Austin suburb residents push back against proposed data center

On Monday morning, September 29, Taylor residents packed a Williamson County courthouse, all wearing “No data centers in our neighborhood” stickers. For the past few months, they’ve been fighting to stop a data center from being built near their homes.

“As a community, we’re trying to fight and save our property,” Pamela Griffin said. “Once they put the data center in, there’s no going back.”

Blueprint Data Centers plans to build a 135,000-square-foot, 60-megawatt data center on a lot behind Second Street in Taylor, where Griffin’s family home is.

For years, she and her siblings grew up playing on that empty lot and were told it was going to be turned into a park. Griffin claims that a deed from 1999 designates that land for future park use.

There is a 16-acre piece of land, owned by the city of Taylor, that is about 500 to 600 feet from Griffin’s family home to where the data center will be built. Blueprint Data Centers’ defense attorneys argued that there will be no direct harm to the Griffin family since the home does not directly touch the land where the data center will be.

But neighbors argue that even with that little buffer of space, it will not be good for them.

“That is not enough room for families to live in their homes comfortably with this huge industrial data center,” Amy Griego said.

This summer, many neighbors testified at city council meetings, expressing their concerns about light pollution, how much water and electricity the facility will use, and noise pollution.

“That constant hum is at a frequency that can actually dysregulate people,” Griego said. “I feel very strongly as a mom, as a therapist, and just a community member.”

Blueprint Data Centers presented to council members about the project and addressed some of the common concerns.

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Read the full story at KVUE.com.