LACY LAKEVIEW, Texas (KXXV) — A massive plot of land in unincorporated McLennan County could be home to a future data center, but dozens of neighbors are already speaking out against the proposed development.
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Neighbors have started a petition to stop the data center from being built on 520 acres of farmland just west of Elm Mott. Lauren Hill describes the unincorporated area around Lacy Lakeview as peaceful, with a lot of nature.
"I have a lot of love for this town," Hill said.
Hill grew up in the Chalk Bluff neighborhood and her family still lives there. She says that peacefulness is now being threatened by the proposed data center.
"I guess essentially what I'm worried about is that we're selling out our future here because this is a short-term investment," Hill said.
Lacy Lakeview and McLennan County are in talks about the area's first large-scale data center. The project is being valued at up to $10 billion.
"AI data investors are not interested in this town because they want to live here or they want their kids to go to these schools. They're interested in using this town as a resource and they want us to say yes to this deal very quickly," Hill said.
Hill is worried about how the data center will impact the community's resources and environment in the long term.
"They think that they can get away with it, basically. They think that if they can move quickly, that because it's unincorporated, people won't be able to speak out," Hill said.
While only InfraKey's proposed site near Lacy Lakeview is currently known, the company's website shows the Waco Portfolio Project includes "up to six" total data centers.
"It's 6 different data centers that they want to build out here just in the Waco area. It's not just this one. This is the first one, and so there's going to be more of them," Hill said.
It's unclear where any others would be built in the future.
Local leaders have noted that with a project this big, InfraKey would pay millions of dollars a year in taxes. I reached out to Lacy Lakeview's mayor, who was not available for comment.
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