Hood County voters divided over forming a city to regulate industrial noise
Neighbors living near Mitchell Bend Highway in rural Hood County are sharply divided over a ballot initiative to form a city that some say will protect them from the constant whirring noise of cooling fans from a Bitcoin mining operation and pollution from power plants close to their homes.
But others are suspicious of the possibility of additional property taxes or regulations governing how they use their land, although residents who are spearheading the incorporation effort said that won’t happen.
Early voting continues through Oct. 31, and the election is Nov. 4.
There are around 200 registered voters. More than 50% of the votes are needed for incorporating the 2-square mile area about 10 miles south of Granbury, organizers said.
What’s at stake
Danny Lakey and Cheryl Shadden, who are leaders in the incorporation effort, said forming a city is the last thing they want to do, but they are running out of options after beginning their fight almost three years ago to get Florida-based MARA Holdings to put in measures to lessen the noise from the plant at 2001 Mitchell Bend Highway. They are also fighting against more industry from coming to the area, which is already home to battery storage facilities and a solar farm.
“None of us want to put regulations on our neighbors or keep them from using their property the way that they want to,” Lakey said in an interview.
“What we want to do is, No. 1, put in some noise regulations.”
Lakey described how some of his neighbors developed hearing loss from the noise and some have high blood pressure, heart problems and other health conditions.
Lakey and his wife Deanna often came to Granbury for the peaceful atmosphere before they moved from Pantego four years ago.
Shadden, who raises horses and her Great Pyrenees dogs, has lived on her land for 40 years. Mitchell Bend was the perfect place because of the sandy soil, which doesn’t hurt the horses’ hooves, she said.
Shadden described how the noise from the cryptomining operation has affected her hearing and disrupted her quiet way of life.
“We have a lot of sleep disturbances,” Shadden said. “This type of noise doesn’t stop at your walls. It invades your homes. It comes through the walls, through the windows, bounces around inside of your house.”
MARA Holdings says it’s working to mitigate noise
For its part, MARA Holdings said it is working to mitigate the noise at its Granbury plant.
In an emailed statement to the Star-Telegram, a company spokesperson said, “MARA is aware that a few residents are trying to create a new town in what appears to be an attempt to negatively impact its Granbury facility.”
MARA acquired its Granbury data center along a busy road in an established industrial area, according to the statement.
The company spent millions on improvements, such as building a wall to lessen the noise and switching to immersion cooling, which is quieter than air cooling.
Independent noise studies, including one conducted by Hood County, have confirmed that MARA’s plant operates well below state and county law noise limits.
“MARA has a track record of adding jobs and tax revenues to the communities in which we operate and has invested more than $1.2 billion in our Texas sites, contributing millions in local tax revenues and supporting local schools and nonprofits. We are committed to maintaining our health and safety standards at the Granbury data center and being good neighbors,” the company said.
The debate on whether to incorporate the 2-square mile area with about 600 residents came to a head during a Thursday night town hall meeting where people crowded in to the pews at the tiny Brazos River Baptist Church on Mitchell Bend Highway.
Standing outside the church before the meeting, people could hear the whirring from the cooling fans from the MARA Holdings plant.
The flyers advertising the meeting were paid for by a lobbying organization, National Landowners Federation Action Fund, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The organization’s executive director, Dylan Frederick, who was hired in July, told the audience the Landowners Federation is against more government regulations and more red tape. He described how the organization is conducting surveys in Oklahoma and Louisiana and found that most landowners want the freedom to do “what they see fit” with their land without regulations.
“So, that’s not a partisan issue to us. It’s a core component to what makes America great. ... we believe that this incorporation threatens that independence,” Frederick said. “It brings more taxes, more bureaucracy and more government control over what you could do with your own land.”
Frederick said in an interview that he has not talked to anyone with MARA Holdings, and that he was invited by several Hood County residents. When asked for the residents’ names, Frederick declined to provide them to the Star-Telegram.
The others on the panel, former Republican state Sen. Drew Springer and Dallas-based property tax attorney John Brusniak, cautioned the residents that the Legislature could pass laws that aren’t always favorable to cities and that there are a lot of costs, such as having insurance and funds for legal expenses.
“The Legislature sets an awful lot of rules on what cities and towns have to do,” Springer told the audience. “And, by the way, we are notorious for never sending any money with the new rules we pass, and so a lot of our mayors and county judges like to call those unfunded mandates,” he said.
But Lakey pushed back, saying the funding to operate Mitchell Bend would come from permits and fees that the companies would pay the city, meaning there would not be property taxes.
He added there are grants available to cities.
The residents questioned why “outsiders” organized the meeting.
“Where are our elected officials?” several shouted.
Precinct 2 county Commissioner Nannette Samuelson, who has helped the residents in their fight against the noise and pollution, told those conducting the meeting to stop spreading false information, and that the county already provides services such as law enforcement. The area is also served by nine volunteer fire departments, she said.
“Since I’m the only elected official here that knows about the county and the cities here in this county, I wanted to clear that up,” she said.
Larry Potts, who also spoke at the meeting, said all he wants is for the noise to stop. He has heart issues, and said the noise causes more stress.
“I’m living here in my little country home that I built two years before they came here,” he said, referring to MARA Holdings.
He told the audience that he and his wife Beverly just want to live out their remaining days in peace.
“We just want a place to live where we can be quiet,” he said.
But Randell Thomas doesn’t agree with his neighbors when it comes to forming a city.
Thomas, who lives near the data center, said he has driven by during different times of the day to determine if he could “hear” the noise from the cooling fans.
Thomas said the corporations have the money to lodge campaigns and fund candidates.
“I’m not in favor of incorporation because I don’t feel that it’s actually going to solve the problems they’re trying to solve,” he said. “And I think it’s going to open the door to allow for a lot of additional regulation and uncertainty to come that we can never control. You know, incorporation is a one way street. Once it happens, you don’t just get to undo that, and if each given election cycle, the new city council and mayor can choose to change bylaws input new ordinances or rules or regulations.”
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.