EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — The second in a series of community meetings on data center development drew dozens of residents to Northeast El Paso on Wednesday, where some voiced frustration over the format and others spoke out against a major project already underway in the area.
The meeting, held at the Veterans Recreation Center, is part of the City of El Paso’s effort to gather public input on a proposed data center policy framework. City officials say the framework is intended to guide future decisions related to data center development.
As the meeting began, several attendees raised concerns and spoke up from the crowd.
Some said they could not hear important information, while others said the format — which included multiple discussion stations — made it difficult for everyone to receive the same message.
“Everyone is getting different information,” one resident said. “Everyone needs to hear the same thing at the same time, because things get lost in translation.”
The Northeast meeting follows the first community meeting held Monday in West El Paso, which KFOX14/CBS4 also attended. That meeting drew a large crowd, with some residents raising similar concerns about how information was being presented.
Jordan Salas reports on Community concerns continue at second El Paso data center meeting (Credit: KFOX14)
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The city says the meetings were directed by City Council and are also tied to El Paso’s Climate Action Plan, which calls for evaluating data center development through environmental, economic and community considerations.
“The meetings that we’re hosting throughout the city is specifically about the data center policy framework. We want to look at the future,” said Laura Cruz-Acosta, a spokesperson for the City of El Paso.
Still, many residents focused their comments on the Meta data center project already planned in Northeast El Paso, near U.S. Highway 54. The project has drawn scrutiny from community members concerned about potential impacts on water resources, electricity demand and quality of life.
“We need to fight and stop Meta from coming in,” one resident said.
“Our city, our communities deserve better. Especially as they’re planning to build it in the northeast, one of the most economically impacted communities that we have,” another attendee said.
City officials have emphasized that the current meetings are not intended to revisit existing agreements, but rather to help shape future policy.
District 4 City Representative Cynthia Boyar Trejo, whose district includes the project site, said the effort is focused on what comes next.
“When I brought this to council, it was about going forward, creating a framework that will help us for any other possibilities,” Trejo said, adding that she could not say whether the new framework would impact the Meta project.
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Meanwhile, Veronica Escobar is calling on Meta to hold its own public listening sessions. In a letter sent Wednesday, Escobar said residents deserve more transparency about how the project could affect the community.
“I respectfully request that Meta holds public listening sessions with the El Paso community and provide greater clarity into how the data center will impact all of us,” Escobar wrote.
View the full letter here:
Additional community meetings are scheduled over the coming weeks as the city continues to gather input before presenting a proposed policy framework to City Council later this spring.
List of remaining meetings:
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Pavo Real Recreation Center (9301 Alameda Ave.)
Monday, March 30, 2026
The Beast Urban Recreation Center (13501 Jason Crandall Dr.)
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Chamizal Community Center (2119 Cypress Ave.)
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Wayne Thornton Community Center (3134 Jefferson Ave.)
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