Data centers

Urged the council to be transparent and slow down on the data center, citing degraded roads, litter, beef plant smells and dropping quality of life near existing industry.

Described living 3.5 miles from a 5-gigawatt data center in Virginia: his home value dropped 25-30%, he experienced bone-conduction noise effects, extra dust, and heavy traffic; urged the city to baseline sound and air quality and put enforcement teeth in its rules.

Raised housing price spikes from construction workers, hotel shortages hurting tourism, nearly a million gallons of water trucked for data center flush-and-fill, chemical risks, short data center lifespans, and higher power rates; asked for at least a year or permanent moratorium.

The ADC CEO clarified the organization has no NDAs with data center companies and no active project, and said ADC supports a reasonable ordinance and a careful, timely process.

Urged the council to extend the data center moratorium, noted the draft ordinance lacks an environmental impact study requirement, and reported hearing an audible hum at the Ellendale data center firsthand.

Urged the council to reject data center development, citing water consumption, grid strain, low-frequency noise harm to residents and livestock, land use, and few permanent jobs.

A property manager asked whether any ordinance could require incoming big projects to reinvest in the community's most vulnerable, given the existing housing shortage and difficulty finding rentals.