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Resident urges caution on nearby data-center uses; mayor, staff respond
Summary
A resident urged council to reconsider allowing a large data center on about 130 acres near the RELLIS campus, citing health and environmental concerns; mayor and staff replied that existing data centers operate at RELLIS and downtown, that rezoning would allow the use but does not itself propose construction, and they distinguished conventional data centers from noisy bitcoin-mining operations.
Amanda Pounds, who identified herself as a resident of College Station, addressed council during the public-comment period to urge reconsideration of a rezoning that would allow data-center uses on roughly 130 acres rezoned for Dodd Family Holdings near the RELLIS campus. Pounds told council members she and others were concerned about documented health and environmental risks cited in other recent city hearings and urged the council to avoid permitting such facilities near schools, homes and vulnerable populations. "These facilities do not belong near schools, homes, or vulnerable populations," she said.
Mayor Bobby Gutierrez and staff responded during the meeting’s comment period and clarified the local situation. The mayor noted, "We already have a data center on RELLIS," and staff emphasized distinctions between conventional data centers and the bitcoin‑mining operations residents referenced — particularly differences in noise, on‑site generators and water towers. Staff said the rezoning in question permits data centers as an allowable expansion use but does not, by itself, authorize construction; council and staff said they had reviewed distance, water consumption and electrical assumptions as part of their analysis. No follow-up action (such as additional hearings or moratoria) was announced at the meeting.
