Tulsa County holds public hearing on proposed Clydesdale data center plan that would seek 25‑year tax exemptions

A public hearing Monday before the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners introduced a proposed multiphase data center project — the Clydesdale project — that would use tax‑incentive districts under Oklahoma’s Local Development Act to seek 25‑year, 100% exemptions from ad valorem taxes for new real and personal property and would include negotiated annual pilot payments and road‑improvement payments.

Jeff Sabin, an attorney with the Center for Economic Development Law, told commissioners that the project plan covers a multiphase data center development on the county’s north side within the Owasso Public School District and that each proposed phase represents a “minimum $700,000,000 for initial investment.” He said each phase would likely create a separate tax incentive district, each with a deferred creation date of up to 10 years and a 25‑year exemption period once triggered.

The plan, Sabin said, asks the taxing jurisdictions to allow an unusual 25‑year incentive for data centers under the Local Development Act (where most abatement tools typically run five years). To offset foregone ad valorem revenue during the exemption period, the project proposes a negotiated annual pilot payment of $1,500,000 per data center, split pro rata among taxing jurisdictions, plus a $500,000 annual community betterment payment earmarked for adjacent roadway improvements. Sabin said the developer and review committee estimated roughly 50 permanent, high‑paying jobs per data center and emphasized that county staff and the Local Development Act Review Committee concluded…