Prince William County in Northern Virginia, a key part of the world’s largest data center market, is curbing “by-right” zoning for digital infrastructure projects as the backlash against AI continues.

Supervisors on the county board have voted to reduce the size of the Prince William “data center opportunity zone overlay district,” where data centers of a certain size are permitted by default, without the need for scrutiny from officials.

The move will cut the size of the district by two-thirds, from 9,700 acres to 3,500 acres, according to a report from the Prince William Times.

Developers have been given a 90-day grace period until the new rules come into force, so the county may see a lot of spades going into the ground over the next three months, before the changes kick in.

Supervisors approved the move at a meeting on Tuesday, and said they are taking action as public concern over data center power and water use grows.

“We’ve bent over backwards enough for this industry,” said Supervisor George Stewart, who represents Gainesville, in comments to the Prince William Times. “Now it’s time to stand up for the people that have to live with these monstrosities in their communities.”

Data centers will be allowed in Prince William County, but any company wishing to build one outside the reduced-size overlay district will need to go through the full permitting process.

Sites that will no longer be covered by the overlay district include live music venue Jiffy Lube Live, as well as the site of the doomed Prince William Digital Gateway, a gigawatt-scale campus planned by QTS that was canceled earlier this year after a long legal battle.

Along with Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, Prince William is at the heart of Northern Virginia, the largest data center market in the world. But last week, Loudoun County supervisors voted for a 12-month moratorium on new data centers in the face of growing opposition to the AI data center build-out.