July 25, 2025 | Mark Luis Foster
Data Centers are going up across the country in rapid fashion. It sort of reminds me of the shopping mall construction craze of the 1980s and 1990s. And my my, that went well, didn’t it? This time, these big data structures are not getting the grand welcome mat rollout the malls once did in the long-ago construction phases.
News from Virginia is a bit unsettling, as it seems to echo the sentiments of many a nearby HOA that finds itself situated (or soon will be) in the shadow a data center. It turns out that the Oak Valley Homeowners Association of Gainesville, VA is quite unhappy with a Virginia Court of Appeals decision that upholds the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ approval of a controversial land use amendment—despite what residents say was a deliberate disregard for public input.
According to Potomaclocal.com:
The July 22, 2025, ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Oak Valley HOA and neighboring property owners challenging the Board’s 2022 vote to adopt the Prince William Digital Gateway Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA). The amendment clears the way for thousands of acres in the county’s Rural Crescent to be developed into one of the largest data center corridors in the world, adjacent to Manassas National Battlefield Park.
Thousands of acres. Yikes. They likely have a point:
The Oak Valley neighborhood is located near the intersection of Catharpin Road and Heritage Farms Drive in Gainesville. The community includes 254 homes and is managed by Sequoia Management. It sits just outside the area targeted for development, bordering conservation lands and the historic battlefield. With homes averaging close to $1 million, residents there have voiced concern about environmental impacts, rising noise levels, and threats to the area’s rural character.
The story goes on to indicate that public sentiment was not heard, despite a marathon public meeting where voices were loud and disdain was high. The article quotes Mac Haddow, President of the Oak Valley Homeowners Association:
Haddow pointed to a November 1–2, 2022, public hearing that lasted nearly 14 hours and drew more than 240 speakers. The Board of County Supervisors began the meeting at 7:30 p.m. and voted just before 9 a.m. the following morning to approve the CPA. The vote came with no discussion and was taken using a resolution that had been drafted before the hearing began.
Litigation is underway, and of course the plot thickened when it was discovered the county used $1 million in taxpayer money to seek legal counsel.
“The county is using taxpayer money to fight its own citizens,” Haddow said. “All we’re asking for is to rehear it—just re-advertise, hold the hearing, and vote again.”
The Oak Valley HOA has signaled that it plans to take the problem in front of the Virginia General Assembly. The group is advocating for new legislation that would require governing bodies to consider and document public input before making land use decisions that fundamentally alter communities, according to the story.
“The citizens of Prince William County were given just days to review a finalized proposal, while developers had open access to county staff and Board members for months,” Haddow said. “This is not a level playing field. It’s manifestly unfair.”
You can read the whole thing HERE.