City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. . . .

Good evening. We'd like to welcome you to our special city council meeting today, August 12th. Like every meeting, we are going to start with an invocation and our pledges of allegiance. So Mayor Pro Tem, if you wouldn't mind with the invocation.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If everybody would please bow their heads. We thank you for the opportunity to gather here today in service to our community in the great state of Texas. We ask for your wisdom and guidance, Lord, for all who have chosen the path of public service. Grant them clarity in decision-making, humility in leadership, and a steadfast commitment to justice, integrity, and the rule of law. Give them the wisdom to listen carefully to the citizens they serve, to hear their concerns with open hearts and minds, and to remember that public service is a responsibility entrusted to them by the people. May they have the courage to seek the truth, even when it is difficult, and the humility to consider perspectives different from their own. Guide them to make decisions that serve the common good and strengthen the communities that they have been called to lead. Amen.

Amen. Well said. If you wouldn't mind standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Let's pledge.

On the Texas flag.

So to get started, just really want to thank everyone for being here tonight, both in the audience, in the overflow, anyone watching online. And I'd like to briefly outline the plan for tonight's city council meeting so we have an understanding on expectations. For those that may not be aware, because of the notice requirements under the Texas Open Meetings Act, this is the first opportunity that we've had to consider Westlake's proposed data center as a full city council here in Keller. We'll begin the meeting by recessing into executive session for 30 minutes, more or less. Really don't want to keep you all waiting too long, but there's some procedural actions that we need to take as a council. And of course, any actions that we take would be taken out here on the dais. We'll then pause executive session to hear from the public during persons to be heard. And I know it's the first day of school for many of you. And so, you know, if you want to get your comments out and then you have other things to do, that's no problem. We don't want to keep you waiting here any longer than you need to be, but appreciate you being here and being willing to offer your comments. After the public's concerns are heard, I anticipate that council will reconvene into executive session to discuss the City of Keller's legal options as it relates to Westlake's proposed data center. So with that said, before we recess into executive session, we'll try to under-promise and over-deliver, so hopefully it's not 30 minutes, but I do have a few brief comments to make. Every town in Texas should have the right to protect its borders, its infrastructure, its school, its neighborhoods, and its residents. And every Texan, regardless of what city they live in, deserves meaningful notice and an opportunity to be heard when a project of this magnitude is proposed in their backyard. That is why we appreciate Governor Abbott's recent directive that data centers must consider the needs of surrounding neighborhoods, protect our water resources, and reduce their impacts on local communities, including through appropriate setbacks. This is not about telling Westlake how to run its city. Westlake has its elected officials. They have their responsibilities, and we have ours. So let me be very clear. Keller is not going to sit on the sidelines while a massive 1.1 million square foot data center is proposed 506 feet from the backyard of Keller residents. When a project of this scale could affect Keller's water infrastructure, taxpayers, neighborhoods, public safety, property values, and quality of life, Keller has every right to demand answers and every obligation to protect our residents. Being a good neighbor does not mean being a silent neighbor. We're a community that cares deeply about our neighborhoods and our quality of life, and we encourage our residents to raise their concerns firmly, respectfully, and diplomatically. But make no mistake, Keller will be heard. Our residents elected us to protect this community. They expect us to stand up when something threatens the character and quality of life we have worked so hard to build. So we will ask the hard questions. We will demand meaningful protections. We will explore every legal option available to us to ensure our residents receive the respect and due process they deserve. And we will fight for Keller's interests every single step of the way. That's what our residents elected us to do, and I'm confident this city council will stand together to protect Keller and its residents. I respectfully ask the town of Westlake, its mayor, and its town council to thoughtfully consider our concerns and our requests before taking any further action. As leaders, we don't roll over when communities need us. We don't point fingers. We don't pass the buck. We rise to the occasion. And we work together to protect the character of the neighborhoods that make Keller such a great place to raise a family. Tonight, you may have received a letter that the city just received today. That letter raises serious legal concerns regarding whether the town of Westlake has complied with its own laws and ordinances in connection with their data center proposal. Those concerns deserve to be fully addressed before Westlake takes any further action. And perhaps some of you are here tonight simply trying to understand the full impact this proposed development could have on Keller, there are many questions that need to be answered, and many of those questions are for Westlake to answer. But one thing is not a question. As long as I, Mayor of Keller, serving alongside these great folks on City Council, we will use every legal means available to protect the residents of this community. I will be adding an agenda item for City Council to consider and authorize formal legal action should Westlake choose to move forward at a future council meeting. because Keller's residents deserve nothing less. Thank you. Thank you. Unless there are any comments from my colleagues, we'll now recess into executive session under Texas Government Code Section 551-071. And attorneys tell me I have to read all of it. So bear with me. Section 551-071, consultation with attorney, closed meeting. A governmental body may not conduct a private consultation with its attorney except... When the governmental body seeks the advice of its attorney about pending or contemplated litigation or a settlement offer, or on a matter in which the duty of the attorney to the governmental body under the Texas disciplinary rules of professional conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with this chapter. And the sub-item there is to discuss the proposed Westlake Data Center development approval process and procedures and possible retention of special legal counsel. And also under Section 551.074 of the Texas Government Code, Person All Matters, to deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee. In this case, to discuss the appointment and employment of a communications consultant. And with that, we'll go to executive session. All right, we're back from executive session. I think we were under 30 minutes. We worked really hard to be. We do need to take action. So the first action that we'll consider is I'll go ahead and make a motion to recommend the city manager execute an agreement with Whitaker Consulting LLC for communications consulting and services. Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I second the motion. Give a motion and a second. Let's take a vote. All right. Thank you to Ms. Whitaker and the team for being willing to share all the great news we have about Keller. Glad to have you on board. Second, go ahead and make a motion to appoint special counsel Taylor Olson-Adkins, Sarala, and Elam. for matters related to the Westlake Data Center project and other items as necessary, and to authorize myself, the mayor, to execute the engagement letter with their firm. We have a second? Councilman Whatley? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I second. All right. Motion to second. Let's vote. All right. Looks like that passes 7-0. So, Rachel, thanks for being here with us this evening. Rachel's going to be assigned as special counsel as part of her firm, so thanks for being here tonight. That said, one of the primary reasons we're here is to really get your feedback, and we'll be here as long as we need to be to make sure we do a good job listening to our residents and incorporating as much of your feedback as we possibly can as we work to advocate and take action on your behalf. So I'll go ahead and read the persons to be heard language. This will be persons to be heard. It's a time for the public to address the city council on any subject. However, the Texas Open Meetings Act prohibits the city council from discussing issues from the public, which the public has not been given three business days notice. Issues raised may be referred to city staff for research and possible future action. Each speaker will be allowed three minutes to speak. In other words, if you were here for pickleball tonight, that would be next Tuesday's meeting. This is the data center meeting. So, all right. Got a list of cards. First up, promise I didn't put it at the top of the deck, no stranger to many of you, Felix Samira. All right. Yeah, Felix is coming in. So we'll go ahead and ask everyone that comes up, just name, address, for the record. That's customary in these discussions. Felix, how are you?

Good, thank you, Mayor. Mayor McMullen, members of council, my name is Felix Mira. I live at 1809 Imperial Springs Drive in the Marshall Ridge neighborhood. I built my home there in 2008, so I was one of the first ones in the neighborhood. I think many of you know I've served this city in various capacities throughout the years, including six terms on the Park and Recreation Board and two terms on the Keller Development Corporation. I'm not here tonight to talk about lawsuits as it relates to the Westlake Data Center. I'm here because this council has real leverage, and I want to put what I believe are four specific actionable items in front of you. We all know that Keller cannot veto a project inside Westlake's limits, but this project still must pass through three choke points, and I believe Keller has standing at every one of them. First, the grid. On August 3rd, Governor Abbott directed the Public Utilities Commission and ERCOT to audit all data centers before approving new grid connections. And Senate Bill 6 created a new review process for large loads exactly like this one. This campus cannot operate without that interconnection. If you haven't already, I ask council to pass a resolution directing our city manager and city attorney to formally request that this project's interconnection be included in that audit and ask our state delegation, along with former Mayor Mizani, Tarrant County tax assessor Barnes, who is also a former city council member of Keller, and others you deem appropriate to request the same in writing. Second, the roadway. This sits on US 377. It fronts that. This is a TxDOT road, not a Westlake road. Before any access permit is issued, Keller should formally request a full traffic impact analysis, a public hearing, and a corridor safety study, given that Ridgeview Elementary sits less than two miles away. Third, our inter-local agreements, the ILAs. For nearly 20 years, Keller has provided Westlake's police dispatch, well police, along with that police comes dispatch, detention, and animal control. A multi-million square foot industrial campus with private substation and diesel generator farm materially changes our officers' risk profile, training needs, and call load. And it happened without Keller's consent. I ask council to commission a cost of service study and open the ILA's so that Westlake funds that difference and so that going forward no development that material affects our service areas happens without your consultation. Fourth, the price of the deal. Let's go quick. Westlake's own commission attached conditions which means the development agreement is negotiable Before their council votes, Keller should transmit a mitigation term sheet to at least include enforceable decibel limits with penalties and independent monitoring, restricted generator testing hours, property value guarantee for adjacent homes, baseline noise and air studies funded now before construction so violations can be provable later. And I just had one last sentence. So anger is easy. I think leverage is better. I ask you to give staff and our newly minted legal team here the green light to explore all options. Give them this homework, empower them to act, and have them start tonight. Thank you very much.

All right. Apologize. I'm going to probably butcher a few names. Pesty, Emmanuel, that 544 Royal Glade Drive. I don't see anyone coming up. I'll set that to the side. All right. Next up, Lindsay Fagan. Is Lindsay here? Set that one to the side. Yeah, they should be able to hear it outside. Kevin Myers? 517 Lano?

Mr. Mayor and Council, Kevin Myers, 517 Lano Court. I know I've spoken to at least four of you sitting up there and some of you multiple times. I'm not going to sit here and give a long-winded dissertation. I've got three points here I want to make, and then I'll give some time back to others so we're not here all night. So in regards to our new legal counsel, excuse me, our former, I don't know, is he our city attorney still, Stan Lowry, are you guys going to give notice to him of the conflict of interest if he continues to represent the town of Westlake in regard to this data center and any legal action or negotiations. So that's one question. Two, are you going to have our new legal counsel over here review and send notice to the town of Westlake in regards to the Ashley Cook letter? So we'd like to hear back on that. And third and final, will the city of Keller request for and host any negotiations slash settlement meetings in regards to the site plan design for this monstrosity. So those are my three points. There are more questions than, you know, a statement. But for some of you, most of you know, but my backyard, my property line butts up against this. I'm one of them that can throw a rock and hit this thing when they build it. So, hey, thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Myers.

I'm going to start reading this a little bit like a baseball lineup so that way folks can be prepared. So next up, we have Fianna Campbell, then Lisa Lara, and Tim Johns after Lisa. So is Fianna here? Come on up.

