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Prince William County ends by-right data centers; Chicago mayor proposes one-year pause

Supervisors in Northern Virginia voted 8-0 to shrink the zone where data centers can be built without a public vote, and Chicago’s mayor introduced a 12-month moratorium on new facilities.

Motion Media News Staff

Sep 23, 2026

3 minutes

Aerial view of large, low data center buildings surrounded by roads and parking lots.

Data centers in Ashburn, Loudoun County, Va. (file photo; not Prince William County). Photo: Theodore Christopher, CC0 (public domain dedication), via Wikimedia Commons (source)

Local officials in two major markets moved to slow data center construction. Supervisors in Prince William County, Virginia, voted Tuesday, Sept. 22, to end most by-right data center development, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday, Sept. 23, introduced a 12-month moratorium on new facilities in the city.

Prince William narrows its overlay

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted 8-0 to approve a zoning text amendment that effectively ends by-right data center development countywide, InsideNoVa reported. Future projects outside a reduced overlay district will need a special use permit, with public review and a board vote.

The amendment cuts the overlay district, where qualifying data centers are allowed by default, from roughly 9,700 acres to about 3,650, according to the Prince William Times as cited by Patch; DatacenterDynamics put the new size at 3,500 acres. The overlay is also closed to future expansion. Qualifying properties get a 90-day transition period, shorter than the 120 days the Planning Commission recommended.

A motion by Supervisor George Stewart to drop the grace period failed 3-5. Stewart had warned of a "gold rush" of proposals during the 90 days. "We've bent over backwards enough for this industry," he told the Prince William Times, according to DCD. Chair Deshundra Jefferson told InsideNoVa it "was a tough vote" and that she was glad the board reached a compromise.

Some residents said the measure did not go far enough. Rachel Ellis, a director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, described it as "smoke and mirrors." Prince William sits alongside Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia, the world's largest data center market, DCD noted.

Chicago proposes a moratorium

In Chicago, Johnson and three aldermen introduced an ordinance that would pause new data centers and "material expansion" of existing ones for 12 months, the city said. The pause would give a Data Centers Task Force, created by a mayoral executive order in August, time to write rules on energy, water, air quality and residents' quality of life.

"Chicago is open for business, but we are not for sale," Johnson said. Ald. Bill Conway has offered separate regulations, including banning data centers in some areas, and does not want to wait for the task force, NBC Chicago reported. The Citizens Utility Board has said data center growth in Illinois has contributed to rising ComEd bills, according to NBC Chicago. A regional industry group, the Midwest Data Center Coalition, did not immediately respond to the station.

What's next

Prince William planning staff are aiming for a November Planning Commission hearing on proposed setbacks from homes and schools, with a board hearing targeted for January, InsideNoVa reported. Chicago's ordinance goes to the City Council.