Neighbors raise safety, zoning and environmental concerns about proposed 'Project Tango' AI data center
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Summary
Residents told the Palm Beach County Commission they believe the proposed Project Tango hyperscale AI data center is improperly zoned, will generate excessive noise and heat, poses lithium-ion battery fire and water-contamination risks, and should be rezoned or placed under a moratorium for further study.
Residents near the proposed Project Tango AI data center told county commissioners the project poses potential health, noise, fire and environmental risks and asked the county to reconsider permitting and zoning.
Eric Appel said the facility's reliance on lithium-ion battery systems as backup raises fire and toxic-gas concerns. He told commissioners the thermal-runaway behavior of large battery banks makes fires lengthy and hard to control and called the project's proximity to an elementary school unacceptable. Rachel Smith, a nearby resident, argued hyperscale AI data centers are materially different from traditional data centers, noted developer disclosures of two 90-foot buildings and 654 rooftop fans between proposed buildings, and urged rezoning to heavy industrial.
Santiago Latancio described developer disclosures of a 600-megawatt facility with 265 chillers of 3,200-ton capacity and roughly 795 high-performance fans, warned that the project could scale past 1 gigawatt over time, and said studies provided so far omit noise and lithium-battery risk analyses. Other speakers asked how much water the project would use, invoked an unrelated Amazon case in Oregon as an example of groundwater contamination concerns, and suggested a moratorium until independent environmental and health studies are completed.
No formal land-use decision or vote was recorded during public comment at this session. Commissioners did not take questions during the comment period; the statements were entered into the record for later consideration.
The county's permitting and zoning staff and developers would be the next formal actors if the commission requests additional studies or a zoning review; residents urged commissioners to use any upcoming July or other review dates to require further environmental and technical analysis.
