Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Just so everyone knows, there is a sheet at the podium when you go to speak for public comment. You may sign your name then. Thank you. There's extra seats down the hall in the overflow room if you need a chair.

Mikes are going live.

good afternoon everyone i'd like to welcome you to the may 20th planning commission meeting madam city clerk roll call please thank you the agenda was posted in accordance with nevada open meeting law and all members are present thank you if you could please stand and join me in the pledge indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Our first item is public comment. As a reminder, this first public comment is for matters on the agenda tonight. There's a three minute time limit. I also want to remind the public that both of the items on the agenda tonight are public hearings, so we are required to open public comment under both of those items as well. So just due to time and the number of people, we want everybody to have the opportunity to speak. So if you speak in the first open public comment, and unless you have new points to make, we ask that you do one or the other. The first item on the agenda. So I will open public comment. Please come to the stand and state your name for the record.

My name here, right? Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for your time. My name is Amanda Knuckles, and I have been a resident of Clark County the vast majority of my life. I am here tonight to urge the Planning Commission to reject the proposal for the 88.5 acre town site solar to AI data center. Boulder City has been a clean, green oasis in the desert all of my life, a place I have fond memories of attending art festivals, car shows, gem and mineral shows, enjoying lunch, antique shopping, and the friendly, quiet sanctuary of a town with clean air a short drive from my home in Henderson, just the other side of the Mojave Valley where this project is being proposed. Boulder City has always protected the town's history, small town charm, and natural resources through measured, deliberate growth. This proposal represents a massive, irreversible shift in how Clark County uses our public land bringing industrial scale strains that simply do not align with the values necessary in a desert environment. Looking at the sheer scale of what is being asked, this 170 megawatt facility would demand massive amounts of energy, covering 88 and 1⁄2 acres of space. Even if the developer buys power from the Oakman market via the Mead substation, injecting this level of continuous high-density demand into our regional ecosystem places an immense burden on an already strained power grid, all at a time when southern Nevada is facing record summer heat and skyrocketing utility costs. My key point here is that we do not have the water for this, period. Finally, thousands of residents have already signed a petition against this project because it is agreed that this process is proverbially putting the cart before the horse. This coming November, the voters of Boulder City will cast their ballots on question one to decide whether data centers should even be an approved land use in the valley. Forcing this specific 88 and a half acre project through the land management process before the community has had the chance to democratically voice its stance on data centers is entirely wrong and undemocratic. Please, let's protect our resources, respect the upcoming public vote, and keep Boulder City true to its heritage. Please vote no on advancing this project. Thank you.

Good evening, members of the Planning Commission. My name is Julie and I live right down the road next door in Henderson. I heard a statistic that for every constituent phone call that a representative receives, that call is counted as five calls. How much greater is the multiplier for constituents showing up in person to meetings or for those giving public comment? To look around and acknowledge the public, your constituents in this room today represent a fraction of the number of people who feel the exact same way but were unable, unaware, or too afraid to speak up i also recently heard a political candidate speaking about their role as a representative of us and their responsibility is to us to listen to our needs learn what's important to us and what we need from them and then they must support policies which support the things for which we have asked With all that in mind, I find it perplexing that the same conversation about data centers is on repeat, not just here in Boulder City, but across the state and this nation, because in all conversations I've heard between friends, family, and neighbors, and the community members at town halls and Canada events, documentaries I've watched, I have not heard one regular person say they supported data center development, not in our town, our state, or our country. So again, we the people are coming... to all of you, our elected officials, to plead our case for not allowing this data center to be developed. You are being pressured by corporations who want to come in and build these data centers for their own greed. They don't care about creating jobs for the people or the damage they're doing to the environment. They are coming to you to take advantage of the nationwide environmental deregulation climate that has been the hallmark of the current regime in Washington. There isn't one scientific organization which says the AI data centers are good for the environment, the air we breathe, our water supplies, the health of our bodies or our minds. AI technology has been pushed on all of us, not just locally, but nationally and around the world. And there aren't studies or evidence that AI has a positive benefit to us as individuals or a society. On the contrary, It causes job loss, less educated human population, mental health crises, and let's not forget the push for mass surveillance. All these struggles we are facing today are taking us down the path towards being controlled by the few billionaires at the top. Data centers are a central piece of the groundwork being laid for real life dystopia, similar to what exists in books like 1984, The Hunger Games, and The Handmaid's Tale. There is no reason to put a data center in the middle of a desert. during a multi-decade drought, intentionally adding to the strain on our energy infrastructure. Town Center Solar should stick with their original plan to develop solar and battery energy storage systems which are in line with the current zoning for clean energy related uses. When we take back our government from the billionaire dictators, let's not regret decisions we made during the most devastating time in American history with regard to the rolling back of environmental standards and goals. Just because we don't have responsible humans in Washington doesn't mean that we shouldn't show responsibility ourselves at the state and local level. What do you want to be remembered for during your tenure at the Planning Commission? Thank you so much for your time.

Greetings, Planning Commission. My name is Adam Schultes, and I'm running for City Council. In fact, I'm the only candidate that is 100% anti-data center. I respectfully urge that you, the Commission, carefully reconsider approval of this closed-loop data center proposal due to its long-term impacts on infrastructure, sustainability, community character, and public accountability. While developers often describe closed-loop data centers as efficient or self-contained, the reality is that all these facilities can still place enormous burdens on local resources while providing limited benefits to the residents. These projects are designed primarily to serve private corporate interests, not the long-term needs of the surrounding community, that is Boulder City. First, data centers consume extraordinary amounts of electricity. Even so-called closed-loop systems require constant cooling, backup power for infrastructure, and large-scale energy distribution. These constrain regional power grids, and increase energy cost. Second, closed-loop systems are often presented as environmentally friendly because they recycle water. However, these systems require significant water input and chemical treatment. In our drought-prone region, a proven water intensive industrial data center sends the wrong message about responsible resource stewardship. Third, these facilities frequently generate less economic value than promised. This is really important. According to Harvard University, building a data center takes about 12 to 18 months. but construction laborers are usually unionized and not from Boulder City. Let's be honest, come on. I mean, really. Once up and running, often only 20 people are needed to run a medium-sized data center like the one that is being proposed. So in conclusion, a project that consumes enormous energy and infrastructure capacity while producing limited local benefits should not be approved. What's it going to be, Planning Commission? You're going to sell your souls to the devil by approving this data center? Or are you going to do the right thing by shouting from the rooftops of Boulder City and for the people of Boulder City and say no to data centers?

Hello.

My name's Doug Smith.

I thought I'd put some numbers on things. So Hoover Dam normally puts out 2,005 megawatts. But because the water level's low, we're doing about a third less than that now. This summer, the water level's likely to get low enough they'll have to set down 11 generators, leaving seven. Then we're down to 300 megawatts. That's enough for Boulder City. We get 20 megawatts from them. However, another problem is going to happen. The piping in the dam does not have expansion joints like many do. When the water level reaches 76.8 degrees, the pipes will start to expand so much they might buckle. They've got to start to shut it down. That could happen this summer if we have a warmer than normal summer, which I think we are. So that's a problem. At that point, we get our electricity from the dam at low market rates. And if the dam shuts down, then we have to buy it on the open market, the same market as the data center. So I just estimate, not including data center, that our rates will go up about double here in Boulder City if that happens. Water won't be a problem. We're upstream of the dam, and our straw is way below the dead pool. So water won't be a problem for us, but electricity will. so i just thought i'd bring that by the way i'm electrical engineer i've got my first engineering license at age 16 back in 1963 and i've been an engineer ever since then but i just thought i'd put some numbers on it but uh we're going to be short of electricity around here and it could happen as early as this summer thank you thank you mr smith before um anybody else approaches the um stand madam city clerk do we have a caller on the line yes we do okay

Thank you for holding. Go ahead.

Yes, I'm ready. Now, the data center, they could have solar panels as well. Yes, they could have.

Can you state your name for the record, sir?

David, D-A-V-I-D. Pitterman is spelled P. It's in Penguin. I-T-T-E-R-M-A-N.

Thank you.

For the data center, they could have solar panels that look to the factory Luz, L-U-Z, that makes solar panels as well. mr pitterman this is public comment and we don't have conversations or answer questions at this time yes they could even have yours directly sound like to the solar panels as well even windmills for generating electricity and a purpose of a data center is to make sure people behave themselves on the internet

Thank you for your comments, Mr. Pitterman. I'll continue public comment. Is there anybody in the audience that wants to come forward?

okay my comment's a little bit different my name is jonna malore i have been a resident for 11 years um i'm giving you an analogy so and this is for item three um i worked in a pharmacy for a small town in two in the 2000s for almost 11 years It was a known fact that drug companies paid their reps well to not ask or share information with doctors that might affect their choice to prescribe a drug. Their job was to tout the virtues of the drug. It was also their job to sometimes incentivize the doctors to prescribe a drug. Fentanyl and Oxycontin were introduced this way. Reports have shown the drug companies were well aware these drugs were highly addictive, but they chose to push them anyway. Sometimes drug reps would take pharmacists out for dinners and gave them gifts, and they used it as an opportunity to teach us about why we should allow, that we should accept these prescriptions and not question them. This later became against the law. Doctors wrote the prescriptions, pharmacists filled them, and all seemed well until many people became addicted They had been assured by the doctors the drugs were safe, so they used them. By the time they were addicted, it was too difficult to turn around. It was costly to get treatment, and in some cases, it was just too difficult, and some of the people that I knew killed themselves because of it. This is what we see. If it is recommended to the city council, not that we're gonna kill ourselves, If it is recommended to the City Council to accept the change to the land use to allow data centers We are being told it may never be used this way but the wooing is strong and we do know that it is being pushed and that there you know, we have a we don't have a line we have a a company and that wants to build a data center. And we are very much against it because of the effects it'll have on the environment. And by the time it gets built and it is pushed through, there's not going to be any way we can do anything about it. And that's not OK. So anyway, there we go.

Good afternoon. I'm Carol Schulteis. I've been a resident here for 35 years. I love Boulder City. And everybody's told you about the concerns so far that they have regarding these data centers. And it's not just about whether they're in the transfer zone or they're right there on our border. We don't want them at all. And since I've been studying these data centers, I've also been studying the movements of what's going on behind the scenes. I'm sorry. I'm nervous. I'm not good at speaking. That's why I try to call in. And that doesn't work for me. I just have a picture I want to show you guys and can you please maybe at the end of this address this because you have a ballot question for data centers. And this is a different data center. And then we see the land being groomed already for one up in Henderson on the border. And then I found this. On the internet. I don't know if it's a surprise to you, but it says it's a zone for the industrial. And it's in Henderson. But isn't that the Boulder City property that was annexed that you guys determined the use for? So are we fighting one, two, three, or four? It's just very upsetting because I love this town. I'd do anything to help this town. Please don't do this to Boulder City.

We'll take the caller. Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am. You can come up after this caller.

Public comment, go ahead.

Hello. Public comment may help you.

Please don't do this. Hello. Hi. Hi, can you mute the background, please?

your computer so we can hear it.

Hi, if you could state your name and speak your comments.

Yes. This is Jasmine Lazaro. I'm a family nurse practitioner. I treat patients in this community, and I'm... I'm sorry. Hold on. Hi, is this better?

Yes.

Yes. My name is Jasmine Lazaro. I'm a family nurse practitioner. I treat patients in this community, and I'm calling in today because I am sick, but I wanted to make my voice heard because I know so many people who share the same sentiment. What is being proposed in Boulder City is not just a land use decision. It is a public health decision and the wrong one. Southern Nevada is already under Tier 1 Colorado River water shortage restrictions. Lake Mead has dropped 160 feet since 2000. We are already rationing. We are already cutting. And projections indicate conditions will worsen. Data centers consume water at a scale that is difficult to comprehend. Facilities across Southern Nevada used more than 716 million gallons in 2024 alone. One Google building in Henderson used 352 million gallons from the Colorado River from the same shrinking supply every household, every clinic, and every child in this valley depends on. And we have already seen what corporate self-regulation looks like here. Tesla was fined in Nevada for illegally discharging groundwater into storm drains, violating state water pollution law. These are not hypothetical risks. They are documented violations in our state. As a healthcare provider, I am trained to identify threats before they become crises. Dehydration, heat illness, sanitation failure in a desert city already under shortage restrictions. These are not distant outcomes. They are logical ones. Our water, our land, and our public investment belong to the people who live here. not to corporations storing data while our reservoir drains. No to data centers, and yes to healthcare centers. No to data centers, and yes to more educational centers. My name is Jasmine, and I am asking you to choose people over data centers. Thank you.

You can come forward. Thank you.

Hello, Planning Commission. My name is Kathleen McGarrity. The McGarrity family have been residents in Boulder City for over 30 years, and I have personally permanently resided here for over 12. where to start in this but i realize time is short and it's a privilege to follow carol and jocelyn there is lengthy discourse online and this doesn't include the petition that has close to 6 000 verified signatures that are against building a data center in boulder city However, several of the threads online have comments that are very insightful. Residents coming forward in large numbers and in solid expression 98% of it in opposition of data centers. For example, a day ago someone wrote about the removal of all elected Boulder City politicians who in any way support the development of data centers in the drought-stricken Boulder City Lake Mead area. This is a message that must be sent loud and clear, exclamation point. There is no case to be made for this effort. except perhaps corporate greed. We must protect the future of Boulder City and families. There is no water to be squandered on data center efforts. Greedy politicians spouting a bunch of corporate sponsored talking points must be stopped before they are even started. So what I want to ask the commission, and I realize you're not answering questions right now, is given the tremendous quantity of water usage and the established knowledge, public knowledge, that we are in a drought crisis, of which Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum flew and had a meeting with the various governors of the southwestern states. And incidentally, has that information been made available to the public? Given all of this, and the thought that the public is thinking, now again, this is just what the public is thinking. They're thinking that this is moving forward anyway, and these meetings are perfunctory. They're thinking that it's a legal requirement to have these meetings, but that it's a said and done deal, and that their voices don't matter. i was hesitant to come here and speak up but a woman spoke with me today and while i am not putting myself by any means in the category of the great martin luther king she pointed out to me that at the time he did not realize necessarily the impact he might have regarding freedoms and the protections that he fought for so your constituents citizens who pay to elect the elected officials in Boulder City and Henderson are speaking to you by the thousands. Miss Garrity, if you could wrap it up, your time's up, please. Okay, very good, very good. All that I would like to ask is in three to six months or one to three months, will it be announced that there's a state of emergency regarding water here? And is this data center really going forward? Because I don't know how that's justifiable. I don't know how you juxtapose those elements together. Thank you very much.

