Dear Friends and Virginians:
It was a cold and blustery day on January 13, 2024. A small crowd had gathered at the picnic pavilion at Manassas Battlefield, the same meadow where — 162 years earlier – John Hood’s Texans had collided with the Army of the Potomac in one of the most violent moments in American history.
The people gathered did not represent any political party or important special interest. Rather they were ordinary citizens, mad as hell that the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, after a 27-hour hearing, had decided to build the WORLD’S LARGEST DATA CENTER PARK within yards of these historic lands, thus smashing a bucolic landscape into oblivion. They had asked me to be their lawyer.
Yes, there was press but most surmised that we had no chance. The other side had unlimited corporate funds, as well as the County checkbook. We had nothing except an obscure Virginia law which requires “legal notice” prior to a public hearing on any rezoning.
Fast forward to March 31, 2026 …
In a masterful 56-page opinion, the Virginia Court of Appeals neatly wiped out the opposition arguments and sustained Judge Irving’s courageous ruling from last year. Specifically, the Court ruled the rezoning action was “void ab initio” for the very reasons we raised on that cold January day.
There are many, many details to this and many people to thank. (Let me first of all congratulate the Oak Valley Homeowners Association and their counsel Craig Blakely who got the initial trial court win). My #1 thanks are to my clients: the American Battlefield Trust and the Coalition to Preserve Prince William, led by the dynamic duo of Karen Sheehen and Elena Schlossberg. I also owe a debt of gratitude to people that donated money or simply offered support, including my wonderful wife Sharon who put up with a lot of late nights and random curses at various setbacks.
Technically, the ruling is not final; it can get appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court. However, to quote Winston Churchill describing the battle of El Alamein:
“It is not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning.“
The Virginia legal system has finally stood up against the mighty data center industry. That’s good!
The focus now shifts to a new Prince William County Board who has every reason to end this legal drama and the bleeding of public money to pay high-priced Richmond lawyers. (Hey these guys are my friends but enough is enough).
The December 2023 vote is officially a nullity — it’s time to pay heed and let this bad idea die.