Hello, my name is Fiona Campbell and I live 404 Misty Ridge Drive. I think it's important to consider how close this data center is to a school because it's once again showing us that this is not a situation that is just affecting a couple residents, it is affecting a community. I really liked reading the letter that you passed out because what it does show is that some of the promises associated with this data center do not hold legal weight. If you look at similar situations online where data centers were built right outside of a county that wouldn't allow them, residents face issues in water contamination and cracks in their homes. and the data center denied all involvement. I'm not saying that this is what will happen with Lex Westlake, but we need legal assurance that it will not. We need legal assurance protecting water, noise, and all other factors considered because if we just accept verbal promises or promises that we have seen may not show weight, then we are not protecting ourselves. And that's all I have to say. But thank you for listening.

All right. After Lisa and Tim, we have Dr. Fay.

Hello, my name is Lisa Laura Pinnell and I live at 537 Northwick Lane. I have been a resident of Marshall Ridge for more than 16 years. I want to begin by thanking you for taking the time to meet with us today and for calling this special session to discuss the proposed AI data center that the town of Westlake plans to approve within 500 feet of our neighborhood. Like many of my neighbors, I am deeply concerned about the potential health and environmental impacts this facility could introduce, including noise, air, and light pollution, increased water usage, and the possibility of declining property values. Given the seriousness of these issues, I respectfully request that the City Council commission independent third-party studies, specifically a comprehensive noise and acoustic study covering both daytime and nighttime conditions, a water use and water impact assessment, and a full air quality evaluation. While Powerhouse, the developer, claims to have conducted its own studies, they have not disclosed when these studies were performed or who carried them out. But the process that has felt rushed and lacking transparency, I do not believe the community should be asked to rely solely on the developer's assurances. I'm also concerned about the long-term implications. According to Powerhouse's website, the company was founded in 2021. If the company were to dissolve or walk away from responsibilities, what recourse would Keller and its residents have? Would we have the ability to hold the town of Westlake accountable for any negative impacts that the data center causes? I strongly believe that this facility should not be built so close to our neighborhood. However, if this project proceeds, The city must be equipped with independent, verifiable, pre-construction data. This information is essential not only to illustrate why this location is inappropriate, but also to ensure that the city of Keller and its residents have the legal foundation necessary to challenge the project if future problems arise. Thank you again for your time, your attention, and your commitment for protecting our community.

Thank you, Lisa. All right. After Tim and Dr. Fay, we have Natasha Banos.

Hello, Council. My name is Tim Johns, and my wife and I live at 2044 Sterling Trace Drive. I've been an audio engineer for nearly 50 years of professional experience and would like to lay out a few facts about from the literally hundreds of independent studies and research conducted pertaining to the negative audio ramifications of this deceptively represented project. An MDPI published article in May of 2026 concluded that prolonged exposure to low level sound at intensities typical of conversational speech can transiently impair auditory function and alter early neural processing in the auditory pathway. Sound levels commonly considered safe may still pose a risk when exposure is sustained with implications of hearing loss or alterations. Another trusted source of audio technology, SoundSee, published an article on the disparity between low and high frequency sounds, noting that low frequency sounds travels farther primarily due to their longer wavelengths which allow them to penetrate obstacles and experience less atmospheric absorption. In practical terms, longer wavelengths, generally from tonal noise, which are steady sounds from fans, and broadband noise from wide-spectrum sounds from airflow, allow low-frequency sounds to distract or diffract or bend around obstacles. maintaining their energy and can continue to up to travel to up to two and a half miles. This is why berms and foliage do not help at all. Another comprehensive study conducted by Life Science Analysis and Reporting Solution concluded that continuing sources that produce noise at every large facility consisting of cooling fans, transformers, switchgear, HVAC ventilation, Backup generator runs and load tests produce a disruptive low frequency hum. And since data centers run 24-7, this produces a low noise output with absolutely no relief. The audio fatigue from this constant auditory output can produce many adverse health and hearing implications. By the way, this annoying tone you hear is 100 to 250 hertz low frequency range that these data centers historically generate every minute of every day. These studies are just a sampling of the myriad of facts, not the developer's irresponsible or inaccurate talking points. When it comes to the many negative audio consequences of data centers, we need our city leaders to take immediate and aggressive action to stop this infraction being forced on us. It was Teddy Roosevelt that said, walk softly and carry a big stick. Well, it's time to get out the big stick and swing away. Please. Thank you.

All right. After Dr. Fay and Natasha. Let's see here. I have a couple duplicates. With Caitlin Upton, you're going to be on deck.

Good evening, Mayor, and good evening, Council. And I want to say thank you first for gathering us together today, because there's nothing like a hot topic that brings all sides together, and we're seeing that right now. And also, it's leadership for any municipal government to allow such a session to for their community to hear what they have to say. We know that that's why we got here today because Westlake was not willing to do that for their own residents. Talk less of us Keller residents. So three things that I want to share with us. One, our HOA has done a great job in really giving us resources so that together we all can begin to put our voices together to allow our voices to be amplified. They gave us elected officials email addresses for us to contact them because next week, the 19th, the state affairs will be hearing from Texans all around about data centers. And I'm encouraging and I hope that as our leaders that you will also take that initiative to make sure that our voices together through you is heard from our elected officials. I already did it and I know a lot of my neighbors have done that as well. Secondly, I want to point also to what this type of topic and situation can do for all of us. Ashley Cook is the attorney that worked with Cedar Creek Lake in ensuring that the massive data center that was going to come to them did not happen. And she's landed us her expertise just in a few days of what she's gathered. And I will encourage all of us to make sure that we are learning more and more about data centers. Here is something that I learned about her article that was published in the Dallas Morning News. I contacted her and the reporter and immediately she began to share all the resources that she had. Data centers that are massive like this, these are not ordinary construction projects. So the playbook of massive data centers like this is to keep it secret for one or two years and then make it public when you're about to build, which is exactly what has happened. Thirdly, I would like to see us as a city, you as our leaders, to take the initiative to look at what she sent to the city of Salt Lake today, resolution 26 and 25. There's six areas that were violated by the developer. It looks like they're only relying on the assurances and assumptions of the developer. And we that live in Marshall Ridge or Keller citizens cannot um basically rely on those assurances we want to know specifically answers concerning either one two three four five or six of those violations by the developer it amazes me that the planning and zoning commission went ahead and took a vote even on that site plan that violated so many things i would like to see you as our leaders take that initiative and find out from the city of Westlake on those violations. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Thank you.

My name is Caitlin Upton. I'm at 528 Hunter Manor Drive. Just want to say thank you for allowing us to say something. Everyone is way more eloquent than I am and with facts. So thank you all for having us.

Of course. Thank you for being here. All right. After Caitlin Upton, we have Cynthia Jacobs and Susan Island.

I think that was just Caitlin. I'm Natasha Banos.

Oh, did I switch them?

No, I think we just got out of order.

I got out of order. All right. So you are?

Natasha Banos.

Natasha. Nice to see you this evening. So Caitlin just spoke. Thank you.

Of course. I live in Marshall Ridge at 1505 Goldenrod Lane. I would like to say thank you to the city of Keller.

and everyone who came here tonight for getting involved however possible to ensure a data center does not get built so close to existing Keller residential homes and so close to our Keller Elementary School. No one wants to live so close to an AI data center that it will affect their peace, their sleep, their health, and especially the health and development of our children. The hardest part for me to swallow is the town of Westlake knows that this should not be built so close to residential homes, even posting a promotional flyer to try and say how great the data center will be. For the Westlake residents and how it's at least two-thirds a mile away from the closest Westlake residents, while we have many, many homes much closer than that in Marshall Ridge and in elementary school. I'm not someone who has ever spoken up before, but I owe it to all the kids in our neighborhood and to those kids that will be at Ridgeview Elementary to do whatever I can to help prevent this Westlake Data Center from happening so close. And thank you for joining us in this fight.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, after Cynthia Jacobs, Susan Island, we have Ashley Hernandez. You'll be on deck.

Good evening. My name is Cynthia Jacobs, and I have lived in Marshall Ridge at 509 Royal Glade Drive for 17 years. I want to say thank you to the mayor and city council members for your letters, your emails, your phone call, and for your communication. It is vastly different than what I have heard from the city of Westlake. I am concerned that my interests will not matter to these developers. I feel taken advantage of, and not because of my faith or my gender, my politics, but because of my zip code. I am concerned about my property value. No one wants to live near a data center. I am worried about the beautiful wetland area, and I want it to be protected. That section of the Greenbelt is such a gift to myself, my family, my fellow community members. You will find me there often, every day. Okay, not every day, but often in the nature and the wildlife. It's so peaceful. It is also a floodplain. The road near 377 and Westport Parkway floods every time there's heavy rain. Has the City of Keller contacted the Corps of Engineers to ensure that this data center will not increase flooding? I do not feel secure relying on Westlake's assessment. If the data center is built, it will without a doubt be the prettiest data center in the state of Texas. However, there were no transformers in the plan that I saw. How is Westlake going to beautify that monstrous eyesore? They said they're building a 350 megawatt substation. It's gonna be built to offset utility bills from rising. But I read that Encore is behind on building substations because of the demand of data centers, like years behind. What is the timeline? Will powerhouse wait until the substation is finished before they begin to use the state's electricity? The noise pollution, 56 decibels, seven to seven, no more than 49 in the evening. Who enforces this? What astronomical fines will be in place to ensure compliance from this multi-million dollar company? In general, I am concerned with what is written on paper in their plans and what reality will look like. I ask you to please represent my interests and concerns to the best of your abilities. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

All right. After Susan and Ashley, we'll have Mr. Greg Reeves on deck.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Susan Island. My husband and I live in Marshall Ridge at 408 Monarch Hill. Can you hear me?

Yeah.

I'm short.

Yeah, no, just bring it on. You're good. You're good.