We have a caller, so if people in the audience could just wait, please. Thank you. Go ahead.

Public comment. Go ahead.

Good evening. For the verbatim record, Fred Volz. Item number two represents a constructive addition to the community. Limiting irrigation to drip systems would be a worthwhile insertion to the proposed wording. Regarding item number three, the Planning Commission needs to reject adding the proposed data center to the land management process. Despite changes to versions of the sketchy proposal, Boulder City has no factory-type installations of this size and scope. This project was sprung on residents as a done deal beginning in late March after eight months of private discussions between the city and the project promoters. The promoters spent some $5.5 million by February 2026 to arrange for a power connection to their project when nothing had been approved by the city. The promoters have no experience running data centers anywhere. The two public meetings did not allow those present to hear from the promoters in a question and answer format before all present, but carved up the public into small groups who heard different things from different people at dispersed easel displays. As drought continues to impact water and electric supplies throughout the West and Midwest, the power needs of this data center will be competing with the existing residents and businesses in Boulder City for purchased power on the spot market. Hoover and Glen Canyon dams can no longer be relied on for most of our low cost power. Higher rates loom large. Disposal of spent coolant from the proposed closed loop cooling system presents more challenges. For a 400,000 gallon cooling system to allegedly need only 2,000 gallons a year, a blowdown does not reflect chemical compounds that naturally build up than the regular addition of antifreeze blends, biocides, scale inhibitors, acidity alkalinity adjusters, oxygen scavengers, metal inhibitors, stabilizers, and surfactants. How will this toxic liquid be remediated before being dumped into our David City sewer system? No plan has been presented. Other localities with ample power and water, plus a welcoming community, can house such data centers. It is an inappropriate land use in Boulder City few people want. Thank you.

My name is Fred Dexter. I've been in Boulder City as a resident property owner for 25 years. I'd like to approach this data center from a slightly different angle than the other people who have spoken. I was very happy to hear the caller's remarks just now. Very well educated. Why are we even considering it? Money. El Dorado Valley is our bank. We can put other things there, more solar panels, that are not so controversial or damaging. We could save it a little bit for the future. We don't have to use it up all right away. But getting a data center just so Boulder City could have more money is a really bad idea, and nobody wants it. Thank you.

Thank you for letting me speak. My name is Autumn McGrath. I moved here five years ago from Henderson. I lived in Summerlin for 12 years and Henderson for 12 years and now five years in Boulder City. And unlike some of the other commenters, I'm not really crazy about it, to be honest. I've been talking to a lot of locals. I own a small business here and I know a lot of people. The number one remark is how painful and heartbreaking it is to be from here and grow up here and watch it change and watch all the People come from California and ruin everything and putting in needle exchanges. They're losing the town that they grow up in, but it's almost an equal punishment to move here because of things like this. The average resident is busy, exhausted, and understandably disengaged from local politics. It is not laziness. It is not a fault. It is a survival. People are consumed with their immediate families and needs. No one is interested in coming through the minutes of a city council meeting. And the people that do come to these and the people that are involved in local politics like most of the people in this room. They really do exist inside of their own echo chambers. All of their friends think the same. The news doesn't spread to the outside community. I was watching a documentary about Abilene, Texas and the largest data center place in our country. Nobody knew when it started. That's what every small town in all of these documentaries All of the residents say the same thing. They didn't know when it was starting. Nobody knows. It's always like behind your back. Boulder City residents were not properly informed about this massive project and the council failed its duty of due diligence. The social media post on Instagram announcing that this process is transparent after several protests and a massive petition had already gained over 5,000 signatures, that was pretty cringeworthy. You have been sold into an intoxicating expert level corporate sales pitch. And as a Mag of America first person, I'm very familiar with the sales pitch about national security, the race in AI against China, unleashing American energy, removing restrictions, being number one. The AI race with China, national security, that stuff sells really well. Especially, well, the grim reality will hit later. Across the country, these data center salesmen are taking advantage of easy to roll over gullible small towns. There will never be an end. They will always want more. This first project is just a foot in the door to turn Nevada into the next Virginia. They build in clusters. They will never build just one. And then back, the resources have been touched on enough. So water is more important than a volatile AI industry. we already suffer from summer rolling blackouts and high utility rates your time's up if you could just wrap it up in the next couple seconds please managed by inept office this deal grants long-term tax abatements to a mega corporation while forcing residents to foot the bill through increased rates the promised 25 to 40 jobs will not go to locals they will bring in their own people and then the rest of my comments your time's up is all about the wildlife thank you we have somebody on the phone if uh please

Public comment. Go ahead.

Hello there. My name is Tommy Love. I'm a registered nurse and a community health care worker who loves Boulder City deeply. I am calling because this affects every person in the Valley, and I'm using my voice to ask you not to approve the data centers in Boulder City. The community is already living under a Tier 1 Colorado River water shortage restriction, which means that it reduces Nevada's water consumption every year by 20,000 acres per year. That's not sustainable already. Our neighbors are being asked to pull their grass, shorten their showers, and stretch every drop. And now we're being asked to prove an 88-acre data center campus right next to the reservoir that supplies almost all of our drinking water. This infrastructure is not here to help people. It is here to monitor them. It exists to collect and store data on the very communities being asked to sacrifice their water for it. We should be putting this land towards resources that actually serve the people who live here. Affordable housing, community health, local jobs, and real accountability. These data centers are not for the community. They're for the corporations and the billionaires behind them who will never have to live with what they leave behind. They take the water, they use the land, and we have to pay and live with these consequences. Think of what we could build with this community land of 88 acres. Think of how many people we could help and the things we could accomplish. Boulder City and the Valley deserves better. Thank you so much for your time.

Madam City Clerk, is there another caller? Come forward, please.

Hi, my name is Bryn Delormier, and I am respectfully asking you to reject the proposal for town site two and agenda item three. Frankly, most of us are here because nobody wants this. We've heard from numerous politicians who have come here to Boulder City to show their support for their hopeful future constituents, and I know you are not the council, but we are all frustrated and curious as to why our own council, who we elected, are not listening to so many of their own constituents. The change.org petition I started not even two months ago has 5,911 signatures as of this moment. And the city on their website and in talking to them and talking to the applicant, they've said things such as, well, they'll just go next door to Henderson. And while I Don't think data centers belong anywhere in southern Nevada in the Mojave Desert in the second fastest warming region in The United States and in the drought stricken Colorado River Basin well to them I'd ask if everyone else is jumping off a bridge would you do it and Boulder City has never accepted that mantra and as one example we're a historic town at our heart and soul and And one example of that is with respect to gambling. We've all said we just don't want it in this town, even though it's lucrative, it would bring a ton of money. And you can do it just right up the street at Railroad Pass, a five-minute drive away. We've said we don't care, we don't want it, bring it there. So that would be my response to them on just that one issue. And I'll come back to speak at the actual public hearing. So thank you all.

Hi, my name is Charabel Logg. So I wanted to start by saying something a little bit different. We're going to hear a lot of negativity tonight, and of course we are. This is a very rough subject. But I want to start by saying just how proud I am of Boulder City and all of its citizens. I have never seen people come together on a bipartisan issue in this way. We have thousands of people, no matter their political positions, coming together, people who I have seen literally threaten each other, stand side by side on this issue. saying no to data centers. So I am so proud of our people. I wish I could say I was proud of our council, but I am very disappointed in them. Please don't let me be disappointed in you guys. And sorry for my voice shaking. This is of course a very emotional thing. This is my home. And it is heartbreaking what is happening. And I've heard so many people from all around Boulder City say that they're not going to come speak up and they're not going to sign everything because they feel like it doesn't matter because it's a quote unquote done deal because city council is brushing us off. So what I want everyone to hear is your voice does still matter. It's not a done deal and complacency is where the real issue lies on this. Come up here, stand up, speak, even if you only come up and say your name and say no to data centers, that can be your entire speech and then you can go sit down. Whether it's AC or water, either one, it's going to be damaging. It is so much cheaper for these types of industries to just dump it back into the environment and pay a fee than it is to properly get rid of it. It doesn't matter whether it's Freon or water or literally, it could be root beer, and they're gonna figure out a way to damage the environment with it. It's how it always goes. And it's gonna damage tourism. I have heard so many tourists come through our town and talk about the beautiful views, and we want to just wreck them with a stupid center? Why? We're going to damage our long-term money from tourism. We're a highway town. If we keep up with this, we're just going to be a highway because there won't be a Boulder City left because everyone's going to leave because it's going to be too expensive, it's going to be too hot, and it will be a hellhole to live in. It is a beautiful town, and I love this place. and i don't want it to see i don't want to see it go down this route but we're going to our people should not be sold for pocket change our land shouldn't be sold for pocket change our health our water our electricity all of it shouldn't be sold for what is not going to be worth it and It doesn't matter if Henderson tries to build something. We can go over there and try to argue against Henderson, but like Bryn said, we're not gonna jump off a bridge just because someone else is going to, and we definitely shouldn't jump off first. So if Henderson tries to put something that's out here, then they do, and we're gonna fight it just as we're fighting this, and I hope we can be listened to. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Vincent. I've been a resident of Boulder City for six months. A few months back, my mother came to me with a song that she liked. And having just done some research, I immediately spotted it as a product of AI. Knowing buying that song would support data centers like the one being proposed now, I explained and pleaded as much as a 17-year-old could that we should cease all utilization of AI. This includes ChatGPT, Siri, Apple Intelligence, or any generative AI. This data center is primarily for it. Despite years ago AI being heralded as the future, it has done a net negative on society, and you can trust me on this as my generation has abused it. For social media clicks, cheating on assignments, and everything that is designed to better society and increase our intelligence, and it has done the opposite. Between AI art commissions for my friends and music for my family, AI takes human creativity out of its algorithm and produces slop, as most people call it. At the height of AI use, a single AI prompt could use up to 50 times the energy for a Google search. This data center will continue to perpetuate this problem. This should bring even more pause to the residents of the city. We are blessed to have the Hoover Dam, a true testament of human creativity and ingenuity and a true marvel. And it is ironic that this data center will leech off of it to make more videos and photos spreading misinformation and collecting and collating data for our AI overlords. Now for the physical problems of this modern brick eyesore. I walk to work on Boulder Parkway, and on my lunch breaks, it's cathartic to look upon the view and the vastness to the west and see the mountains. With the solar panel field already a blemish in that view, the city doesn't need another contemporary installation that's just a glorified cinder block of energy and water-sucking wastefulness. How do you think tourists would feel driving into Boulder City, historic Boulder City, and seeing that? Plain and simple, it subtracts from what Boulder City is known and is praised for. Third and the simplest of my points, what does this center actually provide for its citizens? I have not heard a single, single argument for why it should be here for the betterment of all 15,000 residents. The only thing I've heard is that it will generate 1.5 million for the city's budget every year, in addition to the 2.6 million for the lease in its first year. Boulder City gets 35% of its revenue from land leases, but I don't think it's worth it. History repeats itself. The last time we let outside big interests into Boulder City, it was the school board, and it tanked the performance of our school, which were the best in the state at the time. Why would we want this power creep to come up here? I can speak for a number of people, not even including those here at the protest that we don't want this. The consensus is no. Finally, in the 1930s, there was a checkpoint to get into Boulder City instituted by the government to keep outside elements out, certain undesirable ones. Now we don't have an official checkpoint. We are the checkpoint. We don't want this data center. The consensus is clear. Please vote no, and please do not let this disgusting data center be built in this city. Thank you.

Roseanne Rabiola-Milley, and the question is very, the issue. is very simple. The issue is the many versus the money. Now, if Boulder City's budget is in such bad shape I can show them a bunch of places, but nobody's interested in hearing what I have to say, and that's why I lost a job as public information officer. The truth has not been coming out. If I can talk to three people who are representing Town City number 217, what you call it, I don't care. And they all give me different answers. Is this storage? Are we having a lease for storage, energy storage, or are we building data centers? All I have to say is, no matter what you recommend tonight, you know darn well, yes or no, it's going to the council. And what has to happen, they have to understand. Is it the money? And I think they're getting really shortchanged big time. Or is it the money?

Thank you very much. Public comment, go ahead. Hello? Public comment.

Hello. My name is Jennifer Leavitt, and I have been a resident here in Boulder City for about 10 or 11 years. And of course, I'm going to be speaking on the data center like so many. I'd like to say to that young man who spoke, well done. Absolutely well done. That was outstanding. You know, just like so many of our other constituents here, I'm obviously absolutely against this data center. You've heard and will continue to hear, of course, there's a common sense that we already have limited water resources and the consideration of taxing them is absolutely, you know, taxing it even further is absolutely absurd. The damage by the forever chemicals. I've spoken at the city council meetings because I was an assistant project manager for a different company that used a closed-loop system, and I can say unequivocally it's not as simple as they're saying that it is. Those systems go down. They need maintenance. It's a regular part of it. Otherwise, they wouldn't need a maintenance team on site like all of them need, and those systems continue. they leach the chemicals into the environment around us. We've heard about the destruction of wildlife. The poor people who live in Nelson don't, and they live so close, they don't even have a voice in this, but none of that's being considered. You know, when I think about this, it's an issue that, you know, just like it's been said, the majority of constituents are coming out and they're saying, absolutely not. Yet we're being ignored and told that our voices don't matter, that there aren't enough of us speaking up. And as the numbers grow, I'm, you know, I wonder if about 6,000 people are enough voices yet. When these conversations are just being thrown by the wayside, when conversations quietly amongst citizens here, you know, it's under consideration. It's been researched and what the next step is. under the consideration of having the entire city council removed, which is our right, and it may be the option that we as the constituents step into. It doesn't need to be this ridiculous. I'm grateful our public servants do, like you guys do what you do, but the reality is, and it is absolutely undeniable, that the majority of the citizens and constituents in Boulder City are absolutely and vehemently against this. You know, when not one single community, as so many of us has researched this, not one community across the entire country has said, this has made our community better. This has made our environment better. This has made the people healthier. We all know when it's undeniable that the exact opposite is true. And it doesn't matter if it's these, quote unquote, newer types. The situation is still the same. And I'm just absolutely aghast at the fact that anyone would sit down on this council, elected or paid, right? Everybody in this audience on the phone and out in this room, they're the ones that have put people in that position.

