Fort Worth residents question impact of proposed $10 billion data center project

Black Mountain Power LLC presented residents with the current site plan for the data center proposed for Forest Hill Drive and Lon Stephenson Road.

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Fort Worth and Forest Hill residents who packed a meeting room at a Fort Worth hotel Wednesday night hoped to learn more about the potential impact of a proposed $10 billion data center in their neighborhood. Instead, in a sometimes-contentious meeting, many left with their most pressing questions unanswered.

The meeting, organized by developers working with Fort Worth-based energy firm Black Mountain Power LLC, was designed to show the current site plan for the data center project proposed on mostly vacant land at the corner of Forest Hill Drive and Lon Stephenson Road extending east to Anglin Drive. Black Mountain says the initial phase of the project, consisting of four buildings and a proposed power substation, covers more than one million square feet. The entire project as proposed will sit on a total of 450 acres.

But among the more than 60 local residents who attended the Wednesday meeting, Gonzalo Rosas and Wanda Thomas were among those who left unhappy.

“My house is in this area,” Thomas said, pointing to her subdivision which will sit at the southern border of the proposed project.

“When I open my window I will see a big building in my backyard,” Gonzalo Rosas said.

“You’re building this but how does it interfere with our lives? That’s the thing,” Thomas said.

Residents peppered Black Mountain representatives, including CEO Rhett Bennett with questions about how loud the data center might be, what the project will do to traffic that is already often hectic on two-lane roads leading in and out of Forest Hill and Everman, and if there are other environmental concerns.  

“I don’t want the traffic. The traffic right now is crazy,” Gonzalo Rosas said.

Company representatives say they were holding the meeting primarily to introduce to residents the initial site plan that will be considered by the zoning commission on April 8th. The Fort Worth City Council is scheduled to hear the zoning commission’s recommendations on that site plan on May 12th.

Bob Riley, a professional landscape architect and advisor for the data center project, says Black Mountain will schedule a second meeting with neighbors in the coming weeks to answer those environmental concerns.

“There are city ordinances that limit the amount of noise that industrial use can provide, at daylight and night,” Riley told WFAA after the meeting. “And we will conform with all those ordinances.”

Black Mountain is also asking Fort Worth to rezone an additional 80 acres along Anglin Drive. That rezoning request is expected to go back before Fort Worth City Council on June 9th.