‘We have to follow the law.’ Hood County OKs plans for Amazon data center
Hood County commissioners voted 3-0 on May 26 to allow Amazon Web Services to move forward with its proposed 21-building data center near Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant after determining the company met previously established project conditions, while residents asked for more transparency and additional time to review the plans.
Commissioners Nannette Samuelson and Dave Eagle, who often vote against the data center developments, were absent.
The “conditions” were established Jan. 29. They required AWS to provide a drainage plan, traffic assessments, an endangered species report and information on water use for the data center, called Project Spectrum, at 2300 Coates Road.
County Judge Ron Massingill, who is out on medical leave, returned to preside over the meeting.
“My doctor hasn’t’ released me yet,” he said. “I came down here so that all county employees could really get paid today. You’ve got to have three of us up here sitting.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner Kevin Andrews made the motion to accept the conditional plan from Project Spectrum, stating that it met the county’s development requirements.
“We have to follow the law. We have development regulations in place,” Andrews said. “This is not something that we get to say we don’t like, we don’t want it here, we don’t approve.”
After the 3-0 vote, some in the audience responded with “no” and “boo.”
Before the vote, several people called on commissioners to hold off or table the vote until all commissioners are back.
Project Spectrum is in Samuelson’s Precinct 2.
What’s planned for Project Spectrum
According to information from Bohler Engineering in Frisco, the data center would get electricity from Comanche Peak.
There is no zoning on the land and the land use is undeveloped agricultural.
During the meeting, several people discussed the county’s special regulatory power granted by the Legislature in 1989. It allows the commissioners to regulate development in unincorporated areas to protect rural areas and water.
Kirk Teske told the commissioners: “You gentlemen have regulatory authority that other counties are dying to have. You are charged to conduct orderly development. This community is pleading with you for orderly development.
“I can’t stress that enough. Test the law on behalf of the citizens.”
Jonathan Vinson, an attorney with the Jackson Walker law firm, spoke on behalf of Amazon. Vinson said the company is exempt from the county’s regulations.
“That is our position. We are exempt from your regulations, with all due respect,” he said.
He said local jurisdictions only have powers granted to them by the state of Texas, and government codes state what counties can and can’t do, he said.
Vinson said the information provided since the Jan. 29 hearing on the concept plan was “voluntary.”
“We are having the discussion because we are trying to be the best possible neighbors,” he said.
On May 21, Jackson Walker attorney Suzan Kedron sent a letter to County Attorney Matt Mills, stating that Hood County must cease and desist all attempts to regulate outside its authority.
The letter said Amazon should be allowed to submit its site development plan and that the development is not meant for public use and falls in to an industrial category.
Before Massingill adjourned the meeting, he reiterated that his doctor hadn’t cleared him to be there and said Amazon still has to submit a development site plan for approval..
“You know, really and truly, the big decisions we make up here aren’t very popular. … We’ve got to follow the law, not what we want to do,” he said.
Is another moratorium vote next
On May 28, Hood County’s development commission discussed the Project Spectrum vote and talked about conducting a public hearing later this month concerning a moratorium on industrial development. Earlier this year, commissioners voted against a moratorium, stating that the county didn’t have the authority to do so.
Matt Long, who is the Precinct 2 representative on the commission, said he was highly disappointed in the 3-0 vote to allow Project Spectrum to move forward.
“You know, we have a judge who self-admitted that he wasn’t cleared to attend the meeting, and he came in to vote on something that could potentially change the county for the next five years and beyond.”
Long said he wants an explanation of how data centers could enhance the quality of life in a rural district.
“I think we need to pray now more than ever that God has the final move to protect us from ourselves here,” Long said.
“I’m not going to stop fighting. We need to throw everything we have at this.
“This is a prayer in Jesus’ name,” he said.