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Resident urges Bryan Council to reconsider allowing data-center use near RELLIS; mayor, city manager respond
Summary
A resident told the council she opposed allowing large data centers near RELLIS because of health, noise and water-use concerns; the mayor and city manager replied that rezoning merely allows that use among others and distinguished data centers from noisy bitcoin-mining operations.
A College Station resident told the Bryan City Council she strongly opposes allowing a large data center on roughly 130 acres near the RELLIS campus and urged the council to reconsider recent rezoning that makes such a use allowable.
"These facilities do not belong near schools, homes, or vulnerable populations," Amanda (introduced in the meeting as Amanda Pounds) said, citing health, environmental and noise concerns and asserting that similar facilities can use "3,500,000 gallons of water a day."
Mayor Bobby Gutierrez responded by noting existing data centers near RELLIS and downtown Bryan and stressing that the rezoning makes data centers an allowed use but does not mean a data center is proposed. "First of all, we already have a data center on RELLIS," he said, adding that the council had reviewed distances to nearby schools and water and electrical assessments.
City Manager Keane Register also addressed the distinction between data centers and bitcoin-mining operations, which residents have referenced in other hearings. Register noted that the Granbury complaints the resident cited involved bitcoin-mining containers with onsite water towers and high noise levels; he said the data centers in Bryan do not operate in that manner.
The resident asked the council to reconsider allowing the use near schools and neighborhoods; council members said staff had reviewed site constraints, utilities, and distances to schools but emphasized that the rezoning simply permits certain uses rather than approving a specific development. No formal action was taken at the meeting to prohibit or restrict data-center uses beyond the rezoning already on the books.
What’s next: the rezoning remains in place as an allowable use; council did not vote to remove the use or adopt new restrictions during this meeting.
