After months of delays, Fort Worth will allow a $10B data center campus to move forward. 

The Fort Worth City Council approved a revised site plan for the just over 1M SF project from Black Mountain, which will be on 187 acres in the southeast portion of the city. The approved plan added an electrical substation and will allow the four other buildings on the Fort Worth-based energy consortium’s campus to be up to 70 feet tall, according to the Fort Worth Report. 

The data center campus was originally envisioned as spanning 3M SF over 18 buildings, but the request was tabled in May and June after pushback from area residents. The increased building height allowed the developer to reduce the land used for the campus by 50%, according to a presentation to the council. 

Black Mountain CEO Rhett Bennett said it was important for the company to get the project right for the neighboring residents since zoning was already in place for the site south of Lon Stephenson Road and between Forest Hill and Anglin drives. The site plan also included more than 300 feet of space between the data center’s buildings and neighboring homes. 

Before the vote, local business owner Emerald Khan spoke in favor of the project, but community activist Ambike Sharma requested that the matter be tabled again to allow Fort Worth’s new Data Center and Infrastructure Commission to complete city regulations on these types of projects. 

“If we’re going to make investment in soliciting expert opinions and expert suggestions, let’s wait for those suggestions to be provided,” Sharma said. 

Fort Worth officially formed the commission on Aug. 11 to evaluate data center projects’ effects on city energy, water and economic development. The commission is expected to give the council its recommendations on Nov. 3. 

During the Aug. 11 meeting, the council also took the first steps toward establishing a 90-day moratorium on data center projects. The proposed moratorium could start in mid-February and wouldn’t apply to already approved projects or those that have submitted zoning applications. 

Fort Worth isn’t the only North Texas city dealing with controversial data center projects. 

Dallas-based White Rose Partners wants to build a data center project on a 37-acre property in northwest Prosper but saw its item pulled from the planning and zoning commission's agenda before the Aug. 18 meeting. The item is scheduled for the commission’s next meeting on Sept. 1. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott halted all data center connections to the state grid at the beginning of August to allow an audit of power demands, water use, ownership and other information to be completed. 

Because it isn’t an official moratorium on data center projects, the audit is expected to help clear out excess proposed projects requesting more than five times the power the state grid has ever produced.