult decision.

[06:49:23] The deferral was not something a lot of people wanted to do, but we had to make sure that we were on solid footing. I know a lot of people are upset. You didn't want to come out here again. And I do appreciate everyone who has come out here because it's taking a lot out of you.

[06:49:41] And I do want to acknowledge Mindy and Lisa. I want to acknowledge the work that you have done. This has become another job. You have become citizen advocates, citizen lobbyists, going to different offices, doing your research, talking to people.

[06:49:57] You've put a lot into this, and I have to acknowledge that. It's not easy. Everyone can complain, say they don't like things, but to actually do the work and to turn out and to turn out your neighbors, to organize, that takes dedication, that takes passion, that takes commitment.

[06:50:16] It shows that you care about your neighbors and your neighborhood and how we grow as a county. I do want to address what my colleague so passionately said. You don't know what you don't know. And I hope that we finish a lot stronger than where we were when many of us came onto this board.

[06:50:42] We've come a long ways. We've had a lot of unanimous decisions, a lot of bipartisan decisions. And we're going to have some more tough cases ahead of us. I hope that we can maintain the open dialogue. I hope that we can continue to collaborate.

[06:50:59] And I hope that we can continue to listen to constituents. The hard part of this job is I am the only person who sits up here that everyone in the county can vote for. So I have a different level of accountability. And one of the things with the supervisors, and we've had conversations, and it's good to see people stepping outside of their comfort zone.

[06:51:22] While their constituents may not be the ones living next to the data centers or power lines, it doesn't mean that they're insensitive to these issues. It doesn't mean that people are insensitive. And I want to make that clear. A lot has happened over the past few years, and we have really turned a corner.

[06:51:43] And, again, I hope as a board we can continue to do that. I'm going to go over to Supervisor Gordy to close us out. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank all my colleagues for everything you've said. Thank you for your support. It has truly been a team effort.

[06:52:02] But I'll tell you, you know, to say that did we learn anything new tonight, I'd say we didn't from Dominion, But I tell you who I have learned a lot from, and that's from our community, because they're the ones that dug into these applications, zoomed in on the maps and realized what really was going on here.

[06:52:25] And so thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. The Braemar community, everyone who lives in that community, you ought to be very, very proud of yourself as a community. I've never seen anything like it.

[06:52:42] And I've been at this now for five years and I've never seen anything like it. keep it up. Great job. And keep that unity going. That's one of the things that I have advocated for. And I've said, people have heard me say this quite a bit. When we built the Linton Hall Corridor, we built a bunch of neighborhoods, but we didn't build a community. We basically balkanized all of our neighborhoods, built their own little community centers, but we don't have this real community. Unfortunately, it is this that has brought us together as a community out of the

[06:53:16] neighborhoods to join together across neighborhood boundaries to be able to come to become one noakesville bristow gainesville in that linton hall corridor and you guys have been the catalyst for that so thank you very much um dominion i was hard on you earlier um but i but my door's still open and i want us to continue dialogue and i'll tell you why in october 22 i was sitting in a retail conference. And this guy was talking about the importance of data in supporting retail. And

[06:53:50] he said, the growth of data is exponential. And back, this was in 22. And he said, by 20, right now, we're in 2020, we were at 60 zettabytes of data created in that year. By 2025, it would be 180 zettabytes of data. A zettabyte is 1 billion terabytes of data, I think is what the amount is.

[06:54:13] it's incredible. And the guy said, nothing's going to stop it. And I said, yes, it will. We don't have the power for this. And then that's before AI came on. We have a power problem, but we like our unlimited data. We like our unlimited streaming. We like a lot of the things that come from these big buildings and the power that supports them. But we're also in a competition globally from a national security and from economic perspectives. And so we're going to

[06:54:51] have to figure out this power problem as a community. We cannot say this is done, sweep it under the rug. We have to figure this out. But if we're not generating more power, we're kidding ourselves. And I don't know what your answer is on where we're going to generate more power from.

