WOODBRIDGE, Va. β Tuesday night, QTS Data Centers held an open house in Woodbridge. They're one of the two developers behind the Prince William Digital Gateway.
For months, the project has been at the center of several meetings with hours long debates and much controversy.
WUSA9 spoke to QTS Data Centers CEO Chad Williams. "It's about the broad perspective of who QTS is and what our vision is. How that aligns with the community, and really hearing from all of the community about what they want and how we can work together," he said.
The Prince William Digital Gateway is a project that spans about 2,100 acres according to QTS. They told WUSA9 that it includes
- $15 Billion of economic investment in Prince William County
- $470 Million of new annual tax revenue for Prince William County
- Hundreds of tech and business jobs
- Thousands of long-term construction and support jobs
"We've been in Manassas and the Prince William County area for years. It's been an area where our people have connected worked participated," said Williams.
Data centers are physical infrastructures that house complex computer systems that provide shared access to processed information. When people refer to βthe cloudβ that information is usually stored at a data center. These centers are what allow companies such as Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google to run programs all day and night.
These data centers, or digital pathways, are often large buildings with rows of machines used to store, process or deliver data.
For nearly two years, residents in Prince William County have been fighting over a proposal to bring data centers. Many of the homeowners in opposition said the "Digital Gateway" are concerned about the impacts on the environment, noise levels and access to power.
Tuesday night, protestors lined up outside with signs.
Several of them went inside to check out the open house, but were not satisfied.
"They are a part of this unrestrained data center development that is consuming our natural and cultural resource," said Elena Schlossberg, the executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County.
WUSA9 asked Williams his response to the environmental concerns that have been brought up.
"If you're talking about the people, you know that are outside talking about the national parks, they've got a strong ally, and what I believe, I believe in the ability to build a sustainable environment, to be supportive of our national parks, and this awesome responsibility of this particular area is the rich heritage that it has for our country," said Williams.
But outside, the protestors shared their thoughts on his response with WUSA9. "What a lie, does anyone believe that QTS cares about our parks," said Schlossberg.
Other protestors responded "No! Because then they wouldn't put one by the battlefield".
QTS maintained that they do, and that they want to work with the community. Those against the data center development said they will continue to fight back.
"We will be relentless. We are not going to give up. We are going to fight for our parks, fight for our communities who are wondering when is this data center blight coming for their little piece of heaven," said Schlossberg.
A QTS spokesperson told WUSA9 they plan to hold another open house next week. They said they're still working out the exact details, but that it'll be on the western side of Prince William County.