Round Rock City Council will once again take up a rezoning request from Skybox Datacenters Feb. 12, over a month after an initial hearing in December.
What you need to know
Council members approved the rezoning request, which would allow a data center to be built near the intersection of A.W. Grimes Boulevard and East Old Settlers Boulevard, on its first reading Dec. 4.
In a public hearing about the rezoning request, several residents of the neighborhood expressed a desire to see the land, about 29 acres located between CHASCO Constructors and Casa Mechanical, used in a different way. The property borders the Chandler Creek neighborhood, a municipal utility district.
The request is part of a statewide surge in data center development.
The details
The proposal for the development would divide it into three sections with different uses to establish what is permitted on different parts of the site, such as a data center, substation and open space.
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Round Rock Planning and Development Services Director Brad Dushkin said the center would use a closed-loop cooling system, which is filled once and topped off as needed every few years, rather than an evaporative cooling system that uses more water. Based on existing data centers Sabey and Switch, Dushkin said a data center of the size proposed by Skybox would require about 10,000 gallons of water for a closed-loop cooling system initially, rather than hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day via an evaporative cooling system.
He also said the data center would have the same footprint as 100 homes, but generate about 500 homes worth of property tax revenue, and consume a similar amount of water in a year as 15 homes.
What’s next?
Council will consider the matter during its Feb. 12 meeting, held at Round Rock City Hall, 221 E. Main St., Round Rock.
The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Additional information about council meeting procedures and public comment is available at www.roundrocktexas.gov/city-about-round-rock/city-council/.