PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY DATA CENTER

RELATED LEGISLATION: DEVELOPMENT AND BUSINESS IMPACTS

Prince William County has narrowed its Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District and shifted many future projects to discretionary review, while Virginia has imposed a temporary electricity-consumption tax and is considering broader siting, environmental, and infrastructure controls. For market participants, the result is not a blanket development ban, but a more parcel-specific and risk-sensitive regulatory environment.

1. Transition

Prince William County remains one of the country’s most important data center markets. Its established campuses, proximity to fiber and transmission infrastructure, and position within Northern Virginia’s technology economy continue to make it attractive to developers, operators, investors, utilities, and supporting businesses.

The governing framework, however, is changing. On September 22, 2026, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors adopted DPA2026-00006 through Ordinance No. 26-67, restructuring the County’s Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District, or DCOZOD. The amendment narrows and redefines the overlay, closes it to future expansion, and generally requires a special use permit for new data centers outside the revised district. (pwcva.gov)

At the state level, Virginia has imposed a temporary data center electricity-consumption tax, the Governor has announced a broader Data Center Accountability Framework, and lawmakers have begun introducing proposals that could further affect siting and permitting. Most notably, Senate Bill 843, prefiled for the 2027 General Assembly session, proposes a three-year statewide moratorium on specified final local approvals and state authorizations.

Stakeholders should distinguish among three categories: (i) measures already adopted or effective, including Ordinance No. 26-67 and the temporary electricity-consumption tax; (ii) transition periods and implementation work still underway, including final identification of parcels remaining in the revised overlay; and (iii) advisory recommendations and proposed legislation, which may influence planning but are not presently binding law.

2. What the County Has Adopted

Ordinance No. 26-67 reduces and redefines the DCOZOD. Rather than allowing the district to continue expanding, the amendment limits the revised overlay to parcels that were within its boundaries as of September 21, 2026, and satisfy at least one of five eligibility pathways. Parcels that remain within the revised overlay and satisfy an eligibility pathway retain applicable by-right data center permissions. Outside the revised overlay, new data center proposals generally must obtain a special use permit if located in: B-1, O(L), O(M), O(H), O(F), M-1, M-2, or M/T districts; or designated office or industrial land bays in PBD and PMD districts. This is a substantial change in entitlement risk, but it is not a blanket prohibition. NOTE: County zoning amendments become effective upon adoption. Accordingly, Ordinance No. 26-67 took effect on September 22, 2026, even though changes to the County’s online code repository may take approximately four months to appear. The overlay amendment is one component of a longer-running comprehensive review. The County’s review has contemplated changes not only to the overlay, but also to the Zoning Ordinance, Design and Construction Standards Manual, 2040 Comprehensive Plan, and related development regulations. Its stated tasks include background research, public engagement, policy development, design and sustainability standards, suitability analysis, and public hearings. (pwcva.gov) The results of such research, engagement and policy development may impact future building design, buffers, noise controls, water and energy practices, environmental mitigation, infrastructure coordination, and application procedures. Unless and until the Board adopts additional amendments, however, possible standards developed through those workstreams should not be described as current legal requirements.

2.1 Sustainability Commission proffer recommendations

In 2026, the County Sustainability Commission recommended a standardized data center proffer framework intended to produce more consistent, measurable, and enforceable mitigation commitments. Its proposals address matters such as: (i) clean-energy procurement and reporting of energy use, sources, and emissions; (ii) water use, discharge, stormwater monitoring, and spill response; (iii) energy-efficient design and cooling-system lifecycle analysis; (iv) construction-waste management and sustainable materials; (v) backup-generator operation and lower-emission alternatives; (vi) decommissioning plans; and (vi) annual compliance reporting and enforcement mechanisms. Although these were “advisory” in nature, the recommendations are nevertheless relevant to entitlement strategy. Applicants entering an SUP or rezoning process should expect detailed questions about measurable mitigation, monitoring, enforceability, and long-term infrastructure effects.

