The two western district supervisors, Tom Gordy of the Brentsville District and George Stewart of Gainesville, were on hand Monday.
Stewart offered a blunt analysis of the situation, calling data centers “the richest sector of the economy on the planet, ever” and adding he would like to raise the computer and peripherals tax to “the full $5” per $100 of assessed value; it currently stands at $4.15.
“You’ve already maxed out your development,” Gordy said. “For your 10-acre lot, you have one home on it, but if you have 20 acres and only one home, today, you can go talk to a conservation easement and get significant tax breaks on your property through the conservation easement program. And so these are the things that we’re working on trying to identify the areas that we can apply this PDR program to.”
A wide view of the Sweeney Barn town hall on March 16, 2026. Sébastien Kraft | InsideNoVaGordy also decried the development community’s limitations on housing types.
“They didn’t build what the market really needed, and that is single families, duplexes and triplexes,” Gordy said. “Now you’ve got this massive gap. You’re in a townhouse at $600,000 and today, we just saw this, we got in an email showing the valuation increases across the county.”
Vida Carroll, leader of the Civic Association of Brentsville and Surrounding Areas, concluded the program with a call to action.
