The Fort Worth City Council approved a zoning change for a data center at Tuesday’s meeting by a vote of 7 to 2.
The data center campus will be located at 10375 Old Granbury Road and is expected to consist of five buildings, which will range in height from 45 feet to 105 feet, reported the Fort Worth Report. The construction will take up approximately 90 of the 120 square acres at the location.
Developers must now submit a site plan to the Planning and Zoning Commission and the council before construction can begin.
The zoning issue has drawn a lot of attention from the community.
“I’ve never in my entire career seen this level of engagement, both from neighbors and also from applicants on zoning cases,” City Council Member Jared Williams (District 6).
Some residents in the Panther Heights community were against the project.
“The area is designed for a mixed-use development that could add restaurants and other retailers out here, which we need,” Panther Heights resident Ericka Schwan-Ornelas told FWR. She expressed concerns about increased traffic, light pollution, energy consumption, water use, noise, and the height of the proposed buildings.
Others, however, were in favor of the project.
“This site is highly sought after for a major data center investment, and that data center could process data for AI services, cell phone connectivity, internet storage, clouds or cloud storage and streaming services. But what it’s not is a Bitcoin operation,” Travis Clegg, director of Westwood Professional Services and a representative for the owner and developer, told FWR.
Williams has stated that the project’s taxable value would bring in $750 million, making it one of the city’s most taxable projects, reported FWR.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, North Texas ranked high for data centers in 2023, surpassing Silicon Valley as the most desirable region for data centers.