Demand for more Midwest data centers skyrockets
What are data centers and why are they needed?
The fate of a 936-acre “major hyperscale data center” in Lubbock rests in the hands of the city council, which will soon decide whether to approve or deny it — after it faced opposition from the city’s zoning commission.
At its regular scheduled meeting on Jan. 8, the City of Lubbock’s Planning and Zoning Commission — comprised of appointed citizens and receives no compensation for their time — hosted a public hearing on Zone Case 3548.
The case, according to the agenda, was brought forward by Hugo Reed and Associates, Inc. for Texas Solarworks, LLC, requesting a change several zone changes to 936 acres of unplatted southeast of East Municipal Drive and northeast of Northeast Loop 289 to General Industrial District (GI) Specific Use for Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution.
“The reason we’re asking for a general industrial is this project is a proposed data center,” said Terry Holman of Hugo, Reed and Associates. “It’s the cloud. It’s processing large amounts of internet data, which requires large amounts of power and so forth.”
Here’s a breakdown of the hour-and-a-half discussion over this zone case and what led the commission to give an unfavorable recommendation to the city council for its consideration.
What did the City of Lubbock Planning and Zoning staff say?
The property requesting the zone change is surrounded by a mix of commercial properties, residences, and vacant land, with adjacent properties zoned as single-family, light industrial, industrial park, and urban commercial.
The city staff concluded that although this proposed zone change to specific use is not fully consistent with this designation, it would be appropriate considering the nearby existing zoning districts and land uses.
“Therefore, this request would be in moderate conformance with the Comprehensive Plan principles,” said Shane Spencer, planner in the city Planning Department.
In short, city staff had no objections to this request.
What did the developer say?
“We need specific use (zone change), because we need to have on-site solar power generation to supplement the power that we pull off of the grid and maybe off of natural gas service,” said Holman.
Holman said that the current zoning — around 95% of it — is zoned for low-density residential.
He also laid out what the “major hyperscale data center” would entail:
- It will be connected to the power grid.
- Will have behind-the-meter gas power generation for additional power.
- Will have a solar farm to help with additional power needs.
- A closed-cooling system with a one-time high-water demand at startup.
However, if the plan is approved by the city council, this would be the first step in a lengthy process before the data center is put online.
“We then have to go through environmental site assessments, feasibility studies, mineral rights, utility capacity studies, comprehensive site planning, geo tech, wetlands, endangered species, civil engineering and then ultimately planning and permitting,” Holman said.
The project also has the backing of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance.
“We believe this developer has the capability to pull through with what he’s stated to us, and ultimately is working with quite a few large-end users,” said John Osborne, president and CEO of LEDA.
What are citizens saying?
Ten citizens spoke to the commission in opposition to approving the project. None spoke in favor.
All those who spoke in opposition either lived around the planned project or had ties to the North and East Lubbock communities, with many fearing the project would hinder and erode the area’s quality of life.
“We have a home over here. This is our home. We don’t have the money to go buy another home,” Delia Cantu said. “This is going to affect our community, even though it might not be a big house, but it’s our home, and it’s ours and we have our family there. We have animals.”
This was just one citizen’s concern over the project. Others included:
- Concern about pollution, gas turbines, and noise affecting northeast Lubbock, with skepticism of adequate regulation and enforcement — Fabian Mata.
- Impact on the area’s water supply — Alex Cantu.
- Impact of the solar project on the environment water, land and wildlife, along with concerns of radiant heat from the solar panels — Jessica Sanchez.
- Hinder the potential residential or commercial growth of the area — Phyllis Gambles, Laura Cortez,
- Unfair application of zoning laws and changes that are leading to the degradation of East Lubbock — Brandy Williams and Milton Lee.
- Potential overall souring of quality of life in the area — Rosa Manahan, Delia Cantu and Alama Gopie.
In short, East Lubbock citizens who spoke at the meeting said the project has that has the potential to degrade the quality of life on their side of town while other portions of the city reap the benefits.
“Environmental justice means that no community, especially communities of color, should bear or share environmental harms, yet north and east Lubbock has carried the burden for decades,” said Brandy Williams. “This is not accidental. This is the result of the policy. These zoning patterns limit development, suppress home values and make it hard for family to build stable and generational wealth.”
So what’s next?
The commissioners voted 3-4 to give a favorable recommendation of the zone change to the Lubbock City Council, meaning that the commission does not agree with the requested zone change.
Even with the negative approval, the zone case is now headed to the Lubbock City Council for its final decision on the matter. The public hearing before the city council will be at 2 p.m. Jan. 27 at Citizens Tower.
Mateo Rosiles is a reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and USA TODAY Network in Texas. Got a news tip for him? Email him: mrosiles@lubbockonline.com.
