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Residents urge Franklin County to slow data-center approvals, demand transparency
Summary
Multiple residents told the Franklin County Commission they oppose fast-tracking land-use changes that could allow large data centers, raising environmental, health and process-transparency concerns and urging conditional-use reviews or ballots.
Franklin County residents packed into the commission chamber and urged elected officials to halt or slow changes that would make it easier to build large data centers, saying the projects could harm water, wildlife and neighborhood quality.
The public-comment period, which drew more than a dozen speakers, centered on concerns about runoff, noise and the pace and openness of the planning process. Wilton Reisenhoover, a Pacific resident near the proposed McLaren site, said an "80-foot high" structure and roughly "500 acres of concrete and roofs" would alter flood patterns and damage the Merrimack River and downstream parks. "This is the worst possible place to put a data center," Reisenhoover said.
Other speakers pressed procedural issues. April Bridal…
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