I'm sorry? Your time's up. Thank you for your comments.

OK. I hope that this destruction isn't the destiny you guys want, because it's not the one we want.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Kendra and I'm a Boulder City resident. I went to the two open houses and I heard one thing. Trust us. Trust us that we'll handle the wastewater appropriately. Trust us. It's not going to make the environment that much hotter. Trust us. It won't hurt your power resources. You know, there are three kinds of people who say trust me. Common, cult leaders, and I guess corporations that build data centers. And in the past, I've learned that anybody who says trust me should not be trusted. I grew up over the hill in Henderson. And throughout my childhood, the corporations on Lake Mead were telling us, no, we're not releasing chemicals into the air every night. You're just coughing constantly and being kept up for hours as a child because of not our fault, it wasn't us. Today we know that in fact they were releasing chemicals over that valley. People in Cadence can't plant fruits and vegetables in their backyards because of what happened over 20 years ago. I don't want Boulder City to become like that. I have a 10-year-old daughter. I don't want to have to sit up at night like my mother had to with me at eight years old and watch me struggle to breathe because of what they were doing to our city. I don't want that to happen here. And I don't think that the people of Boulder City do either. We've been dismissed. We've been told that we don't understand. We've been told that we just need to read the research. And yet we continue to say, we don't want this. And I would remind the city council, who I hope is listening to this, that we're your employers. We, the people sitting in this chair, the 15,000 souls who call this place home, are your bosses. And we're telling you no. We don't want this. It's not worth the cost of our beautiful city. It's not worth the cost of our health. We all grew up here in Vegas, or many of us have, and we know what gambling looks like, and we're not willing to gamble with the health of our community and with our loved ones. So we ask you to say no, and we ask you to decide not to do this, because we don't trust them. We do trust, though, that they will always put profit over people every single time, and that's not something we want. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Amanda Farrar. I've lived in Southern Nevada for 26 years and I've been a resident of Boulder City for five years now. I left Las Vegas and moved to Boulder City seeking a different type of place, seeking a smaller community where people make different types of decisions as a group for the betterment of the community. I moved here to live in a place where the people running our town are concerned about keeping the small town character and charm and the history of our place. And I think that's why the majority of residents of Boulder City who have moved here from other places came here in the first place. And when I see that we have a city council, I understand that is not you guys, but that we have a city council that seems to be disregarding, blatantly disregarding what from all I see is the severe, the extreme majority will of the people, of the residents of the town, I can't believe it. I'm I'm really really surprised that this is happening in this place I know that corruption exists everywhere and I know that You know, there's a stereotype of politicians being bought off being bought out or I'm selling out communities for for cash or whatever it is. And I do have concerns that that is what's going on here. But another of the worst things that's happening is that none of us completely understand what the total ramifications of the building of a data center here can do over time. And I don't believe that it takes much time at all. for our environment to be impacted severely by the construction of something that is this large of a scale. I haven't done it yet, but I've been wanting to put together a map that shows the scale of the proposed data center overlaid over our historic district and our downtown area. I think it's, from what I've read, it's very shocking, the scale. and that it can dwarf areas of town that we think of as being large. I think that this decision is something that is best made with all of the information that is possible. If anybody were to do that, they would never make a decision. But making a decision without information such as impact on wildlife and actual impact of light pollution and what it's going to do to our low quantity of drinking water, which is already at dangerously low levels.

Ms. Farrar, your time is up. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate you listening. Thank you.

Anybody else?

Okay. Let this gentleman go first, and then we'll do the phone. Come on up, please.

Good evening, Commission, and good evening, residents of Boulder City.

You only address the Planning Commission. Thank you.

I appreciate it all the time. My name is Gabriel Cornejo. I'm running for Congress here in this district. And I wanted to present this idea because it's something I learned long ago, that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And I got this idea reaffirmed having lived in 11 cities across two countries, including some very small towns just like this, where I saw the Walton family come in and decimate the local population, the small businesses, the towns, because they were able to extrapolate their will on that community. And at this time, this data center seems very emblematic of that moment. In fact, I built a company to take on Amazon because I saw that same trajectory of that same dynamic being able to take place. And so at this moment when a lot of people are feeling like they're on the menu and this data center is not of the will of the people but of the will of the wealthy, What are we doing at this very moment to listen to these people? What are we doing to not put these people on the menu? Because that's exactly what they're expressing having been out in these cities, in these towns, at these doorsteps, at these gatherings. A lot of people feel like if we do not make a course correction that we are not going to have the community that I know that you all want to be a part of. But it's very important at this time that we really consider what is the dynamic at play because we are putting our water, we're putting our energy, we're putting our well-being all up for sale seemingly. That seems to be the sentiment because you guys are very popular today. I can't see an empty seat in the house, which is astounding. That tells you exactly what the young man iterated earlier, that things are that dire here, and people do not feel like they're being heard. And so I wanted to have you really consider your part in having compelled these people to feel like they are on the menu when you're supposed to be at the table for them. So that's it. Thank you.

Caller.

Public comment, go ahead. Hello.

Hello. Hi, my name is Thomas Remy. I'm 92 years old. I want to ask you not to approve data centers. We don't want them. Thank you.

Thank you.

hi good evening thank you for having us today and allowing us to be able to speak my name is besha torres i'm with the handmaids of las vegas i'm here on support of behalf all the constituents and citizens of boulder city here regarding the data center you've sat and you've listened to everything that everyone has shown concern of there's not really much i can repeat that hasn't been said already so in the sake of repetitiveness i just have one thing that i would like to address to you guys and that would be michael nakisha tammy steve steve tony laureen matt beth and kevin shame on you shame on you for not listening to your citizens for not listening to the people of boulder who are concerned about their health and their well-being and the land and the community here i came here over 20 years ago and boulder city has been a refuge for me because it reminded me of where i lived previously where my grandkids enjoy coming to the 4th of July water parades and to the Christmas electric light parades and all the different jubilees and things that you guys do here for the community. These things will be affected in addition to that, not only for the citizens of Boulder City, but also for the rest of Vegas and those that come here and are a part and bring revenue and bring our bodies here to come and help celebrate with you guys. So I'm asking today, vote no on data centers in Boulder City and in Nevada across the board.

Hello.

My name is Terry Adamick and I came here to listen but now I feel like I need to speak. I picked up the packet at the back of the room and I've been kind of glancing through it while you guys have been listening to all the statements and I have as well. But I noticed that there's three possibilities. Recommend approval recommend amended approval recommend denial And I hope you choose recommend denial, but I also notice that on the back of this page There's only one resolution and it's for approval and I'm wondering why there's nothing here for denial. I Another thing that I noticed when I was flipping through there is that there's a plan to put in a water pipe that carries, I think it was 1,000 gallons per minute. They say that it's for extinguishing fires, but they also say that they're going to use fire retardants and foams and whatnot. So why do they need such a large water pipe to go there if that's the case? And that's pretty much all I have to say, just two things I noticed. Thank you.

Hello, everybody. God bless you guys. You are here listening. That's what you're here doing, right? Okay. My name is Nick Ariotti. I'm a 38-year resident. I'm probably the first citizen to find out about the data center since I drew most of the conceptuals. I want to speak in favor of Mr. Lammers and Skylar Opportunities being absolutely truthful. I've been working with them for the better part of a decade, probably over a decade. The first thing Rick said to me when this came up about a year and a half ago or more was, give it to me straight, tell me. Anything you think that could be negative, tell me what's gonna be negative. I wanna make sure the community's protected and this thing goes in without a hitch and everybody is happy. We wanna make sure that the, first off, safety. That's the most important thing. And I told them, look, I am not going to support this if it uses potable water. Flat out, I do not want it using potable water. We can't, in the desert, use potable water for that. There's alternatives, which that's what they've got. They've got a closed loop system. And I'm sure there's going to be a containment barrier so that if it has a spill, it's not going to get drained down to the lake. It's far from the city. We need to stay up with the technology. We gotta keep pushing forward like we have been. Back when I was a young kid, they wanted to build a gas-fired power plant out there, right? People at the credit union, oh, it's gonna pollute, it's gonna do this, it's gonna do that. It got built, and I haven't seen a bit of pollution, right? It's a great, it turned out to be a great thing for the city. All the solar fields, I was involved in every single solar field the construction and all the leases from the very first one up into the latest ones so i just want to say that we have to be open-minded to this and you know there rick lammers and schuyler opportunities is going to do everything they can to protect it there he's he's trying to do it as if it was in his own backyard which is not in our backyard it's out in the elder auto valley it's miles away You know, I'm sworn to protect the public as a professional land surveyor with boundary lines. It's black and white, right? I'm not going to come up here and just lie for money. There's no amount of money that can get me to change the boundary lines of somebody's property. You just can't pay me enough. I've been offered, trust me. There's a certain Disneyland house in town that I was offered, but I didn't take it. You know, it's like, it's black and white. I can't do that. It's against my oath, okay? I just want... Actually, I'm really... The community here coming together and their conviction is actually... I commend them for that. But there's a lot of false and misinformation out there. This isn't about a company trying to get rich. This is... Hey, OK. OK.

Audience, please.

Is any business trying to be profitable? If it's not profitable, it fails, right? So let's just give it a chance to find out. Thank you, Mr. Ariadne.

We appreciate your comments. If we could please be respectful of all speakers, we'd appreciate it. Everybody should have the equal opportunity to speak.

Okay.

So, hi. My name is Jim Swan. I moved here last year, pretty early in the year. And I'd like to talk about how, you know, there's going to be serious economic and environmental repercussions from the building of this data center, especially in the, you know, what, 176 metric tons of e-waste that's going to happen. But what I'm actually going to talk mostly about is I moved here from the Gulf Coast. I've seen a lot of natural disasters. I've seen a lot of hurricanes. I was there in Galveston when it froze. A lot of that is from our failing grid. It's not keeping up with technology. And I was at a lecture just a few years ago where they were talking about how the grid's not keeping up with electric cars. It's just not. The grid keeps going down. We keep seeing rolling blackouts in more places that never happened before. A data center is only going to add to this. I've seen people die. I've seen people lose their lives. I've lost neighbors because of blackouts. Don't let that happen here. And that's it.

How are you all doing today? My name is Todd Sanford. Rick Lambers and Nick Arriotti are my partners. They asked me to speak today. I worked for US Robotics, 3Com, and Megahertz for 15 years. I was a developer of 3G wireless, 4G wireless, 5G wireless. been to 130 countries doing homologations. And the thing that I wanted to say is that technology is not invented anymore. It evolves. US Robotics, Ericsson, Motorola, Intel, all the giants, we already know the technology. We already know where it's going, and it's a race to who gets the standard, who homologates it. And if you're not on the technology wave, you're off it. And I do understand there's pros and cons to being technology has its doom scroll. Hopefully, God will forgive me for that. But when things are developed, this is something that could be $2 million a year for our city. And it's safely located away. Rick Lammers polished Nick and I quite a bit and taught us about how things work. they go through such a thorough process. They check for ground fractures, a whole slew of things to protect the environment. When we're out surveying, sometimes we can't even bring vehicles because of the turtles. And we have to follow all of those rules, and they will be. It's something that's neatly tucked away that will put us in the evolution and on the wave of technology. It's just something that, when the men built America, Carnegie, JP Morgan, Rockefellers, they weren't bad people. They were competing against each other. The Pony Express got replaced by the railroad, and it's been just evolving. Then steel, then AC. It was taken out, you know, oil, gas invented, all these things. This is an inevitable path that I think we need to be on. And I very much support this. And if you guys have any questions in the future about technology and how this process can work, we would love to meet and talk about that. Thank you for your time today.

Hello, my name is Josh Woods. I'm here as a representative of IBW Local 357, that is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. We represent 4,200 members in Southern Nevada, 35 of which those families live right here in Boulder City. IBW jobs being livable wages, wages you can raise a family on, it gives your family and yourself health and welfare, and it gives you respectable pension plans. so that you can retire in dignity. For all these reasons, we support the data center here in Boulder City. Thank you for your time.

Anybody else wishing to speak in the initial public comment? Remember, there is a public hearing where we will open for public comment as well.

so some yes uh... good evening righty well my name is mary venable i live in boulder city and have since uh... nineteen eighty two i have a few points that uh... i have questions about uh... and generally at this point i'm against the data center and my questions will demonstrate why I know jobs is one thing that everybody is in favor of but I I don't believe a whole lot of those temporary construction jobs or the How many let's see 25 to 40 technicians might actually be Boulder City residents. I I have some comments about the closed, or questions, I should say, about the closed-loop system. The city's website says the heat generated by the servers is contained and managed inside the buildings. Those buildings are going to be 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit pretty soon. I'm being facetious. But, of course, they're talking about a closed-loop system. A closed-loop system still rejects heat somewhere. They're talking about the air-cooled chillers that are typically used in large buildings. They do reject the heat to the outdoors. They just use an air system. The refrigerant is run over fans, and the heat is rejected to the outside, so the heat is not contained within the buildings. a misstatement that shouldn't be on the city's website. Those systems still use some kind of refrigerant, and there are many different kinds of refrigerant, but they all have global warming potential. They all leak, as a previous speaker mentioned. They take maintenance. They all leak to some extent. And some refrigerants are poisonous, some are, you know, they're toxic, they're flammable sometimes. You know, we all use refrigerants. We have them all in our homes, but still, there is an environmental downside right there. The fossil fuel backup generators also are supposed to use fossil fuels, which is detrimental to the atmosphere and the environment. The idea that the data center will not use our city electrical power System also is is little to me is misleading. They say they will buy their power on the open market this city also buys its electricity on the open market for peaking power and They will be competing with us big time. I believe rates will go up and Let's see, and I think that was all the points I wanted to make. So thank you very much. I think this data center is a big thing that will change our clean, green town forever. We have dodged that bullet in the past, but I think this is another one of those bullets. Thank you.

