Montgomery County Residents Express Concern Over Potential Data Center

Several Montgomery County residents, including one county commissioner, express concerns during the Board of Commissioner’s May meetings over the potential construction of a data center in the area.

Discussions regarding data centers began on May 7 during the Montgomery County Board of Commissioner’s monthly work session with comments from Commissioner Amie Vassey.

“It is my humble and personal opinion that this is a bad thing,” said Vassey. “We shouldn’t want it. I don’t want it, and we should do whatever we can to get ahead of it.”

According to Vassey, she had been contacted by constituents regarding rumors of a data center being constructed in the county. She then reached out to the Montgomery County Tax Assessor, who informed Vassey someone had approached the office in January about leasing land for a data center.

During the work session, Vassey shared some of the research she had done on data centers to illustrate her concerns. She listed several adverse effects data centers have on the surrounding environment she had read, which include the centers taking up 200 to 1,000 acres of land, using a “tremendous amount” of local water to an extent that nearby wells run dry, damaging nearby HVAC units, causing long-term health effects to nearby residents due to noise and leading to the displacement of nearby homes.

“We need to protect our farmland, obviously,” said Vassey. “That’s the number one thing. We need to protect for food security, for the future of our nation and for land viability for our grandchildren, and their grandchildren, and so on and so forth.”

Board Madame Chairman Ginger Morris also shared her own concerns on a potential data center, particularly focused on the issue of local water reserves. 

“We’re all on the same aquifer, so the water’s being sucked up by all the people around us,” said Morris. “I’d like to see our government maybe redistribute money if you’re going to be sucking from my well.”

While Vassey did not propose any immediate action during the work session, she did suggest the Board consider implementing land ordinances to prevent the construction of data centers in Montgomery County. Commissioner Leland Adams suggested the issue may be more applicable to a zoning board, and the county could consider establishing one to solve the issue.

The Board also asked Development Authority Director Michael Stanley, who was in attendance to disclose the upcoming Amazon distribution center, for his opinion and expertise on the matter. Stanley said companies constructing data centers often have the monetary advantage to outmaneuver local communities.

“Private companies with billions of dollars move a lot more quickly than what we can as, you know, local communities,” said Stanley.

During the Board’s regular meeting on May 11, multiple residents spoke during public comments to express their concerns regarding the data centers. 

The Board made no official action regarding the issue, but the commissioners did agree to research the issue for future discussions. Director Stanley also said he would research the issue and attend the Board’s June meetings to discuss data centers.

“We haven’t really had an opportunity to discuss it heavily or even research it enough, because this is a very new situation that we’ve just been made aware of,” said Vassey during the main meeting. “So, we are gonna be doing some more research on that and having more conversations about it.”