In a unanimous decision, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors enacted a zoning text amendment significantly curtailing by-right data center development. This measure shrinks an overlay district from 9,698 acres to 3,654 acres, effectively reducing eligible land for such projects by approximately 62%, as outlined in a recent Planning Commission report.
Developers in the roughly 6,000 acres newly removed from eligibility will be required to obtain a special use permit for data center projects moving forward. The revised overlay district will restrict data center construction to sites meeting specific criteria designed to target properties with existing approvals or development rights.
An 8-0 decision followed an extended discussion regarding the transition period’s duration for developers to submit data center applications before the new district takes effect. The board rejected a 5-3 motion to eliminate the 90-day window entirely.
Brentsville District Supervisor Tom Gordy said before the vote, “We’ve got varied perspectives across the community as it relates to what we’re doing. But the one thing that everyone is unified on is we must get this done. We need to end by right development of data centers in Prince William County.”
Residents and elected officials across the U.S. are pushing back against data center development, leading to a flurry of new restrictions. Prince William County sits next to Loudoun County, the data center capital of the world, which eliminated by right data center development in March 2025.
Prince William County has 36 operational data centers and 40 in the development pipeline, including 11 under construction, according to US Data Center Map. Reported and operational power usage from data centers in the county totals 4.5 gigawatts.
In July, Blackstone’s QTS abandoned its $100 billion Digital Gateway data center project, which was planned to span 2,100 acres in Prince William County, after dropping its legal effort to reinstate necessary rezoning approvals. Just days later, Prince William’s board stopped another massive data center plan from taking shape, voting against a land use designation for a proposed 1,940-acre data center dubbed Dulles South Innovation Center.
Board of Supervisors Chair at large Deshundra Jefferson emphasized that she wanted the board to make a decision immediately. “It doesn’t mean there will never be another data center application ever again,” she said. “I’m not a fan of the 90 days, but it is the compromise, and it feels like this is where we’ve been able to get a majority of people, and I want this to be done.”