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.--Read the full story at KVUE.com.
5 Austin suburbs featured on 2025 list of best small cities in America
Five Austin suburbs — Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Pflugerville, and Kyle — are maximizing their popularity on WalletHub's 2025 list of the best small cities in America.The annual survey compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 residents based on 45 livability metrics categorized into five key dimensions: Affordability, economic health, education and health, quality of life, and overall safety. Cities were grouped by percentile, where the 99th percentile represents the best small American cities.Out of the 19 total U.S. cities that ranked among the 99th percentile of best small cities in America, Carmel, Indiana; Brookfield, Washington; and Apex, North Carolina landed in the top three spots.Northwest Austin neighbors Leander and Cedar Park topped the list of best small cities in the metro area. Leander ranked in the 97th percentile, while Cedar Park ranked in the 94th percentile. Leander's 2025 ranking is the same as it was in WalletHub's 2024 report, while Cedar Park slipped slightly after ranking in the 95th percentile last year.Located about 26 miles northwest from downtown Austin, Leander's thriving economic environment ranked No. 2 in WalletHub's national ranking of small cities with the best economic health. The city also ranked No. 22 nationwide for its affordability, but fell behind in the rankings for safety (No. 325), education and health (No. 440), and quality of life (No. 930).U.S. News and World Report also recommends Leander as one of the top 10 best places to live in the U.S., and its 78641 ZIP code ranked as the 4th hottest ZIP code to move to in America for 2025.Cedar Park is less than six miles south of Leander, which cuts down on commute times for residents who need to travel into Austin for work. Earlier in 2025, Cedar Park ranked as the 55th safest city in America in a separate study by SmartAsset, but WalletHub ranked the city's safety only 459th best on its national list. It earned favorable rankings for its affordability (No. 134), quality of life (No. 201), and economic health (No. 205), but its education and health rank of No. 424 is lacking by comparison.Three more Austin-area suburbs made the 50th percentile of small American cities: Georgetown (86th), Pflugerville (80th), and Kyle (69th). According to WalletHub, about 47 percent of Americans say they would prefer to live in a suburb, while less than a quarter (24 percent) would prefer to live in an urban area or a rural community (23 percent). "Small-city life can be best for those who appreciate more wiggle room, fewer degrees of separation and shorter commutes, to name just a few of its advantages," the report said. "Granted, these little urban areas demand some tradeoffs, too, such as fewer restaurant options or shorter business hours."Elsewhere in Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs of Allen (96th) and Flower Mound (93rd) were the only two other Texas cities to appear in the 90-99th percentile range. Both North Texas cities maintained their respective rankings for the second year.
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