evening madam chair commission staff ladies and gentlemen um i'm going to try and make this as brief and as to the point as possible brandon smith for the record thank you um tonight you've heard from probably our future mayor at some point from 17 up to a 92 year old gentleman tonight represents like best case scenario, four generations of Boulder City people, which is what's at stake here. We're not talking about something that's going to affect us today, tomorrow, next week, next year. We're talking about a 90-year lease here. It's pretty clear what the consensus is as far as the country is concerned. Small towns right across America are being blindsided, decimated, and screwed up over the effects of data centers that weren't readily revealed before or during construction. Tonight, you've heard from a room full of people who outwardly reject this proposal. And unfortunately, we are here tonight because our council did not have the foresight to stop it. In its first iteration, you've heard from a couple of gentlemen, three actually, who support this, all of whom directly benefit from it going forward. So I would ask you to keep that in mind. The problem is here is I think this is being rushed through. You know, we would have been here a month ago if TS2 had had its way. Unfortunately, they were asked a bunch of questions that they couldn't give straight answers to. And I believe that to still be the case. I attended both open meetings. open forums, and I've asked the same question of a number of people, of the representatives, and I was never given the same answer twice. I think in their packets, again, very confusing, conflicting information, and I asked, I ask you guys to really consider your motivation for moving forward here. You are our now second line of defense for this matter. I think if we hit the pause button and take this out to the constituents of Boulder City and let them speak and let their voices be heard, whereas they have not been thus far,

um i think it would serve all um to really listen thank you so much thank you brandon anybody else wishing to speak in the initial public comment period madam city clerk is there any oh come on up ma'am

Hi, Barbio Quinn here. Good evening and thank you. I'm here to speak on the long-term well-being of Southern Nevada, our shared water supply, our electric grid, and the sustainability of our region as a whole. The decisions made in Boulder City don't just affect one community. the entire state, the entire valley will be affected, and everyone who depends on the same very limited resources. I truly believe that thoughtful leadership can shape a future where innovation and responsibility work hand in hand. We have an opportunity right now to make decisions that protect our resources, strengthen our communities, and set a positive example for the entire state. My concern is simple and hopeful. We should prioritize sustainability first. For that reason, I believe the proposed data centers should not be built here in the Boulder City area. Not because I'm against progress, but I want the right kind of progress and growth. the kind that strengthens our region for the long term instead of stretching it further. However, if you are determined to move forward, I am encouraged by the fact that there are strong, responsible safeguards available. I respectfully ask that you ensure Firstly, data centers pay the full cost of the energy they consume, including grid upgrades. Secondly, their demand does not raise power rates for Nevada families or businesses. Thirdly, they meet strict water conservation standards. This is appropriate for a desert region. And finally, that environmental and infrastructure impacts are carried by the companies, not the public. These protections are opportunities to show that Boulder City leads with wisdom, balance, and care for the future. Thank you for your commitment to keeping Southern Nevada strong, sustainable, and full of possibility. And thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. O'Quinn. Is there a caller? I will take the caller, please.

How about comment? Go ahead. Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Oh, good. My name is Neil Soneikan, and I wanted to say that I strongly oppose going forward. I feel that the crux of the Planning Commission's decision is in the resolution itself where it's based upon the data center being similar to the adjacent uses of the solar uses. I don't feel that's the same at all, and I feel that's an appealable item to the City Council or to the courts. I don't feel that the City Planning Commission has enough direct information and is relying on what Mr. Jambors and what the applicant wants to occur. There's the possibility that this changes and it helps open the doorway to other people once this starts. The overall intent and the overall wording deals with adding data centers, not just Mr. Jammer's data session. I don't feel it addresses the tortoises adequately. The Planning Commission is required to weigh things in terms of the master plan, and I don't feel this is at all compatible with the master plan. The Planning Commission is required to listen to the public, which the Planning Commission is now doing, but the public is speaking so loudly, I can't see how the Planning Commission can ignore this. But the crux of this, per your own resolution, is that the data center is not similar to the solar fields, and that's an appealable and a court-to-be-looked-at matter. I oppose this, and I hope the Planning Commission realizes that they don't have the expertise to make a full decision on this. Thank you very much.

Any other public comment from members of the audience?

Thank you.

Hi, thank you for your time. My name is Karen Newcomer, and I'm sorry that we were late. We got off work and came directly here, but I didn't have a prepared speech. I just want to say I'm sure people have already covered the concerns about electricity and water, and I'm not above begging. Please don't do this. It will hurt so many people and help so few. These kind of data centers don't... Increase employment a great deal compared to what they cost the communities. I Hope that you take this into account that it's gonna there will be jobs for a while It's getting built a lot of those will come from out of state or someplace else and after that It's going to help very few people and it's going to hurt many many people who will lose their jobs So I just hope that you take all those things into account and please don't do this. Thank you

Thank you, Karen. Is there a caller, Madam City Clerk? I'll take the caller. I'm going to take the caller. The caller must have hung up. Is there anybody else that wants to speak in initial? Tammy, put her on hold. Go ahead. Oh, sorry.

Hello. My name is Savannah Beck. I'm a resident of Henderson, but I care about all of Nevada. I'm currently a medic, but I previously worked in the technology industry for 18 years before being laid off due to AI. Data centers are detrimental to our ecosystem, public health, and our already extremely limited water supply from Lake Mead. We have had to go from cutting back on watering grass to removing grass completely to being told locals need to cut back and save water even more. But yet you want to allow a data center to be built that will no doubt cause us to run out of water for the people of Nevada to use. Also, data centers in other areas of the country are making its citizens sick. It is literally poisoning them, just like so many other companies poisoning innocent people like DuPont, PG&E, Flint, Michigan. Their list goes on and on. I don't want to have anything built close to me, my loved ones, the elderly, children, strangers, or animals that will poison them. If you want the data center so bad, go to move to a rural area that already has some and buy someone's house that lives right next to it. Would you drink the brown water that is now coming out of their tap? Would you like to have the bright light shining through your windows constantly and constant buzzing sounds from the data center 24-7? There are a ton of videos from people that live next to data centers that show what it's really like and how detrimental it is. Reno fought back against the data center, and so are we. You are signing a death sentence for all of us if you vote to allow the data center to be filtered. Please say no to data centers in Boulder City, the surrounding areas, and the rest of the country. Please stop letting corporations and billionaires ruin our beautiful country and poisoning us. Thank you.

Thank you, Savannah. Shauna, come on up.

Hello, my name is Shawna, and first of all, I want to thank you guys for all patiently listening to everybody's comments. I am not in favor of this for many reasons that have been spoken, but I kind of want to apologize for the comment that was shame on you, because we haven't even given you guys a chance to voice your opinion. So just thank you for listening. I know each one of you are residents here. We're all here for a reason, and again, thank you for your patience and your time, and We want to give you guys the opportunity to speak before anybody says shame on you. Thank you.

Thank you, Shawna. Anybody else wishing to speak in the initial public comment period? I'm going to hold for 30 seconds, because we do have a delay for those watching at home. So we'll give the people watching at home this last 30 seconds to be able to call in on the initial public comment period. Please keep in mind, if you're listening at home, once the public comment period is closed, we cannot reopen it. You will not have the opportunity to speak until the next public comment period is open. Thank you. okay i will close the first public comment period and move to item number one for possible action approval of the minutes for the april 15th 2026 regular meeting do i have a motion

I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item number two is for possible action matters pertaining to a proposed zoning ordinance text amendment. This will include a public hearing. Staff?

Good evening, Chairman Crum, members of the commission, Nakisha Lyon, planning manager with the community development department. This item is for consideration of a request to amend Title 11, Chapter 13 of the City Code. This is to authorize the growing and wholesaling of crops and other related agricultural and horticultural activities. If such crops are grown and harvested within an enclosed environmentally controlled structure, and are grown without the use of any pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals sprayed or applied to the crops other than natural nutrients. And this is to add it as a permitted use in the CM, Commercial Manufacturing Zoning District. Earlier this year, the applicant, Boulder City Botanicals Company, LLC, with consent from the property owner of a CM zoned lot applied for this zoning tax amendment, to enable their property, if approved by the City Council, to be used to develop an indoor plant propagation and cultivation operation within an existing commercial building along Wells Road. The text amendment, if approved by the City Council, would apply to all CM zone properties in Boulder City, and this is shown on the screen on the map. The area is indicated in red. Currently the CM commercial manufacturing zone does not allow for agricultural uses. The A1 special agricultural zone does permit for this use by right. Starting on page 24 of the agenda packet, staff has provided some additional context regarding how other Southern Nevada jurisdictions permit similar types of agricultural uses within their jurisdictions. Just to summarize, indoor agriculture, crop production, market gardens, nurseries, and other urban agricultural uses are permitted across a broad range of zoning districts, particularly within commercial, industrial, agricultural, and certain mixed use zoning districts. Commercial districts frequently allow these uses either by right, a special use permit, or a conditional use permit. And then industrial zoning districts like the CM zone within Boulder City are among the most permissive areas for these activities with indoor agricultural, hydrophonics, plant nurseries, and agricultural processing often permitted by right in these types of zoning districts. Most jurisdictions emphasize that indoor agricultural operations occur within an enclosed building and include certain operational standards related to lighting, screening, parking, irrigation, wholesale and retail sales, and then compatibility with the surrounding uses. So based on the applicant's request, the proposed amendment adds the use, and that's subject to several conditions. Within the proposed text amendment, there's clarification that the amendment does not permit the cultivation, processing, distribution, and use of marijuana, or sorry, sale of marijuana, which is already prohibited by our code. OUTDOOR GROWING AREAS WOULD ONLY BE ALLOWED WHEN THEY ARE INCIDENTAL AND SUBORDINATE TO THE PRINCIPAL INDOOR USE AND WOULD NEED TO BE SCREENED FROM PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY. RETAIL SALES WOULD ONLY BE ALLOWED WHEN INCIDENTAL AND SUBORDINATE TO THE PRIMARY OPERATION AS WELL. And then there are standards for lighting associated with the crop production indoors, which would be required to be fully shield, downward directed, and designed to prevent glare or light spillover onto adjacent properties or rights of way. Chapter 33 of Title 11 provides for the applicable standards and findings that must be made for a tax amendment. And staff finds that the proposed zoning amendment does not require amendment to the city's adopted master plan and does not conflict with the goals and objectives of this particular plan. Impacts in regards to existing land use, adjacent uses, adjacent areas, utilities, noise, drainage, and character of the existing neighborhoods will be evaluated upon the applicable permitting process related to this type of use on a specific property, and they're not applicable to this general zoning text amendment at this time. During that applicable permitting process compliance with building code fire code Public Works requirements and standards and then other applicable provisions within title 11 and the city code will be evaluated the proposed ordinance language is subject to Change pending legal review and then additional recommendations made by the Planning Commission if any tonight The item was noticed in conformance with city code. We haven't received any written public comments So the request before the Commission tonight is to hold the public hearing Deliberate and make a motion to either recommend approval or denial of the request Using the draft motion language that is on page 33 of the agenda packet staff is available for any questions that the Commission may have we also have

representatives the owners of the boulder city botanicals company avi and richard they're here and they can answer any specific questions that you have thank you thank you nikisha does um any of the commissioners have any questions for staff or the applicant go ahead is there any plan to limit square footage of these facilities so we don't have like a hundred thousand square foot facility using a ton of electricity for the

No, not at this time.

Any other questions for staff or the applicant? Go ahead, Matt.

This is, I believe, a question for the applicant. Is there any estimate of the amount of water and power that this facility will use?

Hello. My name is Richard Galvin, and I'm the co-owner of Boulder City Botanical Company. This is my business partner, Avimoise. The amount of water, we did a calculation. It was probably about 300 gallons a day. uh that we would use but that's not counting because we're gonna have uh air conditioning units that are gonna take the humidity out of the air so it's like we're gonna contain a lot of that water back into the system and then any waste water we have is gonna we're still gonna like we wash a tray we're gonna use that water to water plants because the whole idea is to Plants are small. It's all that is is vegetable plants the fruit and vegetable plants for people to buy For their gardens. So everything that we grow it's going to be small and it's going to be sold to To the community to have more people growing food Thank You mr. Galvin does anybody else have any questions for the applicant I

Thank you very much. This is a public hearing. I'll now open the public hearing on item number two for this proposed zoning ordinance. Any members of the audience wishing to speak? Is there anybody on the line? We'll wait for 30 seconds for the delay. Seeing and hearing none, I'll now close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission. Do I have a motion? I'll move to approve resolution number 123 in conformance with findings.

Second that. Second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item number three for possible action, matters pertaining to the 2026 land management process. Mr. Mays.

Good evening, Planning Commission members. I am Michael Mays, the Deputy City Manager. Boulder City is unique. A vast, significant majority of the vacant land within our community is owned by the city. Twenty-five years ago, residents requested a transparent, informative process that would allow the public to know very early on about the potential sale and or lease of city-owned land. In 2001, the City Council amended the City Code to respond to residents' concerns. This process is called the land management process. I'll refer to it as the LMP for short. To start the LMP process, the applicant submits an application to the city. This is presented to the city council at a regular meeting. If the council votes to advance the application, It goes to the Planning Commission for a public hearing and their recommendation. Then the application returns back to the City Council to decide whether they want to add the application and use to the LMP list. Currently there are 17 parcels, which is approximately 1,731 acres on the LMP list. You can see that on the screen here. The properties on the list are located throughout the community. Some of the properties are located in the town site center, while others are located in the El Dorado Valley. It's important to note that just because a parcel is added to the LMP list does not mean the property will ever be developed. In fact, city code says that if a parcel has not been sold or leased within three years, it goes back to the city council for them to determine whether to keep it on the list or remove it from the list. Another misconception regarding the LMP process is it provides property rights. Adding a parcel to the LMP list does not confer any land use property rights or authorize any action for city property. It simply is the first step in a long process of city consideration. Another way to put it, The city is not opening the gate to allow a use, rather the city is peering over the fence to see what is behind the gate before we even consider opening the gate for that use. The property in question for tonight's PC consideration is located at the southwest corner of I-11 and US-95 interchange. You can see it highlighted in blue on the screen. The site is 88.5 acres in size. Town site Solar 2 LLC, which I will refer to as TS2, currently has an option agreement to develop this site for solar and battery storage. Earlier this year, TS2 submitted an LMP application to the city to consider data centers on this site. In the community, there have been questions regarding the ballot question, regarding possible data center uses in the El Dorado Valley transfer area and the rest of the community. City charter requires that for a use to be permitted in the transfer area, it must first be approved by the voters of Boulder City. As you can see with the attachment here, Holly, I don't know if you can zoom out You'll see the original town site in blue and the, what I'll call a rose-colored shaded area, that is the transfer area. So just to be clear, this application is outside of the El Dorado Valley transfer area, which will be subject to voter approval. Town-State Solar II has a presentation for the Planning Commission. In closing, it's important to note that even if this property is added to the LMP list for data center uses, there are many more steps involved in the process. City Council will decide if the city should seek requests for proposals, RFPs, to solicit other data center use proposals or consider an economic exception to directly negotiate for a lease with Townsite 2. Currently, the city does not have a zoning district that would even allow data centers. either a new zoning district would have to be proposed or a contemplated amendment, a text amendment to the existing energy storage zoning would be required. This process would require consideration by the planning commission and the city council. The city also would be required to obtain appraisals per state law, and a new lease agreement would need to be negotiated with a developer and approved by the city council. We are in step one of this process, which is why the city has not entered into any lease negotiations for a data center use with the applicant. TS2 represents in their presentation, which you will see in a moment, that this item will be considered by the city council on June 23rd. To be clear, the date of city council consideration will be determined by the city and will be shared with the public once that's determined. And with that, I can answer any questions.

