Company Black Mountain is seeking another rezoning request for its campus which is causing concern in Forest Hill.
“It’s been stressful for us. It’s been really stressful for us,” said Helen Collins Epps.
She lives off LonStephenson Road, the only thing separating her Forest Hill home from Fort Worth across the street, where a new, $10 billion data center will be taking shape.
Collins Epps said she didn’t find out about the project until she went to a community meeting held by the developer, Black Mountain, just before Christmas.
“We all flipped out. All of us flipped out. We didn’t know what to do,” Collins Epps said.
She said she and other neighbors have concerns.
“Electricity’s going to be an issue. Water’s going to be an issue,” she said.
Forest Hill’s mayor and city manager have concerns, too.
“The uses of the electric grid. We’ve had issues with losing power during cold storms, or with—when the weather was really, extremely hot. And we were under the impression that that was fixed for what we have now,” said Mayor Stephanie Boardingham.
She also mentioned flooding and noise concerns, as well as the condition of LonStephenson Road, which is already rundown and riddled with traffic.
“Are they going to be good partners with us on Lon Stephenson for the safety of the community? because there will be increased traffic,” Boardingham said.
These are questions Boardingham said she thought they had answers to, after Black Mountain won approval from the Fort Worth City Council to rezone most of its 450-acre campus.
Now, the developer is seeking to change nearly 40 more acres from agricultural to light industrial use. That particular parcel of land butts up right to Forest Hill.
This map from Black Mountain’s rezoning request application shows their data center campus.
“What’s really going to go in there on that additional land? Because this data center’s going to be huge, I get it, but why is it such zoning to hold so many different things?” Boardingham questioned.
According to the zoning application, the company lists the land primarily for a data center, as well as “supporting uses,” including “health care facilities, recreational, religious uses, utilities, grocery store, office or retail sales.”
In an email to NBC 5, founder and CEO of Black Mountain, Rhett Bennett, said almost all of their campus has passed the same rezoning request, so “the land will all have common zoning.”
When asked how much more the company is seeking to rezone, Bennet replied, “Not much more. Why is important – the bigger the campus is, the more our buildings can be offset into the interior and away from any neighbors. So, most new data center campuses that are being built these days are several hundred acres in size.”
Bennett did not address electricity use but said traffic is an existing problem in the area and “our project will bring dollars for road upgrades to existing problems.”
“The Black Mountain project is one of the largest economic developments to ever come to Fort Worth. We are proud to be bringing this to our community where we live. This is the type of digital infrastructure project that will keep our community from being left behind as the world continues to progress into the digital era,” Bennett added.
But Boardingham and some of her constituents are asking: What about Forest Hill?
“You know, we have this data center that’s running all this electricity and we don’t know what other buildings we’re putting there–there’s no Fort Worth fire station there,” she said. “Is it going to be put on Everman and Forest Hill? Or do they have that in the plan to maybe put a substation in that area–I don’t know.”
It’s also why she said Forest Hill leaders need a seat at Fort Worth’s table during this process.
“If they mitigate these problems for Fort Worth, then it actually benefits Everman and Forest Hill,” Boardingham said.
She also said a tour of an existing data center might help answer some questions for her and her citizens.
“So that we can be in the area and hear and see. Maybe seeing exactly what goes on in the process of one that’s already established would be great to help satisfy the needs of our community,” Boardingham said.
For Collins Epps, she’s almost past the point of wanting answers.
“I think that they have been as open as large corporations are,” she said.
She wants a feasible way out of her neighborhood–once an idyllic retirement home.
“I’ve been frustrated. I’ve been angry. I’ve been disappointed, and I’ve been confused. Because if I put this house up for sale, if any of us do, I have to tell them about the data center,” she said.
And, the former realtor said, that means her home has already lost value.
“It’s just been a hot mess, you know, what do we do? We’re senior citizens, we can’t start all over like these young people can,” she said. “It’s been stressful for us. It’s been really stressful for us.”
“You read these stories, you read about them, but you never think they’re going to come home,” Collins Epps added.
Black Mountain’s latest rezoning request is set to go before the zoning commission on January 14, then to
City Council on February 10, according to the application.
Boardingham said she and her city manager plan to be there.
Great Job Tahera Rahman & the Team @ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth for sharing this story.
