Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 4h 21m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3680
Official Board of County Supervisors page (Prince William County): https://www.pwcva.gov/department/board-county-supervisors

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-29. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:14:23] All right, everyone. It is 2 o'clock. I'm asking that everyone take a seat. We are going to begin with a moment of silence, and it's going to be in honor of our colleague who we lost, Supervisor Bob Weir. Supervisor Bob left an incredible mark on our county, and his unexpected loss is a loss for all of us.

[00:14:44] So I'm honored that his team has joined us today. I'm honored because I know I have a lot of people here who are coming to speak in honor of him. It's going to be a tough day for us. It's going to be a tough week, tough months. And those are going to be some really hard chews to fill.

[00:15:02] But with that, I'd like us all to take a moment of silence.

[00:15:28] And before we go into a pledge, I just want to make a couple of announcements. The town of Haymarket is going to do a proclamation on August 4th at 7 o'clock in his honor. And we as a board are going to do a proclamation on September 9th at the 2 o'clock session, I believe.

[00:15:43] We're still working to make sure that's firmed up. But there is going to be a celebration of his life and legacy at no other than Giuseppe's on September 27th from 1 o'clock to 4 o'clock.

[00:15:59] Please be casual. Okay, please be casual. That's how Bob would have wanted things. So please rise, if you are able, for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:16:26] We are now moving on for approval of minutes. I'd like to get a motion to approve the minutes from June 24th. So moved. Second. All right. All in favor, let's take our vote.

[00:16:45] Vote unanimous. All right. We're now moving on to agenda item number four, accommodations and proclamations. We have one thing today, and that's to proclaim Tuesday, August 5th, 2025, is National Night Out in Prince William County.

[00:17:04] Can I get a motion? So moved. Second. All right, let's go ahead and take a vote for that item. Vote unanimous. And will those associated with National Night Out, please join me down at the podium.

[00:17:48] This is to proclaim Tuesday, August 5th, 2025 as National Night Out in Prince William County. Now, if you see something, say something, because we all have a role to play in terms of preventing crime. It is essential that Prince William County residents are aware of the importance of crime prevention programs and the impact that our participation can have on reducing crime, drugs, and violence in our community.

[00:18:11] Some of the effective ways to do this include police-community partnerships, neighborhood safety and awareness, and cooperation. As part of this public awareness campaign, the Prince William County Police Department is sponsoring a crime and drug prevention program on Tuesday, August 5th, as part of National Line Out.

[00:18:31] National Night Out provides unique opportunity for thousands of communities around the county, including Prince William, to join forces in promoting cooperative crime-fighting efforts between law enforcement and the community. And this is in its 42nd year of National Night Out.

[00:18:47] And so, today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims Tuesday, August 5th, 2025, its National Night Out in Prince William County. Do you have any comments you would like to offer? You guys are so quiet. All right, let's go take a quick picture.

[00:19:50] All right. We are moving on to agenda item number five. That's a consent agenda. Before I get started, does anyone have anything they would like to pull? Madam Chair. Supervisor Bode? Can we please pull 5L as in Larry? 5L. Supervisor Franklin? I just have a question about 5C. I just wanted to know which projects were included. All right. 5C. Anyone else? Anything else? All right. So what we're going to do, I'd like a motion for 5A through, did you have anything? I'm sorry. You're

[00:20:25] scrolling. Oh, you're good. 5A, 5B, 5D through 5K. And this page wasn't sticking, I think. Yeah, that's it. So moved. Second. All right. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple quick things. So 5B, really appreciate the work that Christina Wynn and her team have been doing on the landing small area plan and the potential landing town center. This is going to be a game if it goes through for not only the Alcoquan just but this entire part of

[00:21:02] Princeton County and really wanted to highlight that through a PPA process we can actually tap into private funds in order to unlock even more investment in this part of the small area plan. It also creates a true sense of place right next to one of the largest commuter lots in the entire county and it also helps us achieve something that's a little bit harder out here in the suburb which is transit-oriented development without rail.

[00:21:29] As mentioned before, it's right next to the commuter lot, right next to the HOV lanes, and we also have a transit study, a transit hub study that's going through. Thank you, NVTA, for those funds. And it's really going to hopefully be something that will be a really good way to reimagine this part of the county.

[00:21:45] So I thank Christina Wynn and her team on that. And then finally, 5F applications for the fiscal year NVTA 2026 to 2031. Six-year program for our Ocococonic residents. We have a potential of $56 million for the Old Bridge Road, Gordon Boulevard intersection improvements.

[00:22:04] And then right next door, we're looking at maybe $6 million for a Dale City Transit Priority Project, which I understand potentially could run through the Occoquan District on Miniville and Caton Hill. So as we talk about NVTA adopting their bus rapid transit plan a few weeks ago and these other projects, we have a real opportunity to really invest in transit in this county.

[00:22:24] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much. Supervisor Bailey, you were in the queue. Did you have anything or no? No, I just wanted to, just quickly, Madam Chair, just wanted to thank Seth Hindler-Vos for the forest green piece of 5H. I didn't pull it, but I just wanted to thank him for all the hard work that he's doing there.

[00:22:43] It will be continual. We've got another phase two to go, but just thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, let's go ahead and take a vote on those items. Vote unanimous.

[00:23:00] All right, for 5C, did you have questions? Did you want me to call up Rick or, sorry? Yeah, just curious as to which projects. Oh, that was you. I'm sorry. I'm confusing you all. All right. Mr. Canizales, if you are here.

[00:23:28] Madam Chair, members of the board, Rick Canizales, Department of Transportation, your director. I'm sorry, what was the question, ma'am? Just making sure. I was just curious which projects were included for item 5C. I saw the contractors listed. Oh, the 5C? I'm sorry, ma'am, yes.

[00:23:44] I thought you were asking about a different item. 5C is not a number of projects. What we're doing there is just getting our on-call list for the contractors, the design contractors that we're going to have on-call to us and available to us when we have engineering needs. So various projects, anything under $2.5 million that we can fit within a contract to try to get something done a little quicker than having to go to an RFP, that's what we will go to.

[00:24:06] Thank you, ma'am. I don't, are there any further questions? All right, go ahead. Can I get a move, a motion? Move for approval, Madam Chair. Second.

[00:24:25] All right. Let's go ahead and take a vote. Vote unanimous. All right. 5L. Was that you or was that a mark? Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:24:41] I don't see the chief here, but I wanted to see if someone could answer a couple questions. Thank you. Appreciate that. So 5L is just to authorize a public hearing, and I know that there's sort of two things being done with this ordinance change. We have on one side, we're moving an expired fuel surcharge that obviously can no longer apply, but we also have the increase of the towing fees.

[00:25:05] Can you talk a little bit about what the impetus for that part of it was? if that's the only fee now that the towers can use. Your mic. Your mic. Hi. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. I'm Lieutenant Richard McConaughey here, representing Chief Newsham for the police department.

[00:25:25] This is Mr. Evan Johnson. He's our tow coordinator. He's a subject matter expert with this. But, yeah, you're right. The fuel surcharge expired on July 1st, which was a $20 fee per private property tow. Then General Assembly session this spring, authorize a private property towed from 150 to 210, which, like you said, is going to go before a public hearing.

[00:25:48] As far as other changes throughout the ordinance, the answer is yes, and that's working its way through the county attorney's office right now, which should be on your desk in September. Appreciate that. So we're only covering today the piece on the fees and the short-term and the rest of the changes. I think that was linked to Suarez or Vega's directive.

[00:26:06] That's right. Is coming later. Okay. okay i appreciate that um i'll save the rest of my comments for for later all right does anyone else have any additional comments all right thank you so very much thank you let's go ahead and take a vote on that move for approval madam chair can i get a second second i'm just ready to vote wait hold on supervisor bodie you're back in queue yes i did i just want to have um comments so i understand the impetus for this is the result of general assembly changes um i just i have

[00:26:46] concerns because I know that why I asked the questions I asked was as we're going through a process of hoping to curb certain predatory towing practices we have an item before us right now it increases the fees on towing. So I just wanted to air that and socialize that to me I think there's still work that needs to be done around towing and our processes around that. I will not be supporting this. I know all this is going to be authorized a public hearing but I'm not in favor of even doing that i'd be willing to separate into doing the the the um getting rid of the line of code that obviously doesn't apply anymore that expired and separating the other

[00:27:25] piece the fee piece but if they're together i'm going to be supporting this motion supervisor franklin i actually want to clarify that um what supervisor vega's directive was kind of separate from this it doesn't actually address fees um but but no this is completely separate as it relates to the General Assembly. So I don't think our colleagues should look at these as the same.

[00:27:50] These should be treated as completely separate issues. This didn't come up, Supervisor Vega's directive didn't come up as it relates to this. So there's really no relationship there. What I'll also say is I've been talking to both the county attorney's office as well as the towing community, as well as property managers, and I would encourage my colleagues both when the ordinance comes up as well as when this item comes up which again is separate to actually talk to property managers because I had concerns and still do have some concerns but the property managers

[00:28:26] tell a very different story of how they need some of these services to actually regulate the community in terms of over parking and people parking in not the right spots. I will say though that I am absolutely supportive of a public hearing which is what we're voting on now because I actually do want to hear from the community because if you remember, you know, I was the first to issue a directive and then Roseraga hopped on.

[00:28:52] But, again, I think we need to separate these two issues out. This is for a public hearing on what the General Assembly allowed, but I absolutely want to hear from the public with regards to their experiences, with regards to fees.

[00:29:09] But, again, that is completely separate from the ordinance itself that we're looking to amend and update. All right. Does anyone else have any additional comments? If not, let's go ahead and move forward with the vote. Motion passes 6 to 1.

[00:29:29] Supervisor Bodie voting nay. All right. Thank you very much. We are now going to move into public comment time. That is agenda item number 6. Waiting for the list.

[00:29:49] All right. I'm going to call everyone up in groups of 5. And you'll go to the back. Everyone has three minutes to speak. Start with stating your name and the magisterial district where you reside. So I am going to have Elena Schlossberg, Rachel Ellis, Vida Carroll, and David Mullis, and Jessica Grove.

[00:30:12] So again, that's Elena Schlossberg, Rachel Ellis, Vida Carroll, David Mullis, Jessica Grove. Yes, I am. Thank you. Just as an opening.

[00:30:39] My name is Elena Schlossberg, and I live in the Gainesville District. I just want to say on behalf of Bob, like the flowers are pretty, but I'm pretty sure he would rather have screwball bourbon with ice in place of those.

[00:30:59] Bob was a dear friend for more than 20 years, and I will miss very much our phone calls. And they went like this. I would call, he would pick up, I'd say, Bob.

[00:31:20] And he'd say, yes. And who knew what we were going to talk about? but I want to share that I think the one person on this board that's going to miss Bob the most is Michelle Robel. Bob had many years with you, Michelle, and you will never find another sparring partner as intelligent, as thoughtful, and as dedicated to the truth as Bob. And I can't help

[00:31:58] but comment on the beginning of this board meeting life goes on and for me in Judaism we believe that each one of us lives on through our deeds and that is how we are best remembered and I think that many of you have written lovely things about Bob but what Bob would want is for each one of you to remember your interactions with him and those things that you talked about

[00:32:37] to make the county a better place. And I hope as you move forward and as life goes on, you remember that about Bob. Because words are just words, but your deeds and your actions are what matter.

[00:32:55] The Gainesville District is in a very vulnerable place, again. And I want the Gainesville District to remember that we are survivors. And Bob would want us and demand of us that we step up and we ensure that his vision continues. And I don't know what else to say about Bob, but I will miss him.

[00:33:25] I know people are scared and they are worried about what happens next. But when Kim passed away, Bob and I both said, what are we going to do? And we just kept moving forward. And so that's what I want to say to everybody is that we will keep moving forward and I just will miss Bob very very very much. Next speaker please. Rachel Ellis, Gainesville District. There's a quote from

[00:34:05] Upton Sinclair, American author and political activist that states it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. Please adjust the mic. We can't hear you. The statement is, it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. And I immediately thought of this board, except with this change to the quote, it is difficult to get a man or woman to understand something when his or her campaign donations depend on his or her not understanding it.

[00:34:42] Campaign donations depend on not understanding it, not understanding the impacts of data centers to adjacent homes, schools, historical, and cultural resources, not understanding data centers' impact of noise, construction, light pollution, air pollution, and how much water they use, not understanding the amount of power and stress data centers add to the power grid and who actually pays for the necessary infrastructure, not understanding that smart growth includes sustainable drinking water, not understanding how the Aquacan Reservoir works to feed our water supply, and land use decisions directly impact the quality of water

[00:35:16] we drink. Not understanding how high-density housing without proper transportation or infrastructure or adequate proffers negatively impacts residents and stress our tax dollars. It is difficult to get a man or woman to understand something when his or her campaign donations depend on his or her not understanding it. Supervisor Weir understood these things.

[00:35:40] He made it a priority to understand this and anything else that would impact county residents, whether they lived in his district or not. Bob truly represented the residents first. He was not a politician. Bob pushed for transparency and accountability in this county. You could trust Bob. Bob had integrity. He could not be bought. Beneath that gruff exterior, Bob had a heart, a heart that served residents first above all other interests. And because of who Bob was, we all loved him. Prince William County lost a supervisor who cared enough to take the time to understand that his votes actually meant what they actually meant to residents. Residents that

[00:36:15] don't have hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars to donate to your campaigns to make sure you understand the consequences of your votes. I look forward to seeing Bob's portrait in chambers, maybe back here where citizens stand to speak, as he always listened to residents and put our interests above developers. Maybe seeing Bob's face will help you adjust your moral compass.

[00:36:34] Maybe it will make you seek to understand how your votes impact county residents. Every time I saw bob i would say thank you and very humbly he would ask for what my response for being you for always standing up and fighting for us that is bob's legacy what is your legacy going to be before we get to the next speaker i want to next announce the next group my apologies i don't know if it's mike or miles grove if you're here kathy kulik and george stewart if you guys can go to

[00:37:06] the back. All right, sir, you may proceed. Thank you very much. My name is David Moss and I've been a resident of Prince William County for about 20 years. I'm both military and civil service retired. My wife, Rochelle, is a retired teacher from Prince William County. And I just wanted to just take a moment just to thank you all for your support and funding of the Prince County Animal Services Center. I've been serving out there as a volunteer for close to four years

[00:37:45] and it's an Prince William County Animal Center is an excellent state-of-the-art facility. The thanks and admiration that I receive from people coming out to visit the center is just tremendous. I think the staff goes beyond the call of duty to support people who are sometimes you know people die and people have to go to a nursing home something has to be done with the pets and it's very difficult to surrender a pet sometimes because pets become become a member of your family you know but I would like to commend the men and women of the Prince William

[00:38:22] County Animal Services Center for their tremendous professionalism and for any folks in here that are retired and you might want to help the community I would suggest that maybe put in an application to become a volunteer. We need fosters. We need greeters. The FIDO needs to be walked. We have people that come in the mornings and in the late afternoons and walk 40 dogs.

[00:38:49] And so they need tremendous help. And so those of you who are tired and you can provide an extra couple hours. I try to go out three times a week and I see a lot of people and a lot of donations that come in. And also, too, for our younger people, 18, 19, you want to find something volunteer, something that's good resume fodder later on, this can be a tremendous benefit for our young people out there. So again, you know, I understand there's probably half a million people

[00:39:24] in Prince William County. You know, how many dogs, cats, and rabbits do you think they are? a lot and you know what more is coming every day and uh so we have a lot of kitty cats and uh and we invite you all to come out and take a look at the facility and again thank you all for your tremendous support and funding and just thank the uh thank the staff of the prince william county services animal services center for their dedication and their tremendous help if anybody

[00:40:01] needs information on on volunteerism i've got a pamphlet that you i can get i'll be out in the lobby for the next for a while so please feel free to see me thank you thank you all very much thank you next speaker hey vita carol brinsville um i don't have is the elmo one i don't have anything prepared but um i wanted to come out and speak to bob and um i was looking through

[00:40:40] my emails with Bob over the last four and a half years. And there were a lot of gems in there that are probably not appropriate to share here. But the one I did want to share was after he secured the Republican, got through the Republican primary for the special election. And, you know, I shot

[00:41:08] him um a congratulatory email and and this was his response and you know that's Bob right so um I saw that and um I hope Bob haunts some people from the beyond and and I hope um you know Bob's legacy to me is just things we're never gonna see um there the square footage off

[00:41:48] of data centers that he got down, and their tax dollars that didn't get spent, and their, you know, FOIAs that never got responded to that he fought and fought and fought for, power lines that got buried. And Bob was always in the background, and that's how we met him. And, you know, Chris and Bob were kind of kindred spirits and they they Chris leaned on Bob a lot um they were on the

[00:42:23] sustainability commission together and um it it was it was fun learning from Bob um we just adored him um you know I think it's it's fitting that I think he ended his political career in this room when people could really appreciate him and he did so much work over so long and by kind of some

[00:42:59] crazy twists and turns he ended up in that chair and then the whole county got to see what we always knew bob was and that was your worst nightmare and um i'm gonna miss bob my family's gonna miss bob chris is gonna miss bob um and it's a big loss for the community and um get yourself

[00:43:35] checked for cancer you know all right god bless next speaker please hi my name is jessica grove and i'm from the gainesville district um i rushed here to say i've only been watching politics for a short amount of time and it wasn't until um i realized that the person that we had put our faith

[00:44:10] into to represent Gainesville really screwed us. And it's very disappointing that at the local level, we have somebody who would stab us in the back the way we got stabbed. And when I met Bob, it was standing here at public comment time. Actually, I think there was a podium down there and he slammed it a couple of times. Might've been a couple of curse words thrown in there,

[00:44:45] you guys. But that's when I gained respect for Bob. And I can only hope that as I pass this torch to Miles because this is going to be his county soon, that he's able to put his faith in the rest of the board of county supervisors and whoever takes Bob's place. Because that is going to be some really big shoes to fill. And even though he cussed in front of Miles, I think that's

[00:45:21] where we both gained more respect for Bob. Because he didn't sugarcoat anything. He didn't lie. He had morals that, oddly enough, even I have a hard time living up to. And I hope that if we have Bob's picture hanging in here, that when you put votes that affect my end of the county, that has been

[00:45:55] screwed a lot in the past couple years, that you remember the morals and the ethics that Bob held for our end of the county. And, you know, really just for the entire county, because what we're doing here is affecting all of Virginia, a lot of the East Coast, and the entire country. And it's

[00:46:27] up to you guys. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My name is Myles Grove. I'm from the Gainesville District. I'm her son. And I started watching local politics when Pete was in office. And I really watched how he did not serve us the way he said he would. And the one

[00:46:57] who did serve us the way he did just passed away so we gotta we gotta find a better more we gotta find someone as good as bob and hopefully like just find someone that won't be that will be honest to us and so the community and love nature the way bob did thank you next speaker please

[00:47:37] good afternoon madam chair members of the board i'm katherine kulik from the gainesville district I think there's an unwritten rule about, in public speaking, don't follow children.