I come to you this evening as a grandparent. I want to share something. Got my Kleenex ready. I want to share something that happened in our home last week that I hope will cause everyone here to pause and consider the decisions that need to be made. Our granddaughter is 10 years old. Last week she was at our home and I used the opportunity to dial into or call into the online Westlake planning and zoning meeting. I thought that would be a great opportunity for a little girl to learn a little bit more about city politics. We logged into the meeting online. She listened as we cooked dinner that evening while my husband was actually at that meeting. We live in Marshall Ridge. Our grandchildren also live in Marshall Ridge, a few blocks closer to where the data center is going to be. So she listened to the presentation by the developers. She also listened to the comments about the proximity of the enormous facility just outside her neighborhood. She heard the concerns about the potential ongoing noise from the data center that could potentially be heard 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Later over dinner, she looked at me and asked this question. Do you think the people building this data center so close to our neighborhood understand how hard it is for kids with dyslexia and ADHD to concentrate? Our granddaughter has dyslexia. She listened to what was being discussed, thought about it, considered her own experiences as a child with dyslexia, and she made that connection herself. Honestly, her questions stopped me because I found myself asking the same question. Has Westlake considered the children who live in this neighborhood? Have they considered the child with dyslexia who is trying to read or do homework? Have they considered the child with ADHD or autism and the difficulties they may face with ongoing noise? These children often have difficulty filtering distractions. They can be particularly sensitive to environmental sounds. Have they considered what continuous mechanical noise day after day and potentially through the night could mean to those children when the facility is so close to our homes and school? If a 10-year-old girl, simply by listening to a public meeting and thinking about her own experience, can recognize that possibility, I believe the adults making this decision should be asking themselves that question as well. We as parents and grandparents, as well as all of our city officials, should be advocating for our children. My point is simple. Children in Keller are just as important as children in Westlake. Our city borders should not border. Our city should not determine which children are protected. I respectfully ask both Westlake Council and our city council officials. I'm sorry, very close. Consider the children in our neighborhood, not just the property lines, the engineering plans, or profit. Because sometimes the most important question comes from a 10-year-old little girl who wants to know if she and friends just like her will be considered. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, after Ashley and Greg, we have Kate Brennan.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for calling this special meeting. My name is Ashley Hernandez. I am a Keller resident, but this data center is not directly in my backyard. But I attended the HOA meeting with the Keller residents whose homes are directly affected, and I heard their concerns firsthand. If something affects one part of our community, I believe it matters to all of us. I have a slightly unusual hobby. I genuinely enjoy digging through city agendas, minutes, and public records. So when this happened, I wanted to answer one question. How did we get here? I went back through roughly three years of Westlake records. The trail took me to December 10th, 2024, when Westlake Planning and Zoning considered changes to PD 3-8. If you were an average resident reading that agenda, you saw, quote, text amendments for development performance standards, end quote. It did not say data center. The final minutes don't say downers data center either, but the meeting video does. Hillwood's representative discusses data center construction and 80 foot building height and the proximity to Keller. Then on January six, those changes went before Westlake town council as ordinance 10 15. Again, the agenda broadly described text amendments PD three dash eight. This stood out because it was not consistent with what I found to be Westlake's normal practice. Westlake routinely produced detailed staff reports explaining significant development matters in plain English. And I actually kind of like this practice. I think Keller should do that too. Yet for December 10th, I have not found a comparable staff report. And even after Ordinance 1015 was adopted, Westlake's public recap still described it broadly as updated development rules for 377 corridor. It still did not say data center. Today, Westlake says the first data center is allowed by right and that the land use decision has already been made. In fact, they keep mentioning this point. So it's clear the by right decision had a meaningful impact on both Westlake and Keller. So if the decision is already over, we have to go back to the moment when it wasn't. And Westlake's newly posted agenda for Monday makes this contrast even clearer. It expressly says data center. It identifies the development agreement, developer, acreage, and location. They clearly know how to provide specifics. The Texas Open Meeting Act Government Code Section 551.041 requires written notice of a subject on a governmental meeting. I am asking legal counsel to determine whether they did. And don't take my word for it, take the town of Westlake's own words from its meetings, videos, and transcripts, public notices, staff reports, and public recaps. I'm submitting this as a packet tonight containing those underlying records. That includes sections 551.141 and 551.142, and the city of McClendon, Chisholm versus City of Heath, a case where one neighboring city was permitted to proceed as an interested person with Open Meetings Act claims against another. I'm asking council to determine whether Keller has a path to act. So my questions are simple. Did the public receive legally sufficient notice when Westlake exercised its discretion to establish this land use? And if not, does Keller have a legal remedy including emergency relief before Monday's vote? Because if Westlake says it's too late now, then it matters tremendously whether the public knew what was being decided when it wasn't too late. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Greg Reeves, and I live at 1805 Sterling Trace Drive with my wife. We've been there about 14 years or so. You know, it really sinks home when you start listening to these people. We've all got the same message. No to the data center is what we would like to hear, but the bottom line is it's probably not going to stop immediately. There's going to have to be some type of review done. So at the end of the day, we really request that the data center approval to move forward be delayed, stopped preferably, but delayed and enough time given to address the issues that are surrounding. And you've heard probably every one of them tonight, except the gentleman who talked about the big stick. We need a 16-foot oak 4x4 swung widely. to take this problem down. But at the end of the day, and it's all been said as well, noise, right? The noise you heard over the microphone, that's real, right? That is real. Westlake saying that the project meets their local ordinance, bong, right? That's just total crap because we don't know what their ordinances are. We don't have any trust in their ordinances. We don't have any trust in the methodologies they've used to try to promote this project. So we're not comfortable with what they're saying. And as you've heard already, there's so many facets to noise measurement and noise management, the frequencies which we've talked about, generator noise, HVAC systems, maintenance, vibration. The maintenance is something we kind of forget about. Maintenance schedules will occur in the data center. I come from the IT world. They're going to fire up those generators at a certain cycle. If they get a leak in the roof, they've got to get that fixed. So they may have those cranes setting 450 feet from those back lines working on the building at 3 o'clock in the morning. So something's got to be done to get the operating parameters nailed down. And with what was said earlier, and I've got a note here, there's got to be immediate, swift, punitive responses when they don't comply with their operating procedures. And I hope you guys will work on those operating procedures. It's been said, and we really appreciate it, If you guys would launch an independent noise survey to see what's there, being in technology, it was in software, you know, you don't ever move anything to an environment without testing it first to know what you've got. You've got to have a baseline. We need to work on that. Data center noise is constant. We went down to 170. We listened to the data center. And I can tell you that noise is persistent. It is constant, right? I don't care what angle we were at until we got miles away. I didn't hear it miles away. But until then, we did. And where our house is, personally, is not that far from where the data center is going to be butting up to our neighbors' back doors. And I'll stop. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. After Kate Brennan, we have Sharon Sandin, I believe, and Linda Bjorn.

Good evening. I'm Kate Brennan, no relation to the councilwoman, make that clear. And I am a Grapevine resident, but I'm also here because I'm a candidate for House District 98, which includes both Keller and and parts of Westlake. So that's my interest here tonight. I applaud the City Council for being transparent, including the citizens of Keller in this discussion. Your leadership is noted and much appreciated now. The council's willingness to defend the community and especially the children is laudable. We all know, and I'm not gonna go into the details because some of the speakers have been more eloquent and educated on this than I, We all know that this and future data centers will have a significant effect on this community and all throughout House District 98 and North Texas. As you and others have stated, the noise, air, water pollution is likely to be substantial and sustained. This is not going to go away. There are obviously harmful effects to both adults and children and those living in the immediate area, especially the younger children in their learning. There's also likely to be a decline in the property values, and this isn't what your residents have worked so hard to gain and protect. Cities and counties must learn to cooperate with each other and collaborate for the benefit of all those in North Texas. It's not a kumbaya moment. I think that the stick you're yielding with the... the legal action or potential legal action is significant and important. We must build a sustainable future for our children and all those in Texas and our grandchildren. And finally, the Texas legislature must reverse its position on limiting the ability of cities and counties to regulate developments and commercial developments and other developments within their own jurisdiction. The Death Star Bill, which was House Bill 2127 passed in 2003, has resulted in unchecked, unregulated commercial development at the expense of the people. Texas can be both pro-growth and pro-people. Thank you very much for your advocacy on behalf of Keller and other residents.

Thank you. All right, after Sharon and Linda, we have Andrea Riddle.

To the Keller City Council, I hope my voice holds up. My name is Sharon Sandin. I've lived in Stagecoach Airport subdivision since 1986. When my family moved to be in the country in the wide open spaces, pastoral and rural character look in the airpark. I was on the P&Z Board of Westlake from 1999 to 2022. It was an incredible honor to help guide our community through immense growth while working to preserve its unique character and I was happy to serve for 23 years as a volunteer. I was proud because of the thoughtful work we did and being transparent to let the residents know what was coming down the pike. With previous Mayor Scott Bradley and Mayor Laura Wheat, we had neighborhood meetings with neighbors, could find out the latest town news and developments. All concerns were addressed and neighborhoods were comfortable. The purpose of the comprehensive plan developed in 1992 was simply stating where it wants the town to go, its vision of the future. It stated the normal planning process will be altered and refined, but the policy should provide good counsel in making both large and small decisions that will be necessary to guide the community in the future. The plan was to implement the overall vision of the community, protect the health, safety, and welfare of present and future residents and workers of Westlake. Our town grew from a couple hundred people from our stagecoach subdivision, most of who served on the first PNC and council boards and are now deceased. in the beginning to several thousand residents in Westlake, living in the high-end luxury gated communities on the east side. Remember those subdivisions came to pass because of the first members of the boards and stagecoach. We wanted to create something special, picturesque, meadows, gently rolling hills, open spaces, the dark sky, and not all the tall streetlights and surely not the master plan developments like what is around us. Westlake is very unique. It was an honor to help guide our community through immense growth while working to preserve its unique character. I am grateful to fellow board members who trusted me with the responsibility. I resigned in July of 2022, the week before the time came for four of us on the board were to reapply. I went to the meeting and nothing was said about my resignation. We four were told the new group of leaders wanted a clean slate of commissioners. A developer can promise you anything at a zoning podium and none of it has to hold a year later. Buffers, do I have somebody to come?

You can, if you don't mind,

Buffers, noise limits, water plan, a promise of the developer website does not transfer to the next owner. Be careful what you pass and ask for. Are we being bought and sold without any accountability in Westlake? Will we be told NDA, a non-disclosure agreement? Should we sacrifice essential resources to accommodate rapidly... Expanding AI infrastructure? How much infrastructure should communities accept in exchange for investment and jobs? Look up the difference in 1998 on a mainframe data center that was basic and the data centers of today. Absolutely no comparison whatsoever. I now see why the water of 18...

If you don't mind, we have to do our best to stick to the three minutes just because there's so many people that want to speak.

I think Camille was going to give me three minutes.

No, it's okay. Go ahead. I just wanted to give you a heads up because there are other folks. So if you don't mind, just kind of... Okay.

I know. Well, what I'm going to say I think is very important.

We agree.

I now see why the water 818 of 2025 quality report comes out but you have to read between the lines. That was sent to all of our neighborhood and stagecoach. Our department implemented an impact fee study on the usage of water, sewers, and roadway by current and future developments. These fees, bonds, ensure that the burden of new improvements is not placed on existing customers. Really? So, so many things to study before a water tower built to maintain massive data centers in our area. What about the electric grid? Remember the rolling blackouts a few winters ago? Why was Stagecoach Airpark chosen for a water tower at the north end of the subdivision? Because of it being at a higher ground? Really? And the building height made higher without our knowledge? What happened in 2000 where Westlake and Hillwood signed a water service agreement that guarantees water service for the entire town? This is over by 377 just south of 170.

Just so I can understand, about how much longer do you have? Just so we know what to expect.

I'll finish this page.

Okay, I just want to make sure. Thank you.

Okay. To name a few problems not discussed with Westlake and Keller neighbors, do we actually have the workforce and infrastructure capacity to build? I am saying when you approve massive amounts of industrial development all at once, You don't get to pretend the only impacts are electricity and water. Data centers need electricians and lots and lots of them. They need HVAC and mechanical workers, pipe fitters, plumbers, concrete crews, welders, equipment workers, truck drivers, site crews, project managers, and the list goes on. They take away from the everyday need to homeowners who need their service. I might add that I was a real estate agent with Coldwell Bank for 39 and a half years before I officially retired and turned in my real estate license. My joy was helping people relocate and find their dream homes. We were proud of our big lots for residential high-end homes, and I so remember Bill Greenwood, chairman of P&Z, pounding his fist and saying to the developer, we are here for open spaces and not here for you the developer to make money with low density homes and so it goes with the data center. I also ran into problems selling homes with power lines in the backyards or close by and many had eviction in the eminent domain problems which we have to be careful about. That may become a problem with data centers in the future with the expansion from one building to many buildings and a campus. They had stillborn births and cancer issues, just to name a few. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Linda, Andrea Riddle, and then Camille Reed.

