LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – It takes a village to make a change in government.<\/p>\n
Just ask Stephen Sanders, who put together the \u2018Save Lubbock\u2019 group in May following the conversation about data centers at Texas Tech in May. After months of discussion, he was able to meet with city council and put pen to paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sat down, we went line-by-line,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cChristy Martinez-Garcia, Gordon Harris, the city\u2019s attorney, we were all there at the table in Mark (McBrayer\u2019s) office at Citizen\u2019s Tower going through the information. Making sure it was legal and everyone was happy with the final product.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Tuesday\u2019s council call for a temporary pause on large-scale data center approval in Lubbock, Sanders says things are heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel really comfortable and really confident in our P&Z committee and the city council when it comes to putting these guardrails in place, and they\u2019ve been real clear about that,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n
Not every council member agreed with the resolution, with Tim Collins and Tim Green voting against it. Green says there\u2019s misinformation when it comes to data centers, suggesting residents are being misled on what they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the misinformation is that all data centers use a lot of water, they don\u2019t,\u201d Green said. \u201cThe data centers didn\u2019t do themselves any favors in the past, they did use a lot of water. Nowadays, they have new technologies. They want to be good stewards of the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins agreed with Green on one thing. He believes water usage is also not as great as has been reported but says being good stewards of city resources is job one as a member of city government. His decision to vote against the resolution had more to do with timing<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope would have been, and what I tried to express Tuesday, is not to say no to a moratorium, but let\u2019s hold this in our pockets until such a time it becomes necessary to understand what new governance we may have coming from Austin, and I expect there will be some,\u201d Collins said. \u201cLet us understand that and then we can come in and say pause.\u201d<\/p>\n
While one chapter of the Lubbock data center conversation is finished, the book is still being written, and whatever side you\u2019re on, work is underway to minimize the impact they may have on the city long-term.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard for data centers to come into Lubbock,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to jump through some hoops, you\u2019re going to have to do it our way and we\u2019re going to regulate you or you\u2019re not going to be doing business in our city. But we are open to business.\u201d<\/p>\n
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