Prince William's data center overlay closes to new entrants Dec. 21
Pending data center applications have until Dec. 21 to qualify for the county's shrunken by-right overlay; a county staff analysis counted 130 parcels relying on that last window.
Prince William County's last window for pending data center applications to stay inside its by-right overlay closes Dec. 21, 2026. The Board of County Supervisors adopted Ordinance 26-67 on Sept. 22, according to the county Planning Office's project page for zoning text amendment DPA2026-00006. The county's page says the overlay "is closed to any future expansion" once that final eligibility period ends.
The Data Center Overlay reduction narrows the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District, which the county created May 17, 2016. By-right data center use applies only inside the revised overlay, and only to a property that meets at least one of five eligibility pathways, according to the county's staff analysis of the amendment. Outside the overlay, new data centers in the listed commercial, office and industrial districts need a special use permit from the Board.
Four of the pathways were fixed on the day the ordinance was adopted: accepted proffers for a data center, an approved preliminary plan, an approved final plan, or a final administrative zoning determination. The fifth is the one still open. It covers pending data center rezonings, special use permits, proffer amendments, electric substation reviews and site plans, and its deadline is 90 days after adoption. The Planning Commission recommended stretching that period to 120 days, but the adopted text on the county's page still reads 90.
The staff analysis, with figures as of June 30 for the version before the Board, put the revised overlay at about 214 parcels and 3,504 acres, a cut of about 6,194 acres, or roughly 64% of the existing overlay. About 130 parcels on 1,570 acres qualified only through the fifth pathway, and about 82 parcels on 1,899 acres through approved final plans. Those counts predate adoption, and the county says it will publish an updated boundary map after the eligibility period closes.
Until then, the final size of the by-right zone is not fixed. Applications accepted for review by Dec. 21 keep their land in the overlay; any not accepted by then lose it.
The Dec. 21 cutoff decides how much Prince William land stays open to data centers without a Board vote, and the county has not yet published the final map.
What's next
- Dec. 21, 2026 Final eligibility period for the data center overlay closes
- After Dec. 21 County to publish updated overlay boundary map
Sources
- Prince William County Planning Office: DPA2026-00006 (Ord. No. 26-67)
- Prince William County staff analysis, DPA2026-00006 (figures as of June 30, 2026)
- Earlier story: Northern Virginia hits the brakes on data centers
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