Hello, my name is Linda Bjorn. I live at 6010 Stagecoach Circle in the Stagecoach Hills Airpark in Westlake. And I'm not going to go over the information that I shared at the Westlake PNZ last week. I guess that's been pretty well spread around. But I wanted to share a few additional points. Maybe it'll give the legal team some additional points to consider. And as I, too, have been digging into all the data, the past data from December through present, well, that concerned all the areas, to just look at the pattern. There's a definite pattern, which I believe is very, very deserving. So, you know, as we can deduce, the Westlake Town and Mayor have been working with the developers since 2024, most likely earlier, to put in place all the requirements to give the developer the legal right to build this complex, so they say. Then the town can say they cannot deny the developer his, quote, legal right to build it all under the guise of the seemingly benign planned development zoning area in Circle T adjacent to Keller. These were benign zoning requirements which had been established from 1998 through January 2025. So all this time from 2024, not once did the town communicate to us Westlake residents that, quote, we are making all these wonderful updates to our planned development document to pave the way for a beautiful AI data center complex. Doesn't this sound great? I wonder why they didn't want to be transparent about that. Well, that's part of their dirty playbook that we've been hearing about. you know, why wouldn't they be transparent to provide the normal community updates they do on every other item, every other agenda item, every other thing they do. They're very proud and very vocal about what they plan to do to our community or with our community. So I am, as a Westlake resident, I would like to say I am so very sorry, I am so ashamed what our town, our beautiful town, that I've been so proud of and have lived in since 2004. Prior to that, we moved, we lived in North Keller in 1992, and a small group of us fought like heck to take down the developer that wanted to bring in 2,000 apartments where Marshall Ridge would be right now. And I thought, I'll move to Keller because they really take care of their residents. They protect them. I love Keller and will always remain, you know, because I love both of our communities, and I think it's really important that we be good neighbors and we help each other. And one other note, I don't know if people are aware either, digging through the documentation, additionally, there's also a note put in there, because people were asking, well, why don't they move the data center further north? It's in there. It's like, well, if you look at the data very, if you look at the information very closely, there's a clause in there that says, this is the first phase is in this, the southern area, that's listed as, quote, office slash industrial permitted, but in the Any other next set of data centers just require a special use permit to build additional data centers. So you'd be looking at a corridor going from Marshall Ridge all the way up to 170, the way they smoked this into this document in here. So just want you to be aware of that. So what I would ask, a legal point, I don't have time to, go through all the dirty details about the definition of data center, but I would like to ask, is this a legal right for the developer to build it, or were they just lucky with the terminology? So this legal right, let's look at the scope and meaning of the term data center, because it was actually in the document, the 1998 planning document, which our Mayor Bradley signed, but the way it's listed, if you look at the tables, I've got the exhibits, At the bottom of the permitted use table that's described as government or institutional, it lists data center at the bottom. Every other entity above it, fire station, school, it lists a bunch of these government institutional datas. There are Xs checked in the subcategories of one or the other. Data center, there's no box checked in there. What does that mean? Well, go look at the meaning back in 1998 of what data center meant. Well, the owner, given his family business, knew very well what data center meant. That meant things that I worked in were a couple mainframes put together, some Dell computers put together to serve as a computer room inside as part of the infrastructure to support one of those larger businesses in there. Data center in 1998, they thought by checking a couple of boxes in there that that would allow them to transform this data center data center into today's 2026 version of an AI data center complex without having to go through the full public hearing or zoning issue, without having to announce a public hearing that they are actually transforming this seemingly benign planned development into a massive and what should be an industrial zoned complex. You know, there's a key, and when I looked at what are the requirements for Texas to build, what kind of zoning is required to put an AI data center, and it lists industrial, the commercial, you know, heavy commercial type, and then it had, well, if you don't have it in there, you just need to put together an SUP, but it needs to be rezoned from whatever it's current, like residential agriculture, into something that's zoned for data center in there. And those are, you know, from a legal perspective, I would think that that may be a point that you could use it. The meaning of data center was not ever intended.

I'll just encourage you also, Sarah Hensley with our community development team, given your vast knowledge and your service to the town of Westlake on the Planning and Zoning Commission, I encourage you, your feedback is very helpful to us. We thank you for that. I encourage you to reach out to Sarah and her team. That's our team that kind of goes through the community development process, because you probably have information that would be helpful to them as we go through the analysis. But did you have a few more comments?

Are you close to wrapping up? That was the main point. I've got the copies of the tables that I was referring to, that in all the documentation, not once did they request a change in the meaning of the term data center in there. The only thing, they kept the terminology the same. They updated it. They just reformatted the tables a little bit and added the little Xs and checks to try to squeeze that in under the guise of a planned development and thinking that, well, we don't need to go share that with Keller. Okay. And that is, let's see, just one more point. Oh, one thing I would like to do is make a plea. Oh, sorry, here. What did I do with that one? Okay. Sure. No problem. I just want to make a comment. Okay. Here's what a message I'm hoping to send to our Westlake Town Council members. If they think that they don't have a legal right to refuse a data center because we've been told and our residents are told, well, they have no choice now because the developer has a legal right because Westlake is afraid, oh, if they deny it, then we'll get sued by the developer and then owe them mega money to make up for it. So If there's the legal angle that gives our council an out to say, yes, we can vote it down, that would be extremely helpful to be able to help us communicate, say, we support you. If you really want to vote no for this, you can vote no and not be subject to legal. And I would like to just so that, say, if the developer brings forth a site plan which depicts a computer room inside of a government building, then the developer has a legal right to present and show his site plan, but not an industrial-sized AI data center complex. He just thinks he got lucky with the terminology at the time. And to let them know that they do have the right to vote now, and please use it. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Ms. Riddle, are you sure? You're good? Okay. We'll go ahead and note your opposition to the data center project.

You got a few more?

Just out of respect to everyone, I probably will start getting a little bit more strict on the three minutes so we can make sure everyone's voice is heard. All right. We have Camille Reed. OK, that's right, that's right. All right, thank you. We'll note your opposition to the project. Thank you. I have a couple cards that all just looks like See Young Kill does not wish to speak, but wants the opposition recorded to the Data Center project. Same for Sai Kaushika. Same for Abirami Kaushika, opposed to the Data Center project. Same for Ravichandran Kashika. Vijay Lakasamy Kashika, opposed. Does not wish to speak. I think the same is for Sathiyan. And by the way, if I'm misunderstanding what you said and you'd like to speak, by all means, just let me know. Opposed to the Data Center project. All right. Ravi Bandi is opposed to the project, I believe. Does not wish to speak. Armando Tali does not wish to speak, opposed to the project. Same for, I can't read the name, I apologize, Festi G. At 544 Royal Glade, it's opposed, does not wish to speak. Sunni Sheet Pokhrel, opposed, does not wish to speak. Next speaker, I believe is the same person. We've already read this one, it's a duplicate. Sasi Rika Dinesh, does not wish to speak, opposed. This is about how many we got, so I'm going to get through them as quickly as possible. While we're waiting, I did start calling it like a baseball lineup. If Lindsey Fagan is here, I want to recall her name. I set it aside because it looked like she did wish to speak. And then also Pesty Emanuel. Just recalling those names. If you're here and wish to speak, please come forward. Andrew... Lechmer would like to speak in opposition to the project. If you don't mind coming forward.

Hello, everyone. Bear with me. It's past my bedtime. Mine too. Don't worry. You're all right. My name is Andrew Luthner. I live in 1833 Lewis Crossing Drive. I'm a father of four, three boys ages six and under. And we just recently brought a beautiful baby girl into this world. So my wife's happy that we have a girl. I'm a girl dad now. We moved to Keller. Thank you, thank you. We moved to Keller in 2023 because it was one of the most family-friendly cities in the US. And what Westlake is doing is obviously disingenuous. But kudos to them for putting it where they did. They picked the perfect location where it has the least amount of impact to the residents of Westlake, aside from stagecoach. residents, and it benefits Westlake economically. However, on the other hand, the location provides the most negative impact on the residents of Keller with zero stated economic benefit. I'm not against growth and investment into our community, but we don't get anything out of this, obviously. And what we get is loud humming noises 24-7 and other negative consequences as a result of that. This is not how neighbors should treat each other, obviously. And I appreciate the city formally meeting to address this issue and potentially seek actions against the city of Westlake. And to fight against this is important because we can't set a precedent of letting Westlake walk over us without a fight at what they're doing at this magnitude. And we have to fight to ensure that other cities don't attempt to pull this type of maneuver on their neighboring cities as well. The state of Texas is now looking at us to see what we're going to do to fight this. And obviously, I don't know how this is going to play out. But I tell you what, being persistent about this and fighting this should, you know, cause delays and we'll be a thorn on their side. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we may achieve our goal of this, you know, may be too costly or causing delays, and that's obviously the goal here. But at the end of the day, we need to get something out of this as well. So, you know, as a citizen of our city, I'm counting on you, we're counting on you. Please fight for us and please don't let us down. Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew. The next name I have is Isak Warku. Chuck, you wanted to speak on item D1, if you're here. OK.

4928 Blaney Avenue. I am a candidate running for House District 91, a neighbor to your south, and I wanted to come here and basically humbly apologize for the issues we've been seeing around these data centers. This is an issue of the state. This is one that goes beyond the jurisdiction of the cities, and it was our responsibility Even though I've never been elected, it was the state's responsibility to take care of this, and we didn't. We failed. We had plenty of time. They started working on this in 2024, and we've had multiple sessions, and we dropped the ball on this one. I wish and I want to apologize for the fact that our governor, in spite of all our requests, still hasn't called a special session that we could take care of this. We failed you. This is our responsibility, and I feel, honestly, a little bit refreshed coming here, because we have spent the last month or so in different city councils fighting, and this is the first time I've had a chance to come to a city council and seen that instead of fighting on the side of data centers, they were here to protect their residents. I want to thank everyone here for the work they're doing, and I wish you good luck in whatever protections and delay tactics you're able to impose until the next legislative session. And we'll do the best we can on the state level to take care of it from there. Thank you, everybody.

Thank you. All right. This one's a curve ball. The individual check both boxes, plan to speak and do not wish to speak. So I'll go ahead and read the name just in case. And by the way, I'll get through the cards. So this is how many we have left. I'll set it up here sorting, you know, who wishes to speak, who doesn't wish to speak. If there's anyone that we miss, we'll be here as long as we need to be to make sure everyone's heard. So if you didn't fill out a card and you need to speak, we'll invite you up. Amarik Priya. Next person would be Gondim Sazkiran, if you're here. And then on deck would be Heath Shifflett, 1425 Melody Lane. Someone's coming in? Yeah. OK, great. We'll give it a little time. All right. I know this person wants to speak because they even helped me out. Elo Na Schultz, or Schultzy. 805 Greenbrier, if you're here. Okay. Thank you, by the way. Spelling it out for me. Thank you.

