Piedmont City Council tables land-use change for Cloverleaf data center proposal
A Piedmont City Council meeting regarding a proposed Cloverleaf data center became contentious, resulting in a delay for the project. The council voted to send a key land-use change and Future Land Use Map amendment back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further study. The proposed 633-acre data center campus requires 1.4 gigawatts of electrical capacity and seeks annexation for city services like water.
A contentious Piedmont City Council meeting resulted in a delay for the proposed Cloverleaf data center, one of the largest developments in the city's history. The council voted to send a critical Future Land Use Map amendment back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for additional study, postponing any further action on the project's land-use changes and annexation requests. This amendment is crucial for re-zoning agricultural land to industrial to facilitate the data center's construction.
Cloverleaf representatives, including Aaron Belieu, attended the meeting to answer questions and advocated for the annexation of the proposed 633-acre site into Piedmont. The company stated that annexation would grant the development access to municipal services, such as city water, and foster community collaboration. They highlighted that the facility would require approximately 1.4 gigawatts of electrical capacity to power a 1-gigawatt cloud data center, with potential future expansion into Kingfisher County contingent on increased power availability.
The meeting itself was marked by high emotions, drawing a crowd of over one hundred residents. Tensions spilled into the parking lot, where an alleged physical altercation occurred between social media influencer Ron Durbin and K4 News reporter Tanner DeLeon, further illustrating the charged atmosphere surrounding the data center proposal.