At its Sept. 9 meeting, the Weld County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved plans by GlobalAI to operate a data center near Windsor in northern Colorado despite concerns voiced by residents regarding water use, noise, and electricity during an eight-and-a-half-hour hearing leading up to the vote.
While the Sept. 9 vote is the final land-use decision for the property, any future expansion will need to come back in front of the five-member board for approval. The proposal would reuse a vacant former Kodak/Carestream industrial facility.
In a release from the county, commissioners acknowledged concerns from the community but lauded the adaptive reuse model and expected economic impact.
“It will spur economic activity, and granted, not the job level that Kodak once held… and it will provide, by extension, additional economic opportunity,” Chair Scott James said. “We have to grow to trust one another, and it comes through public processes like this.”
The facility is expected to employ approximately 20 people in its first phase.
“The community concerns have caused us to take the time to dig really deep into this topic,” said commissioner coordinator Lynette Peppler in the release. “One of my main concerns is whether we’re taking agricultural land out of production, and that is not the case. This facility is utilizing an existing industrial facility. How often do we see that happening? This is a really good reuse of resources.”
Commissioners added three conditions to the approval: GlobalAI must stick to the closed-loop cooling system originally planned for; must continuously monitor noise pollution to ensure it is meeting county regulations that enact a 65 dB(C) limit at the property line; and must establish a decommissioning plan within six months.
Some residents are still not convinced, however. Patricia Garcia-Nelson of GreenLatinos voiced her concerns with what the company might do in future phases of the project and how it might impact the surrounding environment.
“They do have access to discharge in the Poudre River, which is really concerning, especially because we don’t know what could be discharged,” Garcia-Nelson said, according to CBS News.
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