Community activists, elected leaders and residents of Northern Virginia got together Sunday night to share their concerns about the proliferation of data centers across the region.

Many of the approximately 120 people attending the meeting at the Best Western hotel on Balls Ford Road in Manassas expressed disappointment in some Virginia politicians, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who have pushed to renew tax breaks for the multibillion-dollar corporations behind the centers. Another major concern for those in the crowd was the centers’ impact on the environment.

State Sen. Danica Roem opened the meeting by telling those in attendance that she and two other state senators there, L. Louise Lucas and Russet Perry, wanted to hear from them and that they shared their concerns about the prospect of adding more data centers.

“It is time to stop the reckless data center sprawl,” said Roem as she invited members of the public to speak.

Tony Hernandez drove to the meeting from Spotsylvania County, where three data centers are already up and running and companies like Amazon and Powerhouse 95 are working to build 17 more active data center sites.

“This is a bigger problem than just the companies who are invading our state. … This is a failure of government,” Hernandez said, becoming emotional when discussing data centers’ impact on his community. Those effects include more noise and air pollution.

“Your plans didn’t take into consideration the people who you were supposed to serve,” he said. “I know about service. I served. My son serves now in the United States Navy. We serve.”

Studies have shown data centers’ massive environmental impacts: A single large facility can consume millions of gallons of water each day for cooling. Their demand for a constant supply of electricity places significant pressure on local power grids, increasing carbon emissions and driving up utility costs for the communities around them.

“Technology’s not bad,” said Sen. Lucas. “We’ve all benefited from technology. What is bad is our government has not done a good job of managing its impact,” she said.

The Virginia legislature remains at an impasse over the state budget, and the exemptions have emerged as a key point of contention. Spanberger has argued that reneging on existing agreements could undermine Virginia’s reputation as a reliable place to do business.

Lawmakers in both chambers are working to reach a budget agreement before the end-of-month deadline to avert a government shutdown, but the dispute over data center tax incentives remains the biggest obstacle to a deal.

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RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she supports the House of Delegates’ proposed budget as state lawmakers race to avoid a government shutdown before the July 1 deadline.

Legislators are set to meet Tuesday to review their proposed budgets, and the House could vote as early as Thursday. But a major obstacle remains: the Senate Finance chair is insisting that a billion-dollar sales and use tax exemption for data center operators must end — a position that puts the Senate at odds with the House proposal.

The governor said her team has not had a substantive discussion on what Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) might present as a counter proposal. On Friday, Lucas posted a graduated tax proposal for data centers on social media but has not presented that plan to the governor’s team.

As recently as Sunday, Lucas was adamant that the companies behind the data centers would pay what she called their fair share.

“They keep saying to us, ‘well, if we don’t get that sales and use tax exemption in Virginia, we’re gonna go someplace else.’ Well, Senator Locke just laid it out for you: all the other states are saying, ‘no, we don’t want them’ and if we get them, we’re going to make sure that we modify how we do these use and sales tax exemptions,” Lucas said.

Spanberger reiterated her support for the House version of the budget.

“In the absence of any counter proposal or any additional budget language coming from the Senate, I continue to remain supportive of the House of Delegates proposed conference report, because it’s thorough, it’s thoughtful, it addresses priorities across the board,” she said.

She added that if it were brought to a vote, there is broad support for the measure.

“If it were brought to a vote, certainly there’s many members … of the state Senate whose budget priorities are also in that conference report,” she said.

The timeline is tight. While House of Delegates members return Thursday, Senate members do not convene until next Monday. Under legislative rules, an agreed-upon budget must be on legislators’ desks 48 hours before a vote can be taken. If a budget agreement is not ready by the close of business Tuesday, the House will not be voting on Thursday.

This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.

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Which should come first for the Virginia Village redevelopment in Falls Church: Selecting a development partner, or considering zoning changes?

City leaders are facing a “chicken-and-egg”-type challenge as they tackle the major affordable housing initiative.

A decision will have to come soon, as city leaders hope to have an interim development agreement inked in the fall, followed by a full agreement nearly next year. At the June 8 Council meeting, officials discussed whether to prioritize zoning changes or partner selection.

Council member Arthur Agin said he believed consideration of zoning changes should come in advance of, or at the latest concurrently with, selection of a development partner.

“We shouldn’t be taking that acceptance of a developer until we’ve fully locked down the zoning,” Agin said.

City Manager Wyatt Shields said he wasn’t so sure. Shields affirmed staff’s position that an interim agreement with a development partner should come before finalizing land-use changes.

“It would be good for the public to interact with the specific plans [put forward by the developer]” before final action on potential zoning changes, Shields said. The Council could use that information to craft zoning changes for the 20-parcel Virginia Village site, he said.

The city’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) currently owns nine of the 20 lots, while the remainder are in private hands. Any zoning-overlay district for Virginia Village would apply to public and private parcels.

Council members on June 22 are expected to formally approve a request for proposal, seeking a development partner for the sites under EDA ownership. The city is expected to set a deadline sometime at the end of July for development proposals to be submitted.

City officials are seeking proposals focusing on three alternative development scenarios:

• Option 1: Rehabilitation of city-owned properties in Virginia Village with the potential for minor expansions, such as an additional floor or bump-outs of the existing buildings
• Option 2: Low-intensity redevelopment that would include razing the city’s properties and rebuilding up to four levels on the parcels
• Option 3: Larger infill redevelopment that would demolish the city-owned buildings and replace them with properties potentially up to seven stories tall in some areas

City officials also will consider hybrid proposals, combining elements of the three options.

Of the 20 fourplexes comprising Virginia Village, the city’s Economic Development Authority owns the following:

• A four-parcel strip at 2002-2004-2006-2008 Gibson Street
• A two-parcel strip at 310-312 Shirley Street
• Individual parcels at 302, 303 and 310 Maple Ave

The owner of a 10th lot, located at 300 Shirley Street, has contacted city officials with a request to potentially collaborate in the redevelopment. Additionally, other owners may now be in communication with city officials, or could be in the future.

The Virginia Village matter and the order of moving forward was not on the Council’s June 8 agenda, but Agin brought it up to Shields.