Virginia Appeals Court upholds block on Prince William Digital Gateway project

The Virginia Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a ruling voiding approvals for the controversial Prince William Digital Gateway, a proposed 23 million-square-foot data center complex planned on 2,100 acres near Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Judge Stuart A. Raphael upheld an earlier August 2025 decision by Prince William Circuit Court Judge Kimberly A. Irving, who ruled in favor of 12 Gainesville residents, known collectively as Oak Valley Homeowners Association, who sued the Prince William Board of Supervisors and the two developers of the project (H&H Capital Acquisitions and GW Acquisition Co.), challenging the legality of the rezoning approvals.

Irving’s ruling in August came after a Virginia Court of Appeals decision July 22 against the Oak Valley plaintiffs in a different lawsuit, with the court ruling that the county board of supervisors does not have a statutory obligation to consider public input before land-use decisions, upholding a lower court’s ruling.

In December 2023, the board, including its lame duck chair, voted to rezone roughly 1,790 acres to allow the project to move forward, following a 29-hour public hearing in which many residents voiced opposition.

Irving voided the rezonings, finding that the county failed to comply with required public notice rules under both state law and its own zoning ordinance. The board was required to advertise the proposed rezonings twice in a newspaper, with the first notice appearing no more than 14 days before the vote and at least six days between publications. The county planned to publish notices on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5, ahead of a Dec. 12, 2023, hearing.

But the first advertisement never ran after the county failed to confirm the placement with the newspaper, according to the court. Irving found that the error was the county’s responsibility, not the newspaper’s, based on email exchanges and testimony from newspaper staff.

After missing the initial notice, the county proceeded with the hearing anyway, publishing ads on Dec. 2, Dec. 5 and Dec. 9. The court found those notices did not meet the legal requirements. The proposed rezoning documents referenced in the advertisements were not made available for public review until Dec. 7, according to court documents.

“The county attorney failed to properly address these fatal legal defects before the board acted,” Oak Valley Homeowners President Mac Haddow said in a statement. “Then, instead of correcting the error, the county doubled down — spending millions of taxpayer dollars defending the indefensible. Now, two courts have confirmed what we said from day one: The process was broken, and the law was violated.”

The Court of Appeals ultimately backed Irving’s ruling on Tuesday. Attorneys for developers H&H Capital Acquisitions and GW Acquisition Co. did not respond to requests for comment.

“Today’s ruling is a complete and unequivocal victory for the rule of law, for transparent government, and for every citizen of Prince William County who expects their elected officials to follow the law — not bend it to accommodate powerful development interests,” Haddow said.

The developers of the project and the county may appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

“The county is in the process of reviewing the decision of the court,” county spokesperson Nicole Brown said in an email. “The county attorney will then provide legal advice to the board. Since the decision can be appealed within 30 days, and therefore not yet final, this is still active litigation. The county’s policy is that the county does not comment on active litigation.”

The Oak Valley HOA is urging the board to withdraw any further appeals to the Supreme Court, cease all taxpayer funding of outside legal counsel on the matter and “commit to restarting the process lawfully and transparently, if pursued at all.”

Haddow previously said his group includes residents of 254 homes, as well as other plaintiffs with property adjacent to the data center site.