Grand Prairie council approves zoning amendment to allow data center at Rock Island site

Grand Prairie City Council voted unanimously to approve a zoning change and concept plan that adds a data center as an allowed use for a 16.8-acre site at the southwest corner of Rock Island Road and Hard Rock Road.

The council’s approval authorizes a plan development district amendment to add “data center” as a land use and adopts the applicant’s concept plan, with conditions recommended by staff and the Development Review Committee requiring an 8-foot masonry screening wall, a 25-foot concrete enclosure around the generator yard, and a double row of trees and shrubs along the southern property line.

Staff described the proposal as a two-story, 4,001-square-foot data center with parking, generators, a guard shack and a potential future substation. The amendment also increases the allowable building height to 140 feet and modifies certain landscaping and open-space calculations from the Unified Development Code. Planning staff noted the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval on Jan. 27 by a 7–1 vote.

Scott Ellerman, representing Constellation, said the company had purchased the 17-acre property in July 2024 and had studied the site’s feasibility for a data center because of its proximity to an Encore switching station. "We are still waiting on that power commitment from Encore as a caveat," Ellerman said, describing a potential 72-megawatt request to power the facility.

Council members pressed staff and the applicant on energy and noise concerns. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem asked whether the city had distinguished data centers from cryptocurrency mining; staff and the Development Review Committee recommended language excluding cryptocurrency mining from the proposed plan development district. Councilmember Hedden and others asked whether the local grid could handle the center’s power needs; staff directed those technical questions to the applicant and Encore, the local switching/ delivery operator. "Encore does not generate any electricity. They just move it. The generation comes from ERCOT," a council member noted during discussion.

Staff said a noise study was submitted and reviewed by the city’s Public Health and Environmental Quality Department; the approved conditions require screening and a masonry wall as shown on the concept plan.

With questions answered, a council member moved to approve the item with conditions; the motion carried unanimously.

The approval allows the site owner to pursue a data center use or, alternatively, to revert to an office-warehouse plan previously approved; any future switch to a data center would require the applicant to file a site plan for review.

Votes at the meeting did not include a roll-call vote in the transcript; the record shows the motion passed unanimously.