New Data Center Brings Jobs and Concerns to Local Community

An AI Data Center is being proposed to come to Young County, with a proposed location on FM 61 near the country club. The citizens of Young County have had a mixed reaction, with some excited about the new site, some opposed to the idea, and some undecided. This site is looking to span around 870 acres to house generators and extensive green spaces. The project is estimated to consist of around 7-16 buildings, with each of these buildings potentially generating $300 million in tax revenue over its expected life span of 40 years. With each building creating 20-30 high-paying jobs. The construction of this large site will employ many Young County residents, allowing them to work on the construction for an estimated period of 5-10 years. A significant portion of both the permanent and construction jobs is expected to be Young Country residents. While most of this sounds beneficial for Young County, some citizens have problems with the thought of increased utility prices, such as water and other issues, like noise. Most data centers currently are mostly water-cooled, which, especially in our town, is a big issue due to frequent droughts and lack of water sources, but the planned data center is committed to being air-cooled, meaning it uses chilled air instead of chilled water to cool server rooms, with the only water used being for sinks and toilets. The next problem is the noise, which they have proposed to maintain acceptable limits with them having to have a noise ordinance to maintain the noise level. Another issue a local realtor brings up is the prices of houses due to the eyesore of the buildings. The realtor believes that if this project gets accepted that it will decrease the housing prices. The most beneficial part of this coming is the major tax relief. This is important since everyone in the county is currently paying property taxes to repay the debt from bonds issued by at least one of these districts: Graham ISD, Newcastle ISD, or Olney Hamilton Hospital. With the data center coming to our county, it would significantly lower this tax on citizens. It would also make future improvements easier to afford.