Does any of the commission members have questions for staff?

Go ahead.

So is it possible if we don't get the data center, it could actually still be in the valley?

The potential for data centers could occur in Henderson. Henderson has annexed 1,000 acres in the El Dorado Valley, and that is zoned industrial. And so it's our understanding that there has been proposed preliminary data centers for that area.

That's my question. Thank you.

Any other questions for staff? Thank you, Michael. Does the applicant want to come up and give their presentation?

So

good evening commissioners my name is linda bullen i am an energy and environmental attorney from las vegas i have had the honor of appearing before many of you before in this capacity but perhaps not ever before in such a controversial and sensitive matter so we thank you in advance for your time and your consideration of the issues here before you tonight and i frankly don't envy you um we're here today to talk about the proposed project and in particular to tell you about we we have been out in the community we have heard the concerns of the community and we have responded to them, so we're here to tell you about the modifications that we've made to the project, particularly in the area of water, recognizing, as a resident of Southern Nevada, the importance of that issue. We want to also significantly clarify some misconceptions that are in the community about the project, perhaps data centers in general, but also this project in particular, and of course we're here to answer your questions. In the end, of course, we will be hopeful and asking for your recommendation for approval to send this to the city council with the recommendation for approval. So again, thank you in advance for listening. I'm here tonight with two gentlemen from Schuyler Capital, which is the lead developer for the Townsite Solar II Data Center project. So at this point, I'll let them introduce themselves, but I'm going to turn it over to Gerald Balboa.

Thank you, Linda. Planning commissioners, I'll just read out some prepared statements that I think address a lot of the concerns tonight. So first of all, thank you all for your consideration of our proposed project. We hope that with thoughtful consideration, you'll hear that we've answered a lot of the community's questions. Again, my name is Gerald Balboa. I am the Chief Operating Officer for Schotter Opportunities. We are the lead developer and the lead partner in the Townsite Solar II project. We began this project as a solar plus storage project, but we've evolved it into a proposed data center project because that really is the highest and best value use for this particular piece of land. Our firm first developed the 1,100 acre town site one solar project over 10 years ago. So I have a long history of working with Boulder City. THAT PROJECT WAS SOLD TO OUR CURRENT PARTNER IN THE DATA CENTER PROJECT WHICH IS REVON ENERGY. SHOULD THE PROJECT BE APPROVED, WHEN COMBINED WITH THE REVENUES GENERATED FROM THAT FIRST PROJECT, TOWNSITE ONE SOLAR, WE ESTIMATE THAT BETWEEN TOWNSITE ONE AND AGAIN IF THIS IS APPROVED, TOWNSITE TWO, WE CONTRIBUTE OVER 12% OF THE CITY'S ANNUAL BUDGET. PRETTY SIGNIFICANT. Hopefully, following today's presentation, you're going to come away with two things. One, satisfactory answers that give you all the assurances that you need to advance the Townside 2 project through the land management process. And two, a working knowledge of the significant benefits to the city in terms of reliable long-term revenues with little to no imposition on city services. So what are we doing to advance these goals? Well, you're probably already aware that when we that we we first proposed converting our solar project into a data center several months ago, the city staff Pointed out right away, we have a specific process here called the land management process. That is step one. We're just at step one. Lots of steps to go. We've taken steps to listen to, to adapt, and to ultimately to provide responsible answers to the community. We've hosted two open houses. We've communicated answers through the local newspaper and we continue to host a website ts2project.com that not only addresses the important community concerns that have been raised but also bring clarity to some of the misconceptions about the project. So for tonight, you've already heard about concerns, major concerns about water usage, about power demand, and all the other critical concerns from the residents and other stakeholders. We've heard these concerns too. And we're pleased to say that we've adapted the project to meet these concerns with hopefully satisfactory answers across the board. And I'll close with this. I really applaud the city, its staff, and the rigorous process in place within Boulder City for use of city-owned land. The process, including today's meeting, is transparent. It's open to the community, obviously, and we welcome that input. And should this project advance, we plan to be good stewards of the land that you would let us lease and be good neighbors to all. And by the way, I was reading your four-way test there, truth, fairness to all, building of goodwill, and benefits to all. We want to do that for you all. All right, thank you again for listening to me.

Good evening. My name is Rick Lammers, and I'm project manager for the Townside Solar II project. And to advance the slides, how can I see that they're advancing? Okay, all right, thank you. So I'm here to present the project to you in a cohesive way to the best of my ability. The project is located on 88 acres that's currently under a lease option for a solar plus storage project that up 30 megawatts PV up to 167 megawatts best project. The project has firm bilateral transmission in place with SNWA that gives its firm transmission at 230 kilovolts directly into the Meade substation. And we estimate, based on our estimates, as you heard Mr. Mays say, that we'll have to do new appraisals and we'll have to negotiate lease terms. So this is just based on our estimates. We based it over the proposed 90-year term of the lease. the project would have over 330 million more benefits than the solar plus storage project on the same site. So we began development of the project in 2018. In December of 2023, we signed the lease option with Boulder City. In that same time period, the BLM issued a separate right-of-way grant for a property that's to the west of this property, just 2,000 feet away. which is also the subject of an application with the BLM for a data center. In September of 2024, we signed the SNWA Transmission Agreement, which I previously mentioned. In January, we sent our application into the Boulder City as the first step of the process, and right now we're in the the planning commission meeting, the next step would be to go to the commission. We've already spent over $12 million on this project. Five and a half million, we paid for all the interconnection costs, so the project will not impact any of the transmission or distribution costs of the city because the city won't have to pay for any of that. We've already paid for it. We've also pre-ordered the transformer, which today would take three to four years to order in the open market. And that was at a cost of $5.5 million. And the high voltage equipment has also been ordered. This next slide just talks about some of our partners. TownSite Solar 2 is the owner. Skylar Opportunities is the main sponsor of the project. Arribon, the owner of TownSite Solar 1, is also a partner of the project. Overwatch Capital, who's represented here tonight, is our technical expert, providing technical expertise on data centers. And Marathon Capital is our financial advisor that would provide assistance with raising financing once the project's approved. I'm not gonna spend too much time on this slide because I think Mr. Mays handled it well, but right now we're at the Planning Commission meeting. The site is already zoned as energy resource. The 90-year lease, that lease is a proposed lease. Most data center owners prefer to own the land, and if they can't own the land, they prefer to have a lease as long as possible. That's the only reason why we proposed a lease of that length. The project design consists of 167 megawatts firm capacity into the main substation. That's at the 230 kV level. The city's transmission is all at 69 kV in kilovolts and below. In addition, the project will have a 65 to 70 megawatt battery energy storage system that will help regulate the changes in load intraday and seasonal loads, as well as help regulate the voltages to keep them constant. In addition, the project will have 53 3.25 megawatt biodiesel generators that will only be used less than 100 hours a year in accordance to local, state, and federal permits. We initially we're trying to figure out a way to use the effluent that's currently being discharged into the desert. I think it's close to 1.1 million gallons a day. That's just being discharged. So we were trying to find a solution that would not only provide a revenue to the city for that wasted resource, but see if we could use it in some sort of closed loop system. But just touching that wastewater and trying to turn, turn it into a, a revenue source, And and actually put it to use we chose not to do that because one there was a lot of opposition to using it And secondly, we're not sure if maybe sometime in the future the city might find another way to Push that water into mead right now the cost to get that water back to mead is is cost prohibitive Hundreds of million dollars and so that's why that project has not gotten off the ground So we met with Southern Nevada Water. We asked them, is the effluent covered in your evaporative cooling? Even though we weren't going to use it in evaporative cooling, we wanted to see if that was a problem. They couldn't give us a definitive answer. Based on that and the feedback that we heard from the public, we pivoted to 100% air-cooled system. It's a closed-loop system. It doesn't require any type of significant use of water other than a one-time fill of 400,000 gallons. And even that water can be purchased already mixed with the glycol mixture. So you don't even have to get that water from Boulder City. We could have a truck from California, Arizona, or some other state already in the format that it needs to be in to put it into the data center. How much water are we talking about? 400,000 gallons is about 20 average size swimming pool. The ongoing use of water is only for bathrooms and kitchens, up to 2,000 gallons per day, which is based on the current average use of Boulder City, 200 gallons a day per resident. That's about 10 residences. So this entire facility, which at the end of the day could be as much as $4 billion, is gonna use the same amount of water as 10 homes in this city. I think that's quite impressive if you take a moment and think about it. So we're not gonna have any impact on the wetlands, no impact on the water at Lake Mead, and no long-term use of the effluent besides what the solar fields are already using it for dust control. We intend to do that as well. The other big misconception about the project is that we're going to blow up Boulder City's power prices. Well, power prices are comprised of several factors. One is transmission and distribution costs, the cost of interconnecting into the grid and delivering the power to its proposed use. As I mentioned earlier, we're paying 100% of those costs. So none of those costs will ever be paid for by a citizen or resident of the city. The other key component is the cost of energy. Skyler is going to purchase all the energy, the 167 megawatts required for the project in negotiated bilateral contracts from the wholesale market. Someone like the city of Pasadena, city of Glendale, or a solar project will come to us and say, we've got excess power. We want to sell you this power for 5, 10 years. Those contracts will be negotiated. Prices will be agreed. Those prices will be fixed. Those contracts will be bilateral, just between the parties of the project and the seller, and will have no impact on the price of energy for the city. The other thing is, what I heard is that The project is way bigger than the amount of power that can flow through the Meade substation. The Meade substation is over 10,000 megawatts, so we represent less than 2% of the total power capacity of the Meade substation. In addition to this structure, since we're in the city's service territory, we have to have the city serve the project in some manner in order to comply with state law. And our idea, our proposal for that is that we would install a meter at the point of delivery. We would hire the city to read that meter and administer the monthly billing. For that, we propose to pay the city 50 cents a megawatt hour. That source of revenue is around $700,000 for measuring the power and administering the billing. What the city decides to do with that $700,000 is really their decision, but this benefit from this project as a data center would not occur for the project if it were a solar plus storage project. We heard a lot of misconceptions and concerns about heat, sound, and air quality. One big benefit this project has is its location. It's nearly 2.8 miles from the nearest resident of Boulder City. And it's 400 feet below the residents of Boulder City. Those two factors work together to mitigate any impacts related to heat, sound, or particulate matter. Particular matter is already reduced because we're only allowed to run the backup diesel generators less than 100 hours per year, and we can't run them in excess of what our permit allows, which will keep it at that level. So bottom line is the heat will be imperceptible to any resident. You won't be able to hear it. It'd be the same if I ask you, can you hear the rock quarry when it mines the quarry? Can anybody hear that in the city? You're not going to be able to hear this facility. None of the residents are going to be able to hear it. I drove to the Nova facility today, which is in Las Vegas. It's an air-cooled facility just like ours. I encourage all of y'all to go take a look at it. You can't hear the facility. I was right next to it. The only thing I could hear was the road next to it. and it's gonna be using the same technology, the same air-cooled technology that we're talking about using here. We always, work very closely with city staff and the fire department to make sure we obtain their input early on in the process so we design a system that ultimately is going to be accepted by them and being able to be run by them. And we've already started having some of those discussions. There's been a recent fire at the town's solar facility. There's going to be some lessons learned from that fire, and we're going to take those lessons learned and incorporate them into the design of our project. Data center tenants typically have two type of tenants, hyperscale tenants, co-location tenants. Both of them are excellent credits. We estimate that our power building will cost around $2 billion. These tenants will put in another $2 billion worth of taxable basis in terms of computer equipment and other equipment. So at the end of the day, this could be a $4 billion facility just 2.8 miles from the city. In terms of the benefits, we've already talked about those quite a bit. But on an annual basis, first year revenues are estimated at 3.6 million. Those are based on appraisals that we did for the property as a data center. We used the same appraisers that we used for the solar field, the Valbridge and Anderson. And so based on those leases, the lease revenue would be 1.5 million higher. The electric bill administration fee would be at 670,000 and the property sales tax would be about a million dollars higher per year based on the $2 billion project estimate. The project's also gonna create a lot of jobs during constructions, permanent jobs, not just any jobs, but high-paying jobs, $100,000 plus benefits. We're gonna continue to draw on the resources of the city for facility maintenance, landscaping, compliance, different types of mechanical, electrical contracts, security, and training. So I think a lot of those jobs could be sourced here in Boulder City, and it'll be our objective to source as many jobs as we can from Boulder City. Lastly, I just want to thank you for your time. It's kind of late in my career. I didn't know I was going to have this exciting work to do so late in my career, but it's been a pleasure working with the city and its staff, and we look forward to addressing any concerns or questions that you have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lammers. Do any of the commissioners have any questions for the applicant?

I sure do. OK. Hi.

My name's Beth.

Can you outline what the total revenue for the company annually will be related to the data center?

So that's to be determined. It depends on what the lease rental rate would be, but typically...

Gross revenue. You have to have estimates. You wouldn't go into a project like this without some idea of what you're going to make. You wouldn't go into a project like this without some idea of the gross revenue that these data centers were going to generate. So what I'm asking is, what were those projections on your basis?