[00:48:06] But they just came in at the last minute. I was honored to be an appointee of Supervisor Bob Weir. He appointed me to the County Historical Commission. And I was blessed to have his support as a member of the Data Center Ordinance Advisory Group.

[00:48:27] Bob supported his appointees. He listened and advocated for their views and their dedicated work in the public interest. he knew who they were. After meetings or even before events, I would often stop by his office to fill him in on the latest developments. I had a favorite nickname for Bob, Boss. I'd walk into his office to find him ensconced behind not one, not two, or even three, but four big computer

[00:49:03] display screens. And I'd say, hey boss, got a minute? I need to talk to you. He always said yes. How I wish today was like any other day, where the boss was in the house and listening to everything I had to say.

[00:49:26] To Bob's devoted staff and appointees who now must carry on and step into the breach, steady as it goes, steady as it goes.

[00:49:45] Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, George Stewart, Gainesville.

[00:50:02] So, I want to say a few words about Bob. When I first moved to the area, I went to a meeting at Battlefield High School where I met Bob for the very first time.

[00:50:20] And he encouraged me to come out to the Haymarket City Council because I thought I lived in Haymarket, but I actually live in Dominion Valley, which is not in Haymarket. But he was like, hey, look, you need to come out to the meeting and you need to make your voice heard. And the thing I loved about Bob was he didn't ask me if I was a Democrat.

[00:50:40] He didn't ask me if I was a Republican. He didn't ask me if I was an independent. He did ask me where I lived and where I was from. Bob wasn't always the smoothest in his delivery, and I appreciated that.

[00:51:00] I appreciated that. I was raised by a guy that was just like Bob, kind of crispy and burnt around the edges, but had a moral compass that could never, ever, ever be compromised. And when it comes to data centers and their encroachment and their danger to the community, not just in Gainesville, but for the rest of the county, we're all Bob now.

[00:51:28] Bob now lives in us. And so we all have to stand up. We have to find our inner curmudgeon and all say no. And, you know, Bob is now, he's running things upstairs.

[00:51:49] And, you know, and I know he's, while he's not in hell, he's giving him hell. you know, as he always will, as he always have. But I just want to say, Bob, we'll miss you. We'll miss your effect in our community. We thank you, and we love you.

[00:52:05] Thanks. Thank you to everyone who's come out in person. I'm going to turn it over to Supervisor Bailey to see if we have anyone from public comment time. We do, Madam Chair. I've got a list here.

[00:52:23] No, no one? They didn't log in. Madam Chair, back to you. All right, thank you, everyone. So that concludes public comment time. We are now moving on to item number seven, that is public hearings. I am going to open all the public hearings at one time, but I am going to separate out 7B, I'm sorry, 7A.

[00:52:42] And just a note, again, it's on the agenda, 7B and 7F have been withdrawn. So I'm going to go ahead and open, I'm going to let folks walk out. All right, I'm going to go ahead and open public comment time.

[00:53:16] I'm going to call people in groups of five. I'm Bob Bryant, Jack Kamujian, Dr. Jack, David Michael, Dan Smith, Lystra Smith.

[00:53:34] So when you begin, please state your name and the district where you reside. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Supervisors. I'm Bob Bryant. I live in the Occoquan District, and I am representing the River Ridge Community Association.

[00:53:51] I'm the president of the association, and I'm here to speak about the flats at Westminster. And for those of you who don't know, River Ridge is a community that's immediately adjacent to this property on which the flats is to be developed and immediately adjacent to Westminster.

[00:54:14] And so you can imagine or you understand why we've had a keen interest in the development of this property ever since the beginning of this process in which Lake Ridge Baptist Church sought to sell this property.

[00:54:30] So we've had a significant number of problems with the original development plan submitted by the previous developer, and we were challenged to tell the planning office and the planning committee commission exactly what we sought, what would be acceptable, what did we think.

[00:54:55] We were arguing that the previous development plan was not compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods. So we were challenged to express what we thought would be compatible, and we did that. And we submitted that plan, and I wanted to say that we were pleased when the original developer dropped out.

[00:55:23] Westminster stepped in, and Westminster's plan is compatible with every item of the plan that we submitted. So it's totally compatible with what we thought was acceptable. And so our association does support this request from Westminster.

[00:55:44] I sent an email in February to Supervisor Bode and to the chair in which we expressed our support for this request. And we are absolutely confident that Westminster will responsibly develop this property and will maintain it over the coming decades.

[00:56:08] And so we encourage and support approval of this rezoning request. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, members of the Board of Supervisors. Jack Kuyumcham, President of LOCA.

[00:56:25] I would like to have five minutes. I was going to comment both on item 7D and 7E. I'll start with 7E Westminster Lakeridge, if that's okay. It's been a long eight years.

[00:56:42] I actually started in 2016-2017 with the original developer for 2.48 acres of topographically challenging land that was owned by the Lakeridge Baptist Church trustees.

[00:57:00] And the goal of LOCA and the PELT committee is when we have an infill parcel that's to be developed, we try to harmonize with the neighborhood and make sure that it, in its developed state, is a seamless development as an infill property.

[00:57:23] The original developer's vision was the developer's vision, not the community's vision. And we had serious issues with that. and there was a communication problem throughout. The developer only responded to continued requests by the community, and we worked with River Ridge, Thousand Oaks, and the community at large to make sure we were having a seamless infill development project.

[00:57:55] It wasn't until the start of the eighth submission with the planning staff. By the way, I just want to commend Scott Mayer and the planning staff for their professionalism, their stick-to-itiveness, their communication skills, keeping the community involved and aware of things, and the back-and-forth communication we had between the planning staff and the community at large. It was exceptional. And we are blessed to have very dedicated professionals in the

[00:58:33] planning office that are overloaded with their workload yet they take time to work with the community on things that matter to us and we are so grateful that we can have that two-way communication and and pick up the phone or send an email message and get a genuine response from the staff it's a valuable resource that we have in the county and we very much treasure that so

[00:59:04] We worked on things that matter to us, such as the visibility of the project to make it fit in with the isolated campus setting that we have at Westminster and River Ridge. We worked on the entrancing issues.

[00:59:21] We worked on stormwater. We worked on buffers. I have to say that at the eighth submission, the developer walked and Westminster came in and said, well, we would like to chat with the trustees.

[00:59:38] And that went very well. And we, once we got involved with, I will call it the A-team from Westminster, we were able, they were able to take all the concerns that we had and incorporate them in the current package that is before you for a vote.

[00:59:57] And we entirely support it, and we're looking forward to the courtesy review process that we will have after the zoning is approved, if you vote in the affirmative. We support the project. We have achieved a seamless infill development with this proposal.

[01:00:19] The developer, for instance, when we talked about stormwater, instead of putting underground cisterns or eyebrows under the building that require maintenance and could be a headache for future owners of the facility, the developer looked at the challenge and decided to put another pond in.

[01:00:45] That would be a third pond on the campus setting that we have, where we have two ponds right now that are overloaded. But we were thrilled to see how they directly addressed stormwater, and we're looking forward to the dialogue when we do the courtesy review to make sure that we're managing stormwater to the best of our collective abilities.

[01:01:10] Another thing that was very important to us was safety in the intersection. So I'm looking forward, I know we all are, to having a dialogue on making the four-corner stop safer intersection. And we've had some early conversations with Paolo Belita and Prince William DOT who are excellent as well.

[01:01:33] So with that, I just want to say we support the project and we would hope that you would provide a vote in the affirmative on that particular project. Now, I would like to talk about the Longhorn Steakhouse, the other item. So we can give you an additional five minutes.

[01:01:51] May I do that? Yes. Yes, I won't take five minutes, but it's a process. We reviewed signage for the Longhorn Steakhouse, which is part of what's called the Smoketown Stations property. And we worked with the applicant to provide for some extra signage beyond code.

[01:02:15] And that, by the way, there's a letter to Joyce Fidelli in development services that we provided, Supervisor Bodie and others on that, and we gave it to the clerk for the record. And we also wrote to Supervisor Bodie in February with the River Ridge folks and wrote a letter of support, which we gave to the clerk for the record as well.

[01:02:41] But the Longhorn Steakhouse, we were asking for a courtesy review, and the Planning Commission had added it. So that courtesy review for the signage would be in your vote in the affirmative today.

[01:02:58] But interestingly, we had been working with Longhorn Steakhouse, and we actually conducted the review as an ad hoc review. And the letter was transmitted July 17th. So we completed the review, and we're recommending approval.

[01:03:16] So with that, on both those items, we recommend approval by the board. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Next speaker. Good afternoon.

[01:03:33] My name is Dan Smith. I'm a resident at Westminster. I'm also a semi-retired architect. When I moved here from California four years ago, I became quite aware of the...

[01:03:49] I'm sorry, can you adjust the mic so we can hear you better? Yeah, I became quite aware of the concerns of the community about the previous development and was also pleased to be able to help come up with a concept plan to address those, such as stormwater, which he mentioned, which we address by creating a new pond.

[01:04:15] Congestion at Clipper and Mariner, which we address by reducing from three buildings to two, from 30 units to 24. And by moving the buildings back from the corner, we have up to 100 feet for screening from the corner. We also moved the entry, which was right at the corner at the existing easement, 200 feet down the road towards the center of campus, past the turnoff to River

[01:04:47] ridge to make that less of an impact. And we decided to build on the basic gable-style architecture of the community, and we have a nice, steep, saltbox-shaped structure that allows us to tuck the third floor into the roof line, reducing the impact with sort of a two-and-a-half-story eave. The other thing it does is it allowed us to rotate the building

[01:05:24] 90 degrees, so they face the pond. They also are more facing south, but they also allow us to bring the narrow gabled end to be the view from Clipper. So all in all, those things have made this through the process. They're all relatively expensive, but they've made it through the VE battles, and our professional team has done a good job. RLPS architects and PDG design and engineering consultants. I think we have a good project, and I think it bodes well in support of your

[01:06:03] approving the rezoning. Thank you. Thank you so very much. I had two additional people. I don't know if they're here. David Michael or Lystra Smith? No, but also I had your Dan Smith, but I Is that Alistra Smith?

[01:06:24] Okay. We're going to move on to remote public for the remote comments. Supervisor Bailey? I have no one, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so very much. So I am going to go ahead and close the public hearings for agenda items 7A, 7C, 7D, and 7E.

[01:06:44] What I am going to do, I am going to, I know there's going to be some discussion around 7A, so I'm going to do that one separately. then I'd like to do 7C, D, and E together. So can I get a motion for 7A? So move, Madam Chair.

[01:07:00] Second. All right, discussion. Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that we as a board have talked quite a bit about the meals tax and it's my understanding that this ordinance change simply handshakes with what we had already agreed to with the adopted budget back at the end of April.

[01:07:23] I just wanted to go on record by talking about how I see the meals tax as something that we continue to need overall as a way to help promote the commercial tax base as well as draw on revenue from outsiders, people that are visiting Prince William County.

[01:07:42] An estimated 20% of the folks that pay the meals tax come from outside the county. That gets to upwards of 40% in my district around Potomac Mills and other parts of the county. I also know that since the tax was instituted in 2022, restaurant receipts of state had continued to grow.

[01:08:01] At 4%, we were around our regional peers and around most of the towns in terms of where that was, and we're going to be lowering it to 3%, which makes us even more competitive and matches other towns as well. It's very sensitive to the concerns of businesses that have raised this as an issue.

[01:08:18] I know that especially right now with all the uncertainty in terms of the economics of the region, folks wanted to see some relief which is why i this uh year agreed to us uh lowering the meals tax um i'll be going along and supporting this however i continue to be concerned about us um look uh taking away ways that we're able to diversify the tax base and diversify our economy because let's face it if we start peeling away these non-real estate taxes and non-personal property taxes more the burden may be shifted to our residents which i'm concerned about again

[01:08:53] we instituted the meals tax as a way to help promote and support all the necessary county services and the school division without having to go back to the real estate taxes and the real estate residents that pay a lot of the lion's share of the tax. So I'll be supporting it this year since we already agreed to with the budget, but I remain concerned if this becomes a trend.

[01:09:13] Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to go in the opposite direction of Supervisor Bodie. I think that this is a good step, and in my opinion, we're going in the right direction this is a regressive uh tax it has a negative impact on our local businesses i'm not sure if my colleagues on the day is have ventured out to other parts of the county outside of their district but when you sit down and you talk to these mom and pop restaurants uh they've been feeling it and they've been feeling it hard especially for those that did not know that this meals tax was implemented and they were not charging it for upwards to a year and now have

[01:09:50] this massive bill from the county and they don't understand how they're going to pay it um the county has been gracious by saying that they can implement a payment plan but it's regressive in nature it has negative impacts and we're going to do everything that we can to live up to that promise of repealing the meals tax altogether so madam chair i look forward to having that conversation as budget uh as our budget conversations um begin here soon and to those in the restaurant industry i just want you all to know that we've listened and that we're going to continue to take action, but certainly this is a step in the right direction, and I hope that we come to a point where we reduce it altogether. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Gordy.

[01:10:27] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Supervisor Reagan. Thank you, Supervisor Bode. I would also add on to that, I mean, if you take a look at what the price of food in restaurants since this was implemented has almost doubled because of inflation, simply because the cost of doing business for restaurants keeps going up. That gets passed on to the consumer. So while the gross receipts for our restaurants continues to go up, it's driven simply because of inflationary pressures, not because business is growing, but because expenses are growing. And so the more

[01:11:06] that we tax those expenses and those inputs for the restaurants, the more regressive this becomes. And so basically what this tax has become is it's become a tax on inflation. And so our families who are the primary customers for many of our restaurants are the ones that are paying for this out of their own pocket. So it's not a commercial tax in reality. It is a personal tax on our residents because they're the ones paying the price for this. And the other ones who are paying the price are those who work in this industry and work on tips and seeing their tips decline

[01:11:43] because the money's going to the tax instead of to give them a tip. And so what that has resulted in, I don't know how many times you've been into a restaurant and seen half the restaurant shut down because they can't get enough people to work.

[01:11:59] Because if the tips aren't there to incentivize the workforce, they're not showing up for work. And so what we're seeing is a continual pressure on the workforce, on the restaurant owners. Many of these are family-owned business.

[01:12:14] Over half of these restaurants are family-owned businesses in an industry that has a tremendous failure rate, tremendous failure rate. So whatever we can do to help incentivize our family-owned businesses and help support them by reducing this regressive tax is something that I want to see not just reduced but eliminated as we do go forward.

[01:12:37] And I'm glad we're taking this first step this year. Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't see any additional speakers, so I'd like to call for the vote. So move, Madam Chair. Motion passes 5 to 2.

[01:13:05] Supervisors, Angry and Franklin voting nay. All right. Thank you so very much. We are going to go on to 7C, 7D, and 7E, unless someone has an objection. I'm going to go ahead and do these all at once. I'd like to move it for approval, Madam Chair.

[01:13:22] Second. So Angry and Bailey, since we've been properly moved and seconded, any discussion? Supervisor, Bodie. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. I did have just a couple of questions for the applicant on Westminster very quickly. I'm going to give a second for Mr. Simmons to come forward.

[01:13:43] Thank you. So first, I wanted to say thank you to Westminster. Thank you to Mr. Simmons and all the work that you've been working with. River Ridge, the community, LOCA. I remember going to a meeting of the Romeos a couple years back where this was raised.

[01:13:59] So I wanted to first commend you and the work that Westminster has done on this project. Just a couple of questions. First, can you just, for the public record, you know, is there assisted living or nursing or anything like that in this expansion? Yes, there is.

[01:14:15] This is 24 new multifamily apartments on the site. They're apartments that provide the kind of services and amenities that people need to be able to survive and take care of themselves. And I can have Ms. Wooten provide some additional information about what's actually happening in the building.

[01:14:34] Sure. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and County Supervisor.

[01:14:50] So, Supervisor Bodie, your question, if I could just reiterate, was is there assisted living or skilled nursing in this expansion project? No, there is not. This is just independent living at this time, and to Olan's point, 24 units.

[01:15:06] So, very similarly to River Ridge, how there's not really assisted living, skilled nursing, it's independent living, this is going to be independent living as well? That is correct. Gotcha. Appreciate that. My second question, you know, as with River Ridge and some other of the communities around Westminster, once folks either reach a certain age or a certain ability, they then transition into the main building.

[01:15:28] Can you talk a little bit about how you and your staff keep people safe and healthy and some enhances you may be looking to do in the coming years? Absolutely. We are a life plan community, and that means we have three levels of care, independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing.

[01:15:43] And as residents transition from one neighborhood to another, there are safety components of moving from one neighborhood to another. And the community itself is structured that there is 24-hour security.

[01:15:59] We also have 24-hour surveillance on our amenity spaces, both indoor and outdoor. We have a host of trained clinicians as well as support team who are trained not just on first aid, but also on CPR.

[01:16:17] We also have training on how to deal with residents as they move through the continuum. And so those are just some of the safety measures that we have in place. Appreciate that. And my final question. So folks may transition from this area.

[01:16:34] and I know that there's going to be a more attainable piece for this versus River Ridge because they're rentals and it's apartment living versus River Ridge, which is single-family homes. Can you talk finally a little bit about how you all are continuing to work with folks as they go through the more vulnerable years of their lives, especially around cognitive issues and mental health?

[01:16:57] Absolutely. As residents begin or continue through the aging process, Westminster at Lake Ridge is fortunate enough to have what we called a memory support unit. One, we're adding in this fall for our assisted living residents.

[01:17:14] One, we currently have online for our skilled nursing unit, which is a locked unit. We also offer for residents safety guards, pendants, health pendants that they can use, and that's at all levels of care, regardless of assisted living or skilled nursing.

[01:17:32] And as residents continue through the continuum and their cognitive state declines, we provide interventions to help them live safely within our community. Thank you so much. I'll just finish by saying again thank you to Westminster for stepping in.

[01:17:51] Thank you to the community for working with me over the past four and a half years on this one. I know that the previous iteration of this project was concerned. I remember taking a walk with some of you about two years ago, walking the site. really getting a lay of the land and figuring out really what would make sense and what contextually is important there.

[01:18:11] And infill is hard, but I appreciate everyone coming together, huddling on this, and willing to delivering something that I think will really be of value not only to the community at large, but especially those folks that are looking in. They don't really necessarily have the means to go and fall on and live in River Ridge, but they do want to get an experience of living in the greater Westminster community, and this delivers just that.