So, hi, Council. Thank you for taking action and holding this meeting and listening to Keller residents speak. I only have a few comments to add on what's been spoken about already. So Westlake and the developers can stand behind technicality and possibly legality, but what about the humanity? These Keller homes will be close to the data center, but any Westlake home will be, if I'm not mistaken, 1,200 feet away from it, which some of us have heard from the Westlake Council meeting. Why do Keller residents not receive the same consideration if we're such good neighbors? The ones saying there's no issues, there's nothing to worry about, we've done our due diligence are the developers and those in leadership. How can we trust if they're not biased for profit? More and more profits have been put above people and sometimes it feels like it doesn't even matter because it's a sacrifice that they are willing to make. This whole issue felt really sneaky as to how it was handled and managed when we all first found out and when we learned how far things have actually developed. If Westlake and Keller are supposed to be good neighbors, this was not a neighborly thing to push forward without Keller's input. If this data center goes forward, Westlake will profit to be sure, but they will lose the trust of Keller. Thank you.

Thank you. If I already called your name, come on up if you'd like to speak. Mike Anderson, 637 Unbridled Lane. and then Jason. Okay, yeah, come on up.

Hello, everybody, and I'd like to start off by thanking you guys. What's up? We've met. Oh, yeah, yeah, I saw you at the YMSL meeting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you a senior? Yes. Yeah, right now. What? Keller High.

Yes. You're still running? I'm shocked you remembered. Yes, I am. Good. And you're pretty elite at running, much better than me. Thank you very much. Are you going to have a good season, cross-country? Hopefully. We'll see. I kind of bomb my track season. Well, good to see you, Heath. Thank you very much. Well, usually I am here to complain about a lot of things. I can't lie to you. I'm a bit of the bad guy at school board meetings to a few of you. But in all of my time at school board meetings and city council meetings, I've never seen a citizenry more united on one issue, to channel the spirit of George Bush, read my lips, no new data centers.

Watch this drive.

But what I want to focus on is we have seen these data centers time and time again, they have come for the more impoverished communities in our nation. We see them in rural areas, we see them in small towns, we see them in areas where people are not really able to resist the sort of data center takeover. Now they're trying to do that in Westlake in a city with one and a half thousand people. We can point fingers, we can do the blame game, we can do whatever, but all we have right now is the time that we have. Many, many times, Tarrant County has been used as sort of a bellwether of the state at large. They changed the county commissioner districts in Tarrant County, and then they did it at the state level, and then it went nationally. As Tarrant County goes, so does kind of the rest of the nation go. This is the first time at least that I've seen that a data center has been put in such, ridiculously close proximity to the people living near it. I think it was 508 feet away. I've got a friend who lives right on the line behind the pasture the data center is going to. This is very close, and as a billion people have said, very, very bad. And I could try to inundate you guys with even more policies and even more ideas, but the citizens of Keller and your legal counsel, I'm sure, have given you more than enough action items. So I guess I'll stick to rhetoric. I think I represent all 50,000 residents of the city of Keller when I say, get in the way as much as you possibly can. I know that's not easy, and I know that's mean, but this is going to affect an elementary school, this is going to affect an entire neighborhood. There has been never a greater existential threat to the city of Keller than I have seen in my, you know, what, like 15 years of living here. I know, I know. Um, but all that I mean to say is this, there are a lot of, I'll give you another one. There are a lot of the county commissioners, um, specifically are kind of in a sort of voting polling location, shenanigan, you know, fest right now. They're kind of in the deep end. A really big, easy win for them is to come out strongly against this data center. You can use that momentum to go to the state level. You can stop momentum to go to the national level. Keller has a nasty habit of getting in the national news all the time. I don't see why we can do that again. Once again, all 50,000 people, there's not a single person in this town that wants this data center here. Maybe like 10. All I mean to say is get in the way as much as you possibly can, no matter how mean you have to be. The other side has already shown how they're willing to play. I mean, fight back, man. That's it. Thanks.

I believe that's Mr. Anderson. After Mr. Anderson, we'll have Jason Skews and Tom Fulbright.

All right. Mayor, council, thank you for the time. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. My name is Mike Anderson. I live at 637 Unbridled Lane. I am the Republican precinct chair for 3422, which is the precinct that bumps up right against this, that includes Marshall Ridge. Kind of reiterate the fact that, yeah, At the Westlake meeting, at everything, all people from all over the spectrum as far as politics are coming together. So I congratulated Westlake that in this time of extreme partisanship, they did the one thing, and they united us all. So that was good for them. So my history is I'm an electrical engineer by schooling. I've been in the semiconductor industry for 35 years. In those 35 years, I have sold billions of dollars worth of semiconductors from everything from vacuum cleaners to cell phones to large data centers. My first job was at Control Data, and for those young people, that was one of the original data center computer manufacturers. What I do want to do is emphasize some of the things. I love the fact that we've had experts talk about, you know, noise pollution, water, electricity, everything like that. What I would like to do is kind of talk about the power and the heat that comes with that. Not to scare you, but when we talked about the 350 megawatt on-core substation that's going in, at the Westlake meeting, what got missed was that they're also going to have a 300 megawatt substation on their property that will be tapping off the 350 megawatt. So it's not just one substation, it's two. One thing I want to point out, and with all that, they talk about how much energy is going into the building. That energy doesn't go out the building by bits. It goes out in heat. So when they talk about their closed-loop systems, your car's radiator is a closed-loop system. And it's taking the heat out of the car, it takes the heat out of the engine, but all it does is puts all that heat right in the air around it. So this is like having a 300-megawatt space heater just sitting there going 24-7. So it's also going to have a heat bubble in the area and affect the temperature of the area, too. Also talked about the, as far as getting it built, I personally know because I've been working with solid state transformer companies that are coming online big time because they're replacing the existing high voltage transformers. Look it up. The current lead time to get transformers is like eight, zero, 80 weeks to 200 weeks. That's a year and a half to four years from the time they start the project and want the transformers till that time they actually get them. I just want to kind of reiterate, I was excited to see when Governor Abbott made the statement about, talked about all the things in the moratorium, but that one, what it really highlighted was not in neighborhoods. And that's, I mean, I don't know how much more we can get unless we actually ask to build it in their neighborhood. So I think that's my time. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

We have Jason, Tom, and looks like former Mayor Mark Matthews.

Hey, good evening, everyone. My name is Jason Skews. I've been a Keller resident since 97, and we moved into Marshall Ridge three years ago from Hidden Lakes. I've been here quite a while. I really appreciate all the neighbors that have been up tonight. I think they've really covered a lot of what I had planned to touch on. I just do appreciate the fact that you all seem to be willing to jump into the boat with us and fight this fight. So I would just ask that we all pursue every intergovernmental and legal avenue to get us a seat at the table and do what we can just to get our voices heard. So again, I appreciate you all for standing with us. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, after Tom. Former mayor, we have Alexandra Saba. You're on deck. Great.

Hi, I'm Tom Fulbright. I gave you guys a little three sheets. Maybe you got it, hopefully.

Thank you.

Perfect, perfect. I've been a resident here in Keller since 1979, so been here a long time. Raised my family here. Coached soccer for nine years out there on the soccer fields. I was president of the Keller Soccer Association for a couple of years and was a founding member of the Keller Development Corporation when we first started that. I was on the Parks Board as well. So I've been here in Keller a long time. I'm really proud of the city. I think the city leadership has done a great job overall, and people love Keller. They come here. It's a great place to live. When I heard about this data center... just a few days ago, it really caught me off guard and concerned me quite a bit. So I scrambled to try to just do a little bit of research. And so I think, as someone said, we need a big stick. And I really appreciate the council, by the way, and Mayor, you guys holding this meeting to get input from the citizens. I really do. But there is nuisance law. The state of Texas has nuisance law. relative to unreasonably interfering with the enjoyment of your property. Texas has these laws. Keller has these laws. Keller laws kind of mirror the state law. Westlake even has some laws as well. Anything that's offensive to the census is what Westlake's code says. So we've got these codes that say we shouldn't have anything offensive or that would hinder your enjoyment of your property. They would hinder you having a party in your backyard and barbecuing with friends and not having to listen to this. Hmm. So, uh, I think there's a lot of reasons this data center is a bad idea being placed where they're talking about placing it. I'm kind of focusing tonight just on one of the reasons it's a bad idea. And that is this noise nuisance. So, uh, doing a little bit of research. I am an engineer. I'm not an acoustic engineer, but I'm an engineer from Texas A&M. We got any Aggies in the crowd? Okay, great, great. So just in the quick research that I did, it's come out that the frequencies that are really bothersome to people are these 63 hertz and 125 hertz. I don't wanna get down in the weeds. But kind of an important point of this is that I read the presentation by the developers that was presented to the Westlake P&Z group. And it talked about, hey, we're going to stay within the requirements of Westlake. No more than 56 dBA during the daytime. So the point I just want to draw out as an engineer that DBA reading really diminishes the low-frequency noise, which is the problematic noise. And you could do a little research all around the country. This lower-frequency noise is not really captured in that limitation. And so they can pass the test that the city spells out, but it's still going to drive people crazy. So... there needs to be a different way to measure this frequency. And frankly, they really just shouldn't put the data center there because there's no way to really attenuate it from what I've read. So just a couple of questions that I have on the last page. Again, I'm not a lawyer or an acoustic engineer. But I kind of ask myself this question, does a developer commit fraud if he conveys to city officials and citizens that the data center will not be a noise nuisance, and then it turns out to exactly be a noise nuisance? You know, city officials are not trained in acoustic science, so they rely on testimony of the developers, possibly to their detriment. And lastly, I'll ask the question, if this data center was proposed to be located 506 feet away from Westlake Residential Homes, do you think this plan would have a chance of being approved? Thank you very much.

Thank you. So we gave Tom a little bit more time because he would have showed up at tomorrow's KDC meeting since he started the meeting. So thanks for being here, Tom. All right. No stranger to Keller, former Mayor Mark Matthews. How are you, sir?

