Before we invest our tax dollars in keeping land unused, let's spend a lot more of them on bringing the public schools up to the same standards as surrounding counties. Right now teachers may live in the city but are forced to commute to jobs that pay a decent wage. School test results will never improve until there are sufficient funds to support them.
Part 1 comment Sue Sgt: Thanks Jay Brock for advocating for PARK USE for the HYLTON TRACT and to the 'FXBG Advance' for publishing Jay's letter. Activism at its finest.
As per the 1500 Gateway Project application for the Hylton tract, 4 DATA CENTERS are proposed on the property. They will be within 200 ft of residences in the Great Oaks neighborhood, where Ward 3 Councilor-appointee Susanna Finn lives.
Ms. Finn voted in favor of the Technology Overlay District/TOD for 8-12 DATA CENTERS in the CVA project: 'Celebrate Virginia' in Central Park near the Wegman's and the Fred Nats ballpark.
First as the Planning Commission Chair in Feb 2025. Despite 4 other Planning Commissioners saying NO! 4-3 (majority NO!) that the Performance Agreement Standards for the TOD were not ready and with concerns that she and two others wanted BYRIGHT development out of 'fear' that they would lose the client/applicant. Silver Companies working with STACK INFRASTRUCTURE.
STACK INFRASTRUCTURE already had an in to the local DATA CENTER market by making sure Kevin Hughes with STACK INFRASTRUCTURE got on the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority,
Bill Wright, the activist in Prince William who is one of the community leaders to push back, mobilize the residents in a David v. Goliath scenario of Prince William becoming 'The DATA CENTER Capital of the World' with its Digital Gateway, shared with Fredericksburg Neighborhoods Coalition that this is one of the DATA CENTER head honchos slick marketing MOs. Get on a local governing board or committee.
Their PW Bd of Supervisors allowed a Citizen Advisory Board for study of DATA CENTERS. However, the DATA CENTER admins pushed into the meetings so that no Action Steps by the citizens could get passed. Kevin Hughes, STACK INFRASTRUCTURE was one of those reps on the PW Citizen Advisory Board: DATA CENTERS.
Due to pushback, the PW residents on the Citizen Advisory Board were able to convince the PW Bd of Supervisors to kick off every DATA CENTER head honcho rep. including STACK INFRASTRUCTURE.
So they could speak up for the residents having to live near these noisy DATA CENTERS and instead be able to talk about e.g., Special Use Permits, instead of BYRIGHT.
Second, As Ward 3 Councilor-appointee, Susanna Finn, then voted a few weeks later at the 2-25-25 Council Meeting for the Technology Overlay District for 8-12 DATA CENTERS to be built BYRIGHT at 'Celebrate Virginia'.
PTA mommies and naive groups of residents came out wearing James Monroe black and orange big buttons on 2-25-25 braying 'I Support Data Centers'. They were 'played' as per another of the billion-dollar DATA CENTER industry's MO.
This 'SOCIALIZING THE BENEFITS OF DATA CENTERS' is documented in a 10-1-2024; 1:42 PM email exchange (obtained via Fredericksburg Neighborhood Coalition member/residents chipping in to pay the $400. FOIA fee -Freedom of Info Act).
This 10-1-2024 email is with Ward 2 Councilor Jon Gerlach and Curry Roberts, University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg Regional Alliance:
"The purpose of this is to host a Building Construction Trades Council meeting in Fredericksburg to begin socializing the benefits of potential data center development in the City of Fredericksburg. Don Slaiman with IBEW Local 26 will be coordinating with the other Unions. Can you also propose an agenda Don?
Joel (Brittany), could we utilize the event space connected with Castiglia’s at a reduced charge? Could you have someone reach out to Don about food, which the FRA is willing to contribute towards? Kevin, would Stack be willing to contribute as well?
Joel and Kevin, we have Jon Gerlach and Chuck Frye attending from City Council for this one. Are you the two best to participate from the EDA? If it is more than two people from either body, it would make it a public meeting.
We would also like to invite some potentially allied groups who might be interested in learning about the significant job creation and tax benefits to the City. Two groups mentioned were representatives of the City teachers organization and the NAACP. Jon, can you and Chuck help with the NAACP? Kevin, can you speak with Jannan about who we should invite from the teachers association? The one time I spoke with her, she suggested the PTA as well".
With all this behind-the-scenes work to get to the 'aggressive' (the city's words) timeline to hurry up and pass the TOD/Technology Overlay District at Celebrate VA, the supporters of DATA CENTERS came out to bray about the money the schools would get. and it's for the children, our children, the schools need the money, the children are our future, we've got to have DATA CENTERS for the children!'.