[01:18:30] Thank you, Madam Chair. And last, actually, final thing, I think the board needs to take a field visit of that Longhorn Steakhouse to see how the sign comes up when it's done. Thank you. I'm going to go to there to eat, not to look at a sign. Subtext, Madam Chair. I get it. All right, Supervisor Angry.

[01:18:46] Thank you, Madam Chair. Is Ms. Nile, is she here for the daycare? Ms. Nile, Nola Niles? She's online. Well, first of all, let me just thank you for, this is just a thank you to you for increasing your daycare. I know you only increased it by two, but two more families are going to be happy because we know that daycare is the most important thing happening right now in this nation.

[01:19:08] So thank you for answering the call. Truly appreciate it. You're welcome. All right. I love you, Supervisor Anger. You're always nice, sweet, short to the point. All right.

[01:19:24] With that, and I don't see anyone else in the queue, we're going to go ahead and take our votes. Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you so very much. We're moving on to agenda item number eight. Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours.

[01:19:41] Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Members of the board, I just want to start by also echoing the condolences that we have heard from so many. I'm sure you can imagine I've gotten just countless calls from staff who have expressed sorrow, been stunned by the loss.

[01:20:02] And so really on behalf of staff, to Supervisor Greer's family, certainly to his office staff and to the Gainesville community, we want to extend our sincerest condolences. In terms of directives issued, there was one directive issued by way of resolution during our last meeting.

[01:20:22] That was to authorize and direct staff to exercise the buyback option in the purchase agreement in deed for 7074 Curry Farm Drive in Haymarket, Virginia, for historic preservation purposes.

[01:20:39] And this directive was assigned to Parks and Recreation. I also want to take this opportunity to recognize and acknowledge an absolutely phenomenal leader who we are losing to retirement.

[01:20:55] She is retiring on August 8th, so this represents her last board meeting. So I want to say Michelle Atreid has been an absolutely phenomenal partner. She has grown up in Prince William County and has served this organization for 31 years.

[01:21:16] And she has been an absolute joy to work with and to partner with. So I just, if you will join me, Madam Chair and board members, in just acknowledging Michelle's service to the county and wishing her well. I just want to thank all of you.

[01:21:47] It's been a pleasure to work for Prince William County. I've lived here for 50 years, and so I'm excited to start a new journey and a new state. But at the same time, sad to leave so many wonderful people, colleagues, friends, and family. I thank you for everything that you guys have done for me over my career.

[01:22:06] I've had a rewarding career here, and I feel like I've left the place better than I found it, and I know it will continue to improve as you all continue to lead this county. Thank you. Madam Chair. Supervisor Angry. Ms. Robo, can we take a vote on this? I have a Supervisor Bailey.

[01:22:27] Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to say to Michelle, it's been an honor and a privilege to be your supervisor. And I thank you for the level of service that you've provided for our county. And I've enjoyed tremendously serving for you and working with you.

[01:22:44] And I would say I actually went up pretty much the neighbor. You know, we lived in very close to one another. You know, I'm excited for new opportunities, but I am sad to see you go. Thank you for all your years of service. And that is all for me, Madam Chair.

[01:23:02] Thank you. All right. We are going to move on to county attorney time. Madam Attorney, the floor is yours. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. This afternoon in closed session, we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to the discussions concerning an economic development item regarding an expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest in expanding the facilities in the county along with the discussion or consideration of the disposition of publicly held real property.

[01:23:36] all where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture, bargaining position, or negotiating strategy of the public body. We will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to the discussions concerning an economic development item regarding the expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made in expanding their facilities in the county along with the related discussion or consideration of the investments of public funds for the economic development matters where competition or bargaining is involved, where if made public initially, the financial interest of the county would be adversely affected, along with the discussion or consideration of the disposition of publicly held real property,

[01:24:14] all where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture, bargaining position, or negotiating strategy of the public body. We will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding the following actual litigation. Gainesville Citizens for Smart Growth et al. v. Prince William County Board of Supervisors, Circuit Court Case Number CL22-9905, Oak Valley Homeowners Association, Inc., et al., versus Prince William County Board of Supervisors, et al., Court of Appeals Record No. 1144-24-4, Katie Burke, et al., versus Board of County Supervisors, et al.,

[01:24:48] Circuit Court Case No. CL24-334, Court of Appeals Case No. 2025-24-4, and Oak Valley Homeowners Association, et al., versus Board of County Supervisors, et al., Circuit Court Case No. CL24-375.

[01:25:05] Along with the accompanying consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel pertaining to land use law and litigation, where such consultation, discussion, or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position, negotiating strategy, or litigating posture of the public body.

[01:25:25] Finally, we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to local government law and special election law, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position litigating posture or negotiating strategy of the public body these items are appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2 dash 3711 a 3 5 6 7 and 8 of the virginia code so moved second all right let's go ahead take a vote that really was a lot

[01:25:57] vote unanimous all right thank you we're going to go back to you mr shorter for um agenda item number 10 and that is agency time thank you very much madam chair so with uh 10a we are asking for the board's consideration in amending the county's procurement regulations. There is no presentation associated with this item, but Shana Terry, there is? Okay. Brief presentation. Okay. So we are asking for the board's consideration with amendments to procurement regulations. And with that, I'm going

[01:26:34] to turn it over to Shana Terry. Afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board here to provide a brief overview of the procurement regulation changes. So every July, we come before you to update any legislative changes and any administrative and minor or major changes that we need to do to the procurement regulations. These changes have been reviewed by myself as well as the county

[01:27:07] attorney. And the sections with the major changes include sections 100.12, required contract provisions, 300.01 available methods of procurement, and 300.09 exempt items. So this particular procurement regulation change, it involves information technology goods and services, and it requires that our Virginia and county provisions automatically will be governed and And any contracts will be subject to Virginia law and Virginia jurisdiction.

[01:27:47] This provision invalidates contract provisions that attempt to subject the contract to laws of another state or country or require dispute resolution outside of Virginia. And this next change for available methods of procurement, this change requires all county departments to utilize existing county contracts or establish cooperative contracts.

[01:28:15] prior to going outside for contracts the purpose of this provision is to utilize the contracts that we already have take advantage of competitive pricing streamline the process and reduce the administrative burden of adding more contracts with duplication of efforts requiring more contract administration and oversight and then this provision right here for exempt items it allows Procurement card to be used for exempt purchases up to the cardholder's limit.

[01:28:49] This provision does streamline the process, reducing the requirement for a PO to be issued for these exempt purchases. And then these sections involve minor changes. They were just updating definitions, grammatical clarifications, so I won't go over those different updates.

[01:29:11] If you have any questions on those, I'm happy to answer them. And those are all of the updates to the procurement regulations. Any questions? All right, I'm waiting for the populate. Does anyone have any questions? All right, thank you so very much for that. Thank you very much.

[01:29:31] And so with item 10B, Katab Shmout, director. I was going to have, do we want to do the presentations and to vote on them together? Because I can. You want to act now. Okay. We can act now. All right. I'd like to get a motion for 10A.

[01:29:47] Move for approval, manager. Second. All right, any discussion? Let's go ahead and take the vote. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

[01:30:05] Item 10B, Katab Shemut will present and certainly be available for questions. We are asking for the Board's consideration in amending the Zoning Ordinance and Design and Construction Standards Manual, and I'll turn it over to you, Katab.

[01:30:22] Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the Board, Katab Shemut, your Director of Public Works. This is a re-initiation. This request to initiate was in front of the board in November 18th. The board approved this. We then, after looking at this, we felt that there's some language that was missing from the original item.

[01:30:43] In consultation with the county attorney and others, we felt that it's important that we come back to the board for every initiation of this. Does anyone have any questions? Looking around, I don't see any.

[01:31:00] Oh, wait, Supervisor Gordy. Just for the record, can you speak to what needs to be amended and reinitiated so the public is aware? Yes, two things. It's the zoning ordinance and Section 700 of the DCSM. We are planning to come back to the board in September after the board decides, if the decision is to move forward with this, back to bring in the adjustment to the ordinance and Section 700.

[01:31:27] And a lot of it deals with climate change and impact on the waters, as well as the preservation of mature trees. Move to approve. Second. All right, you took the words out of my mouth.

[01:31:44] Let's go ahead and take a vote. Vote unanimous. All right.

[01:32:03] Thank you, Katab, for the correction, reinitiate. And with item 10C, Madam Chair, we're going to ask Director Tanya to come up and talk to Washington to come up and talk to the questions we have received and the opportunity to update the board and the community on some of the work happening in planning.

[01:32:28] And so with that, I am going to turn it over to Director Washington. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, Tanya Washington, Director of the Planning Office. I'm here to provide some updates on our management of the land use caseload. First, I want to provide an overview of where we are currently with our current level of active cases.

[01:32:52] As of the end of June, we have 237 active land use applications of various types that include rezonings, SUPs, comprehensive plan amendments, cultural resources projects, etc. One thing you will note is that this data goes back just about a year.

[01:33:11] So you can see we have a fairly consistent volume of 240 plus or minus of active cases at any given time. So that gives you a sense of, you know, this is really kind of the normal of what we're seeing in terms of active applications. Additionally, this slide shows the, on a monthly basis, the land use applications that have been accepted, meaning those that have gotten through QC, as well as reviewed.

[01:33:41] There are other types of applications that come in that don't go through the same required QC process. And as of the end of June, we had 18 of those. And again, with looking at the data going back about a year, again, with the exception of May, which was definitely an outlayer, we are definitely seeing accepted and reviewed caseload per month in the double digits.

[01:34:09] So I showed a similar slide to this, I think it was in November or so, when the departments gave some updates on their operations. And this slide shows the number of cases that the board reviewed going back to FY 2020.

[01:34:30] In FY 25, the board reviewed 84 land use cases, 64 or 76% were consolidated. So we're, you know, happy that we have been able to work with the applicants and with the supervisors to get cases to the point where we can get a lot more cases approved or reviewed and acted upon in any given board meeting by utilizing the consolidated cases and then, of course, bringing the other cases, you know, in the evening for the regular public hearings.

[01:35:01] One thing to note, again, is that the board is reviewing and taking action on more cases if you go back five years within fewer board meetings. So we are, again, trying to get cases through and have been effective in working with the board on that.

[01:35:20] Just to provide a bit of a breakdown on the FY25 cases that the board took action on, The biggest category was SEPs. There were 47, followed by 18 rezonings, and then we have a few others in the other categories.

[01:35:40] Just to take a quick step back, since I've been with the county in this role, it's been a year and a half already. There's been a number of things that we've been doing at the planning office to improve our operations process, as well as implement our work program as directed by the board.

[01:36:01] And I will go into a few of these details in the next few slides. Staff recruitment and retention have been very, very important in terms of making progress on that. We've also, as part of the FY26 budget process, we reviewed all of our performance metrics in the budget book and comprehensively updated those and are working to improve our data tracking of our metrics as well as our caseload.

[01:36:27] We've also done some efforts to do some internal restructuring and capacity building on certain functions outside of our land use case management. With regards to land use application process, we have been conducting a comprehensive review to identify and to implement strategies to improve that.

[01:36:47] And I'll go into some details. And then additionally, I just have some additional notes with regards to the other initiatives that we're working on as part of our work program. This is the org chart for the planning office. One of the more recent changes, which is reflected in the FY26 budget book, is that our three core divisions have been renamed.

[01:37:12] That is now, so countywide planning division was formerly long-range planning, land use review division was formerly current planning, and community planning and revitalization was formerly community development. We have a total of 36 FTEs now, including the two FTEs that the board approved as part of our FY26 budget.

[01:37:35] Pretty much as soon as we got those FTEs and got the okay from HR, we moved very swiftly to start recruitment. One of those FTEs is already filled, and that person has started with an internal hire. We have now three vacancies that are all at various stages of the recruitment process.

[01:37:54] One is the second new FTE, the principal planner for our county-wide planning division that has already been out for advertisement. We have the application, so we're reviewing those right now for interviews. We also have a senior planner position that just posted, again, because we just did an internal promotion.

[01:38:17] And then we also have a planner position and our land use review team for which we just made an offer. And we are wrapping up that recruitment process currently. As I noted, recruitment and, you know, really focusing on longer-term goal of right-sided and planning office is a very, very important goal of our office.

[01:38:42] Since February 2024, that's when I started with the county, we have filled 16 positions. Seven in land use review, three in community, excuse me, four in community planning every realization, three in countywide planning, and two in a director's office. All of our leadership positions are now filled. And we are also seeing a lot more interest when we've put out applications for our positions for applicants, not just within Virginia in this region, but across the country as well. So when I started, we were running into some challenges, you know, getting a good pool of

[01:39:19] candidates, and we've been working with HR. We've been doing a lot of pushing of notices of our applications through our various professional networks, and we've been getting some good results with that. I already noted that we renamed our three programmatic divisions, and one of the constraints that we are dealing with at this point with regards to growing our staff is space. We were able to accommodate, make some changes to accommodate to two new FTEs, but we will need to identify some additional space options to continue to grow our staff.

[01:39:52] So we have already been working with facilities and fleet management on some ideas for office-based reconfigurations so that we can grow our staff within our current footprint, but we don't have funding for it yet. So turning back to the land use caseload, we have implemented some additional operational measures to help us better manage that caseload.

[01:40:18] We provided a temporary support for a land use review division. We have had for quite a number of months one part-time planner to assist with land use cases who has handled 17 cases. County-wide planning also temporarily assigned or temporarily assigned cases until the land use review staffing increased.

[01:40:39] In terms of cross-division collaboration, again, our land use cases very much impact our land use review division, but they also impact countywide planning as well. And so those divisions, along with support from community planning and reviolization, have been assisting with pre-application meetings.

[01:41:01] We conducted 67 of those in FY25. And then additionally, in terms of scheduling and trying to meet applicants' requests to continue to move cases forward, we also understand we have to manage the workload that comes with that for staff to prepare for those public hearings.

[01:41:26] So we have, in terms of scheduling, particularly on the Planning Commission side where we can work with the Planning Commission in setting their calendar, we have worked to stagger the commission and board hearings to try to reduce the weeks when we will sometimes have a board meeting as well as a PC meeting in the same week, which will help to reduce the staff workload pressure and to improve review quality and preparedness. Over the last year, we've also made a number of other process improvements, and particularly in terms of

[01:42:04] increasing and providing guidance to applicants. We have created guidance for potential applicants and others who are doing research on properties for potential projects in terms of using County mapper and the zoning ordinance and that helps to reduce staff time to be able to handle those requests. I've mentioned earlier that earlier this year we provided and produced a detailed guidance document on community engagement by land use applicants and really actually and this goes

[01:42:41] back to not long after I started you know we're really articulating an expectation not a requirement because we don't have the authority, but an expectation and a desire for applicants to do community engagement before their applications come to public hearing so that those applications and the applicants can benefit from hearing community voices and perspectives while they are still going through the review process. And that way, when the cases are ready to go to public hearing, the community has had an opportunity to weigh in on it and the applicant has the opportunity to make any changes in response to that. And we've been, applicants have been,

[01:43:21] for the most part, have been doing that. And as you may note, in the staff reports, we will document the community outreach that applicants have been doing. Additionally, we have a document that we post on our website and we'll update with land use application due dates for public hearings so that the applicants, as well as our staff, know when different steps that are needed to, whether it's getting us to presentations, required signs going up, et cetera, noticing when those deadlines are so that everyone is on the same page with that.

[01:43:59] We've also partnered with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism to develop a targeted industry for planning pilot program. We've implemented that so far with one application, the Nokesville Business Park, but this is an opportunity for those applications for projects that are important for the county to support on the economic development side, for our economic development department to be a part of the team shepherding those cases through the process.

[01:44:29] And then additionally, I mentioned earlier, quality control. One of the things that we really focused on over the last year is tightening up the quality control process so that when we get applications, we make sure that we have everything that is needed so that all the various agencies who need to review the applications have what they need before we get things undergo. I've also, I believe, shared with the board earlier, there's a lot of ongoing engagement that the planning office conducts with the development industry. We

[01:45:04] participate in the regular CDC and DORAC meetings. We also, myself in particular, hold informal monthly meetings with NVBIA leadership. We do this in a couple of different ways. One is there's a monthly breakfast that myself and Development Services Director Mandy Spina holds with the NVBIA leadership to talk about a variety of issues. And additionally, there is an informal group that we meet with on a monthly basis, again, to just have an open dialogue on different topics.

[01:45:40] Our office also participates in the monthly NAOP Prince William Chapter meetings, and then we also hold regular meetings, dedicated meetings with specific departments to talk about the various projects or initiatives that we're both involved in.

[01:45:59] We also hold, as you all know, we also have standing meetings with a number of the supervisors as well on a monthly basis or as on a needed basis to discuss cases as well as other priorities within those districts. I also wanted to note, and I mentioned earlier, that we have been, we're really looking at a number of opportunities to improve the land use application process, and we worked with the Transformation Management Office to conduct two rounds of process mapping to really understand exactly what actually happens throughout the process.

[01:46:38] The two rounds were first with our leadership team and the second was with our staff who handle the cases so that we can benefit from a wider variety of perspectives. We've also started a process working with DOIT to create an online application.

[01:46:54] Another big priority of mine is to move away from the current kind of paper application, email application, hybrid system that we have now where we will receive email applications as well as boxes of paper copies, and then we have to upload everything into InterGov, and we're managing this review process where sometimes the comments are in InterGov, Sometimes they're coming through email, and we still have to continue to move this process along with various agencies and applicants.

[01:47:28] And, you know, that is not a process that our peer jurisdictions have. They have a fully online process. And so we are making steps to move in that direction, the first of which is to create an online application for applicants to upload everything that they need to provide to us from the get-go.

[01:47:44] And we will continue to work through the other aspects of this. But this is something that we've been working and have discussing for some time with development services in terms of intergov and any changes we need for that, doing additional training for staff, working with DOIT on any potential changes to the platform as well.

[01:48:05] Also, just really quickly, we have designed a standardized form to cover requests for planning directors' review and determination on modifications that are not identified in a zoning ordinance in order to streamline that process. We also established clear guidelines for ensuring that county staff subject matter experts are present when necessary for public hearings.

[01:48:29] There are some agencies that are often there more often than not, such as transportation, but occasionally there may be a need for another agency that may not typically attend the public hearings to be there to speak and provide their subject matter expertise, and we've just created a more streamlined process to support that.

[01:48:50] And then lastly, as part of the budget process, we've also updated the fee structure with the goal to, you know, incrementally better capture the true cost of service. So that concludes my presentation, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

[01:49:06] Thank you so very much for going over this. I'm going to start while I wait for it to populate. What are some of the current challenges you're still facing in the department? Because I know, again, you've had to come in and essentially rebuild. One of our biggest challenges is that the planning office, in terms of the staffing, for a number of years did not grow in relation to the growth in the workload.

