HAYS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT
Hays County Commissioners Court held a public workshop regarding the proposed Cloudburst Data Center, which would be located at 2955 Francis Harris Lane in New Braunfels. The center would be in both Hays and Guadalupe counties. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra made it clear that the center will be built, and the commissioners court cannot do anything about that.
“This is going to pass. It’s going to get approved,” Becerra said. “There’s nothing we can do about it.”
Public comment for the item was composed of citizens that were against the data center for various reasons, the majority of which were focused on its use of large amounts of water during a drought.
Jennifer Lindsey is a resident of the neighborhood that the data center would be developed in.
“Most residents in our community have resided on these lands for generations, and our families pride themselves on keeping them for future generations. Central Texas is experiencing continued strain from persistent drought, rising temperatures year after year, and the duration of these temperatures is lasting longer and longer. We don’t need AI to survive. We need the natural resources that data centers rapidly and consistently consume,” Lindsey said. “This development is wrong for our neighborhood, our community at large and the state of Texas. We have not been acknowledged by Cloudburst or given any means of making connection with them.” Cynthia Thompson, Cloudburst cofounder and director, said that data centers are considered critical infrastructure because “without data centers, you can’t have commerce.” She added that she understood that people didn’t want it in their neighborhood, but “it has to go somewhere.”
Thompson said Cloudburst would be using Crystal Clear and existing wells as its water source.
“We’re in the middle of our water study right now, so I can’t give you exact answers on water. We’re working on it, and we’re working with Crystal Clear on it to help us determine how much water we will utilize in our first phase, which is a 50 megawatt [for] one building. And we will be elite LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] certified, [which evaluates a building’s environmental impact].”
Thompson said, though the building is in a floodplain, there will be three retaining ponds on site.
Thomspon said that the plan for the company was to have a net zero facility, but this has been made impossible due to Texas laws.
“The state of Texas said, ‘We want data centers; but we need them to find their own electricity, so they don’t take the power from their local communities,’” Thompson said. “So we were forced to look at a gas plant rather than pulling the power and buying green energy off the grid.”
Thompson addressed some of the ways that the data center will conserve resources.
“Everything we do inside … our data center will be recycled materials, reusable materials. We’ll recycle all of our water,” she said. “Our data center is planned around conserving as much water as possible using the latest technology for power that uses less water than has been done. In the future, we’re open to reclaimed water; anything we can do to help the community, we’re for that.”
Thompson responded to public comments related to dielectric fluid and the concerns that it would contaminate the ground.
“It is true that we’ll use a dielectric fluid, and that’s because it can go around the chips that actually run the data center; It circles the chips and cools them that way,” she said. “I have not seen any studies that show us that there are massive leaks, and even if there is a leak, it leaks into the data center; it doesn’t leak out into the field. So it’s something that can be cleaned up on site.”
Thompson said it will be a 96-acre site “Over 30% of our property we’re reserving for wildlife and hopefully a park area; The committee will be working with the commissioners on that,” she said. “I think it is definitely an added benefit to the community.”
Marcus Pacheco Development Services Director explained that the county only has the power to enforce flood damage prevention requirements not to zone or regulate land use restrictions.
“Based on the material presented to us — the documents, all supporting information — if it meets our requirements, we have an administrative authority to approve the … the flood housing permit,” he said.
Hays County Commissioner Walt Smith clarified what that means.
“I think that there’s a big misconception out there that we approve permits for these things,” Smith said. “We have what’s called, under state law, … a mandate for approval. So if we have regulations out there, and any developer — this developer, housing development, anything — meets those minimum regulations, then, by state law, we are required, within 30 days, to review those and approve them.”
Hays County Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe addressed much of the public comment stating that people have been unable to contact representatives at Cloudburst.
“I hope this is the first step to … have our lines of communication open to our residents,” Ingalsbe said. “You heard them say that they have not been contacted, and you know that’s important. We really need to ensure that we are communicating with them and answering their questions.”
