The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday denied the controversial Bristow Campus data center application in a landmark vote as the board grappled with the empty Gainesville District seat left by the July 20 death of Supervisor Bob Weir.
The 4-2 vote came with Republican Yesli Vega, the Coles District supervisor, absent from the meeting, and Woodbridge Supervisor Margaret Franklin and Neabsco Supervisor Victor Angry, both Democrats, casting the two dissenting votes against the denial.
The project, which consisted of a rezoning and a special use permit, had been deferred three times, including most recently on June 24. outside the county’s Data Center Opportunity Zone Overly District, hence the need for a special use permit.
The proposed Bristow data center campus is located north of the Youth for Tomorrow campus and between Broad Run Industrial Park to the northwest and Hornbaker Road to the northeast.
Democrat Andrea Bailey, the Potomac supervisor and a frequent supporter of data center applications, supported a motion to deny from Republican Tom Gordy, the Brentsville Supervisor whose district includes the property.
“Each application is case-by-case … we need to grow in different ways,” Bailey said from the dais of the county’s commercial tax base, oft-funded by data centers. “We need to educate as we grow.”
Gordy in a Wednesday Facebook post said this is the first data center application the current board has rejected since it took office in January 2024.
Gordy initiated the denial by saying “this is just the wrong place” for a data center.
“We keep hitting the easy button … I’m in this seat now,” Gordy said. “I have a vision.”
“Each application is case-by-case … we need to grow in different ways,” Bailey said from the dais of the county’s commercial tax base, oft-funded by data centers. “We need to educate as we grow.”
Gordy in a Wednesday Facebook post said this is the first data center application the current board has rejected since it took office in January 2024.
Gordy initiated the denial by saying “this is just the wrong place” for a data center.
“We keep hitting the easy button … I’m in this seat now,” Gordy said. “I have a vision.”
“So answer me: Why are we here?” Jefferson said, referring to Weir’s empty Gainesville District seat. “These are extraordinary circumstances.”
Weir, who died from cancer, was an outspoken opponent of data centers in western Prince William.
Cameron said STACK previously deferred the project due to insufficient community input from its various local meetings.
At a protest in front of the McCoart Building where the board chambers are housed, Elena Schlossberg, executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, implored the board to honor Weir’s memory prior to the vote.
“STACK and maybe a few supervisors think that there is not going to be enough pushback to vote no,” Schlossberg told the crowd of supporters. “We are here to stand up for the legacy of Bob Weir, his seat is empty … we have no voice in these votes that impact every single community member in Prince William County.”
Both candidates running for the Gainesville District seat in November's special election spoke at the protest, each conveying their opposition to the data center campus.
“The democratic process needs to be honored,” said George Stewart, the Democratic nominee. “If nobody is there for the voice of Gainesville – and the voice is coming – but if nobody's there tonight, the vote can't happen tonight. It's that simple.”
Patrick Harders, the Republican nominee, lamented the proliferation of data centers already set for construction.
“Currently, we’re at about 12.5% buildout of data centers in Prince William County,” Harders said. “So where people say it doesn't look like that much, there's a lot more to go. I get calls every day about the transmission lines coming in, the substations coming in.”
The board’s Bristow Campus public hearing ultimately lasted over three hours, until midnight, with over 35 residents speaking out.
Speakers included opponents of the rezoning as well as several union employees, notably from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who supported the project.
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