STAFFORD COUNTY — The Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted to pause the Potomac Creek Development project, a proposed 99-acre data center along Eskimo Hill Road. The pause is pending a full archaeological investigation of a cemetery site on the property.

The site contains a cemetery dating back to the 1700s with four headstone markers for white individuals, according to Mike Zuraf of the Stafford County Planning and Zoning Department. An adjacent area on the site also contains unmarked graves, which are believed to belong to enslaved individuals.

Stafford County Board Chairman Deuntay Diggs expressed support for deferring the vote to allow the developer to hire an archaeological consultant to investigate and survey the property. "My mother's in an unmarked grave," Diggs said. "I'm very emotional about it, because I'm thinking about what that felt like to me, the first time I went back and couldn't find her grave." He added, "That is very important to me, and I could not support it if we were to do anything outside of that."

Stafford County Board Member Maya Guy also called for a complete investigation. "I need a full investigation or I can't support it," Guy said. She further stated, "I'm not antidevelopment, anti-data center." Board Member Darrell English questioned the impact on historical sites, stating, "How would you feel if it was your ancestors or relatives back then, and you knew there was a big data center coming in — would you want them to uproot your ancestors like that?"

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors plans to revisit the Potomac Creek Development project in two months.

Stafford County currently has one data center online, with five data center projects having been approved. Twelve data center applications are pending in the county.