A commission of community members, academics and industry experts is set to research and evaluate Fort Worth’s data center developments, then give city leaders recommendations on how to regulate them.
The Data Center & Infrastructure Commission was formed Tuesday to conduct a “comprehensive, fact-based evaluation,” focusing on data centers’ impact on electricity and energy, water and economic development. The commission will also consider setback, noise, lighting and other development standards based on community concerns around data centers to ensure they aren’t concentrated in historically industrialized or underserved neighborhoods.
The commission is charged with delivering a report of recommendations to the council at their Nov. 3 work session.
Michael Slattery, an environmental professor at Texas Christian University and director of its Institute for Environmental Studies, is the chairman of the commission and will choose its 11 members.
“What I’m really looking for are pragmatists, people that are going to be truly open-minded,” Slattery told the Fort Worth Report. “The commission is not there to advocate for or against data centers. We want this to be evidence-based and rigorous, and we’ll be looking for people on the commission to help us with that.”
City Council members voted 10-1 to create the commission Aug. 11, after hearing testimony from nearly 50 speakers who supported the committee but demanded that its members be Fort Worth residents to best represent community desires. Council member Macy Hill, who represents parts of west Fort Worth and the Cultural District, was the only “no” vote. The council then voted 10-0 to appoint Slattery as the chairman, with Hill recusing herself from that vote due to the conflict of interest of her serving on TCU’s board of trustees.
“While this data center committee is a step in the right direction, it will be nothing if it isn’t led by impacted community members,” speaker Lydia Faith told the council. “Residents are the priority, and it is up to you to put them at the table.”
The council stopped short of requiring all commission members to live in Fort Worth but increased the number of such members from three to five.
During their Tuesday evening meeting, council members also voted to start the legal process of a moratorium to temporarily halt permitting and construction of new data center projects, as well as establish application filing requirements for developers seeking to build data centers within city limits.
The commission’s creation comes amid growing scrutiny in Fort Worth and across the state about the booming data center industry and uncertainty around its impact on natural resources. Environmental activists have urged city leaders to adopt a moratorium and identify ways to keep data centers out of residential neighborhoods that have long faced industrial growth.
The council adopted rules dictating the commission include one representative from the economic development sector; one industry expert in data center operations and technology infrastructure; one environmental or natural resource management specialist; one representative from a local electricity provider; one representative from the Tarrant Regional Water District, the government board that oversees local water usage; one representative from an environmental advocacy organization; and five community representatives with demonstrated knowledge of Fort Worth development policies and regulations, technology infrastructure or natural resource management.
The expert members should be Fort Worth residents “where feasible,” according to the adopted resolution. Slattery, who told the Report he lives in Walsh Ranch, located west of Fort Worth, must select the community members from a pool of candidates recommended by the city council.
During the meeting, speakers asked that all commission members live in Fort Worth, and that the academic and industry experts serve an advisory role rather than be voting members. Some speakers suggested the commission be permanent to continue advising the council as the data center industry evolves.
“Residents are desperate to be heard, and rightly so. Establishing long-term committees with appropriate authority and membership will help reduce the alienation felt by residents in our city,” said Fort Worth resident Laurie Stelljes.
Assistant City Manager Jesica McEachern, who will provide staff support for the commission, said the goal was to have a “broad range of people with expertise and true knowledge in the field” represented on the commission. She advised anyone interested in serving on the commission to reach out via email.
“It was just preserving the ability to still focus very heavily on Fort Worth residency, but where there is somebody identified that is the best of the best in terms of expertise, it would give (Slattery) that latitude to make that selection,” McEachern said. “But we do understand the desire to have a Fort Worth focus.”
Fort Worth resident Wesley Kirk said he wants the commission made up of people with a “clear history of fighting for their community.”
“The majority of the task force cannot be made up of industry shills or people outside of Fort Worth who don’t have to suffer the harms caused,” Kirk told the council.
In an interview with the Report before the council meeting, Slattery said his goal is to have the commission members named within two weeks. Acknowledging community concern, he said the commission’s makeup “is the most important thing right off the bat,” and it’s critical that residents are included in the process.
“We cannot have a commission that delivers a credible report and then turns to the community and says, ‘What do you think about this?’ This has to be truly inclusive from the outset,” Slattery said.
Council member Jeanette Martinez proposed the commission’s creation at the end of July as a way to “empower the community in the data center conversation.”
Council member Elizabeth Beck said she didn’t want to “inadvertently exclude” valuable experts who don’t live in Fort Worth.
“I want to make sure that we have the best and the brightest minds available to us on this commission, and I recognize that some of that expertise might not be in the city,” Beck said.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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