[06:55:13] And I'm trying to find the solution for that. I'm working with George Mason University. We're looking at other things to try to figure out, is there a way we can solve this problem locally without all these all this infrastructure to try to meet this power demand so i'm not sitting back just blank putting the blame we're literally trying to find other solutions because i recognize the vastness of this problem and so madam chair i thank you for the opportunity to close this out and and again let's continue the dialogue continue the great work thank you for everything everyone

[06:55:52] has done on this and uh and i know we'll have more conversations going forward all right thank you so very much um i would like to go ahead and call for the vote unanimous all right thank you so very much we are now going to move on to agenda item number 14 that is public comment time i have

[06:56:20] three people signed up in person i'm going to let people clear out the board chambers yes we're

[06:56:58] going to take a quick recess five minute recess all right we are back from recess next up we are on agenda item number 14 and that is public comment time looks like we have two people who have signed up who are here in person um again when you go to the back please state your name the magisterial district where you reside you have three minutes and the timer is up there i have blake harrah elena schlossberg i think she may have left and amy crosby

[06:57:30] madam chair supervisor my name is blake harrah please adjust the mic so we can hear you can you hear me now? Adjust a little more. I can barely hear you. Oh, about now? Yes. Perfect. Looks like I need to scoot a little bit more closer. Madam Chair, Supervisors, my name is Blake Herr and I reside within the Potomac District. So I've come here tonight to talk about the revenue. Tomorrow

[06:58:09] you will be speaking with the Prince William County School Board about the upcoming budgeting for the next year. I've come here to discuss with the revenue sharing agreement. In my opinion, I'm not against revenue sharing before this clip even gets snipped or something like that.

[06:58:26] I'm not against the revenue sharing agreement. I just believe it needs to be adjusted, and I'm not calling for a change of percentage either. The 57.2% is, okay, we'll have to deal with that. It's the amount of money that Prince William County Schools is dishing out that you may not even be tracking.

[06:58:45] I'm sure you're probably tracking some of the stuff. Like the 14th high school, they dished out $22 million, and now it's just sitting on vacant property. Instead of using it to build a school or build a specialty programs center, they just cancel it.

[06:59:06] They are now also on the hook with having to dish out, potentially dish out, if Prince William County Circuit doesn't vacate the arbitration award they lost. So it's just a matter of that we need to, my suggestion is that the school board has to present the items that they go for, That wasn't the right term.

[06:59:32] As far as they don't use every monetary option that they have available, as far as grants, any other option. Because a lot of the time, they know it's just going to come from you. It's either going to come from the 57.2% or they're going to get a little bit more, depending on year to year.

[06:59:50] But that budget has gone up 8% to 10% every single year. And it's only going to get more. Now, everybody in this room takes advantage of you guys lowering the property taxes. It's great. But when you lower the property taxes, I know you all know, the revenue goes down.

[07:00:09] And it's not the best idea to just shift the percentage of what you're taking away from the citizen to the data center. Don't do that. But in order for you to get the revenue sharing or for the Prince William County Schools to get the money that they should, They should have to present what they have done and what action they have taken to avoid pulling as much revenue because they could just eventually run out or not get as much.

[07:00:45] They could run into this issue potentially next year where it was with the $30 million or whatever. That is something. That resolution is a resolution by you. You are free to amend it at your own will. It's not by bill. It's not by law. But tomorrow, and if I can have like five seconds after this, you're likely going to hear from the chairman that schools are not getting as much time.

[07:01:07] I'm sorry, but your time is up. Okay. Amy? Thank you all again. What I'm coming to you tonight about, I'm really nervous in presenting.

[07:01:23] I've thought about emailing you all personally or whether or not I should bring it this way. So I am using AI, because that's kind of what we're talking about, to kind of help me with this. I'm trying to be as transparent as possible because I feel like that's one of my greatest strengths. um and to say that is i kind of made a comment about six months to a year ago and really i've been thinking about it for a couple of years i was like i want to paint murals on data centers now that sounds a little crazy but it doesn't in the sense that murals are very big all over the united states you can fly and you see them in the back of the magazines and in airplanes what i want to collaborate with is with you guys and not seeing these as just large huge eyesores which is what

[07:02:02] many people see them as, but a way to bring together county collaboration, environmental stewardship, us for, for us to work together with them to see ways that we can hold them accountable by having transparency, by having open relationships. I know for my kids that when they meet people, they're more likely to not lie to them, to not want to think of them as an enemy. They're more likely to be their friend because they have that trust.

[07:02:27] they have that built that time together so um i love art i've thought about the art factory and things that we could do with that um i wanted to just drop it here for now i would like to collaborate with y'all more about it i think it could be a great opportunity to work with high schools to work with students to work with local artisans and bringing that in um and that way the eyesore part of it isn't necessarily something that we hate it's something that we can talk about the different residents in the community we can talk about our history within the county just different ways that we can work together with them so and kind of build that collaborating

[07:03:04] rapport and just talking it out so that's all i wanted to bring to you right now tonight i kind of went hand in hand with our ai and the data center so thank you thank you so very much supervisor angry do we have anyone online no speakers all right no speakers online all right No speakers online.

