ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — A plan to redevelop a rural swath of northern Virginia into data centers has received approval after a marathon public hearing that stretched through the night.

Both sides in the debate said the proposal to rezone more than 2,000 acres (809 hectares) of farmland carries the potential to dramatically alter the landscape in Prince William County, outside the nation’s capital. Activists described it as one of the region’s biggest land use battles since Disney’s plans for a theme park in the county were scrapped some 30 years ago.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted 5-2 Wednesday morning in support of the plan over the opposition of environmentalists and conservationists.

Data centers that provide the backbone for the rapid increase in cloud computing have proliferated in northern Virginia, which has long been a technology hub.

The data centers have proven to be a revenue boon to local governments, but neighbors have complained about noise and environmentalists have expressed concern about the massive amounts of electricity that data centers consume.

In Prince William County, concern also centered around the viewshed for nearby Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Supporters of the plan said it could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and that the plan is designed in a way to accommodate environmental concerns.

The farm owners and landowners who sought the change live in what has long been called the “rural crescent” of Prince William County, an area that planners have tried to protect from development.

But the property owners say that rural landscape has already been eroded by housing development, traffic and high-voltage transmission lines. They argued it makes sense to build electricity-dependent data centers near those newly built transmission lines.

Republican supervisors Jeanine Lawson and Yesli Vega, who is running for Congress in a closely watched race, voted against the project.

The changes to the comprehensive plan that were approved Wednesday are not the final say. Individual projects within what’s called the Prince William Digital Gateway will still need to seek approval, and supervisors who supported the change say the projects will be scrutinized to ensure environmental concerns are addressed.

The final vote occurred just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, nearly 12 hours after discussion began and hundreds of county residents spoke, in both opposition and support.

Copyright 2022 by the Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.

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