The revenue consists of two components. One is going to be the revenue from the tenants. What do they charge for cloud-based computing, IT-type computing? We don't have anything to do with that side of the equation. Our revenue is going to be driven by the actual powered shell building. And that depends on what are we charging for the lease, what are we charging for the space, what are we charging for the power that we're selling to them. So a lot of the factors.

Are you trying to tell me there's no revenue projections for your company to build this building and lease that space?

No, we base our investment based on what we think the rate of return would be.

And that would be, what was the estimate?

At least 12%.

Of?

The $2 billion investment.

Question? Go ahead. Just to give my background, I'm a retired operating engineer. Spent 40 years operating central plants and high rises in Las Vegas, New York. And my main thing was resource management and central plant operation. I see this closed excuse me this closed loop system air-cooled closed loop system requires up to forty thousand four hundred thousand gallons of potable water for a one-time fill of the cooling system You know I want to be I don't want to be rude I want to be respectful But that is absurd Operating equipment like that, there are hourly blowdowns all over the equipment. You're going to be constantly refilling the system. That's just the way, that's just the nature of the animal. That's the way these systems work. And like I said, I'm trying to be respectful, but if you're putting out misinformation like this, You know, the financial side, I have no idea. She does. And if you're putting out this misinformation, how can I trust anything else you people say? As a matter of fact, aren't you guys head fund managers?

We're a developing company that develops renewable energy projects.

Call it what you want.

Scott, maybe we can have Scott come up here from Overwatch, and we can address your question directly, because you're saying that there's going to be regular blowdowns. You're saying quarterly. How often do you think the- Hourly. Hourly.

You have to remove the total dissolved solids. The other thing is that the rust inhibitors that have to be added to the water, the glycol that you mentioned, a lot of these things are forever chemicals. This water can't go back into Lake Mead. It can't be, you know, it's going to end up back in our evaporated ponds.

introduce yourself scott yeah i'm scott jordan with overwatch capital providing uh you know construction services for for the group so sir could you please um come a little bit forward it is it is a closed system and there is there is chemicals and it's treated we're not using potable water because it will introduce too many contaminants so we get that pre-treated water water from a from a service right that's critical for us because it doesn't introduce contaminants introduces corrosion so we have to make sure And it is something we have to maintain often. There's quarterly, monthly and quarterly taps and surveys we have to do for the water. I'm sorry, I can't hear you. There's daily services that we have to do from a data center. There's redundancies in the data center that we're there every day maintaining that space. That's part of the nature of the data center. So we are looking at the water and the contaminant levels of the water if there's anything. If we have to replace anything, it's with that solution again. We can't just introduce potable water to it because it would introduce too many potential contaminants into the water.

Thank you.

Anything else?

So I have a question about the 53 diesel generators. I live exactly a mile from where the airplanes did the run-up. On a four-cylinder airplane, I could hear it loud and clear at my house a mile away. And you're telling me 53 generators, diesel generators, you're not going to hear three miles away. I just have a problem with that.

We estimate that the sound will be seven decibels. We'll post a study on our website that'll allow you to read. It's been done by Kimley Horn, who's also here, a respected environmental consultant that we use quite frequently, that the industry uses quite frequently. But it'd be seven decibels at 2.8 miles away. Will you speak into the microphone, please?

Thank you.

The sound will be seven decibels a lot lower than that sound, at the nearest resident.

Have you thought about past Nelson's Landing? That's still part of Boulder City.

You mean for an alternate place of development?

Yeah, because we don't want to hear this noise.

Again, I can share with you a study. What I'd like to do is post the study on our website, Mr. Smith, and then if we could engage after you've had a chance to review that study. That study estimates the sound will be seven decibels, 2.8 miles away.

Are you suggesting we withdraw this item until you can post the information?

No, I'm not suggesting that at all.

How come it's not available for the meeting?

The fact sheets do state that the residents of Boulder City will not have any perceptible feeling of heat or sound living 2.8 miles per way. We've already said that. It's on our website. This study just further supports that statement.

Thank you. If I might, just one thing further. These are just emergency generators. It's not meant to be a full-time operating biodiesel generator, just to be clear.

Yeah, who's to say that they're all going to run at a time? Those generators basically react to unforeseen events. You lose grid. You may not lose 100% of your grid. You may lose 10% or 15%. That can be handled by the battery. If you lose 50%, then you're only going to be running half of them. So to say that all 53 are going to be run, but even if all 53 are running, seven decibels to the nearest residence.

Yes, go ahead, Commissioner Rudd.

So how come you guys aren't just building this out at USA Parkway or somewhere in northern Nevada where you would have to do no infrastructure? Everything's already there. They've already got 15 data centers out there. Is it pure economics that by using Boulder City and our inexpensive land that makes it more attractive to you?

So I think the question is why not somewhere else that is maybe already used to data centers, is that correct? Yeah, so we are developing many, many other projects. This is one of about nine projects we're developing throughout the country. We have looked at other sites in Nevada. Why Boulder City? Why this particular piece of property? As we had originally studied this as a solar plus storage project, it became obvious to us that with the infrastructure that was already being put in place for a solar plus storage project, that it might be better to consider this as a data center project and hence we're here today to ask you to consider that. Infrastructure is in place.

And we believe it is a higher value case for not only us, but for the city. And that's what those numbers say.

So at 12%, that's $480 million is your 12%. And so we're going to get 3.6 for our revenue?

You're going to get whatever these appraisals that are required by state law suggest and whatever terms we're able to negotiate with the city council. This is an estimate based on the appraisals that we've done and we just follow the same methodology that you use for the solar fields.

Would you be willing to do a profit share with us that you give us like six, eight percent of the profit?

As some city staff knows, we have long ago proposed a public-private partnership. We'd perfectly be willing to work with Boulder City on that front. We're doing that in other communities, by the way. So this would not be new to Boulder City. There is upside benefit, of course. By the way, those numbers that you just came up with, those are undiscounted numbers. So to be fair, we'd have to represent those in the current value.

Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant before I open the public hearing?

Yeah, I have another one. Go ahead, Matt. It was just revealed that your company has been negotiating with the city since 2017. Why did we not hear about this until recently? And who were you negotiating with in the city? Which administrators?

So to be clear, the negotiations I believe you're referring to involve the solar plus storage project. INVOLVED THE SOLAR PLUS STORAGE PROJECT, HENCE THE NAME WHEN YOU HEAR TOWNSIDE SOLAR 2, SINCE WE DEVELOPED TOWNSIDE SOLAR 1, WE THOUGHT OF THIS AS THE NEXT POTENTIAL PHASE AS A SOLAR PROJECT. SO WHEN YOU HEAR ABOUT THOSE DATES, IT WAS ONLY VERY RECENTLY IN THE LAST CALL IT SIX TO NINE MONTHS THAT THE CONCEPT OF CAN THIS BE USED AS A DATA CENTER, INFRASTRUCTURE IS THERE, LET'S RUN IT UP THE FLAT POLE, SEE WHAT BOULDER CITY THINKS.

THANK YOU.

So the bottom line is the data center will be more profitable than the solar that's already been approved out there.

For us and the city.

Correct. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant? OK, at this time, I will open the public hearing. This is a public hearing. Come on up, Shauna. I'd just like to reiterate, if you spoke in the first public comment, we just ask that if there are other people who have not spoken, that they get the opportunity to speak if they would like to. Thank you. Go ahead, Shauna.

Hello, my name is Shauna. Boy, that was a nice eloquent presentation, but they lost me at we've already purchased equipment. Like, wow. Maybe I'm hearing it wrong, but they stated we've already purchased some equipment. And as eloquent as everything was, that to me, I think the word is presumptuous and still not in agreement and even more not in agreement now. Thank you.

Good point, but they said trust me. That said, I sat here in this room on December 9th of last year. They were here and they were asking for a renewal on their best, which is battery energy storage system. which expired at the end of last year. So that's what they were up here asking for. It was approved. We didn't think anything of it at the time, so we were obviously shocked and surprised when we sat here a few months later. AND THEY HAD PIVOTED TO A DATA CENTER COMPANY ALL OF A SUDDEN AND THEN WE FOUND OUT THAT'S WHAT EVERY BEST PROPOSAL RECENTLY TENDS TO BECOME. SO EVERYBODY JUST TAKE NOTE OF THAT. IF YOU SEE BEST ANYWHERE ON AN AGENDA, THAT'S WHAT'S COMING DOWN THE LINE. AND THEY'VE ACTUALLY, I THINK THAT APPLICATION, THEY WERE GETTING A RENEWABLE OF IT. IT HAD ACTUALLY BEEN APPROVED ORIGINALLY I THINK IN MAY OF 2022. AND THIS IS DATA CENTERS HAVE JUST BECOME A MORE RECENT THING. And so one of my questions is why the rush and big tech companies have made it a rush because it's a supply and demand issue on their part. And I said this at the last council meeting, lack of planning on their part does not constitute an emergency on ours. SO I HAVE BEGGED OUR CITY COUNCIL TO JUST HOLD BACK, WAIT FOR THE NOVEMBER ELECTION. THEY'VE CHOSEN NOT TO DO SO. SO I'M BEGGING HERE, BUT I'M HOPING EVERYBODY READ THIS APPLICATION, I'M SURE YOU ALL DID, BUT I'M HOPING EVERYBODY ELSE READ THEIR APPLICATION CAREFULLY, THEIR MARCH 24TH APPLICATION CAREFULLY, THEIR DECEMBER 9TH APPLICATION CAREFULLY. and poke holes in all of them because there's a lot of holes you can poke in them. The March 24th one, they misstated their energy usage to a factor of 1,000 in their favor. They said later that was just a mistake on their part. In tonight's application, I need to get my notes out, but they state their water usage in three different, where they're cooling, in three different ways. They state it under the cooling section six. They don't state a number at all, but in section three, I forget what that's listed, but in section three I think they state it as 900,000 gallons per day, and then in section 10 they state it as 600,000 gallons per day. and they're acting like they say they pivoted away from a evaporative cooling system and somebody else brought up there's a huge water line going to there. Well, if they pivoted away from that, why is it listed twice in their application for tonight? I don't know. Those are two of the holes and I've run out of time, so I won't go into the myriad other ones I wrote down here, but just please read it and I just urge you again to please deny it. I had all my technical reasons, but.

i'll leave that to others thank you all commissioners just two very quick points i know it's a lengthy process first i'd like to thank mr steve rudd for bringing up the mathematics of the profitability for boulder city and i would ask the commissioners to evaluate and also beth I would ask the commissioners to really evaluate this to the citizens. It doesn't look like Boulder City is gaining something that equitably justifies the objections that the majority of residents here oppose. So please, I thank you very much for pointing that out and taking a careful look at that. As it's been said here, it's been said that a lease under these circumstances would have to be renegotiated. The second point is that in the aspect of battery storage for the transfer, El Dorado Valley Transfer Area, that is something that has been noted in the Boulder City Charter as acceptable. However, in these instances, it then becomes discerned down the road in the process, as it was here, that data centers are more profitable. But I believe that the data center usage is not within the Boulder City Charter, and I would like to respectfully pose that I don't know the legality of that, and perhaps you all do, but I'd like to mention the question of it here. Thank you very much. Ma'am, I didn't get your name for the record. I apologize.

Ma'am. Do you want me to say? Oh. No, but can you state your name?

Yes, Kathleen McGarity. Thank you. Do I need to sign in again? No. Thank you.

Okay. Just very briefly. Um, I think that we've shown by everybody here, uh, that, and what you've heard outside of here, um, is that we are just completely against these. We are not interested in hearing any more about it. Um, we would really like you to consider, um, not passing onto the city council that, um, they should they should consider it. We'd like you to just deny it. And that's what I have to say. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Chair Bell-Lobb, and I wanted to start off before responding to some of the other things that were brought up to what our deputy city manager, Michael Mays, said, which is that these are just the first steps. And to that I ask, would you want to take the first steps towards a fire pit when you know that the ultimate end goal is for you to fall down in it? Would you want to take the first steps towards a nuclear waste site, to a pit of spikes, to rabid dogs? No? Because I wouldn't. And usually when you're taking steps towards something, it's because you're trying to get there. So trying to say that, oh, well, we're just in the early steps, so it's not like we're doing this. That's honestly quite silly to say. You're taking the steps. You're doing the thing. If you're placing down wood and hammering it in, that means you're building the thing. And right now these are the steps. So let's set down the hammer because absolutely everyone has said they don't want this. Let's just not have the pit of spikes. And let's not peer over the gates, especially when we know there's something bad on the other side. Let's try to keep the eyes of Boulder City. And with the data centers, there have been many mistakes in the information they've put out. How many mistakes does someone, especially a company, get to make before the mistakes will be called lies or they'll be called a beaten switch? Because it's also interesting that they're up here saying, oh, well, this is a very recent thing. And yet in other speeches, they're saying, we've thought long and hard about this. We've put time into thinking about this. Has it been really short or has it been really long? Because either you've thought about this for a really short time or a really long time. And right now we're not getting the same answer on that, but we're also not getting the same answer on just about anything from them. So with that, I would like to once again say, please say no to the data centers, not just you guys, but city council. I really hope that our city council pulls through and that they can actually represent the city that they're saying they do because right now they're not acting like they're here for our people. They are acting like they're here for them and they're acting like the only chamber is an echo chamber and it's their voices, not ours. We have thousands of voices up here. I hope that thousands of voices are finally enough voices. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else wishing to speak in the public hearing? Okay.

I see a little something. Barbara O'Quinn, Barbie O'Quinn. The project manager, Rick, told us what electrical upgrade equipment they would or they have paid for already in detail. He did not say it was all the electrical upgrades. that would be needed so my question to them would be what upgrades to the grid would still be needed and who exactly would pay for them my other comment is that he said that rather proudly that they could truck water from California or Arizona, but not this area. Much of our water comes from the Colorado River, which we share. Big agreements with Arizona, California, Mexico, this whole area depends on our water. So by trucking it in from California, from Arizona, that's not helping us a bit. So I'm sure you'd agree. And I was supposed to sign in before, so I'm going to do that now. And that's all. Just have a lot of concerns. Thank you. Thank you.

So this is Adam Schultes again. And I'm an educator, 36 years teaching. And I do my homework. Before I threw my hat into the race for city council, which was, by God, Friday the 13th, I had no idea. I did my homework. And every paper I've read, and there are hundreds of them, hundreds of them, University of Chicago, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, you name the top universities in the country, and every single one of them are anti-data. You know what's interesting? The only papers that are pro-data are high-tech. So you have the academics on the left. You have high data on the right. So we're talking education, academics, fact, and we're talking billions, billions, and billions. Consider that. Don't sell your soul to the devil.

