Environmental Commission recommends development-agreement amendments for Dog's Head, including explicit bans on data centers and crypto mining

After hearing more than a dozen public speakers, the Austin Environmental Commission on Oct. 7 adopted a package of recommended amendments to the Dogs Head development agreement that commissioners said were intended to preserve parkland, protect habitat, and limit high-water-use or high-impact industrial uses in the project area. The amended recommendation includes language to disallow data centers (explicitly including cryptocurrency mining), chip manufacturing, gas peaker plants, nuclear-power facilities, and weapons/defense manufacturing from specified land-use categories. Commissioners also added provisions to reinstate board and commission approvals for variances and zoning actions that the DA draft had delegated to administrative staff.