The Sand Springs City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to rezone property for a proposed 827-acre data center to be operated by Google.
City councilman Beau Wilson was the lone dissenter.
The proposed data center — developed by White Rose Partners — was recommended to council for approval last month despite receiving heavy push back from community residents. The city annexed property for the facility along Highway 97.
Mayor Jim Spoon told the crowd the decision was simply a “yes or no” because there would “not be another opportunity” for Sand Springs to have a data center if it was not approved by the council. Close to 300 people in the crowd reacted with both jeers and cheers.
Some residents shouted for a recall vote after the meeting adjourned.
“I think Google is going to be such a good partner,” Spoon said. “They are generous, they are considerate. I think they are going to do everything correct, and we are going to make sure that they do.”
“It is a very difficult decision,” he added. “I don’t think any council member here had any idea that they wanted to do anything negative to our citizens.”
Some of the most vocal community members have been residents who say their voice is being erased due to living outside of city limits. Although they live right next to the annexed property, those residents are not considered Sand Spring residents — only Osage County community members.
Sand Springs Alliance, a local grassroots group, filed a lawsuit alleging city officials violated annexation policies during the process of changing the land to be a part of city limits. City officials say they have been assured there are not any legal issues that will stop the project from continuing, but the court case continues.
“This was planned to be for a data center back on March 19, for months before you all were meaning to annex this,” Kyle Schmidt said during the meeting Tuesday night. “This was not right, it was not done right from the very beginning.”
Issues concerning data centers have sparked state level officials to push for legislation surrounding the hyperscale facilities. Sen. Kendal Sacchieri, R-Blanchard, proposed legislation that would establish a moratorium on data centers statewide until more is known about their long-term effects.
Construction is slated to begin in 2027 on the property and it is planned to be operational in 2029.
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