We have a caller. We'll take the caller on the line, please.

Public comment, go ahead.

Yes.

My name is Jason Barton.

I'm a registered voter here. And my question is, how much fuel is going to be stored there to make those diesel generators work in case the power goes out, is one of my questions. My other one is a statement. And that is, every single one of you guys ANYONE THAT VOTED FOR THIS, MY VOTE'S GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE. THANK YOU.

into three minutes, and I do thank you for listening. My name is Autumn McGrath, and I just wanted to do one quick last part of my 30-minute speech here. Living in this extreme desert environment gives us a strict responsibility to steward our lands more so than other areas. We should care so much more about our wildlife and our lands than other areas. This project sits directly in a critical bird migration path. People don't know this, but all of the wild bird species of the western half of the North American continent pass through this area during migration, a time when birds are most threatened. It's not only local wildlife at risk, it's the entire western bird migration pattern. There's so many birds, I think we're down to like the last few percentages of bird species that we even have left. Like there's book that comes out every year about the western birds, and every year it's smaller and smaller and thinner and thinner. There's like hardly any birds left. Data centers are the current David and Goliath story and small town residents are standing up against corporate greed and sold out city councils all over this country. People are already stretched to our economic limits by the cost of living. We are already traumatized and exhausted by politics in general and do not stab your hardworking constituents in the back for a short-sighted underhanded deal. And those guys were really cringy. That was really corny.

There'll be no personal attacks?

Well, there was a lot of word salad.

Ma'am, please make your point and do not personally attack anybody. Thank you.

Okay, you got it. I apologize for that personal part, but that was pretty corny to sit through.

Hi, my name is Barbie Ruckel, and I wasn't going to talk. I'm really nervous. But I lived in Vegas since 82, and I loved Boulder City. And I finally got to move here three years ago, and I just don't want to see it fall apart. It's such a beautiful little town, and nobody wants to see that brick when you're driving to town. And... I just feel like they're giving us a high school science fair show, and it's gonna be, yes, my rat's better than yours, and I just don't feel like they're giving us the true information. They're leading us down a false road, and I just don't want Boulder City to fall apart.

That's all. Thank you, Barbie. We'll take the caller on the line, Madam City Clerk.

I don't feel like they're giving us the true information.

Hello? You'll have to mute the background. Go ahead. Got you, got you.

Hi. Hi. My name is Tommy. I spoke earlier. Tommy Love, for the record. I heard all of what they had to say, and I have to say I didn't trust them before they spoke, just the company in general, and I definitely don't trust them now after hearing the presentation that I saw. And so I hope that you guys can just really consider not accepting these data centers here in Boulder City. They told the room that they're projecting a minimum, and I want to emphasize minimum 12% profit. And what does the community really get out of this? What they're really getting is more heat, less water. And just to kind of clear the confusion, As a registered nurse, I do my background check. I make sure that we have the facts. And the data centers, they do produce heat. And in the valley, this heat is already killing people in the summer. And that's one of my biggest concerns in general. But they are taking our water, and then they will contaminate it further. And this is not speculation. This is actually what's been happening. And they target little towns, beautiful little towns like Boulder City on purpose. Some towns like this, they need the money, and I understand that, but this is not how we should be going about that in any form. But I really do want to thank you guys for hearing all of our concerns. I know there's been a lot of amazing people who spoke up tonight, and thank you for hearing us all out because we need you. We really need you to hear us. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Tommy. Any other person wishing to speak during this public hearing?

And I just have one observation while they were talking. They were talking about not using potable water, but having treated water that they would be bringing in to use. However, they did not clarify what they would do if they had to replace that water, the treated water. where would the other water go is it going to go into our landfills is it going to go into the ponds as you say the back ponds being pumped so that's definitely something for them to say that they're going to use treated water but they're not in order to replace it they're not telling us where they're going to put the water that they've had to replace that and where it's going to be landing hopefully not boulder city so thank you guys for listening and for the presentation And it's definitely a no still for the data center.

My name is Barbara Paulson, and my understanding is if the city were going to sell any land over one acre, it would have to go before a vote of the citizens. Is that correct?

Ms. Paulson, this isn't the sale of land, it's a lease, and we can't answer questions in public comment.

This is as important as selling land. And to make a decision like this, it should go before the voters. So the voters vote and not have it decided by a government body. Thank you.

Is there a caller? I'll take the caller, please.

Hello.

This is Jennifer Lode again. I'm really grateful that you gave us an opportunity to hear what was being said. And as I'm looking to them again, I was an assistant to a project manager And so I'm familiar with this process. And I'm going to say this with as much heart as I can. As I'm listening to them and truly listening, I felt like this is a magical unicorn presentation. Like, they are the unique exception to the reality of the situations of data centers all across the country. It seems like what they're trying to sell us is an absolute one-off unique exception to what has been a consistent series of destruction of property, destruction of health, destruction of national resources. There's not been one single community across the entire United States where having that data center has made their situation any better. It's always making the situation worse. This is some of the greatest man-made destruction that have literally ever existed in modern history, yet even with everything that they said, you know, there were inconsistencies, and somehow this is going to be the magical one and only data center in the United States that will not cause problems and actually be a benefit. You know, and they kept bringing up about this is out, you know, X amount so far away, but I was one of, you know... until a recent health event, I was one of the people that used that area, whether it was for hiking or when we used to be able to off-road. We have the canyons out there, the petroglyphs out there, and somehow the destruction is magically not supposed to happen, and I'm even more against this than I thought I could have been. You know, and they spoke about the Nova Center. So while this was going on, I researched it. And the Las Vegas Review-Journal says that there are consistent, quote, unquote, consistent complaints about high-pitched noises coming from the Nova Center. So I think I'm going to trust with the people in the community who are complaining about this consistently. have to say instead of what we're being told, because literally the only people who have stood up in support of this data center are the people who are directly financially gaining from the data center. You know, and so my ask of you guys, and again, thank you for hearing us, you know, if this is one more key to destruction in our community, Is that really truly the destiny you want to leave behind? Is that the mark?

Ms. Levitt, your time's up. Thank you again for your comments.

Thank you. Bye.

Any other person wishing to speak in this public hearing?

Good evening again, Madam Chair, Commission, staff, ladies and gentlemen, Brandon Smith for the record. I think it's important to highlight the series of presentations that have been pitched publicly by the TS2 people. Their very first presentation, which was truly off by a factor of 1,000, It should have been shut down then and there. It wasn't. They continue to, I don't know, morph their numbers every presentation. It started out as a $2 billion project. Now it's a $4 billion project. They've spent $12 million by their own admission just a few minutes ago already anticipating that this project is going forward. You're right, they wouldn't have done any of this if they had not anticipated an overwhelming, crazy amount of money. We are talking trillions of dollars at play here. And unfortunately, their data just isn't consistent from one set of data for the same thing to the other rick was up here talking about 167 megawatts their proposal is for 300 megawatts in two phases they still haven't come up figured out a way to to come up with the other half of the power that they're needed the you know the The diesel generators and the amount of power that they're going to need to draw they have to start those things Monthly just to keep them running You know again Rick would have us believe that all this heat is just going to float away and that it's advantageous for The site to be 400 feet below what the rest of the city is heat rises If I'm doing my logic correctly, it would be more advantageous to have it 4,000 feet in the air, not 400 feet below, because it's just going to come up and waft. into the city unless the wind is blowing in a very specific direction away from the city we're all going to feel it i i can't imagine a world where we we're home to the seventh wonder of the industrial world we are small but we are mighty and let us be the city that says no to data centers when everybody else says yes So when this all falls apart somewhere down the line and lawsuits are flying everywhere and data center developers are going bankrupt and trying to sue everybody and us as citizens are losing our health and our wealth and we're suing the proponents of this, the city will not be responsible because we said no. Please say no. Thank you.

I'll take the caller.

Public comment, go ahead.

Yes, again, for the record, Fred Volz, I'd like to respond to some of the things that were said both by the proponents of the project and by the deputy city manager. It is frequently a tactic used that the public is considered to be full of misinformation and misconceptions. to try and invalidate what the public has to say. And it's not a very respectful way to treat people. We are able to read and analyze just as well as the experts. So that is not a good tactic to take. Secondly, the quote that the project is going to purchase power on a long-term basis from places like Pasadena and Glendale completely defies The reality is that California is very short of electricity. It's very expensive. And that's not really a source. They will be on the spot market with Boulder City competing against us. And I do wish the project proponents would finally admit that rather than tap dancing around that very straight fact without any further abadaba. Thirdly, I'd like to say that It is very telling when proponents of a project have to engage two different law firms and a public relations firm to promote their project. If it's so great, it should stand on its own. They shouldn't need to have help trying to shepherd it along and cajole people into supporting it. Again, nothing came up about their complete lack of experience running a data center, so we don't know what sort of operators they are. All we know is what they say they will do. We cannot take that to the bank. There is no proposed remediation of the injected chemicals into this closed-loop system, and there was no addressing of that issue on any rational or specific basis. That is a real problem. There should be a performance bond in place so that if this company or the companies cease doing business or create environmental problems, We in Boulder City have some sort of recourse that has not been proposed, that's not been discussed. And finally, since the format does not allow for the public to ask questions and get answers, when will we have a workshop on this whole project with city officials, with the proponents, where everybody gets to hear the answer? That has not happened, and apparently it's not going to happen. the way the two workshops were conducted. So none of what the proponents or the city staff have said give this public in Boulder City any confidence that this is a good project. Thank you.

Madam City Clerk, is there another caller? Go ahead.

Public comment. Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Savannah back calling again. I was just calling to state that the company is very trained in PR and legal terminology. So when they're going over these points in their PowerPoint, they're not giving us the full information because they could be held legally liable. That's why they contradicted themselves about the P water And when the commissioner called them out about using that water, they turned around and said, no, we didn't say that, but they actually did. Um, so you, so everyone really needs to like, listen to the specific words that they're using because they're not telling us the truth. And when they're saying, oh, we actually got approved for the storage facility, but now we're going to change it to a data center when that wasn't the approval that they were given before. That's why we need to push back on them and keep telling them, no, we do not want this. They are not allowed to do that to us. Please stop poisoning our water, our community, everything, and quit lying to us. And that's all I had.

Thank you.

Is there another caller? There is. Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Hi, can you hear me?

I can.

Hi, this is Jasmine Lazaro. I'm a third-generation Nevadan. The applicants came in with polished slides and the right words. They told you the water would be recycled, the environment protected, contaminants monitored daily. And we're asking you to look at what is actually happening, not the promises, the record. U.S. data centers consumed 17.4 billion gallons of water in 2023 alone, equivalent to 160,000 American households. That number is projected to quadruple by 2028. And here is what they left out. Data centers evaporate approximately 80% of the water they draw. Not recycled, not returned, gone. Google consumed over 6 billion gallons in one year. One single Iowa data center used a billion gallons, enough to supply all of Iowa's homes for five days. We are in Nevada, the driest state in the nation. More than half of our groundwater basins are already over allocated. When they told you water would be recycled, Microsoft pledged a 95% reduction in evaporative water use. They then changed their reporting methodology so the numbers looked better. Google celebrated replenishment while consumption climbed 28% in a single year. XAI launched a gray water project, announced it would only cut aquifer use by 9% and put it on indefinite hold. Indefinite hold. That is what their promise looks like in practice. Now, let me say what no one else will, but also a lot of people know. This is not just about data centers. This is about billionaires deliberately engineering a water shortage and positioning themselves to profit from it. The same executives building these facilities are investing in water rights and water infrastructure. They are not unaware of the scarcity of they are creating. For some of them, it is the plan. Secure the groundwater now, control the resource, sell it back later. And while that happens, the federal government, under pressure from tech industry lobbying, moved in 2025 to gut Clean Water Act oversight and fast-track data center permits. They are not just taking the water. They are dismantling the laws that would make them answer for it Our community is not a sacrifice zone for someone else's investment portfolio. We are not against progress. We are for accountability. We are for binding transparency requirements before a permit is signed, not after. We are for our neighbors' water still being here for their children. We are for a future where water belongs to the people who live here.

Ma'am, your time is up.

Not to a corporation that has never set foot in Henderson and never will. Your time is up.

Thank you for your comments.

We are asking for proof. Thank you.

Is there another caller? Oh, thank you.

Hi, my name is Amanda Ferrar. I'm a resident here in Boulder City, and I spoke earlier in the meeting And I'm calling back with some further comment and information. And I appreciate you guys listening to everyone's comments tonight. I did some research on the size of the estimated size of the data center buildings that are built on 88.5 acres of land, the size of the parcel we're discussing, and also research on the size of Walmart stores as a comparison. And what we are actually considering for the gateway to our beautiful quaint town that we're talking about starting with two buildings, but the word building is actually a misnomer because the two buildings that we're talking about together, we can actually estimate as being the size of 14 regular Walmart stores. Or, because those stores come at different scales, eight very large Walmart super centers. Or, about 35 Walmart neighborhood market stores. That is the scale of what would be likely only phase one of the status center project that is being discussed. And on top of having a footprint of the size of 14 Walmart stores, we are talking about a monstrosity that is estimated to be about 40 foot tall. And this is incredible. I remember about two years ago, there was an application by a local church for a senior apartment complex that was turned down because of opposition by surrounding neighbors who were concerned about what poor elders would do for their property values. That project was not approved. It was not built. It was my understanding that the input by neighbors was what stopped that project. I ask why in the world would we recommend a massive eyesore that's intermittently noisy, creates light pollution in a town where our previous goal was to be a dark skies area. It creates few jobs. It uses our precious water supply. It gives off heat. It can put enormous strain on our power grid, which would likely raise our power bills over time. But in addition to all that, A data center is a massive liability for Boulder City. I've heard that the developers haven't done this before. There are red flags everywhere, and I urge you guys on the Planning Commission to listen to all the concerns that have been expressed and to recommend against this data center project. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. Is another caller? Go ahead.

Public comment. Go ahead.

Should I speak now or wait a moment?

Oh, no, go ahead.

