Jacinto City residents not sold on proposed data center
JACINTO CITY, Texas (KTRK) -- A proposed data center had little support from Jacinto City residents at a town hall meeting called by city leaders Friday evening.
"We don't want you here," one woman told the president of the company that wants to build what would be the town's first data center.
A company called Raeden is hoping to house the 50 megawatt data center in an abandoned bottle manufacturing plant on Fidelity Street. The owner of the property would partner with Raeden on the project.
"It just sounds like a bad idea and, you know, just going by what you hear about them it's probably not a good thing," Jacinto City resident Wayne Randle said.
In July, Jacinto City passed a resolution opposing data center construction, but it doesn't carry any legal weight.
Then two weeks ago, City Manager Lon Squyres says they learned about the Raeden project.
"Obviously, there's a need for data centers, and we're not arguing that," Squyres said. "We're just arguing that: Do they really belong 350 feet from a neighborhood?"
Raeden President Jason Green said the company plans to be good neighbors and will encase its equipment in noise-dampening materials.
"The ambient sound at that site today in the middle of that site is right around 53 to 58 decibels with nothing operating, so we're going to be quieter than that," Green said.
He said water usage would be kept to a minimal. Plans call for the data center to recycle the same 200,000 gallons on a closed-loop system with chillers to cool the water.
"It literally goes from cold to hot, cold to hot, cold to hot 'til the end time," Green said.
While city leaders may not be able to stop the data center from being built, they say they do plan to impose restrictions on its operation.
"We're gonna craft a special use permit that will restrict virtually every aspect of their business as it relates to the impact it's going to have on the community," Squyres said.
He said that would include limiting noise levels, monitoring emissions, and requiring the company to post a bond rather than rely on fines.
"I don't actually view them as restrictions," Green said. What I think that they're doing is -- and I'm not trying to be coy about this -- they're holding us accountable for things that we do anyway."
Green said they hope to begin building the data center in October and have it up and running by March.
