'Slap in the face': Joppa residents raise concerns over noisy new data center
Residents in the Joppa neighborhood of Dallas are expressing strong concerns over a new, noisy data center built in their community, which has a history of environmental injustice. They question the city's permitting process, citing worries about noise, water use, and electricity consumption. Residents are planning a community meeting to address these issues.
Residents of Joppa, a historically Black neighborhood in southeast Dallas, are expressing strong opposition to a recently completed data center, identified as Danik Data Center. They describe the facility's constant noise as similar to a jet engine and feel the community was blindsided by its construction, given Joppa's long history of environmental injustice from nearby heavy industry.
Community members like Denise Fowler, Emmanuel Davis, and Miriam Fields voice concerns about noise, water usage, potential electricity bill increases, and the perceived lack of transparency from the City of Dallas regarding the permitting process. Fields highlighted the community's existing high cancer rates and previous successful fight to close a concrete batch plant, calling the new data center a "slap in the face."
City Planning Commissioner Tabitha Wheeler explained via a Facebook post that the property is zoned for industrial "utility use," meaning no zoning change or City Council approval was required for the facility, as it was permitted "by right" under existing regulations. Records identify Mahesh Patel, also owner of the adjacent Linfield Motel, as the property owner. Residents are now organizing a community meeting to discuss their concerns about the Danik Data Center.