New Video: Landowners Warn Opposition to Data Centers Threatens Property Rights and Prosperity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) released a video chronicling the struggle faced by Prince William County landowners to allow data center development on their land. Local landowners Mary Ann Ghadban and Page Snyder spearheaded the Prince William Digital Gateway initiative after helping assemble roughly 800 acres owned by neighboring property owners along Pageland Lane for data center development.

Eventually, the planning area expanded to more than 2,000 acres. Although the Board of County Supervisors approved rezonings for the project in December 2023, courtroom tactics ultimately derailed this project. Courts ultimately voided the rezonings following a dispute about public notice, ending property owners’ abilities to assert their property rights and benefit future generations with data center investment.

TPA interviewed Mary Ann Ghadban and Page Snyder, two longtime Pageland Lane residents, who explained that their property rights were being jeopardized by misguided activism against data center projects. “Data centers are the new economy” and the deal “was a win-win because the county would make millions of dollars,” explained Ghadban. According to Snyder, “We started realizing we could use this [project] as a lifeline for our future and our children’s and our grandchildren’s future.” But, according to Ghadban, when the project was challenged in court on a technicality, “no one ever talked about the merits of the project” and suddenly, the Digital Gateway project was no more. Snyder and Ghadban soon realized that the voided rezonings ended their hope of controlling their own property and future.

Ross Marchand, Executive Director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, offered the following statement:

“Across the country, property owners are trying to build a better life for themselves and their families by welcoming data center development. Ghadban, Snyder, and their neighbors would have benefitted significantly from the Digital Gateway project, while new data centers would have meant new jobs, wage increases, and more tax revenue for Prince William County residents. Unfortunately, this project got derailed and these opportunities went up in smoke. Misguided politicians and activists need to give up their war on data centers and give these projects a chance to benefit millions of Americans.

TPA will continue to make sure Ghadban and Snyder’s stories are told and will also give voice to other property owners going through the same sorry situation. The stakes over these projects are enormous, and the stories of Americans pursuing prosperity and fighting for their property rights deserve to be heard.”

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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.