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Glenn Heights council hears developer explain reduced AMF data-center plan; mayor schedules perimeter tour
Summary
Council and residents pressed AMF Mission Critical on water, power and community impacts after the developer said it scaled an initially proposed nine-building project to a single cloud data center building in phase one; the mayor announced a perimeter tour for residents.
Mayor Sonya A. Brown opened a substantive council discussion of the previously approved AMF data center and walked the council through the rezoning timeline and tax context for the site. "AMF's current plan is to construct only one building during phase 1," Brown said, noting the ordinance (o-15-24) was adopted Oct. 15, 2024 after public hearings and a required two-reading process.
Av Atkins, who introduced himself as representing AMF Mission Critical, told the council the project would be a cloud data center with relatively few on-site employees and limited daily traffic once operational. "Data centers are not new and I'm not new to the space," Atkins said, explaining that the facility would use a closed-loop cooling system and that the focused parcel for immediate development is 140 acres adjacent to the DeSoto switch station. Atkins said he had reduced the originally contemplated phase-one footprint from nine buildings to a single building to align with power‑procurement realities and local concerns.
Council members pressed AMF on utilities, noise, setbacks and phasing. Atkins said the cooling system would be largely self-contained, with an initial 20,000–30,000-gallon cooling loop that remains on-site and limited ongoing water use beyond irrigation and restrooms. On power, he said AMF reduced its load request to 74 megawatts to avoid ERCOT27s large-load "batch" process and pursue a more local interconnection with Encore; he said AMF has been in Encore's queue about 2.5 years. Atkins estimated, if given power by year-end, a 6–8 month preconstruction period and 14–16 months to build the single building.
Brown said the city would arrange a perimeter tour so residents can observe setbacks, noise mitigation and the surrounding area; the mayor and AMF will coordinate with DART to provide transportation for the tour. The mayor and staff also reiterated that any changes to the planned-development (PD) agreement or PD text would need to return to Planning & Zoning and the city council for review.
