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A contentious town hall provided Dumfries-area residents an early look at a proposed data center complex.
The tech hubs’ potential arrival in eastern Prince William County – a rarity in comparison with the county’s western end – was met with a mixed reception from the crowd.
The Lexora Park project – near the Four Seasons at Historic Virginia 55-and-over community off Dumfries Road west of Interstate 95 – could include as many as five data centers, according to an April 9 concept plan.
Scores of community residents turned out for the May 21 town hall hosted by Deshundra Jefferson, Prince William Board of County Supervisors chair, and her staff at the main clubhouse of the Four Seasons community.
Ed Holder, president of the Four Seasons Homeowners Association, told InsideNoVa he will need to engage in further discussions to weigh the community’s opinion, which he said was evenly split on Lexora Park.
“We have some for, some against,” Holder said. “We just have a lot more talking to do. We need to get some more information before we make a final decision as to whether we will support data center development … I think it’s pretty evenly divided is the kind of vibe that I got from the room.”
Lee Gleason, an attorney representing Cedrus Group, the project’s developer, and Corey Stewart, a former Board of County Supervisors chair and attorney representing property owner Bill Cooley, were also on hand and spoke during the event. Cooley is a resident of Four Seasons at Historic Virginia.
Cedrus Group is owned by Jeff Mulhausen, a McLean-based data center developer who has donated thousands of dollars to the campaigns of various Prince William supervisors, both Democratic and Republican. Most recently, Mulhausen’s wife, Alejandra Duarte Mulhausen, made a $100,000 contribution to Coles District supervisor Yesli Vega’s new political action committee.
At various points during the town hall, Jefferson offered several rebuttals to Stewart and Gleason, condemning their previously-held April 9 town hall at Four Seasons.
“They’ve been having conversations about this project for at least the past six months,” Jefferson told InsideNoVa following the event. “The first time I heard about this was from concerned members of the community … No one has come to me, and I’m disappointed that I heard about this from the community, not from the applicant or a representative of the applicant. I know that the applicant has met with other supervisors – they have shared that with me, but I’m disappointed that they didn’t come to my office.”
According to the Prince William County ePortal, no application related to the project has been filed with the county.
General plans
Under the proposed blueprints, the data centers would be located “at least” 300 feet from the Four Seasons property line, according to the April 9 Cedrus Group presentation.
Gleason said the distance is still subject to change. He added the number of data centers – which could be as many as five – is also still preliminary.
“We’re still early on in the process, so the 300-foot reference was to buffers and setbacks,” Gleason said. “That’s just the distance away from the buildings that the property lines could be. So in our initial presentation a month or so ago, the by-right buffer minimum is 50 feet. And so what we were proposing to the group is, should the data centers go forward, what we would try to do to mitigate any impacts to the buildings is provide a buffer and a setback that was farther back than the by-right minimums.”
Stewart said Cooley currently has five offers to choose for the sale of his property – two data centers and three distribution and fulfillment centers. Should the Four Seasons resident opt for one of the latter three options, Stewart said there could be as many as 10 by-right warehouses installed on the premises at 250,000 square feet each.
Chair Jefferson was skeptical.
“I’m sorry – I do not buy that because it sounds too much like a scare tactic to me,” she told the crowd. “‘If you don’t do this – if you don’t give us the use that will give us more money – we’re going to have a worse use,’ just like we’ve heard, ‘That you’re not going to like.’”
Andrea Bailey, Potomac District supervisor and board vice chair, represents the Four Seasons area. The day after the May 21 town hall, Bailey hosted her own event, which focused on the recently-completed Fettler Park market study on redevelopment in the Dumfries area.
Despite the study including the potential for data center growth near Four Seasons, Bailey told InsideNoVa the two town halls were mutually exclusive.
“Last night was madam chair’s meeting, and I wanted to support her in coming to the district,” Bailey said May 22. “Tonight is about a broader vision for my district, and so there’s no comparison. It gives the community the options of what can happen in this Fettler Park area.”
Bailey said bilateral discussions are critical when it comes to data center evaluation.
“As I said, I think there’s an opportunity for us – when there’s going to be a data center built – that we sit at the negotiation table and we talk about the community,” Bailey said, “and we educate the community about what that data center is and where it’s going to be placed, and what’s the benefit of having it here. I think there’s value in that, and that’s one of the best practices that I’ve learned … That’s one of our industries, one of our market industries, from economic development.”
