Fort Meade residents protest proposed data center, developers respond to questions
Residents opposed to planned data center
Last year, Polk County commissioners approved a huge tax break for a massive data center to be built in Fort Meade. Thursday evening, the project developer held a public forum at the local high school to take questions about the project, and a lot of citizens showed up. FOX 13's Chris Cato reports.
FORT MEADE, Fla. - On Thursday night, the project developer behind a proposed data center in Fort Meade held a public forum at Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School to take questions about the project.
Dozens of neighbors showed up and made sure their voices were heard.
What we know:
Fort Meade is a tiny, rural town which is rich with history, and there are about 5,000 residents who live there. At the meeting, we learned a majority of them do not want a data center built in their town.
The data center proposal calls for four buildings, which are 1.1 million square feet each, on more than 1,100 acres. These are facilities where servers are often stored and used for artificial intelligence, among other things.
What they're saying:
Neighbors protested outside the meeting, citing a number of reasons they didn't want it. They said data centers typically use a lot of water and power, on a lot of land.
RELATED: AI data centers use massive amounts of power and water, Florida lawmakers want new rules
While developers promised 50 jobs with salaries over $100,000, people who live there aren't sold on the idea.
"The water use. We are already in a drought," Tyler Hancock said. "What happens when the data center is here? Water is a huge thing."
Meanwhile, Heather Grant said, "We have a wonderful community, and I've seen so many horror stories about other communities."
The other side:
Representatives from the developer were at the town hall on Thursday night trying to ease concerns.
"We will have very specific obligations, and they will be clear," one representative said. "It will be a job to enforce and make sure we follow the rules and if you look at our track record you will find that we follow the rules."
During that statement, the crowd began to laugh.
The representative went on to say, "There are a lot of inspectors, so I can tell you if you look at the renderings, you will see we will deliver on our promises."
What we don't know:
The specific use of the data center has not been revealed. The name of the company that will run it hasn't been released either.
The Source: FOX 13 gathered this information tonight from a public meeting with the developers of a data project who were asking questions from the crowd, along with protesters worried about the project.