Taylor City Council to Reconsider Controversial Data Center Campus After Community Opposition
Taylor City Council is preparing to vote on an economic development agreement for a proposed 660-acre data center and power plant campus backed by Big Watt Digital and PowerHouse Data Centers. The developers have offered $28.2 million in community investments, while residents remain opposed over industrialization, water use, noise and growth concerns.
Taylor City Council is scheduled to consider an agreement with Big Watt Digital LLC and PowerHouse Data Centers for the Taylor Technology Campus, a proposed 660-acre development in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. The project would provide 500 megawatts of data center capacity, with an option for another 500 megawatts, and would include a natural gas-fired power plant capable of selling electricity to the grid.
The developers previously withdrew annexation requests after residents organized against the project and petitioned for a ban on data centers. Their revised proposal includes $28.2 million for parks, schools, scholarships, workforce development, animal care and local nonprofits. Mayor Jim Buzan said the agreement would address community concerns through water-use limits, closed-loop cooling and setbacks from nearby homes, while residents and the HALT Taylor Data Centers group continue to question whether the project’s economic benefits outweigh its effects on the community.
The article also places the Taylor proposal within broader opposition to data center growth in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to halt approvals for new facilities, while Austin and San Marcos officials have pursued or adopted restrictions on future data center development.