Hutto planning panel keeps Zydeco data‑center hearings open after hours of resident testimony

The Hutto Planning & Zoning Commission opened a public hearing on April 7 on a proposed Zydeco data center and kept the record open after several hours of testimony from dozens of nearby residents. Developer representative Wes Gilmore said the project is a mid‑scale, 70‑megawatt‑maximum facility designed with a 5‑acre buffer, a roughly 300‑foot building setback and a closed‑loop cooling system intended to limit water use. "This is an opportunity for the city of Hutto to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in taxable value," Gilmore said.

Residents packed the meeting to oppose rezoning a roughly 40‑acre parcel currently entitled for multifamily. Speakers expressed recurring concerns about water consumption and drought risk, strain on the Texas electrical grid, potential increases in utility costs, low‑frequency noise and vibration, emergency‑response burdens and the risk of battery fires and toxic smoke from energy storage systems. "We are asking that no additional maintenance responsibilities be placed on us as an HOA," said Monique Key, who identified herself as speaking for Durango Farms homeowners regarding a separate plat matter but echoed the frustrations residents voiced about notice and neighborhood impacts.

Staff urged commissioners to weigh the proposal against the city's SOAR 2040 comprehensive plan and noted that planning staff found the proposed heavy‑industrial designation is not superior to the site's existing entitlement for residential and mixed uses. Commissioners asked legal staff about the potential for spot zoning litigation and whether additional conditions could be written into a PUD to mitigate risk. The commission did not vote on the Zydeco items and left both the future‑land‑use amendment and the PUD revision open for more public input and staff analysis, scheduling the continued hearing for April 20.

Next steps include additional written submissions to the public record and further analysis by city staff and legal counsel on the comp‑plan consistency and public‑safety implications; council will also later hold its own hearings if the commission makes a recommendation. The developer said technical studies (noise/vibration and interconnection analysis) will be shared with staff and council before final action.