Not one of them mentioned the historically 'equity-denied' children and families living within 200 ft of those noisy DATA CENTERS at 'Celebrate Virginia'. The ones 'the other' who are targeted for oppression by systemic discrimination.
Not one of them mentioned the seniors in 'Jubilation' who would also be experiencing the chronic noise emitted by these DATA CENTERS within 200 ft of their homes and play/recreation areas. Not one of them.
Not one of them asked themselves, 'What if this were my child? my grandparent?'
After the 2-25-25 vote by ALL 7-0s Councilors, some of the residents who naively spoke at that night's public comment mic ran to catch up on the Hanover St sidewalk with FNC members leaving the Council meeting, as if in 'shell shock', some apologizing, to say that they didn't know the DATA CENTERS were going to be so close to the children living in the apartments at Celebrate Virginia.
A privately funded Bee and Butterfly baseline study on their behavior near the Prince William DATA CENTER Gateway is underway. No results are out.
The Virginia General Assembly 12-9-2024 report by JLARC Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee states that: DATA CENTERS should be located in Industrial zones and 1000 ft away from residences.
There is no data out there yet which shows the harm of constant 24-7 noise of living within 200 ft of these DATA CENTERS.
The Friends of the Rappahannock went on record at the mic that they were NOT in support of the TOD/Technology Overlay District. Shortly after the 2-25-25 'We're ALL In!' 7-0 Councilor Vote, American Rivers named 'The Rappahannock River as the 6th Most Endangered River in the US'.
There is one study to show that the billion-dollar DATA CENTER industry selects their DATA CENTERS sites next to endangered rivers, rather than the healthy ones, in an effort to deflect the diminishing water supply off them as sucking out the water, (e.g., 33% of the 'evaporative' water is not returned to the river.
There is no agreement in Planning District 16 (city of Fred, Caroline, King George, Spotsy, Stafford on the amount of water they will be taking from the Rappahannock River for their DATA CENTERS.
Another expensive FOIA/Freedom of Info Act request by students at the University of Mary Washington gave some info, e.,g that STACK INFRASTRUCTURE was the DATA CENTER developer.
This info was presented by students at the 2-22-25 UMW Youth Climate Action Summit. The city wrongly refused to release this info as 'proprietary info' until AFTER the 2-25-25 Council vote for BYRIGHT DATA CENTERS in the TOD/Technology Overlay District at 'Celebrate VA'.
The Water Usage is 'redacted' in the FOIA (blacked out).
Fredericksburg Neighborhood Coalition members and Anne Little, Matt Kelly drove up to the same DATA CENTER sites as the Councilors did in Jan 2025.
However, activist Bill Wright told us not to fall for the DATA CENTER admin ploy, as the FXBG Councilors did, to take Councilors to the roof top.
That was so they wouldn't realize that it is not about the 70dB level of the DATA CENTERS. It is about the DATA CENTERS running CONSTANTLY.
So Mayor Kerry Devine referenced in her DATA CENTER Comparison Chart (google it and City of FXBG, VA to see it) and spoke to the decibel level at the 1-29-2025 Community Forum on DATA CENTERS:
This Community Forum had to be sponsored by 'Inform Fredericksburg' and the Sierra Club. Dorothy Hart CC Room Rental was paid by residents, mainly Anne Little, because the city would NOT have any community meetings on DATA CENTERS Basic Info 101.
Mayor Kerry wrote in her Comparison Chart: 70dB: the sound of a 'normal' conversation.
It's not the 70dB level. It is the 70dB CONSTANT 24-7 noise:
It's documented in residents' quotes in a variety of NoVA online news sources: The constant DATA CENTER noise is giving children headaches as they play outside and struggle to sleep at night with DATA CENTERS within 200 ft of their backyards.
Part 2 comment Sue Sgt: Bill advised: 'Make sure you go into the neighborhoods to talk to residents. Stay on the ground. Get close to them. get within 200 ft if you can' (we did have one security guard come out of his gate but we had the recording of the noise and quietly left).
The DATA CENTER CONSTANT Noise recording is the first entry on the Facebook 'Inform Fredericksburg' site. Scroll down a lot since it is the first entry to listen to it.
Regional groups on the explosion of DATA CENTERS in our PD16 district are discussing:
So with all this being said, WHAT IF the 'Celebrate Virginia' Technology Overlay District/TOD for 8-12 DATA CENTERS is just a 'smoke and mirrors'?
That what the TOD did was block off the preferred and agreed to least expensive Bridge Crossing option by FXBG, Stafford, and Spotsy.
