The vote over a controversial plan to build a data center in Bristow has been delayed until March.
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors was supposed to approve or nix a Stanley Martin Homes request to rezone about 270 acres from mixed residential to light industrial for a tech campus at the northwest corner of Devlin Road and Linton Hall Road during a meeting Tuesday night.
That meeting stretched into the overnight hours, ending at 3 a.m. Wednesday, and a vote on the proposed “Devlin Technology Park” was temporarily tabled.
According to NBC Washington, 75 people signed up to speak at the board meeting — and most of them vociferously opposed building data centers near their homes and schools.
“I love my neighbors. I love my community. I do not love technology parks across the way,” one resident said at the meeting. “It doesn’t matter how many modifications that they try to put on there. No one wants to live across the street from a data center.”
A man NBC described as a building trades union member was in favor of the tech park.
“We think this is going to be a really, really great opportunity for a lot of marginalized communities in the county to be able to get … really, really great jobs and be able to live here and work here,” he said.
If approved, rezoning would free up 4.25 million square feet of data center space for more than 12 buildings on the tech campus.
The board is set to take up the issue again on March 7.
The planning commission resolution is available online and features more details about the project.
Feature image courtesy Vink Fan/stock.adobe.com
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