Happy to be back. I'm in the same boat. Yes, sure, after, what is it, nine years or something? So thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. Also, thank you, staff. You all have long hours, too. So I'm praying that there's not a meeting on Monday at 4 p.m., so I want to give some statements tonight, which I was going to give on Monday instead. So I want to... A lot of great points tonight, and you guys have those notes, so I want to tell a story that I believe mostly... To be true, so Hillwood Company's Mike Berry, the president, shame on him. Eric Eldrod, Senior Vice President of Development, shame on him as well. Westlake Mayor Kim Greaves, shame on him. And Westlake Town Manager Wade Carroll. They're the ones that conspired to start this cover-up a couple years ago. Here's how it all started. Westlake Mayor called former Mayor Armin Mizani, hey, let's have lunch at Hillwood. That's a common, regular thing. I attended several of those myself, right? So they invite them into lunch, and it doesn't break any quorum, walking quorum. It's not violating any open records issues. And so then they flip through a presentation, and they talk about, you know what, hey, listen, this isn't hard work. you know, this isn't a for sure deal, right? So I just want to give you guys a kind of a private heads up, just a confidentiality thing, right? So then they start talking about hotels and movie theaters, multifamily data centers, temporary batch plants, and there's a whole list of things that come out later. So, but they were smart enough for Hillwood to do all the talking. None of that is discoverable under an opens act request, right? So, But if Westlake wants to be transparent, then they ought to really produce that. So four hours later, just four hours later, they go to Westlake PNZ meeting to continue the fraud. So they disguise the PNZ meeting under we're going to just amend these texts, right, from 1998. There's a couple things. Nobody shows up in the meeting, right? But Eric Eldrod, who was at lunch, is at the meeting. He's in the minutes, not named by Hellwood and not named by title. So then four weeks later, same thing, Westlake City Council, just going to do some text amendments. So for 20 months, Circle T Ranch, Powerhouse, Westlake drop all these detailed plans to build this data center. Then they drop it on us on July 30th, 2026, right? So from December 10th, 2024, 20 months later, this is the first time we hear about it, right? So immediately, Westlake points the finger.

Oh, yeah, we told the mayor. Yeah, sure, okay.

Well, let's see the presentation, because I believe it's a lie. Then as the public outrage continued, because they broke our trust, right, and the information comes out, they're saying we didn't do anything wrong. We have the right to do that. It's been on the books for 28 years. Well, again, that's a lie. So who's telling the truth? Well, here's how it is. If you had the right to build that, then why did you have to have the meeting on December 10th, 2024? It's obvious they didn't have the right. I think the light is going to come to this thing. There was one brave woman I want to acknowledge. She spoke here earlier tonight. She was on the PNZ that night, Linda Bajorne. She voted no. She smelled the bullshit that night. Pardon my French. So anyway, thank you. We're all united on this. Lonnell Court is right up there on the front lines, and we hope we can beat this. Thank you all. Thank you.

Next up, Alexandra Saba, and then After Alexandra, Sean, your last name provided. All right, thanks. After Sean, we have Ranadir Biradni. Hi. Hi.

Good evening. My name is Alexandra, and I'm a Keller resident. Over the past few weeks, we have all become deeply aware of the endless list of negative consequences of Westlake's proposed data center. According to Data Center Watch, $64 billion of data center projects have been delayed and or fully blocked. Over 500 towns and counties across the U.S. have enacted local bans, moratoriums, or strict restrictions on new data centers, while specific large-scale AI infrastructure projects numbering around 46 major developments in the past two years have been actively blocked withdrawn or stalled by community opposition. Which is why I am asking on behalf of many color residents, please start your initial negotiations and legal positioning with the goal of stopping the data center entirely. It is not possible to begin to secure the safety of our community already making concessions about the data center's existence. It is not enough to simply ask the developers or Westlake City Council for superficial fixes like adding a berm or proposing slightly stricter sound requirements, as they said in last week's Planning and Zoning Commission. It's important to recognize that the conversations that center negotiations as the red herrings they are. They have us asking questions about risk management and damage control, Instead of just trying to stop the damage to our community entirely, we cannot give up before we have even begun. If this data center is built, there won't be enough fines in the world to mitigate the damage done to not only the people living in Keller, but to Keller's reputation on a national stage. Will we be the city that got duped into destroying our own community? Or will we be the city that fought back to save our quality of life? It is possible. It will not be easy, but it is possible. And you have our support. You have the community's support. We are asking you to stall, stall, stall until we can find a way to stop this entirely. Please. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. All right, after Sean and Ranadir, we have Lynn, Sid, on Misty Ridge Drive.

Thank you. Good evening. Thank you, Mayor and council members, for giving us the opportunity to speak here. My name is Shantala Tamaya, and I'm a resident of Marshall Ridge in Keller, and our house is near the proposed data center development in West Lake, right? Actually, I'm also an employee of the AI First company, and I know all about this AI data center. I can go on and on about power, space, cooling, and the noise. However, my neighbors have done a great job on their technicalities, so I'm going to turn towards more humanity perspective. So I always believe, treat your neighbors as you would want it to be treated. That basic thing, the basic standard of fairness does not appear to be met from Westlake perspective. My comments wholly focuses on fairness, civic responsibility, and the distance. A simple question would define the issue here. None of us are against the progress We need the AI data sovereignty. So we have to have a data center in US somewhere. But does it need to be in the neighborhood? No, definitely not. Texas is really big. It could be anywhere in the remote place where there is no agricultural land or no neighborhood. So, my simple question is, why is 3,600 feet considered to be an appropriate buffer to protect the West Lake residents, while Keller residents may be as close to proximity of 506 feet to the same type of facility? Why is it fair? I'm also correcting the nomenclature to feet because if you see Westlake publicity, they use yards somewhere, wherever it's convenient to show the number less, and feet wherever it is to show really large number, which makes it very difficult for the young adults to understand. We heard our young adult friend making a mistake of saying the feet and the yard mixed up. So that Propagation of the information has to be clear and fair. Actually, Marshall Ridge is a very quiet residential neighborhood where we families leave, children play, and our neighbors enjoy the barbecuing and quiet homes. We have our pets. As you all know, if a data center hump can annoy us, how much it would annoy our pets. And Marshall Center also has a wetlands where we have the wildlife, right? So would they be able to, would we be able to sustain those wetlands? No. All these animals are going to have the migration. Nobody, maybe we can be stuck to the homes and because we have paid the mortgage and we may end up living there, but I don't think so any wildlife animals is going to sustain this humming noise, right? At its core, This is about unequal distribution of the impacts and the benefit across the community. If Westlake is reaping the benefit of the AI data centers, obviously they have to bear the burden as well. So can I continue? Go ahead. Thank you. Westlake would receive economic development and property tax revenue, while Keller residents, we would bear the impacts without sharing any of those benefits. Keller residents will also have no vote in the Westlake election, despite some of the closest homes being in Keller. Municipal boundaries should not... do not contain the noise, light, traffic, or environmental effects. Those impacts extend into neighboring communities. If Westlake considers data centers are an important part of its development strategy because Westlake is very poor, not as rich as Keller, right, as we all know. So it has a responsibility to ensure that benefits and burdens are not divided by the city line, either by locating the facility near the appropriate non-residential corridors, such as the major highways, or by increasing the setbacks from the residential areas. Before proceeding, I respectfully request full transparency and independent review of the studies addressing the noise, not the dB-based measurement. That's a really wrong way of measuring. Any acoustic measure would say the low-frequency sound measurement is measured entirely differently. And then we have to have an independent study on the electrical infrastructure, water usage, traffic. This multi-year construction of the AI data center is going to be a pain for us. getting into the highways and whatnot, right? And we have elementary school. Think of our kids. Please do think of our kids. It's a ridge view whereby two kids went, and now they're 16 and 18, but they have the tie to that. And then also we need independent review for the emergency response capacity. If something goes wrong with the data center, who would take the responsibility of protecting our neighborhood? How the emergency response capacity can be built for that? Buffering and the visual effects on the surrounding neighborhoods. Then comes Westlake's famous quote on the architecture and the landscaping. That is just to make, somebody told me, pretty. Yes, Westlake wants to make it pretty, but do we care for the pretty when when there is a real fundamental issue of the proximity to the homes, which is major for the noise and the light, right? Ultimately, this is about whether a facility operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, is appropriately located near the established residential neighborhoods. Our governor made really good guardrails for our neighborhoods to be protected. Has it been?

Yeah. Considered? Yeah, so the Mayor Pro Tem generously yielded his three minutes. We're at about six minutes, so if you don't mind.

Yeah, I'm done, almost done. If 3,600 feet is the standard Westlake applies to protect its own residents, then it is reasonable to ask why the neighboring communities may be as close as 506 feet neighboring community like ours, right? 3,600 feet of separation for one community versus 506 feet for another. How is that disparity consistent with fairness, civic responsibility, and equal respect for all the affected residents? Thank you.

Thank you. All right. We have Ranadir, Fadika, and then Lynn, Sid. All right. After that, we have Catherine Spooner. You're here and would like to speak. And then Catherine Bishop. Hi.

I'm Lynn.

I don't know which order it was.

Excellent.

Hello, I'm Lynn Sassuara. I've lived in the Marshall Ridge community for 10 years, very close to the proposed data center. While I may be leaving to college in Austin for college in a week, hook them horns, Keller is still the place I call home. It's the first home my family lived in and the place where I've grown up and made so many lifelong memories. I actually had no idea that there would be a data center until a week ago when I came home from camp. And if it weren't for my little sister and my mom, who have been very heavily protesting in this, I wouldn't even know that there would be a data center right next to my house. So I'd like to begin by saying some facts about the data center. Firstly, it is planned to be over 1 million square feet, contrary to the average size of data centers, which is only 100,000 square feet. Anyways, moving on from the fact that this data center is over 10 times larger than that of the average one, another issue that comes with data center is noise pollution. To escape continuous humming noises, it is recommended that you live over a mile from a data center. Still, contrary to Texas law, residents of Keller who live within 200 feet of the data center have received no notice from Westlake about them even building a data center. Moving on, to completely escape low frequency noises, it is recommended that you live over three miles from a data center. Low frequency noises can cause physical vibrations in the body and trigger stress responses. Now what else is within three miles of the data center? Ridgeview Elementary School. Regarding children, the National Institution of Health states that constant early exposure to low frequency sounds is strongly correlated with learning delays and behavioral difficulties in children. This community and the elementary school nearby deserve solid research and studies on noise pollution, light pollution, and water consumption before insulating a million square foot large data center completely altering the community life of Keller, one of Texas' most family-friendly cities, all for a data center which economic life is only 15 to 20 years. Additionally, because of the nature of these new Texas data centers, Texas is actively reconsidering how data centers are approved. So why are we rushing to approve this project when the state itself is actively reevaluating the standards for data centers? When I come home from college, I don't want to drive by a giant eyesore of a building when I could be seeing greenery. I don't want to drive around 377 Highway, a road I and others take very often with my friends and family, and see something that is actively polluting to be an eyesore. I don't want my dog, Sky, her ears to be damaged by the noise pollution. So I ask that the city of Keller take action against this data center to protect our land. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello. Hello, my name is Catherine Spooner. I live at 503 Valley Vista Court, just a few miles south of the Planned Data Center. I've driven past the data center countless times with my family, and each time we passed the land, most of it being cattle grazing area, my mother told me stories about her father. My mother's father, my grandfather, was a farmer in Iowa, raising cattle and growing corn primarily as his family had for generations. As you can probably guess by my past tense use of way to describe him, he's no longer with us. I never met my grandfather. He died of aggressive prostate cancer. My parents had to rush their marriage date so that my mother could have a father to walk her down the aisle. Exactly a year after my parents' marriage, my grandfather died. And almost exactly three years after that, I was born. My due date was set for July 24, 2008, exactly... four years after his death. Thankfully, prostate cancer is not something I have to worry about, not only because of my gender, but also because cancer does not run in my mother's family in any form at all. My grandfather's cancer was caused by his exposure to carcinogens within the pesticides that he was required to use when farming corn. The large corporations that developed these pesticides knew about the carcinogens and about the mutations that these pesticides caused to the endocrine systems of wildlife and farmers. They had known about the risk that these chemicals posed to working men like my grandfather for decades and made no effort to change, except for the rare occasions when their hand was forced by regulation boards. I tell you this because I think you should know intimately just how little these corporations care about people like my grandfather, people like you, and people like me. Whether it be pesticides or data centers, the common working people are just collateral for their profit. No matter what fancy legalistic language is used to soften the drum of monstrous machines, no matter what promises are made for the protection of our youngest and most vulnerable at elementary schools nearby, and no matter what regulations and reforms silver-tongued lawyers concede to. There will be a cancer brought in if this development is allowed to happen, whether it be literal or more metaphorical. This data center will eat away at our land, our water, the safety of our children, and the mental sanity of those closest to it. Once it is built, it will not shrink. It will not simply sit and sustain itself like something organic. A system that consumes such an exorbitant amount of water in an ecosystem like this one, like ours, that scarcely sees rain, is a cancer. It is not a sensible adaptation, and it is not a reasonable decision. It is the result of a mutated greed of men with far too much money and far too little sense. Because of these men, I will never meet my grandfather. And if their power remains unchecked, I will be far from the last child to only know their grandfather through stories told on a car ride. Thank you.

