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Residents raise concerns about data-center covenants and federal preemption during San Marcos public comment
Summary
Two public commenters urged council to pursue sustainable job growth and expressed worry about data-center projects: one promoted a water-technology cluster; another warned a developer failed to provide enforceable covenants and said state bills could limit local regulation of AI data centers.
During the Aug. 19 work session public-comment period, callers urged the council to pursue economic development in water technologies and voiced skepticism about transparency and enforceability of restrictive covenants on proposed data-center development.
A speaker who identified himself as Davis (speaker 4) described 'Project H2O — Headwaters to Opportunity,' a proposal to recruit water-technology companies for San Marcos. Davis said such jobs would build a sustainable tax base and contrasted that strategy with reliance on data-center property taxes.
Another commenter, Max Hill Baker (speaker 5), told council a community forum for a proposed data center left residents without clear answers about what restrictive covenants would be enforceable. Baker also warned that pending state legislation could preempt local regulation of AI data centers for an extended period — a claim staff and council noted for follow-up review.
Council did not respond substantively to the developer-focused claims during the workshop beyond asking staff and legal counsel to review enforceability and legislative impacts. The public comment was recorded earlier in the meeting before the budget presentation.
