On September 22, 2026, the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors unanimously adopted a significant overhaul of the County's regulations governing data center development. The approved zoning text amendment substantially reduces, but does not entirely eliminate, the County's Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District (DCOZOD) and will require most future data center projects to obtain a special use permit (SUP). A critical grandfathering option to remain the DCOZOD and develop by-right will close within months.
Under the newly adopted framework, the DCOZOD will shrink substantially.
- There are essentially two ways to remain eligible to continue under the Overlay District:
- A property must be vested for development, which occurs when a property owner secures an approval for a plan of development (i.e. site plan, rezoning, SUP) and the developer has diligent pursued that development approval; or
- A developer has submitted a plan of development (site plan, rezoning, SUP) within 90 days of the adoption of the amendment to the Overlay District, and such plan has been accepted for review by the relevant County agency. Such acceptance will have been deemed to occur once all initial submission fees have been paid.
- The approved amendment also authorized the Planning Office to create a final Zoning Map for the Overlay District at the conclusion of the 90 day eligibility period described above. We have asked the Planning Director to circulate a draft of that proposed Zoning Map at least two weeks prior to official adoption to ensure accuracy.
- While this is a good outcome to protect existing rights, it is important to note that during the discussion at the Board meeting, the Prince William Planning Director alluded to forthcoming new data center performance standards. Such standards would apply to all data center development in the County. While the specifics of these performance standards were not shared, the Planning Director stated that she planned to present these standards to the Prince William Planning Commission in November.
- We do not yet know the impact, if any, of these performance standards, as no details have been revealed as of yet. We are, however, actively monitoring and engaging with staff on this issue.
- We are skeptical that such standards will, in fact, be presented to the Prince William Planning Commission by November, given the lack of details at this time and lack of engagement with relevant stakeholders, such as the PWC DCSM/Zoning Ordinance Review Committee.
- The primary concern is the effect of such standards on in-flight plan review, i.e. those site plans that have been submitted but not yet secured approval
- If the County elects to move forward with this initiative, we will work to ensure that the County grandfathers any such in-review plans.