That 2-25-25 Council decision resulted in a 'block' that ticked off Spotsy and Stafford that Fredericksburg sold them out. So they did 'payback time' by not awarding Fredericksburg the 'traffic congestion' monies- the large amount of monies that 22401 was expecting. but Spotsy and Stafford gave Fredericksburg the piddling leftover amount.
What IF the TOD is just a Silver Companies land squeeze 'pressure' on the two remaining landowners on the 'Celebrate VA' property. To get them to sell their properties blocking the build of the DATA CENTERS.
So how does the 1500 Gateway Project (the Hylton tract) come into play? The developer submitted the application. It was not approved. The developer came back with a 60-day appeal that ended on 9-9-2025. The developer asked for the appeal to be 90-days which would be 12-9-2025.
The city residents realized that the extension date of 12-9-2025 was AFTER the Nov election.
That this controversial agenda item was being manipulated: '4 DATA CENTERS in the 1500 Gateway Project application' was within 200 ft of the Great Oaks neighborhood, where Ward 3 Councilor-appointee Susanna Finn lives.
Even Chris LaMonte, the owner of the Good Car Wash on Plank Rd/Rt3W in the city, sent in a public comment to object to the 90-day extension.
The Good Car Wash is near Shell Gas Station, Wendy's,, the ultimate carwash experience with the neon bubbles washing your car tuned into their radio frequency.
Chris pointed out that the 1500 Gateway Project application (Hylton tract) plan blocks all access to his small business. That it will force him out of a successful operation of 1000 cars per day.
The 7-0s for once heard what the residents and Chris were saying. They realized the 90-day 1500 Gateway Project for 4 DATA CENTERS on the Hylton tract was a 'hot potato'. and denied the extension. Done because residents and Chris LaMonte spoke up.
The applicant withdrew the appeal. But said, We'll be back in 2026.
Is Hylton tract 1500 Gateway project actually the back pocket backup with 4 DATA CENTERS in case the two landowners within the Technology Overlay District for 8-12 DATA CENTERS continue their clever poker game play with Silver Companies?
That's what the regional discussion on DATA CENTERS by residents is asking.
Piedmont Environmental Council: The 'Hidden Cost' of The Cloud: DATA CENTERS in Virginia:
Before we invest our tax dollars in keeping land unused, let's spend a lot more of them on bringing the public schools up to the same standards as surrounding counties. Right now teachers may live in the city but are forced to commute to jobs that pay a decent wage. School test results will never improve until there are sufficient funds to support them.
Part 1 comment Sue Sgt: Thanks Jay Brock for advocating for PARK USE for the HYLTON TRACT and to the 'FXBG Advance' for publishing Jay's letter. Activism at its finest.
As per the 1500 Gateway Project application for the Hylton tract, 4 DATA CENTERS are proposed on the property. They will be within 200 ft of residences in the Great Oaks neighborhood, where Ward 3 Councilor-appointee Susanna Finn lives.
Ms. Finn voted in favor of the Technology Overlay District/TOD for 8-12 DATA CENTERS in the CVA project: 'Celebrate Virginia' in Central Park near the Wegman's and the Fred Nats ballpark.
First as the Planning Commission Chair in Feb 2025. Despite 4 other Planning Commissioners saying NO! 4-3 (majority NO!) that the Performance Agreement Standards for the TOD were not ready and with concerns that she and two others wanted BYRIGHT development out of 'fear' that they would lose the client/applicant. Silver Companies working with STACK INFRASTRUCTURE.
STACK INFRASTRUCTURE already had an in to the local DATA CENTER market by making sure Kevin Hughes with STACK INFRASTRUCTURE got on the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority,
Bill Wright, the activist in Prince William who is one of the community leaders to push back, mobilize the residents in a David v. Goliath scenario of Prince William becoming 'The DATA CENTER Capital of the World' with its Digital Gateway, shared with Fredericksburg Neighborhoods Coalition that this is one of the DATA CENTER head honchos slick marketing MOs. Get on a local governing board or committee.
Their PW Bd of Supervisors allowed a Citizen Advisory Board for study of DATA CENTERS. However, the DATA CENTER admins pushed into the meetings so that no Action Steps by the citizens could get passed. Kevin Hughes, STACK INFRASTRUCTURE was one of those reps on the PW Citizen Advisory Board: DATA CENTERS.
Due to pushback, the PW residents on the Citizen Advisory Board were able to convince the PW Bd of Supervisors to kick off every DATA CENTER head honcho rep. including STACK INFRASTRUCTURE.
