City Council - Regular Meeting

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 b

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

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

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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

I got out of order. All right. So you are? Natasha. Nice to see you this evening. So Caitlin just spoke. Thank you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Just so I can understand, about how much longer do you have? Just so we know what to expect. Okay, I just want to make sure. Thank you.

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

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?

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.

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

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

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 wo

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.

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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-

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 fo

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.

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

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