[01:49:33] That has definitely changed. That was already changing when I started. The county executive included in his budget requests six FTEs and provided some temporary staffing before I started. We've made staffing requests as part of our budget, and thankfully the board approved additional FTEs.

[01:49:53] This is something that we will continue to need to work on. We are trying to be strategic in making those asks in terms of FTEs, and as we are growing our staff, as well as adjusting our work program to be responsive to board directives and other matters that are coming up, it is also helping for us to identify where there is additional need.

[01:50:17] Also, in addition, as we are making these process improvements, it just helps us better understand and to better plan out work program for our individual staff and where are some adjustments that we need to make and we've already made some adjustments in that matter but I would say that's one of our biggest challenges we do need to continue to grow and so that will be a discussion that we will continue to have you know as part of the budget process not just for this year but for some time but I did notice with that we do need to find some some mechanisms to be able to provide the space for that. And we've had multiple conversations on the executive management side to

[01:50:56] try to identify some solutions so that we can continue to grow and can do that, you know, in a sufficient space. The other piece is that, you know, as I noted, our systems that we have for land use applications is a hybrid system. It's a very inefficient system because it is a hybrid system. You've got all these different modalities of getting and handling applications and comments and communications amongst our staff, applicants, other departments. And again, our county is not

[01:51:34] in line with what our peers are already doing. So that in itself will certainly help to create some efficiencies where the applicants can upload everything. All the staff comments will be in system and so the applicants will be able to access those responses and those comments a lot sooner so and frankly just the staff time that it takes for our for our techs to be able to package everything together when they get submissions or resubmissions and email it out to everybody and then for the case planners to try to collect comments from everybody moving towards that will

[01:52:11] by itself will be a big time savings in terms of the staff workload and will help to support you know, getting applications through the process sooner. So there are some other things, but I think those are the two, you know, certainly on the top of my mind. And these are ones where we will continue to pursue different strategies to try to meet those needs. With regards to staffing and growing the staffing, obviously that is a conversation to have with the county executive and ultimately with the board as part of the budget process. We do have as part of the on-call bench that the board approved this spring that covered multiple nine categories altogether

[01:52:50] and one of that was development review so we are right now you know focusing on filling our positions that we have now so that we can grow our staff but we do that have that as another strategy if we feel we need to bring on some consultant assistance to help manage some cases we do have that mechanism in place now too all right thank you i'm going to go on to the next That is Supervisor Bailey.

[01:53:15] Madam Chair, if I can just ask Director Washington if you could kind of speak also to just the quarterly memos that you are sending to me and I'm sending to the board are related to the directives' prioritization of the board's request of the office.

[01:53:33] certainly um so as the county executive noted we are working to provide some uh more regular updates to the board on not just uh obviously we come before you with different land use cases in those matters but with other projects that are part of our work program including the the very numbers of board directives that we have and you know as we are staffing up we are continuing to look at which directives we can start to move on when.

[01:54:03] In some instances, we may need and will request either through the budget process or through a contingency request funding if we feel is needed to bring on consulting services. But that is something that we want to continue to do so that you are aware of how we are managing our overall workload, not just the land use cases, but our small area plans, which we now have three in our work program that are funded, the zoning ordinance update, the Thoroughfare Historic District Initiative, as well as various other board directives that we are managing, for example, around data centers and some others that we still have in the queue.

[01:54:45] Okay. Thank you, County Executive. Thank you, Madam Chair. Tanya, thank you for this update. It is refreshing, to say the least. And I wanted to, I have three notes here. One is, I want to just instant feedback.

[01:55:02] The monthly meetings, certainly, that you have with my district have been extremely productive and fruitful as we move Potomac District forward. So I really appreciate that. One of the tools that you use that I don't know if my colleagues would be interested in, but that you use with me is the projects.

[01:55:21] You denote the projects. You know the tool that you use for that. That is extremely helpful as we move things forward and identify what's good, bad, and ugly. So just want to let you know that that's a good tool. The other thing that I wanted to get a little more feedback from you on, based on the feedback that I've gotten just with partnering with other organizations, are the partnerships that you are focused on with NAOP and NVBIA.

[01:55:51] How is that, I mean, one of the things, and those being our partners also as we move forward, how can we support you, or how do you see that in terms of just strengthening those partnerships in terms of the turnaround times and the things that they're expecting with different projects?

[01:56:12] Could you elaborate on that? Sure. I would say, just to speak more generally, in terms of those regular meetings that we have with them, oftentimes for the planning office as well as the MVBA and the representatives who are there, That's an opportunity to talk more, have conversations on the systematic level, if you kind of understand what I mean, where we can talk about some of those bigger initiatives that I noted to get their input on some of the specific things that we've been working on.

[01:56:46] For example, when we were building out the guidelines for the community engagement expectations for applicants, we, you know, back in March of last year, we put out a memo that said very briefly, you know, you're expected to go, you know, do this engagement, please do this before the public hearing, and we started to get questions and wanted some further conversation about what exactly does that mean, here are some scenarios, how would you advise on that, what can we share with our members, and so that was very helpful for us in terms of building out that longer document that we published or posted in January in terms of answering

[01:57:26] the questions that NAOP and MVBA representatives were hearing from their members so that our guidance can be more helpful and informative. We also, you know, occasionally they will ask about specific applications as part of just our regular communications, but we try to use those meetings as a way to talk about more systematic matters, because we have other means to talk directly with applicants about specific cases. But it's been helpful in terms of getting their sort of, what are they concerned

[01:58:03] about? What are some ideas that they may have in terms of improvements to the process? What are things that they're hearing from their members? It's an opportunity for us to say, hey, you know, here's something that we're working on. What do you think about this? Is there something that you'd like to share with us. So we try to use those meetings to both get a sense of the pulse of what's happening with the development industry as they interact with the county on these applications, but also using it as a way to build, as you noted, partnerships, and to build buy-in

[01:58:39] for the initiatives that we're working on to enhance the process. Yeah, and I appreciate that. And in terms of partnerships, my last question is this, the internal partnerships that you're strengthening as well. You mentioned in your presentation about economic development, and when we talk about permitting and when we talk about projects, I'm going to use an example, the Fettler Park market study, in conjunction with a small area plan, what's your focus in terms of moving those types of projects forward?

[01:59:12] Sure. So just to take Fetler Park as a great example, that is something where, as you know, economic development completed a very robust market study that our office was a part of the team to support that. And now that we're shifting to the small area plan, that is a great example of the type of project that, you know, we are now leading this piece of it, the small area plan, but economic development is very much involved in it.

[01:59:37] And so we can use those meetings and these types of projects to talk about how we can marry up the different pieces that our various agencies are responsible for. What are some things that certain departments may have already done that we can then leverage for our work, which creates efficiencies for the county because we can then build off of that work.

[01:59:58] Another example I'd like to mention, one of our newer small area plans that we're going to be getting off the ground is for Yorkshire. and we have already been discussing how we are going to be aligning that work with transportation's work in terms of focusing on Route 28.

[02:00:19] And, again, we're able to, for some of these initiatives, again, there are certain agencies, they've already done some work or a lot of work in some instances. And so that's a benefit to us because, again, we can build off of that. But then there's the other sort of aspect of it, which is leveraging their expertise and helping us in building out the scope and building out, you know, what are some other things that we need to consider for this project?

[02:00:45] What was something that maybe your department didn't do with the earlier work that we can then do for this project that will then support what your department is responsible for? So we are definitely using these types of projects to build those interagency partnerships, not just to support our project, but looking at how can we support the mission and programs of that partner department.

[02:01:08] If I may, I want to add another partnership that we're building more recently, and that's with Fire and Rescue. We're starting to, I held a meeting at the leadership level. This sort of like we want to sit down and talk and think about how our two departments can partner together.

[02:01:27] And we did that. And then we've started holding, I think we're going to do it on a bi-monthly basis, meetings between the planning office and fire and rescue with our leadership team and other various staff, again, to look at how we can support each other, what are, especially around, obviously, land use.

[02:01:46] But that has impacts on fire and rescue and has a plan for facilities and for their service. And leveraging the work that we're doing and managing and reviewing land use cases that are coming to the board for approval, those are communities that are growing.

[02:02:02] And so that's information that Fire and Rescue also needs to have. So we definitely, we've already had one meeting so far, and that went really well, and we look forward to continuing those conversations. All right, thank you. We're going to go to Supervisor Bordy.

[02:02:19] Okay, that's the B in the Bordy, Bordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Washington, for the presentation and all your efforts and really presenting to the board in a very transparent way everything that's going on under the hood of the planning department because, frankly, to a lot of folks, it's very archaic and sort of out there, and they only see and interact with you all either at a public hearing or when they come in because they want to do something, right, or because they don't want something to happen.

[02:02:43] So I really appreciate your work and your commitment to having a lot more transparency around what your office is up to. So a couple questions. One is sort of talking about some of the modernization that you talked about earlier in terms of going from sort of a paper electronic hybrid situation to a more wholly online world, and I completely get where you're going with that.

[02:03:06] Are there opportunities there to also make it, frankly, so the land use process is more accessible and more equitable? Because, you know, we go from the gambit of having, you know, developers that have a nationwide presence and, you know, a team of lawyers and all these folks and engineers that can go through all this stuff, but you also, frankly, like we did today, have folks that are just trying to expand their home business or do something where it's literally just a mom-and-pop establishment where they don't have as much means there.

[02:03:33] So can you talk about that piece and how it fits with the equity around it? Sure. That is something that we're also very mindful of. Not every applicant has the resources to hire an attorney and a whole team to work on their projects. And so that is something where even as we transition towards a fully online process, we will still need to provide customer service as well as guidance to applicants who are not as well-versed or may not have sort of the team that can help them navigate through that.

[02:04:02] So it's our responsibility to do that. I mean, we do that even with applicants who do have a team, but we very much need to do that as well for applicants who don't have those resources. And so some of the improvements that we've worked on in enhancement so far, Particularly, and I definitely want to give a shout out to Alex Venegas, our assistant planning director for our land use review division, because a lot of this work was done through his team in looking at ways to make it easier for the mom and pops or anyone who wants to come in and try to figure out how do I do business with the county on the land use side.

[02:04:37] We're providing and creating more resources and guidance up front so that it's available on our website. You know, we can certainly assist if they contact our office. Customer service is still very important to us, so we will definitely do that. But we do want to try to sort of lower the barrier of entry, so to speak, to make it easier for an applicant regardless of whatever resources they have to support their application.

[02:05:03] Appreciate that. And then my second question, if I could, Madam Vice Chair, goes into the pilot program around targeted industry. You cited one case. You have a pilot case right now. Can you elaborate a little bit more on what that process looks like in comparison to standard cases?

[02:05:20] Sure. So in this census with a pilot, what it does not do is it does not expedite the review process. So there are targeted industry applications that go through development services, where as part of that initiative, they get expedited review. That is not what happens with this pilot.

[02:05:39] It's really an opportunity for, again, applicants who are bringing projects that would be of economic benefit to the county that fits within the sort of larger goals that economic development is pursuing. For them to then be a partner, to work alongside both us and the applicant as we're getting projects through the review process to assist when they can or where they can or is needed on their piece, as well as for...

[02:06:08] So they would be part of the team, not only reviewing the cases, but also having meetings with applicants and also participating and attending the public hearings and can speak on a particular case if needed. And for the Noseville Business Park, when that was at the Planning Commission, Director Christina Wynn was there, and I believe she answered some questions or spoke to that application there.

[02:06:33] I appreciate that. My last question that I'm sharing my advice, the number of submissions that folks go through as they go through the process, I know that depends on the case, depends on the reviewing agencies, what have you. As you're working through this, do you see the number of submissions necessary generally to go down?

[02:06:55] If not, is there ways that can be worked with our partners on that? Where do you see that going in the future? As you noted, it's very dependent upon the cases. In some instances, we have applications that have gone through multiple rounds that are, I would call, sort of legacy applications.

[02:07:12] There are some applications that can go through quite significant changes, so that can impact it. But one thing that I think can help and should help is the fact that we have tightened up the QC process from the beginning, so that before we start an application through the county's formal review process, we really check the application to make sure that we have what we need and that everything is in place and is accurate, So that when the review process starts, those review time periods and the submission cycles can be more efficient and can actually be more productive.

[02:07:50] Not without naming any names, but last year there was an instance where the staff had asked an applicant to correct some information that was just not accurate. It was some very key information, and the applicant pushed back on it and said, well, we can fix that in second submission.

[02:08:07] staff said no we really need you to fix it now and then that's when i got contacted and a complaint came to me so i looked into it talked with staff to understand what was what was the nature of the complaint what exactly was being asked for and it was information that was actually very critical and very important and not something that could really wait until later because it would have resulted in our staff putting in information about an application that we knew was not accurate which is why we flagged it and so I had to go back to the applicant and said no this is actually really important you need to fix it now and don't have it go to another you know submission to try to fix stuff that really should be done

[02:08:45] correctly before we start our official process so that is certainly one way that we are looking to try to reduce the number of resubmissions when they are not necessary. Thank you. Supervisor Gordy. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you director washington for all the uh good information you provided us here um a couple things um first of all um as we there's not a week that goes by that someone's not coming up to me and saying hey i really need you to light a fire under the planning staff to get them to hurry our projects

[02:09:22] and i and i politely reply well stop submitting more applications and and uh and let our people catch up with all the workload um at what point i mean it what what's the breaking point particularly for our our current planners um is it relates to their ability to effectively manage the caseload work um i mean i'm getting uh i know our folks are working on weekends they're not getting time off um in order to deal with all these cases um at what point does this it do do we break our staff

[02:09:59] just because of the the inordinate load of applications that are being brought to the county so we are very mindful that this is a very heavy workload for our staff we are very mindful of that and we've looked at a number of different strategies to try to address that one of which is staffing up our vacancies so that we simply have more people to do the work again we now have another tool where we have an on-call consulting contract that we can leverage as well. But we are very mindful of the fact that we have to grow our staff in order to better manage the volume of cases

[02:10:38] because there's a lot of development interest in this county, and we don't see that stopping anytime soon. So we have to be able to manage that and to reduce the caseload per case planner so that it is at a more sustainable level.

[02:10:55] So that is something we have conversations about that on a regular basis in our leadership team on how we can improve that and what are some steps that we can do to make that better. We are, you know, looking, we do provide opportunities for that staff to take a break.

[02:11:13] Some of those staff, they do actually take leave. And so we do support that. And I'm very much about if you're on leave, you're on leave. Don't do, try not to do work. Some staff will still do it, and this is not specific to one particular division, but we do want to enable staff to be able to take their leave and have folks cover cases or manage things while they're gone so that they can have that break and that refreshment.

[02:11:38] But again, this is where I have a very simple illustration where the workload's been going like this and the staffing was like that for a long time, so now we're going in this direction. we have to continue to do that. And, you know, I've been asked even with, you know, I've now gone through two budget cycles.

[02:11:56] Are you at the level where you need? Do you have all the staff you need? No, not yet. So, and I'm just being upfront about that. So we will continue to have those conversations and identify the staffing needed and to also look for some other tools to try to reduce the workload.

[02:12:14] One of which through the zoning ordinance update, one of our other big projects, is part of the scope of that is to look at the categories of cases that currently have to go through the SUP process, that if we have some development standards, don't have to go through that process.

[02:12:31] It can be handled as an administrative process. So some ideas include drive-throughs, LED signs, the kind of applications we get quite a number of those, and there are only certain instances where it probably may still require an SUP, but is there some way we can create more categories of cases that won't then have to go through the full public review process because it can be handled through an administrative process with the appropriate standards?

[02:12:57] So that by itself will certainly help to reduce the caseload, too. Well, you just answered my second question. Are there opportunities where we could do exactly what we're talking about? Because we've talked about this from the time I was on Planning Commission related to drive-thrus, like you said, LED signs, sign modifications, things like that, that don't require, you know, just a different approach than what we're doing.

[02:13:19] And it's creating more of a work when things can be done more at an administrative level. The one, and to look at, talking about zoning ordinance, the one thing, and I talked to County Exec and to Mr. Hugh earlier today, you know, and we think about our economic development.

[02:13:42] We've got some challenges related to competing documents, particularly in the innovation district. We've had the comprehensive plan now done for about two years. And for us to be able to compete economically with opportunities that come before the Commonwealth, we need to get those documents aligned.

[02:14:02] From the ARB documents, from innovation to the TIAD, all the other documents that have an effect over the Innovation Park, we really need to get that done. So I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, an effort taken on that to see what we can do to move that forward in the short term.

[02:14:28] And then just to go back to my first question, as we look at the next year's budget, to me, I think what would be helpful for me to understand is just, you know, as we look at the hours worked, you know, because it's one thing to say they're an FTE and most people that's like, okay, maybe 40, 50 hours.

[02:14:45] But if people work in 60, 70 hours, they're really more than an FTE. It's an FTE plus. And I think characterizing them based upon their actual work hours and that workload, I think gives us a better idea of the level of workload that our planning staff is doing.

[02:15:06] So with that, Madam Chair, I'll turn it back over to you. Thank you. I got caught seat hopping. I don't see any other questions, so thank you very much. Thank you. so we are now wow we are moving through this we are on agenda item 11 that is supervisor's time i am going to call on supervisor hold on i'm sorry supervisor franklin do you have a question okay okay all right so i'm going to move on to supervisor times for 11a can i get a motion so move madam chair second all right so probably moved and second it and we're going to go ahead

[02:15:46] i don't see any discussion let's go ahead and take a vote go unanimous all right we are going to go around the horn. I'm going to start with you, Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. It's been a very fast July. Unfortunately, I had some unexpected things happen in my family. It took me away for a little while. So just trying to get caught up here on a few things that I was excited to be a part of. And first of all,

[02:16:19] was the Quantico Independence Day celebration that was held. What a wonderful evening of fireworks and great food and company with at with our marines out there um also you know this is the year time of the year where all the the boy scouts and the girl scouts and and other scouting groups are out at camp snyder and uh and you know one of their badges that they have to earn is the government badge and or civic badge so uh been able to get out and my staff ended up going out

[02:16:51] in my place due to my absence to help them with their citizenship lessons and so just want to thank our scouting for the work that they do to continue to promote good civic leadership amongst our young people. I want to congratulate the Noakesville Fire Volunteer Fire Department. They was just announced that they won a $10,000 grant from proper number 12 one for all project and they'll We use this grant to purchase essential safety equipment, fund station repairs, and outdated gear.

[02:17:27] So some additional funding coming to help support our volunteers. That's real excited. And lastly, I'll close to just say, Michelle, you're definitely going to be missed. Thank you for your partnership, for your patience. We've had some issues to address together, but I appreciate the partnership.

