Commissioners hear Dickens County experience as Grant County explores data center impacts

Grant County commissioners spent part of their June 2 meeting gathering detailed on-the-ground experience from Dickens County, Texas, about hosting a large-scale data center.

Kevin Brendle, County Judge of Dickens County, said the Dickens project is in Phase 1 of potentially five phases and could take seven to 10 years to complete. He told the commissioners the development has brought roughly 1,250 construction workers to the county and that the county negotiated 100% property tax abatements for 10 years alongside payments in lieu of taxes of about $2 million per year. Brendle estimated the fully operational data center could yield about 100–200 permanent jobs. He said the county created an economic development corporation and dedicated about $4 million toward housing development to support the project.

Representatives from Pioneer Electric participated in the discussion via Zoom to help explain infrastructure and utility considerations; Representative Marty Long also told the board about a Kansas Data Center Planning and Utility Conference on July 15–16 in Topeka to help local governments evaluate proposals and infrastructure needs. Commissioner Martin said he plans to attend the conference.

The board did not take any formal action on a local data-center proposal at the June 2 session; commissioners directed staff to continue outreach and to report back with additional information.