TAYLOR, Texas — Just outside of Austin, in the city of Taylor, a dispute between residents and a data center developer has garnered lots of attention. It’s all over a piece of land next to a neighborhood community members say was supposed to be used for a park. The case has been in the courts for about a year, and now, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has stepped in.
A deed to use the land for a park is at the heart of the case.
“The deed is the most important thing to this because it was given to this community, to this town for an extra park,” said Pamela Griffin, who has been leading the charge against the proposed data center.
Griffin lives in the neighborhood next to where the data center is supposed to be built.
“It’s been a hard battle,” Griffin said.
The 1999 deed for the land was sold to the Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation from the Bland family for $10 to be used for a park.
“To deny this deed and to allow a data center to be built on it, sets a precedent that it can be undone, that people can disregard at will,” said Carrie D’Anna, a Taylor resident and community organizer who opposes the project.
Griffin and some neighbors filed a land deed lawsuit against the developer, Blueprint Data Centers, last year. It was dismissed by a judge because they don’t own the land, but the fight is not over yet.
“We’re sitting in appeal court with that,” D’Anna said.
Paxton’s office is now involved, recently announcing the launch of an investigation saying in part: “If the Taylor data center development is unlawful, I will do everything in my power to stop it and hold those who have violated the law accountable.”
“It felt like we were being seen by the right person, the right office,” D’Anna said. “We were yelling and cheering, but also being wary of like, ‘What does this mean?’”
However, Ben White, the CEO and president of the Taylor Economic Development Corporation, says a note on the original deed to use the land as a park is not a restriction on the property.
“It was not legally on the deed to begin with, and so we followed with the fact of law,” White said.
Spectrum News reached out to the City of Taylor about Paxton’s investigation and received a statement that reads in part, “the city will cooperate fully with the attorney general’s investigation and provide any records or information requested.”
“Anything they ask us we’ll provide,” White said. “We’ve had everything in the public domain.”
Spectrum News also attempted to reach out to Blueprint Data Centers and did not get a response.
Griffin says descendants of the Bland family do not wish to speak to the media but are behind her in this ongoing dispute.
“They are in support of us,” Griffin said. “He told me to keep fighting. Don’t give up, and I haven’t gave up. That’s one thing that family told us.”
She along with other community members who oppose the project hope Paxton will put a pause on construction efforts while the investigation is underway.