[02:17:43] You'll certainly be missed. Thank you. All right, Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I can't see you around the flowers. But thank you. Just wanted to, first of all, I want to start by saying I will miss Bob and sharing chocolates with him here on the dais.

[02:18:02] Nobody knows what's going on right here. And I will really miss him a lot. And I want to thank Kathleen Holzlander and her team and the comms team for the wonderful Potomac District beautification video that we created together.

[02:18:22] It was so much fun that day, and I just want to thank them for doing an excellent job. And the project was the enhancements along Route 1, just north of the front gate of the Marine Corps base, and it's in the Joplin small area plan, so thank you for following through on that.

[02:18:41] And then on the 11th of July, I participated in the Congressman Vindman came to the Veterans Military and Family Listening Session at the VFW, and I shared that event with Supervisor Victor Angry.

[02:18:56] It was an excellent event, and just thank you to the congressman for coming and participating. And then on the 14th of July, I was honored to collaborate with one of our community partners in distributing 100 care packages to the residents of the Falazzo Emergency Shelter here in the district, but serves the entire county.

[02:19:16] On the 17th, thank you to Evelyn Galindo and our own Leviticus for the visit for the Office of Youth Services at the Juvenile Detention Center. It was an eye-opener, and there is great work done there at the Juvenile Detention Center, but there's great work to be done more at the Juvenile Detention Center, and so I look forward to working with them even more.

[02:19:41] And then Operation Help Kids, an official launch. Thanks to my staff for attending the official launch with the CEO, Latonya Hamilton-Thomas, whose visionary leadership is dedicated to empowering and uplifting underserved youth through education, mentorship, and community support.

[02:19:59] And then on the 21st of July, I just want to thank everyone for participating at Potomac Shores for the opening open house for the community meeting that we had there introducing two new projects there. Thank you to Janelle Cameron, Peter Shavkin, and Andy Wagner, and to my colleague Supervisor Franklin. We shared that. And Chair Jefferson, thank you for being there as well.

[02:20:25] We had approximately 70 residents to attend to learn about those two projects. And I'm Patel McShores is just moving forward, so I'm so excited. On the 22nd of July, thank you to Seth Hendler-Voss and his wonderful, wonderful team for the – it took four years, Seth, but we got it done, the forest green ribbon cutting that we had there.

[02:20:49] Just thank you to your team and to the golf course staff there. They were very instrumental in making sure that all eyes, ears, and noses were really there for the tee to make sure that we really had that project come through in a very good way for the community.

[02:21:06] And to the county exec, thank you for supporting as well. And then this past weekend, I had the opportunity of attending the COG board retreat, which was excellent as well. It really is a regional opportunity for us to partner together with all counties and cities to make sure that our region is growing.

[02:21:26] And then on the 25th, Prince William County 2025 Summer and Adult Graduation. Thank you, Karen, for attending that. And thank you to Denise McPhail at KPAC for the summer project that she is doing for our community. Upcoming events, we're going to have our back-to-school community event.

[02:21:44] I've had the opportunity of partnering with Dr. Vanessa Gattis for the annual back-to-school backpack giveaway. So that is coming on 8-2. And then in August as well, we're going to have our 32nd annual African-American Heritage Festival, which is always a joy to attend and to participate.

[02:22:03] And in closing, I'd like to give my Notice of Intent to appoint Anthony Tony Whitehead to the Potomac Chores CDA Board. And Ms. Madden, that resume is on its way. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. All right, thank you. I'm going to go over to Supervisor Franklin.

[02:22:21] Sure. Madam Chair, before I get started, there is a lack of quorum for the Board of Equalization. So I've been pushed to hurry up and get that done because they have orientation in August. If I can waive the rules of procedure to appoint someone as opposed to doing a notice of intent, that would be great without objection.

[02:22:41] So I would like to appoint without objection, and maybe we need a vote. I will make a motion to appoint Aaron Brown to the Board of Equalization. Second. All right, let's go ahead and take the vote.

[02:23:01] Thank you for that, Madam Chair, my colleagues. On Monday, July 21st, I attended the Potomac Shores Community Open House about the proposal to expand the development into Cherry Hill. The event was well attended, as mentioned, and very informative.

[02:23:18] And I was glad to see all the residents that came out and was happy to support my colleague. On July 22nd, I attended the ribbon cutting at the Forest Green Golf Club. Wonderful, wonderful upgrades made there. If you have not played at Forest Green, in my opinion, it's one of the best public golf courses that I've played at.

[02:23:39] It can really rival some private courses as well. So to management and to Seth, great job on maintaining the Forest Green golf course and all of the upgrades there. I also toured the Vulcan Quarry Manassas. I did it because my good friend, Supervisor Gordy, talked about the amazing work that they were doing, and so we talked about all the quarry sites that we have kind of in this region and the impact that this particular site has on the region.

[02:24:08] And so thank you to Vulcan for having me and my staff come out. Our interns were able to attend. We had a great time. Some upcoming events. Oh, one other thing. As mentioned, CAPAC had their summer opening, and so had a great time supporting all the children in their opening play.

[02:24:27] Very fun. It was about the solar system, and I am ashamed to say I learned more in that play than I did or that I should have learned before. So very good program. That's right. Upcoming events we have, several this summer, including the African American Heritage Festival in Manassas and the Prince William Community Foundation at Garfield High School, the backpack giveaway that we've been doing for five years now, I believe.

[02:24:54] And so for those that have any backpacks, you can drop them off either my office, Supervisor Bailey's office, and I believe Delegate King is also, as well as Supervisor Angry. And so appreciate Dr. Gaddis and our partnership for that. Dumpster Day, we are doing September 13th at Rippon Middle School, 10 to 2 p.m. national night out with our public safety officers will be on August 5th and then I am sponsoring and participating in the Stonebridge Fall Festival and chili cook-off at Stonebridge on September 13th. Notice of intent would like to do Melanie Carter to the Veterans Commission

[02:25:33] and then also just want to thank Michelle Atcherey for all of her years of service. I'm pretty sure she's retiring because she doesn't want me to call her office anymore and ask for help. But, um, but no, you, you've been wonderful. Um, one of the kind of well, uh, informed sources here in the County.

[02:25:51] And I really, really do appreciate all the work that you've done, uh, here. So thank you for your partnership and thank you for your work for the County. And then of course, um, obviously we lost, um, a dear colleague and supervisor we're, um, you know, happened very quickly. Um, and I know, uh, All of my colleagues and I have had a lot of conversations over the past couple of weeks about a lot of things from life to the board to the community.

[02:26:17] And I just appreciate the work that Supervisor Weir has done for his community. Obviously, we're not always on the same side, but I appreciate the level of commitment that he had for Gainesville. But a little secret that I think my colleagues know that maybe the public isn't aware is that Supervisor Weir was a big softie.

[02:26:38] And he hated when I told him that, but he really was and loved making fun of him and calling him a softy because he knew it was true. And he was really, really a good guy behind his tough exterior.

[02:26:53] So I'm going to miss him and looking forward to the celebration of life. And with that, I turn it over. Thank you for not yielding. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll echo some of the things that my colleagues have already said. First, Michelle, thank you for your years of service, your decades of service at this point.

[02:27:13] You're a wealth of knowledge. You have been for quite some time. Really also uniquely appreciate all your contributions to the audit committee. You've worked with a lot of folks over the years to make sure that we're improving this county. And like you said, left it better than you found it. And that's all we could ever ask for a public servant.

[02:27:29] So thank you for that. As was said, we lost Supervisor Weir very quickly. and I say we, we as a Prince William family, the Prince William community. Every single person that takes to this dais sacrifices a lot, and Supervisor Weir sacrificed long before he took to this dais.

[02:27:52] He had a commitment for this community that was unique and that very few people will rival. Ran into him at a lot of events before I was an elected official. I know that's true for quite a few of us. And as Supervisor Franklin said, we weren't always on the same side of the issues either before taking this dais, but you always knew when you were in a place with Supervisor Weir, he had done his homework, he had asked all the questions ahead of time, and he was committed to getting the truth no matter how far down that rabbit hole went.

[02:28:23] since taking this day as you know he and i sat next to each other and he i would always ask him how he would find certain pieces of information that seemed illusory and deep and there was no way he could have found it but he did um but that just sort of spoke to his approach not only to as a supervisor but his approach to life he was always straightforward everyone has said that in different ways even the public that was here earlier and you always knew how he felt about everything and as we continue on at this board as many folks said in the in the community um he left

[02:29:00] a lasting legacy on this county he left a lasting legacy on this dais um i know he will be missed far beyond these walls of this mccourt building um but i just wanted to highlight that highlight him and and thank him wherever he is now for his years of service of the county um the last thing i'll say on a completely different note um is just as we continue to move forward and look at housing in the county i just want to complete continue to highlight how much work we've done as a as a dais

[02:29:35] how much work this board has done and how much work we still need to do um you know there are a lot of communities around the country that have been trying to grapple with this we continue to as well um and as we continue to look forward in the future you know whether that's some of the folks that were here earlier, we had a younger gentleman who spoke about Senator Weir, our own kids, our own grandkids that are to come and what have you. We need to really need to get a handle on housing because if we don't, we don't want our kids to get priced out of the various same homes that they lived and grew up in. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Vega. I want to also start by

[02:30:11] waiving the rules of procedure. I had the same urgent request in regards to the BOE, so I'd like to make a motion second thank you and with that i would like to um appoint stephen spiker to the boe andrea i've already emailed the resume to you and so that should be on file uh want to state that we're going to make a vote oh nobody objected so go ahead i'm ready vote unanimous all right we're good um on saturday i participated in the rally and food drive in partner with um partnership

[02:30:49] with Axe, the Haymarket Regional Food Pantry, and CFH, I decided to get dunked for a great cause. And I want to share with everyone that the chair very enthusiastically partook in that. And in her first throw, she dunked me. Her celebration was heard and felt. And it was a good time. I know that the organizers of the event actually exceeded their fundraising goals. And a lot of items were collected and so to everybody that participated and to uh the sponsors we say thank you i want to remind folks that this coming saturday we have our annual coals district back to school event so

[02:31:28] we're going to be at our office between the hours of 10 a.m and 1 p.m so if you have anybody that you know that is in need of school supplies please have them reach out to my office you're welcome to swing by on saturday or you can call our office or email us whichever your preference is certainly everybody has made reference about Bob's passing Margaret almost took the words out of my mouth but I'm just going to go ahead and expand on that a little bit everybody has talked about Bob's rough around the edges character and his directness but Margaret hit the nail on the head Bob was somebody that truly cared he was somebody that was in fact

[02:32:08] a softy and although he never really expressed his emotions or how he felt you could tell when he was proud or when, you know, something really excited him. I actually sat for a moment and went back through our text messages and the conversations that we had. And if everybody got to see the conversation, they would really get to know who Bob really was off this day as and outside of these four walls. I vividly remember how proud he was of the kid when he became one of Prince William County's finest and he graduated from the police academy. The way that he would talk about

[02:32:44] his girls and the joy that he expressed when I got the opportunity to walk with him during the Haymarket parade and the girls drove his convertible. And I said, Bob, you cannot ride in the convertible waving like a princess. You're going to walk with me. And he wasn't happy, but we actually walked the entire route. And he was just very proud of his children and to his family and kids. Obviously, our prayers are with you all to his amazing staff who was here present. Our prayers are also with you all. I want to say that oftentimes, as elected officials, our humanity gets lost in the middle of

[02:33:19] all the noise and the chaos, and I know that sometimes we do go at it on this dais, but if people would really get to see the dynamics and the relationships, the real genuine relationships that we have outside of these four walls, it would truly be mind-boggling to some, I would say. I'd even share with the public that I just celebrated my 40th birthday, and two of my colleagues actually join me in that celebration with my family. So sometimes what you see up here is not really what you think you're getting. And so just throwing that out there, because at the end of the day, we obviously do this because we love our community. We do believe in public service,

[02:33:57] but off this dais, we are moms, we're dads, we're friends, brothers, sisters, daughters. And with that being said, I do want to read a scripture that says, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. I don't know where Bob is right now, but I certainly want to say to him, rest easy, my friend.

[02:34:15] We'll take it from here as far as we can, and to his wife and children, our prayers are with you all. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, and Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to start by recognizing Susan Butler as our newest judge to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

[02:34:34] 2 August, I will be co-sponsoring the fifth annual back-to-school community event with Dr. Gattis. It's my first time working on Herald-Needs events, so I'm excited to have that. That's going to be at Garfield High School from 11 to 2 this Saturday. 5 August, National Night Out.

[02:34:52] Excited about that. I'll be along for the ride. The best part of that for me is I get the ride in the police escort. Love that. It's the only time I get the – I don't have lights and signs, but hey, it's okay. And so the 8th, I'm going to be hanging out with Michelle Latrete at her retirement farewell.

[02:35:08] And that's going to be at the Powell's Creek Room. So I want you to know I will be there for you. Thank you for all your service. You've been amazing. And the way you know those numbers, I'm going to miss. So thank you so much. And then on the 9th of August, we have a School of Rock grand opening.

[02:35:26] If you remember the movie School of Rock, I'm excited about this. I'm going to be there. I don't know what it's like in there, but I'm looking forward to it. Now, just on a, you know, really a sad note and really a more frustrating note for me is, you know, the death of my friend Bob Ware.

[02:35:44] You've heard everything about him. I will say this here. It is very important to schedule yourselves for colonoscopies, okay? We work very hard in these positions, and oftentimes we don't think about ourselves. We continue to push and push and push.

[02:36:01] I know many people do that in their lives as well. I will tell you, if you haven't scheduled yourself for one, you need to get that done. I just took care of mine. This will be my third. It's not the most thrilling of events, but it is a needed and necessary event. So I will simply say to everyone listening, please schedule yourself for a colonoscopy.

[02:36:20] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, before I go into my items, I think that Bob was the one who was driving Santa and Mrs. Santa in the Greater Manassas Christmas Parade. I swear I saw a picture of them in the back of his convertible.

[02:36:40] It is a tough meeting. It's hard. You know, we all have our Bob stories. I have a lot, most of them. My favorite Bob story, actually, is not fit to say in public. But that's who he was. You know, he was real. He was authentic. And I would say that he made me a better leader.

[02:36:59] With that, I have a lot to get through in my, hopefully, my 438 left. I would like to do notices of tent if my computer stops freezing on me. Hold on. I would like to announce my notes of intent to appoint the following individuals to boards, committees, and commissions.

[02:37:19] Byron Jenkins to the Jail Board as an alternate. Joe Andrews to the Wetlands Board. Taman Aslim to the Taxicab Review Board. Jonda Scott to the Person with Disabilities Committee as an alternate. And Cindy Smith to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Review Board.

[02:37:38] I also wanted to quickly do a directive since we were talking earlier about restaurants. I love food. Food loves me. And I'm going to tell everyone when you get older, it really loves you and it stays with you longer. But I have mentioned the need for a restaurant week.

[02:37:57] Our businesses are hurting. Our restaurants are hurting. And we have a lot of great places to eat in Prince William County. And I really want to showcase that. So without objection, I would like to direct the county executive to work with appropriate staff to develop a plan for launching a restaurant week program in Prince William County with the goal of promoting the county's diverse culinary scene, supporting local businesses, and driving tourism and economic activity.

[02:38:24] The plan should include recommendations for timing, restaurant recruitment, advertising promotion, and the administrative support needed to manage logistics, such as coordination with participating restaurants and event tracking. Staff should also identify any potential funding needs to support this initiative, including costs associated with marketing, technology, and program management.

[02:38:48] The county attorney's office is directed to review the information and recommendations for any legal issues. When the work is complete, the county executive should report back to the board with a plan and staff recommendations during a board meeting or by memorandum as he deems appropriate.

[02:39:05] Thank you, everyone. We are going to head out to closed session. Again, I appreciate everyone who, a lot of people left, but I appreciate everyone who came earlier, particularly Supervisor Bob's staff, because I know that this has been a difficult transition for them. So thank you.

[02:39:20] We are going to go into closed session. for when the day we get 10 minutes and i do mean 10 minutes 10 minutes you know who you are some

[02:39:31] people say enough okay so five five minutes all right so we are back from closed session i'd like

[02:41:07] to first certify the closed meeting can i get a motion so moved second it's been probably moved and seconded let's go ahead and take a vote all right we have two things to report out first starting with supervisor gordy i'm chair move to initiate an amendment to the declaration for innovation article one subsection d and exhibit a entitled master zoning plan for innovation at prince william county dated september 19th 1999 and direct county staff to work with the innovation owners association to amend the master declaration for innovation to conform with the county

[02:41:46] declaration for innovation and authorize a public hearing to consider approving the sale agreement with sjp acquisitions inc for the sale of approximately 13.2369 acres of county-owned properties at 9525 Hornbaker Road and 11301 Inspiration Court, Manassas, Virginia, 20109 for an estimated price of $4,036,196 to develop approximately 100,000 square feet of high-quality flex-text buildings in the Brentsville Magisterial District.

[02:42:20] Second. All right. That's properly moved and seconded. Let's take a vote. Vote unanimous. All right. The next one is Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move to authorize county attorney to notify the circuit court of the vacancy created by the untimely death of Gainesville District Supervisor Robert Bob Weir, member of the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, and to petition the circuit court for a writ of special election.

[02:42:53] Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Let's go ahead and take our vote. Vote unanimous. All right, everyone. We are going to take a break, be in recess, until our 7 o'clock meeting.

[02:43:11] So thank you.

[02:43:20] All right. Are we all ready? We are going to start with item 13A. I invite the applicant to come forward for their presentation. Good evening, Chair Jefferson and members of the board.

[02:43:41] My name is Jonelle Cameron with Walsh, Colucci, Lubelai, and Walsh. With me here this evening are Pete Holm and Peter Worley with CloudHQ, the applicant. We also have our civil engineer, Michael Massey here, as well as Jessica Pfeiffer, also with Walsh Colucci.

[02:43:58] We are here today to seek a proffer amendment to add a zoning category into a land bay designation, and I'll walk through that with you all. This slide is an aerial to show you a context of the location and the surrounding property in the area.

[02:44:20] Did I hear this correctly? This is Prince William Parkway here. Clover Hill is located here. And then Harry J. Parrish is here. cloud hq has a data center campus in this area here there are some warehouse buildings in this area here and then the airport is located in this area here the property is about 22 and a half acres in size this slide is a close-up aerial of the property there's an existing substation

[02:44:55] in this location here there is also a vdot wetlands mitigation bank to the rear of the site in this area here the property is currently zoned a1 which is a small portion of the property in this area here that was previously vdot right-of-way it is zoned pbd plan business district

[02:45:26] and it has oh m2 and of land bay categories the portion of the site again it's about 0.2 acres that is zoned A1. The property is located within the data center overlay district. This proffer amendment seeks to add OM office mid-rise as an implementing zoning district within the land bay and also to better align the proffers in the MZP with the proposed data center building.

