Amazon Used a Startlingly Dirty Trick to Build a Data Center Without Consent of Community

Amazon exploited 45-year-old zoning laws in Gilroy, California, to build a 438,500-square-foot data center on 56 acres of former farmland without residents' knowledge for five years, according to the Wall Street Journal. A single city staffer approved the project, and residents only learned of it after construction began, prompting calls for changes to the approval process. Amazon Web Services president of economic development Roger Wehner acknowledged the company should have engaged the community sooner and has since hosted an open house.

A quiet war is playing out in rural communities across the country. City council meetings are bursting into conflict https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ctiy-council-data-center as local residents try to keep AI data centers out of their backyards. Americans are starting to see through the promises of tech companies and the local politicians they’ve wooed, realizing https://futurism.com/future-society/city-council-meeting-case-against-data-center that the advantages of hosting a resource-hogging data center in the neighborhood are slim. Yet tech giants are finding creative — and sometimes startlingly dirty — new ways to circumvent local opposition in their quest to build out these sprawling facilities. As the Wall Street Journal reports https://www.wsj.com/us-news/how-amazon-built-a-data-center-in-a-california-town-without-anyone-noticing-8610bb67?st=tdRRxh&reflink=desktopwebshare permalink , Amazon exploited 45-year-old zoning laws in Gilroy, California, to start construction on a data center without any residents knowing for five entire years. “Many if not most residents first learned about this project after construction had already begun,” local elementary-school teacher Coleen Crew told the town’s recent council meeting, as quoted by the WSJ . A single city staffer, the community’s development director, greenlit Amazon’s 438,500-square-foot data center, which spans 56 acres of former farmland. The ancient zoning criteria allowed industrial development along the location on a local freeway. Gilroy’s mayor was surprised his constituents suddenly wanted a say. “It didn’t bother them that a food-distribution center came to Gilroy without their engagement, but now it bothers them that a data center is coming to Gilroy without them having the possibility of engagement,” he told the WSJ . There are plenty of reasons why residents would be against Amazon’s latest project. Data centers are a massive resource hog and have been known to raise electricity prices https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/data-centers-electricity-ai-public-utility-rates , spike local greenhouse gas emissions https://futurism.com/future-society/ai-data-centers-air-pollution-generators-worse , generate ear-splitting noise https://futurism.com/science-energy/data-center-screeching-noise-house , and taint water supplies https://futurism.com/health-medicine/meta-ai-data-center-pathogen-bacteria-water . They are not typically major job creators https://futurism.com/future-society/data-center-economics-job-labor-construction-ai . In short, likening it to a “food-distribution center” isn’t exactly a fair comparison. Amazon Web Services president of economic development Roger Wehner told the WSJ that the company “followed standard approval processes for an industrially zoned parcel,” but acknowledged that it should’ve recognized the community’s desire for “more engagement sooner.” “We’ve since met directly with residents and hosted an open house to hear feedback and answer questions,” he added. City officials are now wondering whether to change the approval process in ways that would force developers to hold community meetings and engage with residents. When resident Rosa Rodriguez found out about the project, she asked city staff in February to publicly comment on an environmental review report, citing concerns over the drought the region is facing. But planners shut her down, telling her the comment period had closed back in September 2024, long before she knew about the project’s existence. Amazon has since tried to win over the public, touting a new wastewater pipeline, tax revenue, construction jobs, and even the sponsorship of the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. However, frustrated residents weren’t mollified, demanding to at least be made aware of big unfolding projects like the data center. More on data centers: AI Data Centers Are Causing Unfathomable Amounts of Air Pollution, and It Gets Worse With Each New One They Build