PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Palm Beach County commissioners denied an application to expand Project Tango into a large-scale AI data center in Loxahatchee, but construction on the site is still moving forward under approvals granted in 2016.
The denial applies only to the new application for additional square footage.
WATCH OUR REPORT:
Original, smaller-scale plans approved a decade ago for a warehouse and data center can continue.
"We're talking about the application in front of us," Commissioner Gregg Weiss said during the Project Tango hearing. "This has nothing to do with what was approved previously."
The Wednesday hearing was nearly 12 hours long as county staff, Project Tango officials and members of the public shared their thoughts.
WPTV's Michael Hoffman has been covering the developments since December and was at Wednesday's meeting as commissioners came to a decision.
"I was hoping to hear some way to convince me that this new data center qualifies to be the same data center it was when it had its previous approval," Commissioner Marci Woodward said. "If anything I'm more convinced now than ever that it's not."
The application was denied without prejudice, meaning developers can still revise and resubmit it.
Ben Brown, HOA vice president of the Arden community next door, has been fighting the controversial project for months along with countless other residents.
Loxahatchee Acreage
County passes AI data center moratorium — but Project Tango is exempt
"Going on eight months that we've been really fighting hard against this," Brown said.
Brown said the scale of the project makes it incompatible with the surrounding area.
Among the concerns were heat produced from the center, water used to cool the systems, low-frequency noises that can reach nearby areas and more.
"Something that size has no business being next to an elementary school or residential community," Brown said, adding that the project would have been devastating for the area.
Brown is counting on a moratorium announced by County Mayor Sara Baxter last week, which puts a temporary pause on data center applications while staff works to establish new regulations governing large-scale data centers based on their impacts to infrastructure, resources and residents.
"I do think we need some thoughtful consideration of what potential guardrails could look like because nobody wants these in their backyard, and I fully understand that," Baxter said. "We hear you, we are starting this moratorium because we understand you have a lot of concerns."
Baxter said hundreds of emails from residents requesting the moratorium prompted the decision.
"My hopes are that instead of an outdated county planning and zoning policy that's over 40 years old, they actually look at the new technology and all the impacts that all these hyperscale data centers could and would have. And ultimately it would show that something like Project Tango or something that size has no place next to an elementary school or residential community," Brown said.
Any future Project Tango applications would have to comply with the new ordinances set by the county, which would potentially have stricter regulations.
"If they want to build some warehouses, God bless them, but nothing like a high-scale data center," Brown said.
Project Tango officials released a statement in response to the denial.
"We are disappointed with the commission's decision. We reconfirmed our commitment to all conditions asked of us associated with our request and we addressed concerns through in-depth technical studies and analysis. We remain committed to helping meet the region's growing critical infrastructure needs and will be taking time to evaluate our options moving forward," said Ernie Cox, PBA Holdings Inc. project manager.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
