Protesters gather outside of Fort Worth City Council after a work session on data center development regulations on Tuesday, June 2, 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Abigail Dollins
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth will soon get the ball rolling on a commission set to advise the city on data center developments that will include residents and a TCU professor.
A Fort Worth city spokesperson wrote in an email on Wednesday, Sept. 2, that an announcement on Thursday will include the makeup of the committee and information about its future activities.
The group — titled the “Fort Worth Data Center & Infrastructure Commission” — will be led by Mike Slattery, TCU’s director for the Institute of Environmental Studies.
The commission will be made up of up to 11 members representing:
The “economic development business sector”Data center operationsEnvironmental and natural resource managementA local electric providerTarrant Regional Water DistrictAn “environmental advocacy organization”Five “community members”
The commission is set to provide a report and recommendations to the City Council by Nov. 3 — a week before the deadline for the city to hold its first public hearing on a potential data center moratorium, Nov. 10.
City Council member Jeanette Martinez proposed the creation of the commission in late July, after five council members called for the city to implement a moratorium on new data centers.
In a July press release, Martinez said the commission would be led by “dedicated community members and subject-matter experts” and provide insight on the common fare cities across the country are debating as data centers become central issues of local government — noise, water, power, and zoning decisions.
The City Council approved the creation of the commission during a Aug. 11 when the council also initiated the process of a potential 90-day moratorium on new data centers and adopted regulatory requirements for developers looking to build data centers in the city.
Krista Erbe, a Fort Worth resident who helped form the 2871 Community Coalition after the developer Edged announced plans for a data center in west Fort Worth near Benbrook, has been involved with activism around data centers in the city for most of the year.
Erbe said will be a member of the commission. Ambika Sharma, another Fort Worth resident who has strongly advocated for a data center moratorium, will also hold a seat on the commission, Sharma said.
In a text message, Martinez said that she had “full confidence” in the new group.
“I am proud that my colleagues supported my call to establish a Data Center Task Force, now the Data Center and Infrastructure Commission, and even more so that we successfully secured two additional community seats,” Martinez wrote. “I have full confidence that this commission will operate with transparency and be composed of dedicated members who prioritize the needs of Fort Worth residents and commitment to sustainability.”
Martinez said the commission’s meetings would not be public, but referred questions about why to city staff. A Fort Worth city spokesperson did not immediately answer an emailed question.
This story was originally published September 2, 2026 at 3:47 PM.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Emily Holshouser is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.