A California-based data center developer wants Houston to permanently erase a stretch of road that has existed only on paper since 1982, arguing the planned route would block its sprawling Hockley campus from expanding. Serverfarm has asked the city to remove roughly 5,200 feet of planned Kermier Road between Becka and Bath roads in far northwest Harris County, near Waller and Hockley, so it can build out its data center operation across the mapped right-of-way.
The request centers on Serverfarm's HTX2 project at 4801 Betka Road in Hockley, a $137 million, 565,000-square-foot ground-up data center designed by Dallas-based HKS Inc., according to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records. State filings show construction was scheduled to run from July 2025 through July 2026. As reported by Chron, the Houston Planning Commission considered the road-removal request during a workshop on the city's 2026 Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan on August 20, but commissioners took no formal action. Planning official Lisa Clark stressed that no vote occurred at that meeting, per the same account.
A Road Planned Since Before Most of Hockley Existed
Kermier Road first appeared on Houston's published map in 1983 after being incorporated into the Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan in 1982, according to HTV Houston Television. The city originally envisioned it as a longer thoroughfare connecting the area around Spring Creek with the southern extraterritorial jurisdiction west of Katy, Chron reports. Kermier has been part of the plan for more than four decades, though subsequent amendments over the years have already shortened the corridor from its original scope.
As planned, Kermier Road would be a 100-foot-wide public roadway. Serverfarm executive Petra Hsia told planners that dedicating a corridor of that width would represent, in her words, an insurmountable barrier to the proposed data center expansion, and the company has said the planned roadway would similarly create an insurmountable barrier to expanding and securing its campus. Serverfarm's expansion would add several new structures and detention areas to the site, and the company plans to build across part of the route Kermier Road was meant to follow.
Company's Rationale and Proposed Alternatives
Serverfarm has argued that existing portions of Warren Ranch and Kickapoo roads could serve as alternatives to absorb regional traffic circulation if the Kermier segment is deleted, according to the Chron report. Katy-based urban planning firm Meta Planning + Design submitted the deletion request on Serverfarm's behalf for the 2026 plan review cycle and presented close-up exhibit maps to the commission during workshop sessions, per City of Houston Planning and Development Department records. Serverfarm has also submitted an updated traffic impact analysis to Harris County, and city staff said they are considering that updated analysis before making any recommendation.
Houston planning staff is still reviewing the request and coordinating with Harris County, and officials have said their recommendations could shift as additional information comes in. Jennifer Curtis said discussions about the proposal are continuing, and that coordination is ongoing with a final solution to be presented to commissioners once it's ready, Chron reports. The Houston Planning Commission is scheduled to act on the proposed amendments on September 3, after which it will forward recommendations to Houston City Council, which is expected to act by the end of September.
Growth Pressures on Both Sides of the Debate
The stakes extend beyond one company's fence line. The proposed removal sits roughly 2.5 miles from The Grand Prairie, a 1,730-acre master-planned community in Hockley designed for 6,000 homes and an elementary school, as well as the 1,622-acre Jubilee development, according to HAR.com. Kermier Road already carries heavy industrial traffic near US-290, home to Daikin's 4.3 million-square-foot HVAC manufacturing and distribution campus, one of the largest industrial developments in the Houston region, located less than four miles from Serverfarm's site, per Community Impact.
Neighboring Waller County, which borders the Hockley project site along US-290, was named the second-fastest growing county in the United States in census and county estimates published in April, growing by more than 13,000 residents over five years, the Houston Chronicle has reported. Serverfarm itself entered the Houston market in September 2024 by acquiring two data center campuses spanning 250 acres, including the Hockley HTX campus, which has infrastructure capacity to scale up to 500 megawatts, according to Data Center Map. The company also operates a 200-megawatt campus on Cutten Road in Houston and describes itself as a California-based global data center developer and operator.
Broader Texas Scrutiny of Data Center Growth
The Kermier Road fight comes as Texas grapples with the pace of data center development statewide. CenterPoint Energy reported in April that Greater Houston grid forecasts show 3.5 gigawatts of data center capacity currently under construction, with a projected 8 gigawatts energized by 2029, according to Telborg DC Intel. In August, Texas state leaders ordered energy regulators to halt new data center grid connection approvals pending a comprehensive audit of regional power and water supply impacts, FOX 26 Houston reported.
Serverfarm has also faced scrutiny elsewhere. Hoodline previously reported that activists accused the company of building an unpermitted power plant tied to a data center expansion in Covington, Georgia, drawing complaints from environmental groups and state scrutiny. For now, the fate of the Kermier Road segment in Harris County remains undecided, with the Houston Planning Commission's September 3 vote set to determine whether the 44-year-old plan survives or gets erased to make way for Serverfarm's expansion.