[02:45:57] The property is designated I3 industrial tech flex and the comprehensive plan which recommends data centers as a primary use. I-3 recommends a floor area ratio of 0.23 to 0.57, a minimum of 30% open space for the site. The existing OH zoning designation has a setback requirement that doesn't exist in any of the other zoning categories. So in OH, for every feet of height, you have to be set back one foot per every three feet in building height. Here we're proposing a

[02:46:36] 70-foot building, which would mean the setback would be 23.3 feet. Due to the shape of the site as well as the utility easement that runs along the back of the site, the applicant is unable to do a 23.3-foot setback, but they are able to do a 20-foot setback. So what the applicant is proposing to do is add OM to the implementing land bay district. Again, the property is located within the data center overlay district. This slide shows the entire MCC campus. The white

[02:47:15] buildings are the project's data centers that have been constructed, and then the green buildings are site plan approved applications within the data center overlay district as part of their campus. This slide shows the MCC layout. The building is 235,200 square feet, which is a 0.35 FAR, and the proposed building height is 70 feet. The applicant is proposing access from

[02:47:50] Harry J. Parrish, so the access will be, sorry, in this location here. The applicant has proffered $243,100 to Prince William County Transportation for pedestrian connectivity along Harry J.

[02:48:07] Parish Boulevard. The applicant is also proposing a 10-foot landscape strip along the Harry J. Parish Boulevard frontage. Some of the areas within the RPA buffer have been denuded due to permitted utility crossings. As part of this proposal, the applicant has proposed to do additional rpa reforestation which is about one-third of an acre of reforestation everything that you see on the screen in green or in color will be located within the proposed limits of

[02:48:40] disturbance the applicant is proposing approximately 59 percent of the site as open space of that approximately 46 percent of the property will remain undisturbed in the next few slides i'll briefly go over the building elevations with you this is the north elevation facing harry j parrish this is the south elevation facing the airport this is the east elevation facing the substation and the west elevation that is facing the warehouse buildings these are 3d renderings that show those

[02:49:16] building elevations more clearly and that concludes my presentation i can answer any questions that you all may have all right doesn't look like we have any questions so we'll go ahead and have the

[02:49:36] county present good evening chair jefferson board members my name is alex venegas from the planning office and i will be presenting uh manassas corporate center mcc7 the proper amendment

[02:50:07] and rezoning so this is a request to rezone a portion of the abandonment of vdot right away it's approximately 0.18 acres uh and included in this application it's also uh seeking to provide a proffer amendment to align the proffers with the data center use, which includes some modifications and waivers. Specifically, it's to rezone the right-of-way to PBD and to add,

[02:50:45] as Janelle had said, office mid-rise as an implementing zoning district. Right now, the property has office high-rise, office flex, and M2 as the designations or implementing districts within that PVD. In general, the general information is it's approximately 22.51 acres plus the 0.18 acres of right-of-way. It's industrial. The long-range land use is industrial

[02:51:19] with a transect three in the comprehensive plan. It's also in the data center opportunity overlay district as well as the e-commerce overlay district staff is recommending approval so this is the long-range land use map associated with the application as you can see there is some environmental resource protection overlay that bisects the property on the south side is where you have the clover hill substation and where the applicants intending to build the data center

[02:51:59] is within this location. Some background to the overall application. It was rezoned previously back in 2002 under the Airport Gateway Commerce Center. There's been two subsequent proffer amendments in 2009 and 2011. Those proffer amendments, the one in 2009 was to eliminate the development phase associated with land bay a and then the 2011 proffer amendment was for the empty zoning to include a list of prohibited

[02:52:38] uses within that empty zoning so we're also including the 0.18 acre portion of the VDOT and abandonment and the applicant has proffered to a height of 70 foot which is consistent with the office mid-rise again it's in the data center opportunity overlay district and if they use the OH they could go up to 100 feet but as Janelle mentioned there's certain limits to the setback

[02:53:13] that might preclude them to do that so they've asked to use office midwives as their preferred underlying designation this is an overlay of the project. Again, the floor area ratio is 0.35, and the applicant has proffered to that, which is consistent with the previous rezoning. This is a layout. As you can see, the two bump

[02:53:47] outs are what's associated with the right-of-way abandonment. And again, to the south, you have the VDOT or Commonwealth of Virginia owns that property. That's a wetlands mitigation bank.

[02:54:04] And across the street there are data centers. There is a data center. The data centers also there's one that exists to the east and then to the west is most industrial uses.

[02:54:23] And the applicant did proffer to these design elements the elevations associated with this application and staff is recommending approval the planning commission recommended approval at it they had it on the expedited agenda no one came out to speak against the application staff has worked hard with the applicant to get substantial conformance

[02:54:58] with the elevations and in addition they included sustainability measures that weren't included with the original application. So staff has recommended approval and will gladly take any questions that the board may have.

[02:55:16] Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Alex, for the presentation, and thank you to the applicant for their presentation. Alex, can you please talk a little bit more about the surrounding land uses around the vicinity? Yes. So let me see if I can pull up.

[02:55:35] Sure. I'm specifically looking for the public's knowledge, what's in the staff report on page two? So these are the surrounding uses that occur.

[02:55:59] So you have the Manassas Regional Airport. So this is the regional airport area to the, let's see here.

[02:56:17] This building is an American tire distribution center to the north, which is this building right here is the green front furniture manufacturer.

[02:56:34] Just north, this is part of the CloudHQ data center. It's their MCC2, which is built. This one right here is MCC1, I believe.

[02:56:56] And then there's another data center over here. there are three approved site plans for one data center here, one data center here, and one here as well. So all around it is data centers or some type of industrial commercial use, and then the wetlands mitigation to the south of the property, as well as the airport. Thank you, Alex. That's what I was looking for, specifics on the designation, which according to the staff report is I-3 industrial in all surrounding areas on an already existing data center campus. In terms of the summary of the comp plan on page seven in regards to the consistency of it. I don't see any red

[02:57:35] flags, and again, for the sake of those here in chamber and those watching at home, when we talk about the plan consistency, whether it's the long-range land use, community design, cultural resources, environment, fire and rescue police, portable water, sewer, transportation, the plan consistency for all of these sections was a yes, correct? That is correct. Everything was a yes based on the comprehensive plan analysis.

[02:57:58] And then in regards to proposal weaknesses, are there any? Staff could not find any weaknesses. The applicant did work with us to make modifications, and staff is comfortable with the application. Thank you. And then you talked about the PC recommending approval.

[02:58:16] What was the vote of that? Six to one. Six to one? Okay, thank you. And then the next question that I have is for the applicant. thank you, Alex. Thank you. Sorry, I missed your question. I didn't ask it yet. I just said that it was for the applicant, but it's a simple one. No, it's for you. It's for the applicant.

[02:58:47] Oh, thank you. The question is in regards to community input. I know that you reached out to my office and you already briefed us, but again, for the sake of those here in chambers and those watching at home, can you talk to me about your attempts to get the community involved and get further input on this project? Absolutely. We held a community meeting in May and at that community meeting, see if I can get the exact number of people, we invited essentially all of the Great

[02:59:16] Oaks community. We also invited, sorry, go here. So this is the Great Oaks community here and it goes further back. So we invited all of the Great Oaks community. We also went further out than the 500 feet that would otherwise get noticed as part of a public hearing.

[02:59:39] So we invited folks up here as well. And based on community feedback from your office, you actually asked us to go a little bit further to make sure we got everybody up those streets. And we had less than 20 people attend those meetings.

[02:59:55] Okay. That meeting, sorry. Thank you. You're welcome. Madam Chair, that's the only question that I have for the applicant. I will have further after we allow for further dialogue on the dais and hear from the public. Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair. Janelle, don't go too far. Can you talk to me a little about the noise proffers that are built into this application?

[03:00:15] Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. So this application, although it is within the data center overlay district, the nearest residential building to building is about 0.25 miles away, but there has been, and we've heard concerns from the Great Oak community in particular regarding noise.

[03:00:34] So the applicant in this situation proffered to the noise ordinance levels that are in the zoning ordinance as well as providing a sound study prior to the building permit and site plan stage to make sure that they can meet the levels surrounding and there are no negative impacts to noise to that residential.

[03:00:55] Appreciate that. And my second and last question, well, second of three questions, Madam Chair. Talk to me a little bit more about water usage for this one. So for this site, there's not a specific user. So they do construct their buildings so that they could be closed loop, but it would be at the end user's desire to do so.

[03:01:17] Appreciate that. And last but not least, sustainability mechanisms. And you were expecting that one, I'm sure. Yeah, absolutely. So the applicant has proffered to, there's a list of 19 sustainability measures. The applicant has proffered specifically to eight of those measures, but they also provide additional sustainability measures in addition to that that they do regardless.

[03:01:40] That surrounds interior and exterior LED lighting, landscaping, and implementing different landscaping measures as well as part of their sustainability goals. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey, then Franklin.

[03:01:56] Thank you, Madam Chair. This is for you. Hi, Janelle. Hi. Hi, Chair Bailey. I just wanted to ask two questions. One is when you did your community town hall, you said it was around 20 people that came?

[03:02:13] Yes, less than 20. What were the, generally, what were the comments? Were there negative comments? What were their concerns? A majority of the people wanted more information, and they wanted to really understand what are we doing for noise, because that community has been impacted by sound and has specific concerns that are I would say unique to their community as a heightened level of that concern and Supervisor Vega you've talked about that a lot on the dais we had heard from members of the community that are part of their

[03:02:46] noise they they created their own subcommittee that deals with sound and they had verbally told us that cloud hq has not been a concern for them and their community as it relates to sound from the existing buildings okay um and the my second question i appreciate that my second question is the aesthetics and how the building looks can you kind of expound on that too because that was something that we had a discussion about absolutely so something that's unique with this building um and as part of their designs the 3d ones look a little bit better but

[03:03:21] they have a lot of fenestration on it glass but they also incorporate green portions of the building so back so these areas here are actually vines um that are part of their building design and architecture thank you madam chair supervisor franklin sure yes thank you um i guess more so for a question um for staff as well as the applicant but um going back to to the discussion

[03:03:56] around water, and you just mentioned that the potential for a closed-loop system is at the discretion of the end user. Was there any discussion, I guess, between staff and the applicant with regards to making that a requirement? We did not have that discussion, Supervisor Franklin, but in their sustainability measures, they did put the use of reclaimed water for non-potable uses as one of the eight sustainability measures, so that would be something that we would the applicant would work out with uh prince william water that's helpful

[03:04:32] and i guess i'll just say generally that um as we continue to move forward with um the uh with the data center industry obviously each day we want to make sure the industry is becoming more and more sustainable and so making sure that closed loop discussions are a key part of those discussions i think is very important okay thank you and one of the trade-offs that um is not well known i've just learned it recently is when you use closed loop you actually end up using more power and so there's a trade-off of are we using more power are we using more water sure um for

[03:05:10] those ones but for our specific site they do understand the importance and have heard board members say that they would prefer going that route so for their buildings in particular they're designed to be able to accommodate that that's great and i guess the last thing i'll say is that's a very good point um because a lot of people don't understand that there is a trade-off there and so I think it's important to figure out kind of the midpoint in terms of kind of the balancing act that's very important for the public to know so thank you all right Supervisor Gordy did you have something or no for the applicant just so in terms of the power is there going to

[03:05:47] be any required transmission substations to support this facility or is it already accounted for in the power infrastructure on site it's accounted for for the existing substation that is on site Okay, and are you aware of any need for any, what's the word, reliability routes that would have to come into the site?

[03:06:10] Has Dominion communicated any concerns related to reliability? They're shaking their head no. Okay, thank you very much. You're welcome. All right, if there are no other questions, I will go ahead and open. Okay, I'm going to open and close it.

[03:06:27] i'm going to go ahead and open wait we do so okay i'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing for number 13a sir if you could please state your name clearly and the magisterial district where you reside my name is kevin parker i'm from the neabscut district i did not intend to comment on this proposal but i have participated in uh the christmas bird count for the noakesville district and part of the area that we counted was that VDOT Wetland Mitigation Bank there.

[03:06:58] Saw a Peregrine Falcon there, which was the highlight of that year a couple years ago. So looking at the renderings for the building, I'm concerned about bird strikes with the glass there. I would prefer to have some, because if the glass is reflecting greenery, That is what tricks the birds into flying into the glass.

[03:07:23] So that would be a great thing to have on a building like this. And I'm just thinking about it. It would be nice if it was, you know, I think it would be better for the wildlife area if it was scooted more towards Harry Parish and leave space on the mitigation bank side than to have that little strip in the front there.

[03:07:49] Also, I'm concerned with light pollution with LED lights. That's an issue that I'm concerned about with environmental issues with data centers. And it would also be nice to have solar panels on it too. All right, thank you.

[03:08:05] All right, thank you very much. Do we have anyone online, remote? So we do not have anyone else speaking, So I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing, and I'm going to ask the applicant if you would like to respond. As part of this proposal, the building is actually as close to the right-of-way as it can be, so we are meeting that 20-foot setback.

[03:08:34] The glass for this site is actually facing Harry J. Parish, and it is not facing the Wetland Mitigation Bank. And then one of the things that we have to do because of the proximity to the airport is all of the ponds are dry ponds to specifically discourage birds because they have a concern close to the airport on bird strikes.

[03:08:57] So just wanted to say that. Thank you. Does anyone else on the day have any additional questions for staff or Supervisor Franklin? Yeah, just a quick comment. It was mentioned about solar panels, and I will say that one of the proffers allows for the use of renewable energy, such a solar power, including installation of solar panels. So just flagging that that can be a potential. All right. Is there anyone else? If not, I'd like to entertain a motion. Madam Chair.

[03:09:30] Supervisor Vega. Thank you. I just first off want to start by saying that I appreciate the dialogue. I appreciate the work that Alex and the team has done along with the applicant in working with my office and ensuring that all of our concerns were addressed throughout this whole process.

[03:09:48] I also want to say that I am very thankful to Cloud HQ for the opportunity to go and tour your facility. It wasn't just a very vague tour. It was a tour that, in my opinion, was very transparent. You allowed me to go in there to see whatever I wanted to see. You gave me access to pretty much everything.

[03:10:05] And one of the reasons why I decided to reach out and to ask for the tour was because it came at the request of my constituents over at Great Oak. As it's been mentioned here during this presentation and countless times throughout other land use applications, Noise has been a great concern, among other things, with the folks who are at Great Oak.

[03:10:21] But one of the things that really caught my attention was the fact that they talked about the lack of noise coming from the already existing buildings at this campus. And when I was there, it was very eye-opening. I've shared that with some of my colleagues. I know that some have gone. Some are planning on going in the near future.

[03:10:37] So thank you again for that transparency and, you know, for being agreeable, amenable to working with us and working on the noise proffer. Some of the questions that Supervisor Bode asked, I don't want to rehash, but just want to overall say that I'm very pleased with this whole process.

[03:10:55] Jonelle, thank you for not just notifying me of the community meetings, but also sending me the sign-up sheets of everybody that does attend and conveying the discussions surrounding the community meeting. So with that, Madam Chair, I just want to say that there are some projects that you want to use as examples as you move forward.

[03:11:11] There's been a lot of contentious conversations surrounding the data center industry, but the goal of us as leaders, elected officials, I believe, is to make a project better to improve it. And it has always been my hope and my desire that folks in the industry learn from the grave mistakes of others and that those mistakes do not repeat themselves.

[03:11:30] And I hope that the industry is paying attention. It's indicative by some of the things that already transpire that they are. And I just hope that as we continue to move forward, that we continue to see more meaningful improvements to sustainability and to the issues raised by folks in the community. So with that, Madam Chair, I would like to move forward for approval.

[03:11:46] Rezoning number REZ 2024-00025. Second. All right. It's been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right. I don't see any further discussion on this item, so let's go ahead and take our votes.

[03:12:05] Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you so very much. We are moving on to agenda item number 13B, if I can have the applicant.

[03:12:30] Good evening, Chair Jefferson and members of the board.

[03:12:46] My name is Jonelle Cameron with Walsh-Kaluchi, Lubelai, and Walsh. I am here tonight on behalf of the applicant, Iron Mountain. I have several members of Iron Mountain team that are here today, including Kevin Walker, John Lecker. We have Johnny Lim, our civil engineer, as well as Jessica Pfeiffer, also with Welsh Colucci.

[03:13:06] We are here tonight on a rezoning application that Iron Mountain seeks within its existing campus along Wellington Road. the property is located on wellington road in this area here it's about 18.89 acres in size and it's surrounded by the approved or the existing approved and under construction data center buildings in this area here arcadia run apartment building is here there's a data center that has been approved in this area in here and iron mountain also owns

[03:13:41] data center building in this area as well here. The property is currently zoned OF Office Flex with a small portion zoned PMD in this area here and then Old Hayden Road which was abandoned is zoned A1. As part of this proposal we're seeking a rezoning to M2 to better align the data center proposal with the surrounding Iron Mountain campus. The property is located within the I3 industrial tech flex within the comprehensive plan. The I-3 recommendation has a density of

[03:14:19] 0.23 to 0.57. It has a proposed open space of 30 percent. The I-3 also includes data centers as a principal use. It is also located within the data center overlay district. Data centers are permitted by right and the entire portion of the property except for that A-1 portion which is the Hayden Road abandoned area. This exhibit shows the entire Iron Mountain campus. What you see are the

[03:14:53] buildings here. There are Iron Mountain campus here. The building here is VA 8 and 9. That is the building we're here to discuss with you today. This building here was under construction. This building here is constructed and this building here is also under construction. So you all actually You see that if you're driving by 234, the buildings here and here are recently constructed buildings.

[03:15:20] This slide is a good slide because it shows the surrounding zoning categories and districts. So the area in light blue and green, those areas are zoned M2. The area in the darker blue is zoned M1, and the orangish area is zoned PMD.

[03:15:41] This slide is an illustrative of the general development plan. The area outlined in the triangle is the area that is subject to this rezoning application. The entire building is on two portions of the property. It is about 341,068 square feet.

[03:16:00] The portion of the building that is located within the zoning area is 270,780 square feet. That is an FAR of 0.35, and that is at the mid-range of the recommended FAR that is within the I-3 designation.

