By Sébastien Kraft for InsideNoVa
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday approved a controversial new noise ordinance after substantial resident pushback during a recent meeting related to the measure’s implications for the county’s western end.
Three weeks after
voting to disband the county’s Data Center Ordinance Advisory Group, the board voted 5-2 to pass a modified ordinance spearheaded by Kenny Boddye, the Democratic Occoquan District supervisor.
Chair Deshundra Jefferson, a Democrat, and Coles Supervisor Yesli Vega, a Republican, cast the two dissenting votes.
Immediately following the vote, Brentsville Supervisor Tom Gordy, a Republican, issued a directive prompting county staff to complete a one-year report due fall 2026 on the effectiveness of the newly-adopted ordinance and any violations – or potential violations – that have occurred by then.
Boddye’s new revision of the ordinance favors a C-weighting scale – used for measuring loud sounds – over the octave band measurements the advisory group had devised in tandem with noise consulting experts JMT, Nelson Acoustics and Eric Zwerling, director of Rutgers University’s Noise Technical Assistance Center.
Gordy’s vote in favor of the ordinance comes in light of a shared Oct. 28 news release from the Brentsville and Occoquan district offices advocating for a shared vision for the county’s future – including notably ending by-right data center development and the county’s Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District.
Tuesday’s vote came one week before a special election that will determine the next Gainesville supervisor following Bob Weir’s death on July 20.
Several residents lamented the ordinance’s consideration on the board’s agenda without representation for the Gainesville District – though the ordinance would have passed even with a dissenting vote from the district.
Patrick Harders, the Republican nominee for Gainesville supervisor, spoke during the board meeting prior to the vote. Both Harders and George Stewart*, the Democratic nominee, are data center critics and have voiced opposition to the PW Digital Gateway project currently held up in the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Also on hand at the board meeting were leaders of the now-defunct advisory group, who made their displeasure known.
“For purposes of comparison, since September 2024, Amazon reduced their noise level to 62 decibels, and it has been averaging 62 decibels since,” said Dale Browne, a resident member of the advisory group from the Great Oak community near Manassas, which has numerous data centers nearby. “Your ordinance, Supervisor Boddye, sets 68 at night and 73 during the day – and it’s intolerable at 62 decibels. That is a failed proposal.”
Advisory group members accused Boddye and Neabsco Supervisor Victor Angry, who issued the directive to disband the group, of catering solely to business interests such as the Prince William Chamber of Commerce and the data center industry.
Nicole Reilly, a representative of the advocacy group Data Center Coalition, also spoke before the board on Tuesday.
Reilly enumerated several of the coalition’s principal grievances with the ordinance proposal, notably: a lack of grandfathering provisions for existing facilities to avoid having to retrofit those establishments; concerns with the county’s six-month effective date for the new ordinance, well short of the typical 18-24-month range for implementation of engineering, design and supply chain solutions; and a lack of a civil enforcement mechanism rather than criminal penalties for individual employees.
Jefferson acknowledged Boddye’s efforts in crafting the new ordinance proposal but said “I just don’t feel that we’re there yet.” She added she didn’t “see the hurry” and had “a lot of outstanding questions,” notably with regard to the potential impacts on the Gainesville District.
Vega echoed Jefferson’s sentiment. “I despise the way we have arrived here,” Vega said.
Upon Vega’s initiation of a substitute motion to defer the ordinance vote to Dec. 2, only she and Jefferson supported the deferral.
This denial reactivated the initial motion for approval, whereupon the ordinance was officially passed. The board’s next meeting will be Nov. 18.
*Stewart has since been elected Gainesville Supervisor.
