Fort Worth enters ‘robust discussions’ about data centers. Are regulations coming?
The Fort Worth City Council will hear a briefing from city staff on Tuesday about data centers that could result in changes to how the city approves the projects.
City Council member Michael Crain requested the briefing earlier this year as questions and opposition have grown over proposed data centers on the southeast and southwest edges of the city.
The briefing, according to Crain and a city spokesperson, will include information about city and state processes for approving data centers, examples of how other Texas cities are handling data center developments, and information about the energy and water demands of data centers.
“We have one chance to get this right,” Crain said. “What I hope to see from staff tomorrow is some rules and regulations around what data centers could, and would, look like in the city of Fort Worth — balancing protecting neighborhood quality of life, and at the same time, not discouraging commercial development.”
The developer of a proposed $10 billion data center in southeast Fort Worth is expected to seek a delay to its zoning requests for 80 acres, according to City Council member Chris Nettles.
The pair of requests from Fort Worth-based energy consortium Black Mountain have been delayed since January, when Nettles asked to continue the requests to the February meeting after city leaders in nearby Forest Hill and Everman expressed concerns about the development.
Crain said Tuesday’s briefing will be just the start of “robust discussions” about data center developments. Any changes to the city’s zoning code related to data centers would go to the Fort Worth Zoning Commission, Crain said, with the goal of the City Council taking up those changes in August.
The data center briefing will be held during the council’s work session at 2 p.m. at Fort Worth City Hall, 100 Fort Worth Trail.