So they could speak up for the residents having to live near these noisy DATA CENTERS and instead be able to talk about e.g., Special Use Permits, instead of BYRIGHT.
Second, As Ward 3 Councilor-appointee, Susanna Finn, then voted a few weeks later at the 2-25-25 Council Meeting for the Technology Overlay District for 8-12 DATA CENTERS to be built BYRIGHT at 'Celebrate Virginia'.
PTA mommies and naive groups of residents came out wearing James Monroe black and orange big buttons on 2-25-25 braying 'I Support Data Centers'. They were 'played' as per another of the billion-dollar DATA CENTER industry's MO.
This 'SOCIALIZING THE BENEFITS OF DATA CENTERS' is documented in a 10-1-2024; 1:42 PM email exchange (obtained via Fredericksburg Neighborhood Coalition member/residents chipping in to pay the $400. FOIA fee -Freedom of Info Act).
This 10-1-2024 email is with Ward 2 Councilor Jon Gerlach and Curry Roberts, University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg Regional Alliance:
"The purpose of this is to host a Building Construction Trades Council meeting in Fredericksburg to begin socializing the benefits of potential data center development in the City of Fredericksburg. Don Slaiman with IBEW Local 26 will be coordinating with the other Unions. Can you also propose an agenda Don?
Joel (Brittany), could we utilize the event space connected with Castiglia’s at a reduced charge? Could you have someone reach out to Don about food, which the FRA is willing to contribute towards? Kevin, would Stack be willing to contribute as well?
Joel and Kevin, we have Jon Gerlach and Chuck Frye attending from City Council for this one. Are you the two best to participate from the EDA? If it is more than two people from either body, it would make it a public meeting.
We would also like to invite some potentially allied groups who might be interested in learning about the significant job creation and tax benefits to the City. Two groups mentioned were representatives of the City teachers organization and the NAACP. Jon, can you and Chuck help with the NAACP? Kevin, can you speak with Jannan about who we should invite from the teachers association? The one time I spoke with her, she suggested the PTA as well".
With all this behind-the-scenes work to get to the 'aggressive' (the city's words) timeline to hurry up and pass the TOD/Technology Overlay District at Celebrate VA, the supporters of DATA CENTERS came out to bray about the money the schools would get. and it's for the children, our children, the schools need the money, the children are our future, we've got to have DATA CENTERS for the children!'.
Not one of them mentioned the historically 'equity-denied' children and families living within 200 ft of those noisy DATA CENTERS at 'Celebrate Virginia'. The ones 'the other' who are targeted for oppression by systemic discrimination.
Not one of them mentioned the seniors in 'Jubilation' who would also be experiencing the chronic noise emitted by these DATA CENTERS within 200 ft of their homes and play/recreation areas. Not one of them.
Not one of them asked themselves, 'What if this were my child? my grandparent?'
After the 2-25-25 vote by ALL 7-0s Councilors, some of the residents who naively spoke at that night's public comment mic ran to catch up on the Hanover St sidewalk with FNC members leaving the Council meeting, as if in 'shell shock', some apologizing, to say that they didn't know the DATA CENTERS were going to be so close to the children living in the apartments at Celebrate Virginia.
A privately funded Bee and Butterfly baseline study on their behavior near the Prince William DATA CENTER Gateway is underway. No results are out.
The Virginia General Assembly 12-9-2024 report by JLARC Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee states that: DATA CENTERS should be located in Industrial zones and 1000 ft away from residences.
There is no data out there yet which shows the harm of constant 24-7 noise of living within 200 ft of these DATA CENTERS.
The Friends of the Rappahannock went on record at the mic that they were NOT in support of the TOD/Technology Overlay District. Shortly after the 2-25-25 'We're ALL In!' 7-0 Councilor Vote, American Rivers named 'The Rappahannock River as the 6th Most Endangered River in the US'.
There is one study to show that the billion-dollar DATA CENTER industry selects their DATA CENTERS sites next to endangered rivers, rather than the healthy ones, in an effort to deflect the diminishing water supply off them as sucking out the water, (e.g., 33% of the 'evaporative' water is not returned to the river.
There is no agreement in Planning District 16 (city of Fred, Caroline, King George, Spotsy, Stafford on the amount of water they will be taking from the Rappahannock River for their DATA CENTERS.
Another expensive FOIA/Freedom of Info Act request by students at the University of Mary Washington gave some info, e.,g that STACK INFRASTRUCTURE was the DATA CENTER developer.