[03:16:21] In the staff report, staff talks about massing of the proposal. The applicant, again, they're massing the square footage and the height is in line with the I-3 designation. Access to the property will be from Wellington Road, so there will be a write-in, write-out access here and then there will be a write-in write-out access in this area here as well as currently planned the entrance here is across from stone crop the median will be closed in this area

[03:16:56] here to ensure that there is that write-in write-out access point the comprehensive plan recommends 30 percent of open space as part of this proposal the applicant is proposing a little less than 48% of open space, approximately 3.46 acres or 18.7% will be undisturbed. There are a lot of easements that are located along Wellington Road. As such, the applicant is proposing two different types of landscaping along Wellington Road. The first is a supplemental landscaping

[03:17:33] area and this area here that is across from the residential that supplemental landscape area ranges from 111 feet to 62 feet in width and that area will as we've proffered be low-lying shrubs is as permitted by the underlying easement holder the applicant is then proposing a variable with landscape buffer. That landscape buffer runs from 60 feet in this area here, and then it pinches to

[03:18:05] 25 feet in this area here, and that is because there is an existing utility easement that runs in this area here. But along this buffer, a majority either meets or exceeds the 50-foot requirement.

[03:18:24] This is a blow-up of what that buffer area looks like. So again, the supplemental area is in this area here. The area in pink is a five-foot easement strip that Iron Mountain holds. It's a private easement, so they will be able to plant over that private easement. And then again, our variable with buffer is between 60 feet in this area here. It's over 50 feet here, 50 feet here, and then where there's that easement, it pinches down to 25 feet in that area in there. This slide

[03:19:01] is a comparison between the planning commission and the board public hearing so at the planning commission the applicant was recommending three access points there was the right in right out across from stone crop there was a full access movement in this area here and then the right in right out in this area here what the planning commission specifically asked that we do is remove this access point here to try to meet the 50 foot buffer requirement and the applicant was able to do that. So there's no longer that access point in this area here. In the next few slides,

[03:19:41] I will show you building elevations. The applicant is proposing that the building be a maximum height of 75 feet. This is inclusive of rooftop mechanical equipment. That height does exclude the elevator override. That elevator override is a smaller portion of the entire building, and that is needed to service the elevator as well as for safety and so that is a weakness in the staff report that the elevator override is not included but for all of the other data center projects that we've done

[03:20:16] it has not been included it's about three feet more than the building but it's only on a small portion of that building area to address some other concerns specifically as far as noise the applicant has proffered to the sound studies they've proffered to the noise ordinance in addition the applicant has proffered that the building rooftop mechanical equipment that is facing wellington road and the residential also be sound attenuated so that will be an acoustical barrier that is surrounding that area that is facing the residential the applicant has also

[03:20:55] proffer to eight sustainability measures from the 19 list, as well as four EV charging stations. This is the exterior elevation on top that is facing the Iron Mountain existing building, and this is the exterior elevation that is facing Sudley Manor Drive. This is what the existing data center building looks like for Iron Mountain, so it is very similar to what will be proposed here. We also had a community meeting where we invited the residents of Arcadia Rung

[03:21:30] as well as four other surrounding nearby properties that would have received notice. We thought it would be helpful for the Arcadia-run community to be able to see what the building would look like visually. A lot of times we can show it 2D, but they really want to understand what does that look like 3D.

[03:21:51] So the applicant provided various lines of sight. So this is the first line of sight in this area here. It's about 73 feet away from the nearest building corner. And this shows what it looks like existing. This is at the initial planting.

[03:22:11] Sorry. This is at the initial planting. This is at, go back, five-year, 10-year. The next is this area here. So from across the street, this is the existing.

[03:22:29] This is about 734 feet away. This is at the initial planting, five-year, 10-year. This is closer up. This is about 550 feet away from this camera angle.

[03:22:48] This is existing. Proposed initial, five-year, 10-year. And that concludes my presentation with a positive staff report recommendation for approval, as well as a recommendation for approval from the Planning Commission.

[03:23:06] We respectfully request the board also approve this application. Thank you. All right. We're going to go on. Actually, before we go on to staff, I just had a couple questions. I don't know if anyone else has questions.

[03:23:22] I just want to, again, understand, how far is it from the Arcadia-run apartments? The closest nearest building to building is 441 feet away. I'm sorry, 411 feet away. All right, and mechanicals are what, 15 feet?

[03:23:38] The maximum mechanical equipment would be 15 feet, yes. And when you're talking about proffering the noise to the ordinance, are you talking about the current ordinance or the one that we've been discussing and proposing that is not yet adopted so i will need help from the county attorney but as it is currently written it specifically says notwithstanding and in addition to the noise ordinance how i believe alan has asked us to draft that is that when there is an update to the noise ordinance you would have to meet the update to the noise ordinance as well but i can

[03:24:16] have the county attorney confirm that. Madam County Attorney? Madam Chair, members of the board, whenever the board adopts a new county news noise ordinance, they're going to have to comply with it. You mentioned four EV charging stations. Are they public? They would be private, I believe, for the employees. For the employees? Yes. And I just got to ask, why the Charlie Brown Christmas trees? I mean, it's going to take a while for them to fully grow out. So we've specifically

[03:24:46] proffered, and let me pull that up for you. No, it's fine. You can if you want. So your request, Sorry, is if we could, at the time of planting, include higher planting caliber trees.

[03:25:10] Okay. Yes, we can look into that. Let's see. I have Supervisor Bodie Franklin-Lagorty. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Janelle. Leaning in a little bit more to the sustainability measures, as I understand it, that Iron Mountain actually doesn't only follow LEED, they also follow BREEAM, B-R-E-E-A-M.

[03:25:33] Can you talk a little bit more about that? Yes. I will get that answer and get right back to you on that one. Thank you. And then my second question, the Devlin to Hornbaker transmission line, which I know is part of the periphery of this conversation, can you talk a little bit more about that and sort of Iron Mountain's stance in regards to that?

[03:25:52] Absolutely. So there is a transmission line project that is going to go from Devlin Road to Hornbaker. Dominion provided two routes to feed that.

[03:26:10] One of those routes is specifically in front of this property. it would require a 100-foot transmission line easement. Dominion filed the CPCN, so that's the approval that you need from the SEC as part of that. Prior to filing that, Iron Mountain did specifically provide a copy of their CAD file, so they understood what would be proposed here.

[03:26:35] The applicant, as part of their easement negotiation, so if the route that is chosen is this route, The applicant will work with Dominion to ensure that they are still able to plant within that easement area, and we would be willing to also coordinate that with the Brentsville District Office to make sure that they're involved in those discussions.

[03:26:56] Thank you for that. And my last question, thank you, Janelle, for that, is let's say we don't approve this and we don't vacate that road. Since they're in the overlay, since it's already zoned, it can go by right, how would they be able to make a building work if we don't vacate the road?

[03:27:14] Absolutely. So the building would be close. So the road has already been vacated. So the road is now owned by Iron Mountain. So it's a question of whether or not the road would be rezoned. So if the board chose not to rezone the road, the building would still be able to be constructed and it would be moved closer to the road.

[03:27:33] And that's closer to Arcadia Run. Correct. Thank you. You're welcome. Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, just a couple of small questions. Absolutely. But going back to the EV charging stations, I'm assuming the reason it's not public is because these are secure facilities. Okay. And then for Arcadia, how old is that facility?

[03:27:52] And, Tom, you may be able to answer that, but apartments, yeah. I can get back to you, but I think we looked at this. It was in between 2015 and 2017 that they were constructed.

[03:28:07] So quite recent, well beyond the overlay construction. Correct. Okay. just want to get that clarification. Thank you. Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank my colleagues for asking the questions, many of which were in my list to ask. The one other thing I would ask is in relation to power to the site, is there any new transmission or substations required to provide power to VA 8 and 9? No, so as currently planned, it's about 48 megawatts, and that can be served by the existing substation within the Iron Mountain campus.

[03:28:45] Okay, and is there any need that Dominion has communicated for reliability coming from any part of the rest of the county? Our team is shaking their heads no, so no. Okay. I look forward to the staff comments, and thank you for your answers.

[03:29:02] Thank you. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to go back to the buffer little situation that we find ourselves in. So, hypothetically speaking, let's say that Dominion doesn't agree, that you guys can't figure it out and work together. What happens to this proposal in regards to the buffer?

[03:29:19] Because buffers, as you know, are very important to folks in the community. Absolutely. And we want to make sure that we address that. What guarantees can we give the public? We could add it into our proffer that we will work with Dominion. I do know that there's another project someplace else that Dominion has recently said that they were willing to allow for there to be landscaping.

[03:29:41] within that area so we're willing to add a proffer as you know unfortunately we can't control dominion but the applicant would do everything in their power to make sure that they're able to plant within that area thank you supervisor bailey thank you madam chair so janelle just for point of clarity for me please yes ma'am um for with the buy right yes ma'am piece if this if we don't approve it then what and i'm i need you to just clarify with the buy right piece if we don't approve it then the the applicant can put the applicant can place can still place a data center

[03:30:20] on the bill on the property thank you you're welcome supervisor angry thank you madam chair um hey janelle um i don't know if you noticed how long has iron mountain when was their first building constructed in prince william county their first building in prince william county or their first building in this campus uh i say campus but maybe even prince william county okay Let me get that answer for you.

[03:30:48] And I'll say the reason I ask that is because what I know about Iron Mountain is that they've been in the county for a while and really been flying below radar and been good stewards. And so I know they still have lands to finish and fill out the campus. So the first building in the campus was built in 2017.

[03:31:07] And actually, when the board amended the data center overlay district to add design standards, they used the Iron Mountain building as their base for those standards. Yeah. And it's not for you. I'll save this comment for later.

[03:31:23] Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. If the staff can come up, present.

[03:31:40] Good evening, members of the board. Scott Meyer in the planning office. Nice to see everybody. I am going to be going through this presentation.

[03:31:59] So like the last one, this is a proposed data center. It's infill to complete a data center campus, okay? So you've all been oriented to the site here. Again, it's 18.89 acres.

[03:32:16] The main reason for this is to rezone to light industrial. But again, there is an abandoned right-of-way here for Hayden Road. It's Elevate Drive is the new street name. So just to show you, it happened so recently, it's not even on the graphic yet.

[03:32:36] So I just wanted to bring that to your attention, and staff is recommending approval. The biggest challenge is we have this intact residential community right across the street. It's also planned RN4, which is a conundrum when you have high-density suburban residential right across the street from an area that is where we would anticipate data centers.

[03:32:57] So just wanted to give that as a little bit of context. This is planned for industrial tech flex. And again, as Janelle had pointed out, data centers are among the primary anticipated preferred uses. It's, again, currently zoned office flex.

[03:33:13] We have a little bit of agricultural area here where the road is and PMD. So with this, the entire piece here will become light industrial zoning. Excuse me. Okay, so this is just the plat.

[03:33:30] It's showing the entire area here, including Hayden Road. That's what came in with the application. And this is just showing the existing conditions. Different site plans have been approved at different times, and the site's already under construction.

[03:33:48] So the new building will be, it's essentially bifurcated by what is now Hayden Road. So just to repeat here, this is the entire proposed campus. we're focusing on VA 8-9. Again, one of the biggest challenges is we have the Arcadia-run apartments right across the street. So what do we do? We try to buffer. We try to minimize. We try to lessen the impacts of the massing and the combined height. I will say that the applicant is proposing a height increase. They're not proposing a height increase, but all in, it will

[03:34:24] be 75 feet, and we define the maximum height to not include rooftop equipment. So that is a positive attribute that it is all inclusive of 75 feet but how do we get over the massing and the building we look at buffering we look at design and architecture so as Janelle pointed out when this went to planning commission there was a third access point that has since been removed subsequent to planning commission the applicant was able to add more variable with buffering

[03:34:58] we still feel respectfully it's not enough being where it is and where it's located now granted there's not a lot of room to work with here but we try to make it the best we can so just context things to note applicant has done numerous line of sight exhibits we have architecture which is you know being submitted substantial conformance so the staff report is all positive however we cannot overcome the community design issues the biggest land use obvious point is proximity to

[03:35:33] existing residential is what it is but we have to point that out and with community design overall it was a no because of the massing individual impacts next to the adjacent residential we do feel we want to do all we can to prohibit extra building height override so the elevator override yes we've done it before but we're now asking for it to be flush so we have minimal visual intrusion we're doing that with other more recent data centers although the variable with

[03:36:07] landscape buffer has improved we need to note that we still feel these concerns remain unmitigated and there's very minimal screening along the frontage you can see this very clearly from the apartment complex it has gotten better since planning commission and we the planning commission also asked the applicant to look at enhanced tree-save areas.

[03:36:27] Applicant has indicated that they were not able to do that. So we have to point out all these things in our analysis. Materially relevant limitations for planting buffers and screening along the frontage. However, the applicant has provided supplemental planting areas.

[03:36:47] It is contingent upon what the easement holder says. There are no guarantees, but we pushed them as hard as we could, so that's noteworthy. Proximity to existing residential, that is a remaining concern.

[03:37:03] And although it's gotten better, the combined massing, the intensity, the potential noise for data centers, we can't overlook that. But yet this is in the overlay. It is where we anticipate data centers to be, and it's surrounded by data centers. So that's where we look at things overall.

[03:37:20] so overall staff is recommending approval the planning commission wanted there were two recommendations that have been incorporated except for the enhanced tree save area but overall staff is recommending approval subject to the revised proffers dated may 30th this does it is consistent with data center development it will facilitate the delivery and the build out of data centers which are targeted industries of course there there is mitigation being offered environmental

[03:37:54] preservation there's minimal impacts and there's limits of clearing grading but we still can't get over the overall design in the massing of this but overall staff is recommending approval i'm happy to answer any questions we have transportation staff here george phillips as well as our county arborist will shoot so thank you very much supervisor gordy thank you madam chair so scott But on the buffers on the front, in talking with the applicant in a meeting as late as yesterday,

[03:38:29] looking at opportunities to even provide some types of buffering even closer to the building is, you know, we talk about buffers, but then, you know, then there's everything beyond the buffer that would then help us shield this from the neighborhood across the road.

[03:38:55] What is your perspective if that is something that we can achieve in terms of, even though it's not quote-unquote in the buffer, but it still provides shielding within the viewshed? We feel that that could be something to minimize the overall impacts.

[03:39:16] We look at buffering because that's what we're charged to do, and I'm happy to see that that other access point was removed. It really isn't needed, but there's still very limited areas to work with, and, you know, then we get into design enhancements.

[03:39:35] As you said, there could be additional plantings. I mean, we're very sensitive to the fact that, you know, it makes sense to have a type of data center use here, but the reality is is you know you have these residential um you know apartments right across the street and we have to look at any way we possibly can to minimize that impact so as you said enhanced plantings um janelle had mentioned about the vines growing up the side of the building that could also help it's just not ideal and we've seen other data centers where we've had a much greater um you know setback one you know about a little over a year ago is um mid-county

[03:40:14] industrial park i know in the coles district supervisor vega we looked at you know larger setbacks and um you know uh just you know providing a greater level of setback but if we do that then we cut into what the building could be and so forth so we have to balance all these elements yeah and going back to uh supervisor bode's questions related to and to what could be done by right the applicant said the building would be shifted to the right and shifted forward closer to the road is that do you agree that that's the uh that that would be allowable for

[03:40:50] them without any of these proffers that would help further mitigate the impacts of this development from the residential i'm presuming that that's because obviously the road would not be changed so the applicant would have to find a building envelope in this area but thus it would make it worse with the area of staff concern which is the minimal buffering so yeah there's always a trade off and just to clarify i mean we measure height it does not include rooftop equipment so it's 60 feet but just to clarify it's capped at 75 feet no more than 75 feet which still meets they don't

[03:41:28] technically need a they don't need a height modification but that would change things and change the design and other things we'd have to look at yeah so so right now um and and and maybe this is a better question for the applicant but as i drive down wellington road and i look what i see right now are generators in the back um and one of the things that i've talked to them as well is not just providing buffering to the front of this building but to further shield the site of what currently exists from um the residents from being able to see those generators uh in you know from those rear buildings.

[03:42:07] Janelle, did you want to... I know you were going to check into that and see what the art of the possible was for that. You actually will not be able to see those generators. That building is not completed, so there will be a solid masonry wall that surrounds those ground floor generators. Okay. All right. Thank you.

[03:42:23] You're welcome. That's all the questions I have for now, Madam Chair. Thank you. All right. I don't see anyone else on the... Did you have any questions, Supervisor Angry? Okay. Supervisor Angry. I have one. I think, and it's for Scott, But maybe, Janelle, I asked this question earlier.

[03:42:39] She has a better slide that shows it. But the slide with Arcadia Run that showed the two entrances, and you removed the one. You just spoke a little bit about it and where the entrance is currently. So I'm just curious because Arcadia Run right now, coming out of that development, doesn't have a traffic light right there, correct?

[03:43:00] And that is Wellington Road, and that is an area where you see a lot of traffic. And I just feel like you missed an opportunity to have, you know, this development put in a light, having that entrance across to allow for traffic, you know, for that community to get out. But I understand why you're moving it.

[03:43:16] I just feel like you missed an opportunity there to really help that community get out of that subdivision a little bit better without the county paying for it. I'll throw that in there. Supervisor. Not really a question. I guess, I don't know. I think that was really for, because you said you got transportation up.

[03:43:35] I'm just curious, what caused that? Why did we not look at that? George Phillips, Prince William County DOT, Supervisor Angry. Well, I guess you can look at it two ways.

[03:43:52] One is on roads like Wellington that are arterials, we actually like to have less entrances and less traffic lights because they slow down through traffic flow. And I guess the neighbors across the street probably appreciate not having traffic that they're competing with for left turns.

[03:44:10] But ultimately, any traffic signal would have to meet VDOT warrants. So did we look at that? I don't think we did. I don't think it was analyzed, to be honest with you. Yeah, and that's our difference, right?

[03:44:25] Because in transportation, in the VDOT world, you want to keep traffic moving. In my world, I want to slow it down, right? And to me, on a road like Wellington and the way that traffic speeds through there, if I can stop them at any moment, I like that. But I also know that creates T-bones and rear ends.

[03:44:43] So it's a give or take scenario. So I just was curious about that, you know, why he didn't look at that. So thanks. Thanks for that. Supervisor Gordy? Doors don't go far. So I think it's also important to note that Wellington is slated for widening.

[03:45:02] And so a lot of – and right now you can already see that there's some level of median as you come from Arcadia Run towards Sudley Manor. It does – it is basically three-lane at this point.

[03:45:17] um and eventually will become four lane but george um you know it's one of those options i think to help us in as we think about um what a widened wellington looks like with a median and we do beautification along in there we can actually potentially use some of that to add some buffering um within that median to help further support uh and protect the acadia run community uh from from the industrial development on the other side of the road would you see that that is a potential option yeah definitely a potential option it's just uh there it would have to meet

[03:45:53] the site distance or not interfere with site distance right okay thank you george appreciate it supervisor brody thank you madam chair um wanted to give uh janelle a chance to answer my other questions but also just wanted to have her a little bit talk about the construction management plan that's part of the proffers absolutely so as working um just in this area as a whole we've heard from arcadia run that they have concerns about construction traffic either parking or driving through their community so the applicant specifically proffered to do a construction management plan and that construction management plan would prohibit construction

[03:46:33] traffic driving through or parking within the arcadia run community and arcadia run would receive a copy of that construction management plan and then chair jefferson if it's okay can I answer Supervisor Bode's question and your question while I'm up here? Okay. Specifically for Supervisor Bode's question regarding Bream, LEED is what is used in the United States.

