KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — Residents showed up to Killeen's Planning and Zoning Commission to voice their concerns about changing the zoning to allow a 'smaller-scale' data center. The Commission voted to disapprove a proposed computing and research annex on South Fort Hood Street.
Watch the story here:
The board voted four to disapprove and one to abstain on the project, which was pitched by Project NG.
The facility would work similarly to a data center but on a smaller scale, utilizing a closed-loop coolant water system. During the meeting at the Utility Collections Building, city leaders asked representatives for Project NG hard questions about the proposal.
"who asked for that here like for a data center here?" Commissioner Scedric Moss said.
"So we work very closely with ONCOR, um, to basically optimize grid networks," the Project NG representative said.
Commissioner Scedric Moss sought clarification on the environmental impact and the facility's water usage.
"For confirmation, you're saying that you're not using any water from Killeen, zero water, and it's not even water that you're using, it's a coolant. It will not be leaked, drained, run off, no accidental spillage or anything into the little creek that's over there by the bridge. So none of that," Moss said as the representative agreed.
Neighbors living near the proposed center spoke up in opposition.
"There are no green spaces in these neighborhoods. The 5 trees they're going to plant are not gonna, they're, they're not fixing it. This same engineering firm was also involved in other construction projects that is assisting them. It's the same engineering firm that floods my property that for 2 years now has still not been fixed," Jamie Carroll said.
A local pastor, next door to the proposed site, also expressed concerns about the disruption the facility could bring.
"This data center and the effect that it's having or will have on our congregation, church. It's not just the building. It's a place of worship, quiet reflection, prayer. It's a community gathering place," the pastor said.
The representative with Project NG said their data center would have less environmental impact than a traditional one and would benefit the city.
"We've seen that across our 5 data centers. We not only employ locally but we try, uh, so there's two aspects of this. There's direct economic impact, which is basically the pre-construction phase, so we employ local uh contractors, local engineering firms," the Project NG representative said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