All right. Next up, we have Kevin Western. And then after that, I am out of cards. So if you'd like to speak. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. If you haven't filled out a card, then go ahead and visit Kelly and we'll get you taken care of.

How are you, sir? I'm doing great. Thank you guys for having us and hosting this. Really appreciate it. I live at 304 Creek Haven Court, my wife and I. often have the grandkids over, you know, big barbecue guy. Anyway, what I wanted to say is being on Creek Haven Court, the park, not the linear park, the wetlands behind us, you know, that water floods not into our neighborhood right now, but it often backs up on 377. We're not in a floodplain now, but I personally believe that we are in phase one of what I think is gonna be three phases of this monstrosity being developed. What I'm worried about is the long-term impact of having millions of square feet being paved over and the increase that that is gonna have on the watershed and how fast that water hits that creek and backs up even more. So I'm really concerned about what the impact of this structure is gonna have on the long-term 100-year flood plan. And they did elude to it that they knew that they would probably have to come back and redo the 100-year flood plan. They mentioned that at the Westlake Planning and Zoning Committee. So they know it's coming, okay? I have a feeling it's coming, but there's going to be a lot of homes. We're down in a valley down in Marshall Ridge, and many of us could be affected very quickly before we know what's going on. That and also the low-frequency vibrations that we're talking about. It was mentioned earlier about the impact on the wildlife in our wetland area, but all the pollinators and bees and stuff like that, Studies have shown, you know, we've got all kinds of, what do they call them, Mississippi kites that nest in that area. Those are raptors and bees and pollinators and stuff. All that stuff is gonna be disrupted by the slow frequency vibrations that we're gonna have. But I'm very concerned about the impact to the 100-year flood plan. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Y'all have a good evening.

Hey there, you read my name, it's Catherine Bishop. Hello and thank you all for being here and providing this forum for us. My name is Catherine Bishop and I live at 1705 Goldenrod Lane. I have three children. I carefully chose my house in Keller four years ago after over two years of home shopping. The environment and health was one important factor that we proactively considered to the point that I even had a spreadsheet and I looked at all kinds of metrics you wouldn't believe are available, like water quality, cancer prevalence, et cetera. Now we would be half a mile away, and we have several friends who would be even closer. I know many concerns have been mentioned, but I want to bring up a specific health and educational concern that hasn't been brought up fully. Brown University researchers have looked into having schools near, having data centers near schools. Their research shows that students who attend a school within one mile of a data center have lower math scores than those who are farther away. They went on to say you can rule out all other factors. Samantha Cain, a research associate and part of the university's sustainable education research initiative. She said it's actually the proximity to the data center and the potential pollution coming from the data center, as well as, you know, I'm sure that includes the noise pollution, that is having an impact on achievement and not other things about the region. This is important to me. and should be a concern for all Marshall Ridge residents and parents of students at Ridgeview Elementary or even Westlake Academy. This should matter to anyone concerned with the success of Keller ISD2. There are so many other reasons why this AI data center is a negative for Keller residents as you have heard. I want to add that when I met Mayor McMullen while he was walking around Marshall Ridge before the election, my husband and I had our biggest concern as lights at Bear Creek Park to practice ochre in the winter when it gets dark at 5 p.m. This definitely was not on my radar, and I know it wasn't for you guys as you stepped up to volunteer for our community. However, sorry, I wasn't planning to speak or cry, but. You're okay. I know that you all were elected for this important time to address something exponentially more important. And I hope that you'll use your position to help us all. Thank you for taking the time to listen and review this concern.

Thank you. Okay, is there anyone else that would like to speak during persons to be heard this evening? I've gotten a lot of great feedback. Yeah, come on up.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm Vidika Siddhaswara. I'm a junior at Keller High School. And I want to start by talking about how Circle T and Westlake have repeatedly argued that the chosen site has no neighborhood impact. Projector developers have agreed to use the usage of berms and vegetations as measures of sound mitigation. Now, I'd like to question that logic. If the project needs extensive berms, vegetation, and sound mitigation to make it compatible with nearby homes, why is this location appropriate in the first place when there are numerous other locations such as highways that would be more suitable? Regardless, I would like to remind everyone that the noise pollution that's been discussed is low frequency noise. The suggested berms in mature vegetation to reduce sound pollution have been proven ineffective at blocking low frequency sounds. This community deserves so much more than ineffective and poorly researched solutions to hush us down. We need independent studies on noise pollution, light pollution, water supply usage, and any other effects of this data center. We need this before we permanently alter the community life of Keller, Texas. All in return for a short 15 to 20 years of economic vitality before it fades into obscurity like the many data centers before it. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak this evening? I can't believe you're a junior at Keller High School. I was going to say put in a job application, but you've got to get through college first. Anyone else? Anyone in the overflow room, if you'd like to speak, now is your time. Give it a little bit. Okay, so first of all, tremendous feedback this evening. The best part of our town is our residents, and tonight shows that your respect and urgency in which you're advocating for your city is amazing, and it's what makes Keller a great place to live. So we have some procedural things that we still have to do. It's really important to the city council that we take our first job to listen to you and to understand your comments. So we've gotten through persons to be heard. So we're gonna go into an executive session so that way we can consult with our special counsel about the City of Keller's legal options on the project. We actually haven't had the opportunity to do that yet. It's gonna be a little bit longer probably. It may or may not be. I don't know how long it's gonna be. Maybe longer than 30 minutes. It's part of the process. And then if there's any action to be taken after that, we'll come out of executive session right back here. And then we have a great communications team, and so if you can't hang around all evening, totally understand. We'll put it out on every channel that we can, any action that's taken, so that way our residents are fully informed. With that said, colleagues, do you have anything you want to add before we adjourn into executive session? All right. We'll go ahead and adjourn into... Move to executive session under section 551-071, consultation with attorney. Closed meeting. A governmental body may not conduct a private consultation with its attorney except when the governmental body seeks the advice of its attorney about pending or contemplated litigation or a settlement offer or on a matter in which the duty of the attorney to the governmental body under the Texas disciplinary rules of professional conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with this chapter specifically to discuss the proposed Westlake Data Center development approval process and procedures and possible retention. Well, we've already done that. retention piece, but to discuss the proposed Westlake Data Center development approval process and procedures. Okay, we're back from executive session. First of all, I want to thank our staff and also Rachel, our attorney, for walking us through and discussing a resolution we're about to consider this evening. And I'll go ahead and read it into the record. It's going to be a little bit long. We don't like to be long-winded, but just as a matter of a matter of transparency and open government We do business in the sunlight here in Keller, so It's a resolution of the City Council of Keller expressing opposition to the proposed data center development in the town of Westlake Recognizing the potential regional and off-site impacts of the proposed development on Keller residents and the Keller community requesting specific protections accountability meaningful intergovernmental coordination and public participation in providing an effective date. So I probably won't read all the whereases. I think a lot of the substance of this resolution is going to be found in the attached exhibit. But the City Council of Keller is responsible for promoting the and protecting the health, safety, welfare, and quality life of its residents, we do have a legitimate government interest in advocating for and protecting our residents, neighborhoods, infrastructure, public services, natural resources, and community from potential impacts associated with this proposed data center project. The city council recognizes the importance of responsible economic development and technological advancement when such development is appropriately located, adequately supported by infrastructure, and compatible with surrounding communities. And a large-scale data center development has been proposed within the town of Westlake, immediately adjacent to Keller and in close proximity to established Keller residential neighborhoods, making the development materially different from a development whose potential effects are remote or merely regional in nature. And the development is immediately adjacent to Keller. The potential effects associated with the project may cross municipal boundaries and directly affect Keller residents, neighborhoods, property owners, infrastructure, natural resources, public services, and quality of life, And the development is situated within Westlake, of course. Potential off-site impacts upon neighboring residents and communities, particularly Keller, should be measured. Keller residents who may experience off-site adverse impacts associated with the development do not have a formal vote, elected representation, or direct decision-making authority in the Town of Westlake's land use and development approval process. If you don't mind scrolling. Despite the project's potential impact on their homes, neighborhoods, property, infrastructure, public services, and quality of life, the City Council understands that the large-scale data center developments may require substantial electrical infrastructure and also require significant water resources depending upon their design, operation, and cooling systems. The City Council has received and considered concerns regarding the development, including concerns related to electrical demand and infrastructure, water use, noise emergency response, backup power generation, traffic and construction activity, environmental conditions, Compatibility with nearby residential areas, surrounding property values, and the overall quality of life of nearby residents. I actually think this is one of the most important parts of this resolution because we heard at length from our residents tonight and incorporated their concerns as best we could. In accordance with Texas zoning law, which requires zoning changes to be compatible with the surrounding area. The City Council believes that projects of significant size and intensity located immediately adjacent to another municipality should be evaluated not only for impacts within the jurisdiction approving the project, but also for reasonably foreseeable effects on the neighboring communities. The City Council believes that Keller residents who may reasonably experience impacts associated with the proposed development should be afforded meaningful opportunities to receive timely and complete information regarding the development and to communicate concerns regarding its planning construction and operation the City Council supports responsible regional planning transparency accountability meaningful meaningful public participation and cooperation among neighboring municipalities utility providers regional authorities state agencies developers and affected residents when considering projects capable for producing impacts beyond the boundaries of the jurisdictions The City Council acknowledges that Westlake is preparing to enter into a development agreement regarding the development, and we desire not merely to express a policy position concerning the development, but also a request to Westlake to incorporate into its development agreement specific protections, commitments, transparency measures, and accountability intended to address potential impacts on Keller and its residents in Westlake. As more particularly described in Exhibit A attached here to and incorporated herein. I'll go through it in a second. After considering the development, its immediate proximity to Keller, excuse me, and its residential neighborhoods and the concerns regarding adverse offsite impacts, the City Council formally expresses its opposition to the development and requests that Westlake incorporate specific protections and accountability measures to mitigate adverse impacts upon Keller residents and the Keller community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the above recitals are true and correct, City Council, hearing Keller, hereby expresses its opposition to the construction operation of the development in the town of Westlake based upon concerns regarding the potential direct off-site and regional impacts. The City Council affirms that the City of Keller has a legitimate governmental interest in protecting the health, safety, welfare, property, infrastructure, public services, and quality of life of its residents from potential impacts associated with development occurring immediately adjacent to the city's municipal boundaries. And the City Council believes the development presents a threat to these interests. The City Council recognizes that the development is situated within the corporate limits of the Town of Westlake, but asserts that adverse impacts associated with the development are not limited by municipal boundaries and will inherently affect Keller residents and property owners. The City Council respectfully requests that the Town of Westlake, the developer, utility providers, and other entities involved with the development formally adopt and implement the protections, commitments, transparency measures accountability provisions identified in Exhibit A attached here to and incorporated herein for all purposes. The City Council respectfully requests meaningful and continuing intergovernmental communication and coordination between the Town of Westlake and the City of Keller regarding matters associated with the development that may reasonably affect Keller residents, neighborhoods, city or regional infrastructure, public safety operations, natural resources, and public services. City Council further requests meaningful opportunities for Keller residents who may be affected by the development to receive timely information concerning the development, participate in appropriate and timely public processes, and communicate concerns to the town of Westlake, the developer, utility providers, and other entities involved in the development and operation of the proposed facility. The City Council supports appropriate regional and state consideration of standards and policies addressing large-scale data center development, including infrastructure capacity, electrical demand, water consumption, Public safety, emergency response, very critical. Noise, environmental impacts, compatibility with neighboring residential communities, and transparency regarding projected impacts. This resolution is gonna authorize the city secretary to transmit a copy of the resolution directly to the mayor, town council, and town manager of Westlake and such other persons as appropriate. It'll be immediately effective upon its passage if it passes this evening. And then what we'll do is I'll just talk about a little bit more briefly, the attached exhibit. You can see it bracketed. First and foremost, we have the developer agreement. And council, if you have changes you want made, or if you wanna deliberate on any of these items, then now would be the time to do that. So I think some of the key takeaways, and jump in if I missed something that you think is most important. First of all, table the approval of the agreement and site plan for a minimum of 30 days. I'm not even sure 30 days is long enough. We can make it longer if we want to. Arrange and conduct a meeting with City of Color staff and leadership a minimum of five business days prior to the rescheduled date. I really want to start state how important that is because the communication that we've received from the town of Westlake has been lacking. Following such meeting, implement provisions to address the Steve Keller's concerns in order to minimize adverse impacts. As far as this section construction, provide a method of communication, include a point of contact for construction, phasing, and timeline that will be accessible to the City of Keller residents, staff, and leadership prior to and throughout the duration of construction, including for future phases should this project be approved by Westlake. It would be really important in order to be a good neighbor that we listen to those most adjacent. Provide the town of Westlake We're requesting, excuse me, that the town of Westlake provide construction hours and guidelines and confirm no exceptions for early-late concrete pours or anything like that. We've even incorporated measures to protect residents from surveillance, ensure that OxBlue or any other security camera has no view of residential lots, require the developer to identify an emergency point of contact for Keller residents to contact in the event of incidents causing adverse impacts. Public safety is going to be at the top of all of our list. Within 10 business days of receiving this request, identify fire suppression requirements for data equipment, provide specific details regarding the implementation of such requirements, and provide details regarding compliance with the most recent edition of NFPA 855. Within 10 business days of receiving this request, provide the fire department capability and emergency response study. Any study using Keller Fire and Rescue to meet emergency response objectives should result in suspension of the proposed data center project until the interlocal agreement for fire response services between Westlake and Keller can be renegotiated. Give me a second to read through the rest of them. Noise was a huge concern that we heard this evening, and so in consultation with our attorney Rachel and staff, spending a lot of time going through all the correspondence that we've received since this news broke about the Westlake Data Center project. We've been constantly aggregating those concerns. So that's why this is a pretty exhaustive section. So a couple highlights. Within 10 business days of receiving this request, provide any studies on the electromagnetic field the development will create and how it will be mitigated. Where's the section on frequency? Yeah, within 10 business days of receiving the request, conduct an outdoor sound study with the measurements for decibel and frequency ratings. That's the baseline that we're requesting. Before placing the development agreement on an agenda for approval, add language to the development agreement limiting frequency levels in order to fully mitigate adverse impacts on nearby residential properties such that there is no discernible impact on residents or their animals. Let's jump to energy usage. Within 10 business days of receiving this request, provide all documentation showing compliance with the governor's energy requirements from the June 10th directive and August 3rd moratorium. In particular, provide information detailing the extent to which the proposed data center is paying their own way or depending on the state for financial assistance. extent to which the proposed data center is providing their own power or depending on the ercot grid for that power the extent to which the proposed data center is bringing their own water and reusing their own water as opposed to using water needed by local communities the extent to which the proposed data center is using measures to reduce impacts on neighboring property owners and communities including noise mitigation light control setbacks traffic improvements emergency response coordination and other community protection measures ensure the development meets or exceeds the governor's energy audit requirements prior to issuing any construction permits, ensure the development has the PUC and the Energy Reliability Council of Texas approvals prior to issuing any construction permits. I'm going to pause here. Do we know, as a city, whether or not this project falls under the governor's moratorium, for lack of a better wording?