[03:47:00] Bream is more common across the globe as a whole. So Iron Mountain is not only in the United States but other places. They both focus on energy efficiency and indoor environment quality. But BREEAM has a wider standard of categories, so they also include land use, ecology, and management processes as part of their standards.

[03:47:25] You're welcome. And then, Chair Jefferson, we have actually committed to plant higher caliper trees. So we've committed to, at the time of planting, to plant 2-inch caliper trees. That would be a maximum height of 6 feet.

[03:47:41] And we cannot go any taller than, wider or taller than that, because if you plant larger caliper trees, they're more likely to die. So we picked the caliper based on consultation with the county arborist and picked the highest caliper that he was comfortable with to ensure survivability.

[03:48:03] You're welcome. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a quick question, Janelle, while you're there, in reference to the construction plan. Yes, ma'am. Who's going to be responsible for monitoring that? So ultimately, the applicant is, but if, for example, Arcadia Run says, hey, we notice people are parking in our community, Arcadia Run has a special email for Iron Mountain.

[03:48:31] So if there's an Iron Mountain issue, Arcadia Run has a dedicated email, so they email that email address and they know that's specifically for Arcadia Run. Iron Mountain would be responsible to make sure that nobody is parking there. Ultimately, that construction management plan is given to the general contractor who is responsible to give it to all of the subcontractors as well.

[03:48:53] Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Does anyone else have questions? If not, I am going to go ahead and open the public hearing for 13B. If you have signed up to speak, I will call you in groups of five to the back of the room.

[03:49:09] And I ask that you state your name and where you generally reside. We don't have anyone in person. Do we have anyone online? We have one person online, Supervisor Bailey. One person, ma'am. Okay.

[03:49:25] Are we good? No, we're going to do remote, but I'll come back. Okay. Shall we begin with our remote caller, Mr. Carroll? No, we have Ms. Rachel Ellis tonight.

[03:49:44] Okay. Ms. Ellis, are you there? I am. Okay, thank you very much. Please begin. Thank you. Rachel Ellis, Gainesville District. This is an application which means this is not a by-right project.

[03:50:01] So say no. Say no to Moore. Let them build what is allowed by right. That is all. No more. Let them build it by right. The buffer is exactly where Dominion plans to build the Devlin-Hornbaker line. And I'm fairly certain the applicant's attorney said at the Wellington Glen rezoning that this was the preferred route and I can guarantee you there will be no plantings in a easement and I know that because our neighborhood has an easement on one side of it and there is

[03:50:36] absolutely not anything planned and they come in and they clear trees all the time. So without a buffer it will be completely open to residential community across the street. Vote no. At some point, this leadership of this county has to say no to more. Adding more to this area only maximizes the impacts to the residents that live there. I get that there are already data centers there, but to add more because they're already there is not fair to these residents. So I'm asking you guys to say no. Say no to more. It can still be built. Let them build by right. And if they're

[03:51:16] really good community partners, which they claim to be, then they will, all the stuff they proffer regarding, what is it, construction management or greens or whatever it is that they're proffering to get you guys to say yes to more, they will use for by right. And then they can start proving that they are a good community partner for Prince William County residents.

[03:51:35] Because as of right now, they only give proffers to things that protect residents when they get more. And you guys continue to give them more. I'm asking you to say no to this. And that's all I have. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Ellis.

[03:51:51] Are there any additional speakers? We have no additional speakers. Okay. Thank you, Chris. Back to you, Madam Chair. So you're for public comment time, I assume, right, sir? Okay. Not public hearing? All right. Thank you so very much.

[03:52:07] I know it gets a little confusing because we have public comment versus public hearings. So I'm going to officially close the public hearing for item number 13B. There are follow-up. There are some comments made. I wanted to invite the applicant or the county. I don't know. Keep that on.

[03:52:23] Keep it on. Janelle, if you want to come back, if you want to respond to what was said. As part of this proposal, the applicant is asking to rezone the A1 portion of the property, but is providing substantial mitigation measures and proffers, including sound proffers, sound attenuation, additional landscaping as well.

[03:52:48] And the applicant is committed to working with Dominion and the Brentsville Supervisor's Office to ensure that there can be plantings within the Dominion easement if this is the route that is chosen. That's all I have. All right.

[03:53:05] Thank you so very much. Does anyone have any additional questions for the applicant or for county? All right. Then let's go ahead. If we can have a motion, then we can have a discussion with them.

[03:53:21] Okay, Madam Chair. I appreciate the applicant. I appreciate all the work of the staff. I really appreciate the applicant for working with us to try to mitigate the impacts of this development as much as possible.

[03:53:40] And so working through with these proffers for sound, and we'll continue to work with them on proffers. And I have been talking to Dominion about other locations in the Brentsville District where their transmission lines are crossing buffers and working with them to help maintain levels of landscaping that will help support buffered areas.

[03:54:03] So with that, Madam Chair, I'm going to move approval of item 13B. Second. All right, is there any further discussion, A1 and Q? Supervisor Angry?

[03:54:19] I do. I just want to comment. I think Scott said it best when he said, this is a project to infill and complete the campus. One of the things that we really should work on here, and I love the fact that as we go on and discover new ways of improving data centers, we can do it better.

[03:54:37] So I like that part of building improvements. One thing I feel like we kind of go in a circle about is the fact that Iron Mountain has been here for a very long time and been really good stewards in Prince William County. So this project really, as you've seen, and thank you, Supervisor Gordy, for this approval, it's a really great project on a campus that back in 2017, they bought this land to develop this.

[03:55:00] I just feel there's a better way we can go about trying to figure out how to look at building improvements but understand that these are campuses that really have a right to really finish out their projects without it being, I don't feel like this was contentious, but I just want to point that out that I believe there's a way we can go forward and try to figure out, you know, we just heard from Cloud HQ, which is another one that's been in the county, Iron Mountain, been in the county, finishing out their campuses.

[03:55:30] I think there's something to be said about how we go about that. Just want to leave that thought out there for figuring out how we can process that a little better. So, thank you, Madam Chair. Gordy, then Franklin. Yeah, thank you, Supervisor Angry. And I do, again, just want to point out, this can be built by right.

[03:55:48] I mean, it can be built by right. Not the same building, not the same proffers. But to be built by right without this approval moves it closer to the apartments. And that's the part that I struggle with. and and and and i don't i don't want data centers near residential but there's going to be one here um and so it's a matter of what is the best option the buy right option or the one that we're we're we're discussing tonight and for me this pushes it further away from the apartments um and it

[03:56:23] pushes and it allows us the greatest opportunity to mitigate um the impact of this type of development so um i i know this is a it it's not what i want um it's not what uh others in our community want um but it is the reality of what we we have before us and um and to me it the lesser of evils is this product is is the is approval of this project um and and so the the um um i again i appreciate the work that the applicant has done to try to mitigate this as much as possible

[03:56:58] but to not approve it what my concern is is that it moves it a hundred feet closer to these uh 75 to 100 feet closer to the residential and so that's why i will be supporting it all right supervisor franklin then bailey yeah thank you and thank you supervisor gordy uh for for your work to um get as close to um to to good as possible on this uh kind of took the words right out of my mouth. The thing that we have to always understand with some land use items is that sometimes you

[03:57:31] have to pick between what's good and sometimes not so great. And this is a situation where it's already in the overlay. It's by right, as Suraz Gordy mentioned. But how can we make it a little bit better than it would be had they not come to the board for some additional amendments? And so I think what we have here is a decent product.

[03:57:55] I will say I want to always push our developers to continue to get better on design, of course, and that's obviously one of the staff comments, and let's continue to work on that. I think we've learned a lot from Loudoun County and kind of the box facilities that they've put together, but we've evolved a bit from that, particularly here in Prince William, at least with the data centers that have yet to come online.

[03:58:18] I think we'll be seeing a lot more attractive facilities. Also, sustainability measures, you know, this is a process that allows us to push for more sustainable goals with regards to the industry. And so I think it's important to note the changes there.

[03:58:35] Then, of course, on the height, I mean, we've approved data centers, I think, much higher than 75. And so I think that's well within kind of what's around in that general area. And even with the discussion around kind of the elevator, what is it called, Janelle?

[03:58:52] There we go. It's only three feet higher than 75, which would be 78, and so it's not asking for a lot there. So I think we're getting as close as we possibly can with this particular product, and I'm happy to support it.

[03:59:07] And thank you, Supervisor Gordy, for working to push for additional improvements. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Supervisor Gordy, thank you so much for your due diligence in helping work through this project.

[03:59:23] I think that when we have something with an opportunity with buy-right, it is a very difficult decision to make and that we really don't have a lot of control in the decision-making process.

[03:59:41] And so, you know, I know you've done your best. I appreciate it. I appreciate the presentation, Jonelle, and to staff that you gave us to help us to understand what was done. I appreciate the applicant and the allowances that you've made. Data centers continue to be a good sport for us.

[04:00:00] And so I would ask the county exec at some future meeting, if you would just please help us to understand, have a presentation, be it small, about buy right and what that means as we're making these decisions with county staff.

[04:00:17] Because it's important that we can educate our communities about what that means, please. So thank you, Madam Chair. So a couple things I want to say. You know, I have been talking with the county executive about doing a work session on data centers so that we can really understand how much that we have already in the county, how much is approved, how much we have coming, and really get into some of the more specifics.

[04:00:43] And, you know, I can certainly talk to him about buy right versus, you know, rezoning and such. I do not agree that this is a great project. It is too close to residential.

[04:00:59] It is closer to residential than I would prefer. but it is one that I think with great hesitation that I could live with. Iron Mountain has been, for the most part, a good neighbor. I could certainly think of worse companies, but that wouldn't say them out loud, but that would get me sued.

[04:01:17] Although it's tempting. It's very tempting. I can live with this. I'm hoping that this is the last. I don't know if this is the last one on the campus or what have you, but I just, I'm hesitant because I don't want to add insult to injury.

[04:01:35] And I do ask as this board, we have to think really carefully, because this should have been an industrial area. This should have been an industrial area. But we have housing here that really just doesn't belong. And because we have housing here that just doesn't belong, we have to take that housing into consideration.

[04:01:54] And we're going to have other applications come up. We're going to be putting data centers next to possible housing. So I want us to think about that and be consistent. Again, not the worst company in the world. You know, I have my reservations, and I will, you know, I know Supervisor Gordon has worked on this with you.

[04:02:18] It is what it is. I don't know if anyone else has anything to say. If not, we'll go ahead and take our votes. Vote unanimous.

[04:02:38] Thank you so very much. We are now going to move on to agenda item number 14, and that is public comment time. So I'm waiting to get the sheet, and what I'm going to do again is call people up five at a time. You have three minutes to speak.

[04:02:55] Again, name, registerial district. So I have Michael Slater, Angela Henze, Greg Seban, and Kevin Parker.

[04:03:32] Yes, Mr. Slater, if you can begin by giving your...

[04:03:52] Well, I'm waiting for everyone to come back to their chairs. No, I'm the vice chair, and I'm now in charge of the meeting, sir, so you may proceed. My name is Dr. Michael Slater. I live at 17323 Four Seasons Drive. I stand here, as I have before, along with countless others who have voiced their firm, angry opposition against data centers next to our neighborhoods.

[04:04:17] Mind you, this is not against data centers per se, but against putting them next to neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, or anywhere that quality of life is something that comes from hard-earned effort from good citizens. I hope everyone's listening.

[04:04:38] It appears that the real attraction in choosing some of these locations are the power lines that line and serve our communities. Developers are drawn to these locations almost in a parasite-like fashion, not willing to spend their own money.

[04:04:57] And we know their pockets are deep. If they're willing to spend millions of dollars per acre, we know they can come up with their own solutions for their own electrical needs in more suitable locations. In this country, we're entitled to the opportunities for life, liberty, and a pursuit of happiness.

[04:05:16] And it is the role of our elected officials to protect that right. Now, we hear of the incentive of tax revenue, but at whose expense? Other counties in Virginia have figured it out. They're listening to their constituents, and they're making firm decisions on behalf of those who elected them.

[04:05:39] Excuse me if I'm trembling right now, but I'm angry. This board of county supervisors will be remembered in one of two ways. You will be the ignoble public servants who fail to listen to their constituents, Or you can be the heroes who made a courageous decision and saved our county from the lure of greed and disingenuous equivocation spoken by those who only have profit as their idol.

[04:06:13] The choice is yours. Please make the right decision. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Mr. Schleyer. Next speaker, please. Hi, I'm Angela Hentz from the Neabsco District.

[04:06:29] I am here representing Castaways Theatre, and I have some of my cast members with me. I'm going to turn the mic over. Hello, my name is Olly Maxted. I'm the stage manager for our production of Rent here at Castaways Theatre, produced at the Furlazo Building here in Woodbridge.

[04:06:49] Rent is a musical that takes place in Alphabet City and NYC in the 90s during the peak of the AIDS crisis. And it's a story about life, love, loss, and everything in between that makes up the human experience. We're just a small part of the cast, but we hope you enjoyed this snippet of Seasons of Love B.

[04:07:07] And please consider coming to see the rest of our shows this Friday at 8, this Saturday at 2 and 8, and this Sunday at 2. We also have ticket vouchers. We have ticket vouchers for each of you, including Supervisor Weir's office and the county executive and county attorney.

[04:07:27] Angela, you can bring those up front. Everybody in this show has worked incredibly hard to bring it to the point in sight, even though we're just a few of them. Everybody else is very talented. They've worked very hard. Thank you. It's under $25. It's under $25.

[04:07:41] In diapers, report cards, in smoked wheels, in speeding tickets, in contracts, dollars, in funerals, in births, in 525,600 minutes, how do you make your last year on earth figure in love?

[04:08:22] Thank you so much.

[04:08:49] Thank you so very much, next speaker. Good evening, Greg Seabin, Potomac District. A lot has changed since the last time we were here, the saddest being the passing of Supervisor Bob Weir. He was good and honorable, truly for the people of Prince William County.

[04:09:06] Since then, we have all been learning more and more about data centers. We need to stay focused and engaged for our communities, our residents, our health, the environment, our homes, and quality of life. It was unfortunate that Four Seasons HOA Board does not share these same sentiments, but make no mistake, they do not speak for us.

[04:09:22] I sincerely ask that their decision not be used as any backstop or justification that the residents of Four Seasons support the Lexora Park project. Many of us do not. To use that decision for any validation of votes in favor of this project would be incorrect. At Supervisors Bailey's town hall meeting, I asked for a show of hands who opposed this data center.

[04:09:41] If you recall, there were many there who raised them. I asked the same question the next day at our special HOA board of directors meeting. There was at least 150 folks there. In the middle of the afternoon, with short notice, we had a very good turnout. Nearly everyone there raised their hand to show opposition to this project.

[04:09:57] Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears for the seven that were there who had already made up their minds before the meeting even started. They voted for approval to endorse Cedars Group's request for HOA support for the project and signed an agreement. I ask that each of you take into serious consideration that this was only seven votes within a very active and large community.

[04:10:15] It is not a true representation by the Four Seasons residents. as responsible stewards for our county you have to honestly ask yourself would I want a data center in my neighborhood near my family near my friends next to my kids or grandkids school that's who we are we came here five weeks ago and that was not staged we are concerned citizens and active voters expressing our beliefs and feelings in the appropriate form where we're allowed to do so where we need to do so and we must stand up to be heard I continually to learn I continue to learn more and more about data centers I've also read the 2040 comprehensive plan the community designed plan and the housing and land use plans. And I've also reviewed your votes and decisions on these

[04:10:54] issues. Decisions are made to create livable and attractive communities here in the county. Yes, there are some financial gains that these structures can bring, but as we all know, everything comes with a price. Who's going to pay this price? Us, our families, our neighbors? I'm hoping that your decisions are not made in a bubble. Only taking financial considerations into aspects is just one side of the story, a small piece of the puzzle. How many data centers do we need? How many is enough? If we really do need more, then let's work together to find more appropriate areas where they need to operate. The strains of the environment that need to be addressed and resolved. How much noise and pollution do they make? The developers have

[04:11:33] big pockets, right? I look forward to future gatherings and many more discussions. Until then, thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker. Kevin Parker, Niabscu District. This was Florida when the traffic safety thing came up, but it's an ongoing issue, so I'm commenting.

[04:11:58] So there are longtime traffic engineers who are now critiquing their profession setup. They said we have tried to make roads safer for drivers by giving them more room, wide lanes, long sight lines, generous curve radii, and a clear zone, a recovery zone.

[04:12:20] People say wide lanes give space for drivers to maneuver and recover from departure reducing crashes. Sight lines allow drivers to see hazards like vehicles or pedestrians, cleared zones, areas adjacent to the road with few fixed objects, allowing drivers to recover control after leaving the travel lane without hitting things.

[04:12:45] So with all things being equal, this would make for safer roads. But all things are not equal because drivers change their behavior. Drivers feel safer. They felt safer to go faster with these conditions.

[04:13:02] This was not planned for or considered by engineers. Engineers normally build for physics that are constant, not human behavior that is not. Since speed is dangerous, the very orthodoxy intended to increase safety paradoxically has made our roads less safe.

[04:13:21] But the orthodoxy continues. Why? When looking at each individual accident, we think who is at fault, one car or the other, the car or the pedestrian. Nobody is asking if the road itself is at fault, if the design was a factor in the crash.

[04:13:40] So to the police, insurance company, the people who collect the data, the people involved were at fault. There is a built-in blindness to any design deficiency. There is no feedback to improve. The answer always ends up being outreach and education.

[04:13:56] This issue, like in many areas, individual people within systems get blamed for choices which are actually to a great degree systemic. Systemic deficiency or individual blame. Unfortunately, it is not one of these simple one way or another.

[04:14:15] But now the systemic side for road safety is almost always not considered and should be for each and every crash. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much. I'm going to turn it over to Supervisor Bailey for remote comments. There's no remote comments. All right. So we do not have any remote comments. Last year, I played schools out for the summer. It doesn't seem quite fitting this year as we mourn the loss of one of our colleagues who loved to jump in with... Move to adjourn. Second. Undebatable.

[04:14:55] Undebatable. And this is the legacy that he leaves us. Thank you so very much. Let's take a vote. Was it boarding? I thought I heard a Vega there. I don't know. Let's just go. All right. Thank you. No one for not voting for this. I'm looking at you, Margaret Franklin.

[04:15:21] I will see everyone on September 9th, 2025. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

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