[07:03:23] So we are going to go back to supervisor's time. Supervisor LaCroix asked a great question, how do I tee it up? So we do need to go back to a process that we kind of started. So basically, for anyone, if you have a directive, just say, without objection, I'd like to introduce, you know, for example, 11G.

[07:03:42] Without, you know, objection, I'd like to introduce a directive on zoning, administrator, authority, blah, blah, blah. Just say that. If there's any objection, it becomes a motion. Without objection, I'd like to introduce 11G, the proposed directive on a zoning administrative authority under sections 15.2-2286A, which I call the zoning grace directive.

[07:04:20] And I trust that we've all had time to read through. Does anyone object to the directive? I'm not looking at you. i love the looks because you know i'm gonna object i was looking over that way okay i'm gonna look at you madam chair can she do all of them collectively or do you want to go one by one we're gonna go one by one okay um i i have a lot of concerns about this one in particular um but the main reason why i um have concerns about this is because it allows for way too much discretion i think that you know these type of cases coming to the board the way that it's

[07:04:59] uh, currently designed, um, works. I will say this, Madam Chair, it's been a really long day. Um, and this will go, I don't, I don't have an objection to 11-H Supervisor LaCroix. I do have concerns about 11-I. I'm just going to make my comments general. Um, when we're thinking about issuing a directive, I am just going to kindly ask that, you know, we talk to our staff about the redundancy perhaps of some of the directives that we're issuing.

[07:05:28] Is there a gap that we're trying to fill? What other county programs do we currently have in place that are quite literally addressing some of the intent or perhaps the entire intent behind these directives that are being issued because it would save us a lot of time?

[07:05:46] The reason why I mainly object is because of the redundancy, because we currently have these programs already in place and because we have not been presented with evidence or data that suggests that said programs in place are not working the way that they're supposed to be working. But most importantly, because it adds additional work to staff.

[07:06:04] And if it's already happening, if there is an aspect of redundancy, why do that? That is just my plea. I'm not going to drag this out. I trust that once staff comes back with their recommendations, we're going to hopefully make a sound decision.

[07:06:21] But I'm not sure, Madam Chair, how we go about doing this. But most directives typically just come to us with what the supervisor asked, right, for them to come back with. I think we need to start getting to a point where county staff recommends moving forward with a directive or not more boldly.

[07:06:46] Because oftentimes it is not a good idea. And a lot of you guys here on the dais trust what staff says. And so I understand the intent of us as individual supervisors, but if it is not a good directive, I don't understand why we're going to generate policy or approve a directive just for the sake of it.

[07:07:05] Not a sermon, just a thought. So I'm not going to object, Supervisor LeCroy, to your directives, but I hope that we are more thoughtful and thorough when we think about these directives so that we can stop adding more work to staff when there is perhaps no need to do so.

[07:07:22] Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to respond. Supervisor LeCroy. Yeah. So all of these directives are born out of an issue that I've experienced. The first one was the zoning administrator and one of my constituents and me trying to get them through the zoning.

[07:07:46] You know, there are times when, and I'm sure everybody's heard, that they've had some issues going on in the zoning area where, you know, they get violated for tall grass. And then the next thing you know, zoning is in the backyard, you know, making them remove a shed and everything else.

[07:08:09] And this really, I believe, is a directive that's worth pursuing because it gives the county another tool to address unusual zoning situations when a strict application of the ordinance creates an undue hardship. And so that's the difference.

[07:08:24] I believe in zoning rules, but when there's no grace, and it doesn't move the needle at all for the county, and we're creating an issue where you go in for one thing, and then the county is writing you up on so many other things.

[07:08:44] And so I think because this is a law in Virginia, and the only reason we don't have it is because we didn't adopt it. And so I think that this is very important, and it kind of moves the needle a little bit for the frustration that a lot of the constituents are experiencing through our zoning office.

[07:09:04] And I know every one of you have experienced and or heard it, and if there's anything that could, you know, support the citizens, I think we need to do it. Madam Chair, real quick, this was not, my comments were General Supervisor LaCroix.

[07:09:20] I don't want you to think that they're, you know, targeting you. I will say that my office has experienced similar cases like the ones that you mentioned, but we've handled them through our office. We've worked with our constituents. We've worked with the Office of Zoning to handle it.

[07:09:35] Again, you know, I'm sure that when staff comes back with their response to your directive, we can dive into the details more in depth. It was just more so a general call for us to, you know, truly examine when issuing directives, but I don't want you to think that it's, it's like, oh, I'm okay. Okay. Yeah, thank you. I'm totally okay. All right. So I'm again, cause I want clarity. So she put out a proposed directive, 11g. Do you have an objection? I said, Madam Chair, that I wouldn't object. I just want to make sure. So we're, does anyone else have any objections to 11g? All right. It moves forward.

