North Texas remains a major destination for data centers as one community fights back
North Texas is a major hub for data center development, but residents in Joppie, a community near Dallas, are actively opposing a new data center. They claim they were not notified about the project and are concerned about noise and water usage. The Dallas Planning and Zoning commission classified the data center as a utility, allowing it under existing regulations without requiring additional approval from the commission or city council.
North Texas is experiencing rapid data center development, becoming a significant destination for the industry due to factors such as affordable land, existing fiber infrastructure, and minimal local business restrictions. The Texas National Security Council actively supports the AI industry and data center growth, asserting that the primary risk lies in losing the AI race to other nations rather than the technology itself.
However, residents in Joppie, a community located approximately 15 minutes southeast of the city of Dallas, have expressed being blindsided by the construction of the Danne Data Center in their neighborhood. Neighbors reported receiving no prior notification about the project and are now contending with continuous noise and concerns over its water consumption, particularly given the substantial water usage by other businesses in the vicinity.
The Dallas Planning and Zoning Commission clarified that the data center is categorized as a utility company. This classification permits its operation under existing regulations, thereby bypassing the need for approval from the commission or the city council. Efforts to contact the property owner for a statement were unsuccessful.