Piedmont's City Council approved amendments to a master design plan for Cloverleaf's data center project. The amended plan, dubbed Project Open Sky, includes a new water-use cap; noise limits appear in the revised proposal.
KOKH reported that the City Council tabled the item. Earlier this year, the Planning Commission recommended denying the original Project Open Sky Planned Unit Development application pending submission of additional information, KFOR reported. KFOR also reported that Cloverleaf's development officer pledged a closed-loop cooling system, saying, “We actually don't use any water for cooling on an ongoing basis. The data center will commit to a fully closed-loop system.”
Cloverleaf, a Houston-based company, has been seeking to rezone roughly 630 acres for the data campus, according to an earlier report. The project has also been described as spanning approximately 633 acres with as many as six data center buildings, per the same News 9 account cited below.
New Limits On Water And Noise
The amended Planned Unit Development limits water use to 75,000 gallons a day, with an exception for fire suppression. The revised proposal would cap daytime noise at 60 decibels, dropping to 50 decibels at night. Cloverleaf has committed not to drill on-site water wells. The plan also calls for a Cloverleaf-funded water study.
The Piedmont City Council approved an amended master design plan for the Cloverleaf data center on Oct. 22, according to News 9. The station has also reported that the project still requires rezoning hearings before both the Planning Commission and City Council before receiving final zoning approval.
Data-center opposition has also surfaced elsewhere. A May Gallup poll found 71 percent of respondents opposed to data centers in their communities, according to NonDoc, and a national tally found about 40 cities and towns across the country have weighed measures to restrict data center development, with at least 33 voting in favor, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Water use has become a particular flashpoint statewide. Data-center water consumption in Oklahoma is largely untracked, and the 55 facilities listed by data center advisory firm Baxtel have not applied for water permits, according to KGOU.
Nearby Yukon Offers A Cautionary Tale
Just down the road, the political stakes of backing a data center project were on full display earlier this month. Yukon voters ousted Mayor Brian Pillmore in a Nov. 3 recall election, electing Joe Phillips to the Ward 3 council seat, the Star-Telegram reported. Yukon’s council selects the mayor from among its members. The Yukon proposal, a 185-acre site, had prompted a recall petition in the first place.
Beltline Energy is also active in Piedmont itself, with a separate 640-acre campus proposal that could include roughly 19 buildings. The Piedmont City Council sent that amended plan back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for further review on Oct. 26, according to the same News 9 report. The Planning Commission is scheduled to take up the Beltline Energy proposal at its next meeting on November 17.