This info was presented by students at the 2-22-25 UMW Youth Climate Action Summit. The city wrongly refused to release this info as 'proprietary info' until AFTER the 2-25-25 Council vote for BYRIGHT DATA CENTERS in the TOD/Technology Overlay District at 'Celebrate VA'.
The Water Usage is 'redacted' in the FOIA (blacked out).
Fredericksburg Neighborhood Coalition members and Anne Little, Matt Kelly drove up to the same DATA CENTER sites as the Councilors did in Jan 2025.
However, activist Bill Wright told us not to fall for the DATA CENTER admin ploy, as the FXBG Councilors did, to take Councilors to the roof top.
That was so they wouldn't realize that it is not about the 70dB level of the DATA CENTERS. It is about the DATA CENTERS running CONSTANTLY.
So Mayor Kerry Devine referenced in her DATA CENTER Comparison Chart (google it and City of FXBG, VA to see it) and spoke to the decibel level at the 1-29-2025 Community Forum on DATA CENTERS:
This Community Forum had to be sponsored by 'Inform Fredericksburg' and the Sierra Club. Dorothy Hart CC Room Rental was paid by residents, mainly Anne Little, because the city would NOT have any community meetings on DATA CENTERS Basic Info 101.
Mayor Kerry wrote in her Comparison Chart: 70dB: the sound of a 'normal' conversation.
It's not the 70dB level. It is the 70dB CONSTANT 24-7 noise:
It's documented in residents' quotes in a variety of NoVA online news sources: The constant DATA CENTER noise is giving children headaches as they play outside and struggle to sleep at night with DATA CENTERS within 200 ft of their backyards.
Part 2 comment Sue Sgt: Bill advised: 'Make sure you go into the neighborhoods to talk to residents. Stay on the ground. Get close to them. get within 200 ft if you can' (we did have one security guard come out of his gate but we had the recording of the noise and quietly left).
The DATA CENTER CONSTANT Noise recording is the first entry on the Facebook 'Inform Fredericksburg' site. Scroll down a lot since it is the first entry to listen to it.
Regional groups on the explosion of DATA CENTERS in our PD16 district are discussing:
So with all this being said, WHAT IF the 'Celebrate Virginia' Technology Overlay District/TOD for 8-12 DATA CENTERS is just a 'smoke and mirrors'?
That what the TOD did was block off the preferred and agreed to least expensive Bridge Crossing option by FXBG, Stafford, and Spotsy.
That 2-25-25 Council decision resulted in a 'block' that ticked off Spotsy and Stafford that Fredericksburg sold them out. So they did 'payback time' by not awarding Fredericksburg the 'traffic congestion' monies- the large amount of monies that 22401 was expecting. but Spotsy and Stafford gave Fredericksburg the piddling leftover amount.
What IF the TOD is just a Silver Companies land squeeze 'pressure' on the two remaining landowners on the 'Celebrate VA' property. To get them to sell their properties blocking the build of the DATA CENTERS.
So how does the 1500 Gateway Project (the Hylton tract) come into play? The developer submitted the application. It was not approved. The developer came back with a 60-day appeal that ended on 9-9-2025. The developer asked for the appeal to be 90-days which would be 12-9-2025.
The city residents realized that the extension date of 12-9-2025 was AFTER the Nov election.
That this controversial agenda item was being manipulated: '4 DATA CENTERS in the 1500 Gateway Project application' was within 200 ft of the Great Oaks neighborhood, where Ward 3 Councilor-appointee Susanna Finn lives.
Even Chris LaMonte, the owner of the Good Car Wash on Plank Rd/Rt3W in the city, sent in a public comment to object to the 90-day extension.
The Good Car Wash is near Shell Gas Station, Wendy's,, the ultimate carwash experience with the neon bubbles washing your car tuned into their radio frequency.
Chris pointed out that the 1500 Gateway Project application (Hylton tract) plan blocks all access to his small business. That it will force him out of a successful operation of 1000 cars per day.
The 7-0s for once heard what the residents and Chris were saying. They realized the 90-day 1500 Gateway Project for 4 DATA CENTERS on the Hylton tract was a 'hot potato'. and denied the extension. Done because residents and Chris LaMonte spoke up.
The applicant withdrew the appeal. But said, We'll be back in 2026.
Is Hylton tract 1500 Gateway project actually the back pocket backup with 4 DATA CENTERS in case the two landowners within the Technology Overlay District for 8-12 DATA CENTERS continue their clever poker game play with Silver Companies?
That's what the regional discussion on DATA CENTERS by residents is asking.
Piedmont Environmental Council: The 'Hidden Cost' of The Cloud: DATA CENTERS in Virginia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAPusgiz4B8