2.2 Interactive project map

On February 10, 2026, the County announced an interactive data center map covering projects from pending land-use applications through construction and completed facilities. It includes information such as acreage, location, development status, planned square footage, zoning, and associated case numbers, and is available through County Mapper and the Planning Office’s online Build-Out Analysis dashboard. The map is a useful due-diligence and pipeline-tracking resource, but it should supplement (not replace) title, zoning, utility, application-file, and entitlement review.

3. Virginia Measures Affecting Prince William Projects

3.1 Taxes

Effective July 1, 2026, Virginia imposed an electricity-consumption tax of $0.011 per kilowatt-hour on electricity used by covered data centers. The tax applies before July 1, 2028, and the initial collection in September 2026 included amounts due for the period beginning July 1, 2026. It also reaches qualifying self-supplied electricity, with separate reporting and remittance provisions. Virginia’s Joint Subcommittee on Tax Policy is also reviewing the data center sales-and-use-tax exemption, existing and potential incentives, other states’ environmental standards and moratorium approaches, economic benefits, siting impacts, water use, generators, and potential mechanisms for generating direct state revenue.

3.2 Governor’s framework and Executive Order 22

On September 18, 2026, Governor Abigail Spanberger announced a Data Center Accountability Framework and signed Executive Order 22. The initiative combines immediately directed executive-branch actions with policies that would require legislation during the 2027 General Assembly session. Immediate executive actions include restrictions on state executive-branch entities entering into or requiring data center nondisclosure agreements, exclusion of new data center projects with anticipated peak demand of 25 megawatts or more from state site-readiness and expedited-review assistance, designation of the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area as a cooling-water-scarcity area, development of a community-engagement toolkit, expedited work on data center noise regulations, review of diesel and other backup-generation operations, and development of workforce best practices.

3.3 Proposed SB843 moratorium

SB843 was prefiled on October 9, 2026, for the 2027 Regular Session. As introduced, it would prohibit localities from granting final approval on or after July 1, 2027, of any application for a rezoning, special exception, SUP, site plan, or plan of development for the siting of a data center. It would also bar state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Corporation Commission, from issuing any permit, certificate, registration, license, or other approval in connection with data center development or siting, or authorizing electric distribution, interconnection, on-site generation, or related facilities serving data centers. The proposal would expire on July 1, 2030. (lis.virginia.gov) SB843 is proposed legislation, not current law. It may be amended, narrowed, delayed, or fail. Still, its potential effect is significant particularly for projects that might not obtain final approvals before July 1, 2027.

4. Commercial Real Estate Implications

The County overlay amendment creates a sharper bifurcation in land value and development strategy. Qualifying overlay parcels may command a premium because they retain by-right potential, subject to confirming eligibility and satisfying all other development requirements. Parcels outside the revised overlay may face a discount reflecting SUP timing, political and mitigation risk, “carrying” costs, and uncertainty over future state controls. Lenders and appraisers may need multiple valuation cases: by-right data center use, SUP-dependent development, delayed development, and non-data-center reuse. A parcel’s zoning label alone will no longer establish its practical data center potential.

Anticipated Timeline

6. Conclusions

Prince William County remains a major data center market, but the model is shifting from broad by-right predictability toward parcel-specific eligibility, discretionary review, negotiated mitigation, and state-level accountability. For qualifying overlay properties, retained by-right status may become increasingly valuable. For other sites, an SUP remains a viable route, but project feasibility will depend more heavily on entitlement strategy, infrastructure evidence, and community impacts. At the same time, the temporary electricity tax, Governor’s framework, ongoing tax-policy study, and proposed SB843 moratorium require stakeholders to evaluate state-policy risk alongside conventional zoning and utility diligence.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, engineering, utility, investment, or other professional advice. Parties should consult appropriate advisers regarding specific properties, projects, contracts, and regulatory requirements.