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Zoning commissioners listen to a presentation during a May 8, 2024, meeting. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
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Fort Worth zoning commissioners narrowly voted against a proposal to build a data center across the road from Tarleton State University’s Fort Worth campus.

The applicant’s request concerns a tract of over 120 acres alongside the east side of Chisholm Trail Parkway. The tract, located in Fort Worth City Council member Jared Williams’ district, is currently zoned for “planned development” but would require a waiver to allow a data center on the property. The city defines planned development as special district zoning that allows for future development ranging from residential to mixed use, requiring a site plan to be approved before development. 

The data center campus, at 10375 Old Granbury Road, would contain five buildings and require approval to increase the maximum building height from 45 feet to 105 feet. 

The zoning case was originally scheduled to come before the commission May 8 but was pushed back twice at the request of the applicant, WUSF 5 Rock Creek East LP. 

While five commissioners voted to deny the proposal, Broderick Williams, who represents the district where the center is planned, was among three commissioners in favor of allowing the center. 

If council votes to allow the data center, it would not be the first of its kind in the area. A San Francisco-based company is constructing a three-building campus at the intersection of Aledo Road and Chapin School Road near Benbrook. The campus will cost $1.6 billion.

The city’s comprehensive plan, which guides zoning decisions, projects the land near Tarleton State to become mixed use. City staff felt that a data center would not match proposed future land use because of constraints that exist with data centers.

“A data center, we feel in our analysis, is a little bit antithetical to that,” said Brett Mangum, the case manager for the zoning proposal, at the July 10 work session. “They’re typically a closed campus. They generate very little in the way of employment or activity. So we felt that it was not really a compatible use for this particular site and may be better suited to somewhere else.”

Tarleton State University’s Fort Worth campus is pictured on May 24, 2024. (Alberto Silva Fernandez | Fort Worth Report)

Travis Clegg, the director of Westwood Professional Services and a representative for the owner and developer, said they held two public meetings about the proposed data center. 

In the presentation to the commission, Clegg spoke about certain misconceptions about their data center, which he said would not cause traffic or noise problems in the area.

“Our data centers have 40 decibels — that is the most noise coming from these data centers when the generators are running, and they only run their emergencies, and when they test them out,” Clegg said. “The current sound based on the gas wells and the (nearby) highway is 60 decibels.”

Several residents of the neighboring Panther Heights community spoke against the proposed rezoning. Kevin Schwan, a resident of Panther Heights, said traffic, light pollution and noise issues were legitimate concerns that had not been addressed.

“We’re a small neighborhood compared to these monster developments,” he said.

Another proposed rezoning in the area covered four tracks totaling over 420 acres around Panther Heights. Walton Texas LP, the owners of the property, are also represented by Westwood. 

The proposal asked the commission to approve the shrinking of the lot area, lot width and lot coverage to allow for more homes to be built on three of the four tracts. 

Both Walton Texas LP and WUSF 5 Rock Creek East LP purchased the land in September 2015.

The commission failed to approve the proposal, with five commissioners voting to effectively reject the plans. Broderick Williams also voted in favor of the proposal.

Both cases will be heard by City Council Aug. 13.

Ismael M. Belkoura is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.