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Palm Beach school board seeks more information on data center near Saddleview Elementary
Summary
After sustained public comment about Project Tango, a proposed hyperscale data center sited within about 1,200–2,000 feet of Saddleview Elementary, the Palm Beach County School Board directed Chair Brill and Superintendent Burke to draft a letter asking county commissioners for studies and records on noise, environmental and safety impacts before the July 15 hearing.
Chair Brill and members of the Palm Beach County School Board said they will ask county officials for more information about Project Tango, a proposed hyperscale data center sited within roughly 1,200–2,000 feet of Saddleview Elementary School.
The decision followed a series of public comments calling on the board to intervene. Sharon Merchant, president of the Western Palm Beach County Community Alliance, told the board the data center and a second logistics facility are “within 1,200 feet of Saddleview Elementary School,” and warned of noise, vibration, heavy truck traffic and potential air pollution from lithium battery storage.
“The acoustics level, while it’s regulated by the county, at this point is unknown,” Merchant said. “We are told that there will be over 600 fans on that property and you can imagine the amount of noise and vibration that they might generate.”
Other residents echoed those concerns. Natalie Frazier, a parent and Arden resident, asked the board to “formally request the Palm Beach County commissioners to deny the application or at minimum delay an approval until impacts on students, teachers and schools are fully evaluated by independent experts.”
Superintendent Michael Burke said district staff have not yet completed an environmental analysis and that the county commission handles zoning and permitting. He told the board he has asked county administrators to keep the district apprised of the project’s status and that district staff would seek to participate in mitigation planning if the project moves forward.
Board members from the area pressed for action. District 6 member Marsha Andrews, whose district includes Saddleview, said she is opposed to a site so close to a school and gave Chair Brill permission to send a letter. “You could almost walk to the school. It is something that I’m certainly opposed to having a site that close to a school center,” Andrews said.
Several board members suggested the letter request existing studies and data under Florida’s public-records law. Board member Edwin Ferguson recommended a public-records request under Florida Statute 119 to see what environmental, noise or infrastructure studies are already in county files. “If they have the studies done, now you can at least know,” Ferguson said.
Chair Brill said she would work with Superintendent Burke and the communications office to draft a letter that raises the community’s concerns, asks for any studies in the county’s possession, and seeks additional information about emergency response, noise mitigation and potential impacts on special‑needs students. She emphasized the board is not preemptively opposing data centers generally but wants more information about consequences for nearby students and staff.
The county commission is scheduled to consider the project on July 15; the school board does not meet again before that date. The board did not take a formal vote to oppose or block the project but directed staff to produce a letter and gather records to inform future action.