Yes, based on the Public Utility Commission docket, It appears that ERCOT has asked the commission to rule that this particular application, as well as many others, will be subject to the moratorium and will need to be suspended.

Thank you, Rachel. I think that's an important note. We thank the governor for his action. I'll give you a second to read through the rest of it. As far as the site plan goes, we have received questions about that and even had a letter that was, I mentioned earlier, that was delivered to the town of Westlake that they should promptly address before taking action. But this is important. We're requesting that the town of Westlake move the proposed location to the north To the southeast corner of US 377 and Texas 170 and or provide a minimum of 1,200 yard buffer from Keller single family homes to match the buffer distance afforded to Westlake residents. Essentially, we're saying what's good for Westlake should be good for Keller. So if 1,200 yards is their standard, then that's the standard that they should treat their neighbors with. H is, I mean, all this is important, but some of the highlights. Within 10 business days of receiving this request, clarify whether the facade facing the home is consisting of screening for air intake or exhaust. Restrict any air exhaust from exiting toward residential properties. If intake is used, require mufflers or intake equipment to be installed inside the screening. Landscape and screening and ongoing site maintenance are honestly fairly self-explanatory, albeit important. I would like to jump to the process. We are requesting the Town of Westlake to provide the definition for a text amendment used in the context of the amendments to Plan Development District Number 3-8. We're asking the Town of Westlake to provide the definition of data center from the Westlake Development Code or Plan Development District Number 3-8, including citation, Provide copies of notices of public hearing to adjacent properties within Westlake. Explain with documentary support how the town of Westlake complied with the notice requirements set forth by Chapter 211 of the Texas Local Government Code. Call that the transparency section. All right, we got through it? Any comments, questions for staff?

Councilman Whatley. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know it's very late. A lot of people have stayed up very late. Some people may still be watching from home. This entire council has been very upset and locked very hard by a surprising development that popped up in Westlake. I just want the public to know that I personally feel blindsided by it, insulted by it. And as an elected official, I will do everything in my power as one member, one voice on this council to protect our citizens, their property values, their health, their welfare, their well-being. I will support pursuing the protection of our citizens by the full extent of the law. Thank you.

Councilman Whatley? Councilman Will? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to express my gratitude to the residents who came out tonight and spent many, many hours sitting in this audience and waiting for their turn to speak and address their concerns. their government representatives, especially considering it was the first day of school today. So a lot of them probably were very, very tired and had very, very tired kids waiting on them to get home. And so I want to thank them for coming out. This is how governments are supposed to work. It's unfortunate that they didn't have the same opportunities afforded to them regarding Westlake's development. over the past year and a half. I just, I think I'll leave it there. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Will.

Councilwoman Brennan.

Yeah, I was going to echo a lot of what Councilman Greg Wells said. I appreciate all the people coming out. I appreciate all the emails. A lot of the data and a lot of the points that we have in our resolution that Mayor McMullen just read came from a lot of y'all and the input that you've given us. I think not many of us were very much experts on data centers. I know I wasn't. until I read all of your emails and heard your comments and did some research on my own. So people in Keller should just realize that we are advocating for them, we're on their side on this, and we'll pursue their well-being to the best of our ability. And I appreciate them coming out and supporting us.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I had a little blurb I was going to say, but just suffice to say, Thanks, citizens, for coming out. Thank my colleagues for all the work and staff for all the work. But looking at the camera to our neighbors in Westlake, as you look through this video, as I'm sure you will, whether it's your lawyers, your leadership, please know that we spent a lot of time on this resolution. And in good faith, we're requesting these things for our citizens. And we ask that you be good neighbors and do what's not just best for maybe Westlake, but for all of your neighbors in the area and what's best for the state. And if you have any questions, please reach out. But anything you can do to help our residents, we'd appreciate it. Thank you. Both sides, sir. Councilman Armstrong.

I'll echo the sentiments on the turnout tonight, the turnout for the last couple of weeks on emails and texts and calls. This is a true representation of bipartisan effort. We heard from both sides. I think we all came together on this one. And I think this got out of hand because of a lack of transparency. I think this group acted the way we should in order to represent the entire community in protecting what is ours and why people chose Keller. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Rancliffe.

Thank you, Mayor. I guess real quick before I make a statement, I do agree with you that under the development agreement, I think the 30-day kind of moratorium or cool-off period is too short. I'd propose that we move that to 90 days. I agree with that. Okay.

Okay.

I think the second thing is, you know, I appreciate everybody that's come out. I want to thank the residents of Llano Court for, you know, sharing time with us. I want to thank the residents of Marshall Ridge. for being active and reaching out and advocating. And more importantly, what I want to say is at the end of the day, data centers do not belong near neighborhoods. They just don't. And, you know, to Councilman Watley's point, Westlake shoehorned this thing onto our back porch. And it's crappy. And I think at the end of the day, you know, a gentleman stood up here earlier this evening and said, you know, it's It's time to wave the big stick. I think it is time to wave the big stick. And I want the residents to know that we are here to advocate for them, and we will fight like hell for them.

Well said, Councilman. All right. With that, we'll entertain a motion. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I move we approve the proposed resolution as written with the change recommended by Councilman Rankley of 90 days.

You got that, Kelly? Okay. Thank you, sir. Councilman Will? I second. All right. We have a motion and a second. Unless there's any further discussion, let's vote. All right. The resolution is... passes unanimously, and our city secretary is going to kindly transmit the document to the town of Westlake. I'll just close by saying this. I think we've made it clear, but in case we haven't, if Westlake continues to refuse to listen to residents, this resolution, comments from the city council tonight make it clear that Keller will not hesitate to act. All of our legal options are on the table. This council is passing or has passed a resolution that clearly outlines resident concerns. We hope the town of Westlake will listen. And with that, we'll accept the motion to adjourn. Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move we adjourn. Councilman Whatley. Second. All right. Go ahead and vote. We're adjourned.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.