[07:10:15] We are going to go to 11h. Okay. Give me a second here. I'm doing this with one hand. Okay. So 11h, I proposed this directive for the expanded senior program capacity. And the reason I did this is because I went to the senior center, and everybody who's been to the senior center knows why this is a directive.

[07:10:41] And what it is is it's asking for FFM to look for another site. Ten years ago they said, you know, we're going to have a new senior center in five years. five years ago, they said it would be in five years, and now today they're saying it's going to be another five years, and in the meantime, we do not have adequate facility for the seniors in Woodbridge, and so I propose, because we don't know it's going to be five years. We haven't even bought the property yet or voted on it, so I propose that FFM look for a site that would be

[07:11:16] appropriate and for our senior center to go into, and I, again, I'm sure there's been a study. I I know there has been in the parking that we'll be discussing next, but I just think it's really vitally important, and I've said it a million times, societies get judged by how they treat their seniors and their children.

[07:11:38] Does anyone have any objection to 11-H? All right, move on. And finally, I propose the directive for senior transportation assistance, 11-I, and this is born out of the fact that when I did go to the senior center, I followed a guy up a hill who was in a walker because the parking is down the hill and to the left, and it may be full, and we don't have enough parking.

[07:12:10] We had a survey done, or we examined it, whatever it is we did, to make sure that we were going to put a million dollars into a parking because the parking was inadequate.

[07:12:26] Then they decided that, well, we're going to do a new senior center, so let's not do it. And now these folks do not have adequate parking. So we're hoping that the Parks and Recs and whomever else can look into making sure that our seniors, while they are in the facility that they're in, are able to get in safely and park appropriately.

[07:12:50] Are there any objections? All right. So, again, I think if people can just preface without objection, I would like to X, Y, and Z. All right. We are moving on to 11J. Supervisor Stewart, did you want to go through it or did you want to defer?

[07:13:07] So after some feedback from my colleagues, most of you who I've spoken to about this, I want to defer. I will be issuing it at the beginning of October.

[07:13:25] All right. Thank you so very much. So what we are going to do, we will now go around the dais. I will start with Supervisor Vega. Follow my lead. I have nothing.

[07:13:43] That's a challenge now. Let's see who can do it. Supervisor Angry, do you accept? No, you don't. So I do accept, but I just want to say, I just got to throw in that I'm having my dumps today.

[07:14:01] I just want to say that because that's literally, is that, it's the 26th this Saturday? It's the 26th. So I just want to say annual dumpster day, Saturday, September 26th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. And you know that has a shred component with it, which everybody loves.

[07:14:19] And that's going to be back at the farmer's market commuter lot. Come on, help me out with that lot real quick. What is that? Jim and I, yes. Thank you. Okay, that is it. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's all. All right, Supervisor Bode, brief means brief.

[07:14:37] Yes, Madam Chair. I just wanted to remind folks that October 3rd, we are having our annual Boktoberfest as part of the Tackett's Mill Fall Festival. Looking forward to seeing folks there starting at 12 p.m. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor LaCroix.

[07:14:54] I just want to briefly say thank you to Chris and his team, Nikki, and everyone, because I had a shredding event and the shredder never came. And so everybody's going to be going to your event this weekend, so you're welcome.

[07:15:10] But thank you so much for taking the time on your Saturday and your whole team to try to help us with that situation. Supervisor Stewart. Very quickly, thank you, everybody, for the birthday wishes, and I'll see you at the next meeting.

[07:15:30] All right, Supervisor Bailey. I just want to briefly say, coming up, I'm having my first developers luncheon. Thank you, Supervisor Bode, for leading the way in that, and looking forward to the Willing Warriors Gala.

[07:15:48] and uh i'm having a town hall on the 30th south bridge community safety town hall that's my story i'm oh and lastly i would like to give the emergency management team bod blakely chief labelle nikki brown brian meisner taylor jones for the excellent service just thank y'all provided to the town of quantico for uh when they had their water outage we appreciate that it was

[07:16:19] wonderful what you did thank you so much supervisor gordy good night everybody and quickly i'm doing a town hall on october 5th with it will be well advertised with angry and la croix and then on what is that that's the fifth on the seventh it will be supervisor bode sometime later it will be gordy because i do every town hall with him and everyone else who is not participating let's get on the calendar. Let's do something. Let's have some fun. With that, I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn.

[07:16:56] It's been properly moved. I'll give the second to Stuart. Votie.

[07:17:19] Thank you, sir. Vote unanimous. All right, we out.

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