Round Rock council approves rezoning for Skybox data center after extended public hearing

The Round Rock City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance rezoning roughly 29.69 acres east of North A.W. Grimes Boulevard to Planned Unit Development No. 159, clearing the way for a Skybox data center on the northern portion of the tract.

Bradley, the city planning presenter, told the council the PUD restricts the site to one primary data-center building and adds several conditions staff negotiated after neighborhood meetings: a maximum building height of 60 feet, a maximum building area of 250,000 square feet, a cap of 75 megawatts of grid-connected power, an 80-foot open-space strip with a 25-foot landscape buffer along the southern property line, and a requirement that data-center cooling use a closed-loop system to limit water consumption. “We limited the site to one primary data center building that has a maximum height of 60 feet, a maximum size of 250,000 square feet, and a maximum of 75 megawatts of grid-connected power,” Bradley said during the staff presentation.

Skybox’s chief development officer, Haynes Strader, answered resident concerns about water and noise by citing the company’s experience at other Texas sites and by giving operational estimates. “Our Pflugerville building, including landscaping, is averaging about 120,000 gallons of water per year,” Strader said, and added he did not expect the Round Rock facility to use “2,000,000 gallons” annually. He also said the project would operate within the city’s noise ordinances and that generators would run only in outages or for limited testing. Skybox representatives said the developer would pay for any local grid upgrades the project required.

Opponents at the public hearing pressed a different view. Dozens of residents and experts told the council they remain worried about low-frequency (infrasound) noise that municipal ordinances do not measure, the local and regional effects on electricity rates and grid stability, and cumulative water use as multiple data centers cluster in the region. “We’ve collected more than 3,000 petition signatures opposing this rezoning,” said resident Joshua Phillips, who handed petition printouts to the council. Public Citizen’s Texas director Adrian Shelley urged the council to consider model ordinances addressing setbacks, water reuse and generator rules and noted that below-threshold low-frequency sound is not treated under the city’s current noise code: “Infrasound is not covered in noise ordinances,” Shelley said.

City staff and the developer also argued that, compared with alternative uses permitted under the current light-industrial zoning (for example, four warehouse buildings), a single data center would result in less traffic and lower annual water use. Bradley’s presentation estimated that the previously proposed 380,000-square-foot warehouse plan would have produced more vehicle trips and used more water than the data-center option.

After hearing public comment and brief council discussion, Councilmember Flores moved to adopt the ordinance; Councilmember Fleming seconded. The council polled and recorded a unanimous vote in favor of the rezoning.

According to staff, rezoning does not mean immediate construction: the site will still require subdivision approvals, site-development permits and building permits. City staff said developers are responsible for any infrastructure upgrades required for operations and that any air permits for on-site generators would be reviewed through state permitting processes before the equipment could legally operate.

The council also approved several routine resolutions earlier in the meeting, including supplemental engineering contracts for roadway projects, an interlocal election agreement with Travis County and the city’s quarterly financial and investment report.

The council adjourned after brief closing remarks; the adopted PUD includes the development standards and limits staff presented and the recorded vote was 7–0 in favor.