Letters of Support for the Rural Crescent, the Occoquan Reservoir Watershed, and PW Forest [National] Park and Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Jamie Bain Hedges, General Manager
Fairfax Water
Given the historic investment and achievements already made by the watershed communities over the preceding five decades to improve and protect the Reservoir as a vital drinking water resource, and the magnitude of the Planning initiatives under consideration by Prince William County, a study through the Occoquan Basin Policy Board utilizing the Model is an essential input to the land use decision process.

Prince William Conservation Alliance Coalition for Smarter Growth, Sierra Club Great Falls Group, Manassas Battlefield Trust, American Battlefield Trust, Virginia Native Plant Society, National Parks Conservation Association, Piedmont Environmental Council
Given the magnitude of the proposed changes, we urge the BOCS to follow through with a study as well as extend an invitation to Fairfax Water to provide a presentation at an afternoon BOCS meeting to review the concerns raised in its letter. Clean water is critical to the future of PWC.

Kurt DeSoto
Civil War Roundtable of D.C.
Prince William County and its Board of Supervisors are the guardians of Manassas Battlefield for this generation and the ones to come, just as is the National Park Service. Allowing development of this location as proposed, some of which is historically part of the battlefield, is inconsistent with fulfilling your responsibility as stewards of this most hallowed ground.

Ken Burns
Florentine Films
Letter to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors
I learned while making my documentary series The Civil War in the late 1980s-and again when I made my 2009 series on the history of the national parks-how crucial the preservation of our historic landscapes is, and I fear the devastating impact the development of up to 2,133 acres of data centers will have on this hallowed ground.

Roger L. Leturno
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
I am writing you on behalf of the Department of the Chesapeake of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) to ask your support in preserving the integrity of the Rural Crescent farmlands and Manassas National Battlefield by turning down the Prince William Digital Gateway Comprehensive Plan Amendment.

Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton
U.S. House of Representatives, 10th Congressional District
Letter to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors
I share the Superintendent's concerns regarding the welfare of the Park, and the surrounding environment, ecosystems, and communities, and I urge you to judiciously and cautiously take the potentially irreversible negative effects into consideration when examining this proposal.

Delegate Dan Helmer
Virginia House of Delegates, 40th District
Letter to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors
I hope that the Board will proceed extremely cautiously, fully understanding the impact that such development would have on the environment, traffic patterns, real estate prices, and the rural character of Northwest Prince William County.

Delegate Danica Roem
Virginia House of Delegates, 13th District
Op ed, Prince William Times
As I've stated for years now, I oppose all data centers being built north or west of InnovationPark in Manassas, and especially data centers being built near either Conway Robinson Parkor Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Brandon Bies
Superintendent, Manassas National Battlefield Park
Letter to Prince William County Planning Office
In conclusion, we oppose the drastic and adverse change in the land use adjacent to Manassas National Battlefield Park proposed in this application.

Brandon Bies
Superintendent, Manassas National Battlefield Park
Letter to Prince William County Planning Commission
I believe that the intensive development of the Pageland Lane corridor is the single greatest threat to Manassas National Battlefield Park in nearly three decades.

Tanya Gossett
Superintendent, Prince William Forest Park
December 9, 2020
Prince William Forest Park's Congressionally-authorized boundary is coterminous with the Rural Area boundary...the precedent of opening the Rural Area to more intense development could affect the park for decades.

Kimball Brace
Chairman, Prince William County Historic Commission
Letter to the Board of County Supervisors
...the Historical Commission desires to voice its opposition to any non-residential development adjacent to Manassas National Battlefield Park, such as data centers, industrial uses and large-scale commercial ventures, that may directly or indirectly negatively impact battlefield resources.

Barbara Byron
Director, Fairfax County Dept. of Planning and Development
As discussed in this letter, Fairfax County staff has significant concerns regarding the impacts that will accrue from adoption of this this CPA and encourages Prince William County to reconsider the proposal.

Ann Bennett
Sierra Club Great Falls Chapter
Virginia is a destination for well over 20 million annual visitors who seek educational, historical and recreational activities at properties managed by the National Park Service. These proposals threaten Manassas National Battlefield Park and Prince William Forest National Park, the largest national protected area in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region.

Michael B. Murray
Chair, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks
Changing the County Comprehensive Plan to allow for more intensive development of the Pageland Lane corridor represents a significant threat to Manassas National Park.

Joseph Eaves
President, Manassas Battlefield Trust
[Rezoning this land] is a grievous insult to those who sacrificed - particularly when there is available land in Prince William County that is already allotted for data centers.

Deshundra Jefferson
Montclair resident and former co-chair for the Potomac Magisterial District Democratic Committee
The deeper one dives into this proposal, the less equitable it appears. Buzzwords like equity and inclusion are clearly being tossed around to make this more palatable – and easier to silence those in opposition. 

Kim Hosen, PW Conservation Alliance, Max Hokit, American Battlefield Trust, Dan Holmes, Piedmont Environmental Council, Pam Goddard, National Parks Conservation Association, and Nancy Vehrs, Virginia Native Plant Society
Letter to the community
The prospect of undermining the county's comprehensive planwith piecemeal and unnecessary rezoning, especially when more appropriate and lesshistorically sensitive properties are available, is problematic on many levels. Once these lands are developed, they are lost forever.

Tracey Hansen
Montclair Property Owners Association
The adverse impact of the Pageland Corridor on our local community will be irreversible, and for this, we respectfully ask that the PWC BOCS reject the CPA for the Pageland Corridor (aka the PW Digital Gateway) and any industrial rezoning of the Rural Crescent that would hurt our watershed and/or lead to the Bi-County Parkway.

Sarah Parmelee
Forestland Conservation Coordinator, Virginia Dept. of Forestry
The proposed amendment does not describe how the project will avoid or mitigate the potential loss of key ecosystem services provided to Prince William County by both forested lands and open space agricultural land in the Proposed Study Area.