Hello, my name is Carol Schultes. I was there earlier. I did listen to the city surveyor speak, and he was talking about technology and the way we're going, and we shouldn't miss the boat. I just wanted to say, since all this started at a very short period of time ago, I've become a studier of everything data centers and listening to absolutely everything I can, reading everything I possibly can. And from what he said, he's completely wrong. The technology is going the direction of quantum compute. And let me give you an example of that. If you have an army of drones and they're out there on the war site and someone drops a bomb, a dirty bomb inside your country on that database, at that data center, all the drones fall out of the sky. But with quantum compute, they don't. That is the future. And 18 to 24 months to build one of these things, we're going to be that much closer to quantum compute? That is the way everything is going. China is not building data centers. France isn't building data centers. This is just a profitability thing going on for these big companies. And we can find better ways to make money out of our valley. Let's be more creative. But I encourage everybody that's there on the commission to fact check all of us who've been studying the facts from all of the papers written by all the colleges and all of the special tech companies are saying one thing, but they never get around to the specifics. And if you read the 10-page Harvard paper yourself, it's available online. Maybe you can say, this is no way. And you can tell the city council, these people are right. Thank you for your time. And I only had to wait on hold for 30 minutes this time. But you know what? It's better than not getting picked up at all. Thank you.

Is there another caller? Go ahead.

Public comment. Go ahead.

Hi, this is Sharon Newby, Boulder City resident. And I'd say I agree with everything that I've heard tonight. And I probably know more about data centers than I ever wanted to know. I'd never even heard of one before all this started. And just a couple of things that have stood out to me. The fact that they've already invested $12.5 million in this project, which they have no approval for. The fact that they're going to get water from California or Arizona. That was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. We know that comes from the Colorado River, that they have the generators, and they're only going to do 100 hours a year. Well, we just had winds up to how much, you know, who knows what's going to blow the dirt into these places and cause problems all the time. And the last thing, I want to thank Beth and Matt and Steve and Chana. And Kevin Smith for their questions, which were good questions. Thank you. And one more thing. So many notes here, I don't even know where to go next. Kathleen McCurdy, thank you. Thank you all for coming and stating your opinions. Thank you for listening, Planning Commission, and I hope that you decide to deny this petition or whatever it is. Thank you.

Is there another caller?

Public comment. Hello? Hello? Here's another call. OK. Public comment. Go ahead.

Oh, hello. Thank you for taking my call. This is Julie Kemp. I was also in there earlier, and I had to leave, so I was listening online, and I heard the presentation, and I just wanted to say that, I mean, honestly, the presentation was so... Oh, let me turn off the computer. Sorry, should I repeat myself?

No, we can hear you.

Oh, okay, okay, sorry. The presentation was, I mean, honestly, it was sort of a joke. It really did feel like I was listening to kids in elementary school doing some kind of project. It was just so unprofessional. The other thing that comes to mind is, so my background is in information technology, database development, and I've also studied cybersecurity. and so I handle cyber awareness training at my company and one of the things that we talk about is you know when someone calls you on the phone or you know you get some kind of message on your computer and they make you feel like this is an emergency you got to take care of this right away that's like the first sign that there's something wrong and I feel like there's a such a sense of urgency with this like there's some kind of emergency like what are we trying to fix here i mean if boulder city needs a way to make money which it doesn't sound like there's like some emergency but even if there is hey you want you guys want to make more money then great why don't you get the community together have a have a town hall with the commissioners and the planners and the whole community make sure everyone knows about it and Have conversation and see what kind of ideas the community has for bringing different industry to Boulder City that fits more in line with, you know, energy sustainability. I mean, I thought the solar panels are great. That would be something that's wonderful for our community. We do need sustainable energy. And so, anyway, those are my thoughts. And I do hope that you just flat out say no because there is some fake emergency going on here today. And, I mean, I don't even know. We're hours into this meeting, three hours, basically, mostly of people saying no. So if you all vote yes, I can't even imagine why you would vote yes. It really makes no sense. So thank you again for taking my call.

Public comment, go ahead.

My name is Deel Sunaika, and I'm a 40-year resident. I'm glad to hear the Planning Commission asking such good questions. If you look at the mechanics of this in terms of the resolution, Mr. I believe it's Lambert's package will be attached to this as part of the package. It's an addendum. It's referred to and has become part of it. I don't feel that a lot of the information is correct with warrants not passing it. And if you look at the resolution itself, it's almost like a cattle shoot where the planning commission is very unfairly driven down a course that leads to only several different alternatives. The passage of it is based on that this data center is similar to the solar fields. And we've heard many comments and including from the applicant that shows this isn't at all like the solar fields. So to pass the resolution based on it being similar to the solar fields, I feel would be a mistake. And I appreciate all the comments. I agree with everybody. And I want to note that I've been here the whole time. And telephonically, just like a council person appearing telephonically, I feel that I've been at the meeting if I raise any kind of appeal or other matter relating to it. Thanks very much, and I appreciate the comments of the Planning Commission.

Thank you. We'll take the next caller.

Public comment.

Hello. My name's Robert Green. I just wanted to say what I think about the data center so far, I've watched videos like news reports of communities that have placed these in and they're struggling with their water supply. They're also struggling with their water becoming dirty water. What I think about this town so far with their whole wanting to put this data center in, it's gonna absolutely destroy our town by sucking up the water. They tell people that they can't water their plants, wash their grass within a certain time because of a drought, but they want to put in something that will suck up our water. They want to put in something that has been shown to produce a bunch of heat. They want to put in something that has been shown over and over to ruin communities. That is the only thing I wanted to say. Have a good day.

Thank you. Is there another caller?

What?

Anybody else wishing to speak during this public hearing?

I came here just to listen tonight, but I just felt I needed to get up and say something. Why are we putting it on our shoulders? Maybe we should put it back on their shoulders that they should come up with a better product. And maybe they should spend some of their money on something that works a little better, that doesn't cause all the issues that it is. And my other thought is, and I've lived here since, I've owned my home since 77. If something comes up, and I love Boulder City, I brag about it to everybody. If something would come up where it turns into a health issue, our property's gonna go down. We could be a little ghost town. I mean, this is a big issue as far as I'm concerned. And I just needed to say that.

Thank you, Anita.

Hi, Karen Newcomer again. I just wanted to say that Boulder City is a lovely town now, and it's listening to all these people and their reasons, and it just makes me think that Boulder City should continue to be known as the home of the Hoover Dam and not this town that capitulated to this nightmare. Thank you.

Any other questions? Members of the audience wishing to speak during public hearing? Any caller? We'll wait for the 30-second delay to give people at home a chance to call in before I close the public hearing. Seeing and hearing none I'll close this public hearing. OK, prior to opening up to the commission, I want to make a couple points of clarification just based on the numerous comments I've heard. First, I want to thank everybody for being here, staying three hours, offering your input. It's very appreciated. We hear you. That's part of the process. So I appreciate your passion and you sticking this out. But I do want to make a couple points of clarification. Number one is, just to remind everybody, all of us up here are volunteers. We are not paid anything. We're not paid for being here. And we're certainly not paid by any applicant. I want to make that very clear. We are here because we care about this community. We live here. You have to live here in order to be on the commission. And if we didn't care about the community just like you, we wouldn't be up here. Not only do many of us serve on this commission, we do many other things in the community because we love it just like you do. I wanted to also reiterate what Deputy City Manager May said about the land management process. I heard several comments regarding how the council did not listen to you And I just wanna make it clear that the council forwarding the application to the Planning Commission is not approval of the project, it's not support of the project. What it does is the land management plan does exactly what it did tonight, and that is give all of you the opportunity to have input. Its whole purpose was to give the public the opportunity to have input before it was approved. So this whole notion, and I'm not here to defend the council's actions, but I'm trying to clarify the process. The council forwarding it, well, first of all, let me just back up. The company has been a great community partner since the day they walked in City Hall. I want to reiterate that. They are the utmost professionals, and them coming to the city to say, hey, yes, we have this land, but here's an opportunity for the city, as well as us, to do something with it that's different. Yes, it is more lucrative for them. It's more lucrative for us. They had to, the city couldn't shoot it down before it came to you. You have to operate in a public setting where all the discussions and all the decisions are made out in the open. That is the purpose of this process. I hate to see people thinking that the council's doing something nefarious. when they are doing exactly what the city code has told them to do. And that's what we are doing as well. The whole land management plan was for us, the citizens. And you showed up, so kudos to that.

i'm going to save i have a couple more comments but i'm going to save them i'll let other planning commissioners speak i just want to address um i think it's great everybody came out i've been on the planning commission for going on my eighth year and it makes it a lot better when you guys come in and you interject and you help i think you know we are just the first step you know the city council is the next step where everybody needs to show up I'm a little disappointed. We went on for so long. Look at the audience. We've lost half the people that didn't even stick around for the vote. So I know that everybody's passionate. They want to say something. But just listen to the people ahead of you and make sure that we're just not repeating the same thing over and over and over. um and and we want everybody you know you get to sign a posit a petition you show up show your face but it's like i felt like we kind of lost our momentum for you guys um but you know the passion everything's there we appreciate that and we appreciate everybody taking time out of their their schedules and researching and everything else so thank you guys for that

Any other comments from the commissioners? Okay, I just, go ahead, Steve.

Yes. I just want to chime in and again, express my appreciation for everyone that's shown up tonight and this is the process, right? Having this opportunity to come and let your voice be heard and it's the beginning of this process. And what I would add is that I hope everyone recognizes that the vote tonight is not an endorsement or a denial of this project itself. The authority of this commission is to determine whether or not the applicant has met the threshold of being included in the land management process. And arguably that is a very subjective threshold. It's a low one. It's a low threshold, honestly. But it is the beginning. If you read the Boulder City Code and Assistant City Manager Mays referenced this, But the purpose is to ensure effective and sound practices surrounding the management of city-owned real estate. It is the first step towards determining the viability of the lease of city property in this instance, or the sale. In this instance, it's the lease of city property. So again, this vote is simply to determine whether or not this project goes on the land management process. It's not an endorsement. It's not stating that this project is even going to be successful. Many of the concerns, I believe, that were mentioned tonight could be reconciled contractually. Who stands in the authority to do that? The city. The city is the landlord. The city can dictate the terms by which this project has to adhere to. And so many of those concerns can be resolved contractually. Some of them will never be granted. And I appreciate everyone for sharing those feelings, many of which cannot be reconciled by this body. at all some people will never be convinced that a data center is good some people will never be convinced to the opposite that's just how it works but this is the process and i applaud you for coming here spending the time to let your voice be heard and i promise you that it is being heard in the city council will hear it but it's important to understand what this process is and what it is not

Thank you, Commissioner Morris. Does anybody else have any comments?

I just you know at the end of the day it's like we're voting on whether it's the proper use of the land and we're going to change what it's going to be and I think everybody you know thought it was going to be for solar battery storage and now it's going to be for something else this kind of reminds me of you know when the church came in front of us and wanted to do something besides a church they want to do low-income housing it all sounds like a great idea

But you know, basically we're voting to change the use of that that property Thank You Commissioner red I'll just make one more comment and then we can call for a vote Like Commissioner Morris said our job is determined if a data center would be appropriate on that land if there was a data centered do I think that that land would be the place to put it absolutely but With that being said, also I want people to remember that it's important that the city, regardless if you're very opposed to a project or you are in favor of it, it's important to consider, you know, somebody said we need to be creative. This is a process where people bring their ideas forward, and you can be totally against them or all in favor of them, That's what this you know this company is trying to do however You know this is the hottest topic one of the hottest topics in the country on top of our hottest topic is our lack of water and Regardless of how I personally feel about the project or the applicant this town is not ready it's not and I don't I want to see the applicant be successful and and I want Boulder City to be successful. I don't think that can happen right now. I think there needs to be, I think we need to be proactive by creating policies, laws, codes, whatever, so people know we're not just reacting. The land management process is transparent, but there should be, More structure in my opinion. There's several success stories out there With data centers operating all over you don't hear them because people aren't vocal about things that are running smoothly. They're vocal when there's they're afraid of changing their community something changing their community or That type of thing so I Again, once again, thank you guys for your input, and I will entertain a motion.

I recommend denial of resolution 1280.

Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Nay.

Motion carries. Item number four. Item number four is a monthly allotment.

No report.

Thank you, Nakisha. And our final item is public comment. This public comment can be about any matter. I will now open the public comment.

I am. Did you say right now?

Yes, and it can be on any topic.

OK. Jonna Malor, I just want to say thank you, really.

Thank you, Jonna. Have a good night.

Chair Abel Lobb, and I just want to say thank you to all of you who voted nay.

Kathleen McGarrity, I want to thank you all wholeheartedly, and I want to say that many consider this a miracle. So I am humbled to be wrong, and I want to apologize to you for my doubt, and I thank you wholeheartedly. Thank you sincerely.

Adam Schultes.

What a joy. You didn't sell your soul to the devil except Steve Morris.

Any other public comment?

Thank you, thank you, thank you. And my cousin in Milwaukee thanks you, too.

I know you all want to go home. Thank you. Have a good night. We appreciate all you do.

Brandon Smith for the record, thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys will be the commission that goes on to set the bar pretty high going forward. Thank you for your consideration.

I'll take the caller.

Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Tommy Love. I just wanted to say thank you for listening to us and hearing us. And I'm really impressed that everybody got to spoke up. But that is the point, is even if we are repeating ourselves, even if multiple people are saying the same thing, the point is to make sure that our voices are heard as individuals. So I'm really proud of everybody for speaking up today, even though it took your guys' time. Thank you so much.

Any other callers, Madam City Clerk?

Oh, yes.

Public comment, go ahead.

I just want to say thank you guys on the Planning Commission for denying that. And shame on those of you that actually said yes for it. Ridiculous for those of you. Thank you.

Can you state your name for the record, please? All right, my bad. Public comment, go ahead.

Yeah, Nielsen-Eichen again. Thanks so much for voting this down. Everybody felt very strongly about it. I just want to point out in operating the Planning Commission, because I did serve as chair of the Planning Commission, it's important that all understand the mechanics of it. This wasn't about whether to put it forward or not. The only thing tasked to the Planning Commission was to determine whether the data center was similar to the solar farm. That was it. And I'm sorry that that was missed and maybe a class could be held. But I appreciate all of you in analyzing all of this. Thanks very much.

Oh, I was already checked out.

Sorry.

Any other public comment? Seeing and hearing none, meeting adjourned.