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Candland & Lawson approved 3 million Sq ft Data Center adj. to Manassas Battlefield 1 1/2 years ago!
Dear Members of the Board,
Last week Supervisor Candland sent an email titled: “Data Centers Could Be Coming To Your Neighborhood...First Up - Heritage Hunt and the Manassas Battlefield"
Supervisor Candland's post is full of overstatement and hysteria. Let's make sure we all have the big picture here:
Lie of Omission No 1:
The Republicans, Candland and Lawson WERE THE FIRST to approve a 3 million data center project directly across the lane from the Manassas Battlefield, ON PAGELAND LANE, adjacent to the rural area and OUTSIDE OF THE DATA CENTER Overlay corridor a year and a half ago. That Datacenter will start clearing within the next 3 weeks.
He tries to incite people by stating a developer (me) who’s lived on Pageland Lane for 40 years and a lifelong PWC citizen is BAD for coming up with a win-win scenario for the landowners on Pageland, the County’s tax revenues, and ALL our citizens?
But Candland /Lawson praises the Latsios Family and Buchanan saying the Latsios family has owned this land for 70 years, they have waited a long time to be able to get a profitable use approved on it, and that this is the Right Location for Data Centers due to the location of the transmission lines. Candland and Lawson made the Latsios/Buchanan partnership $74 Million Dollar. I guess they are the HAVE’s. Do we call them greedy fat cat developers? No! They are good business people, they saw an opportunity, AND Candland and Lawson agreed.
There were no outcries from FORCE, PEC, PW Alliance or the Coalition, Civil War Trust, The Manassas Battlefield, or the Coalition to Save Prince William to Save the Manassas Battlefield. No one spoke in opposition to this rezoning.
None of us on Pageland received an email from Candland alerting us to this rezoning either. Just another example of the Exclusionary Zone for the Have’s and Have Nots. Many of my neighbors on Pageland Lane have been here for 5 generations …the BIG difference between them and the Latsios Family and the developer Buchanan is they have never lived a day in PWC nor would they.
Let me say this again, Candland and Lawson approved THE FIRST DATA CENTER ADJACENT TO THE MANASSAS BATTLEFIELD, PAGELAND LANE, THE RURAL AREA, and outside of the Data Center Overly District in December 2019.
Lie of Omission No 2:
Supervisor Lawson and Candland didn’t send any email stating that with this rezoning they were agreeing to the right of way for the Bi-County Parkway being dedicated to the State of Virginia from I-66 to Rt. 29 with the approval of Gainesville Crossing? That’s right…it was just 6 months earlier that Supervisor Lawson bullied and reamed out Christina Winn in July 2019 for even mentioning the Bi-County Parkway as part of the Economic Task Force recommendation to make PWC prosper. Christina was doing her job, creating opportunities for all PWC Citizens.
The FACTS ARE:
REZ Gainesville Crossing (PBD Zoning District) Gainesville GGP
Gainesville GGP
GPIN Nos. 7497-67-8141, part of 7497-26-9609
152.7 acres(+/-), Gainesville Magisterial District Prince William County, Virginia
November 25, 2019
Item 18 a & b titled Donation
a. Land bay D shall be donated to the American Battlefield Trust or its designee with a restrictive covenant that it shall remain maintained in an undisturbed state except as provided below or if the land becomes the property of the U.S. government. If the American Battlefield Trust declines said donation, the Applicant shall donate land bay D to the County, or its designee. Said donation shall occur prior to the final site plan approval for land bay A The Applicant shall contribute $25,000.00 to the American Battlefield Trust or its designee or, if they decline, to the County, within one year of final unappealed zoning approval for plantings in or improvements to land bay D related to the Civil War, such as, but not limited to, the relocation of a historical marker currently located in Conway Robinson State Forest, a Civil War Trail interpretive sign, and the repair of the Dunklin Monument.
b. The Applicant shall assign the rights to any option it may have to repurchase the right of way acquired by VDOT for the extension of the Prince William Parkway north of Interstate 66 to the same entity that takes title to land bay D in accordance with proffer 18.d.
What does item 18b mean? Please have the County attorney confirm this.
It means if and only if the Commonwealth of Virginia decides to abandon the need for this Right of Way then the Civil War Trust would have the option to buy back the right of way instead of Buchanan properties. The Commonwealth of Virginia is under no obligation to ever abandon the right of way.
· The Commonwealth of Virginia has had right of way for over 30 years for the Rt. 28/Godwin Drive extension and they have never abandoned it. The Rt. 28/Godwin Drive extension is now under way with engineering and plans for engineering.
· There is also a right of way for a portion of the Bi-County Parkway that was preserved 15 years through a portion of the Catharpin Park and is still there.
· There is surplus right of way along the Rt. 234 Bypass at Balls Ford Road from when the Rt. 234 ByPass was built 25 years ago and the Commonwealth has never abandoned it.
· Did it not occur to Candland and Lawson that approving a data center in this location would open the door for others?
BOTTOM LINE:
The right of way for the Bi-County Parkway thru Gainesville Crossing was approved and DEDICATED because of Candland/Lawson’s approval of this project.
Where was the Community Newsletter from our Supervisor that the Right of Way from I-66 to Rt. 29 was going to be dedicated to the Commonwealth of Virginia ? This project sealed our fate, advanced the Bi-County Parkway and our Supervisor never alerted us to it!
Candland and Lawson speak with “forked tongues”. They cry SAVE THE RURAL AREA and then they destroy it for certain developers. Why am I a bad developer but yet Buchanan is NOT?
It is critical for the rest of the board to know we have NO representation with our District Supervisor and his actions are simply for his own political benefit of re-election. He only represents the people in the development area (Heritage Hunt, Dominion Valley, Piedmont) to subdue and take away the property rights of the people in the rural area who were here long before those subdivisions .
Please vote for the approval of the Data Center Overlay Corridor ZTA Option 2.
Thank you for your service.