By Ben Morgan and FOX23.com News Staff
COWETA, Okla. — The City of Coweta held its planning commission meeting on Monday evening at the Indian Capital Technology Center (ICTC) over Project Atlas, a data center proposed by Beale Industries.
The planning commission ultimately decided to deny the zoning request for the data center.
Tensions were high, as this data center proposal has been a topic of discussion among Coweta residents since October.
Monday’s meeting included a vote to recommend that the city council consider the proposal, but the city council denied.
Many people said they’ve found themselves against the data center proposal. They’ve cited concerns about a lack of transparency by the city council and Beale Industries, light pollution, construction, water usage, and other issues.
“People haven’t done a smart job of what I call land-planning,” said resident Billy Embrey. “What’s good for everybody, not just one or two. Everybody involved and they didn’t take the homeowners into account on this.”
“On a nightly basis, I have six or seven deer visit my yard and just disturbing the habitat for the wildlife is more significant than what they give it credit for,” said another resident, Allen Prather, who lives roughly 300 feet from the proposed data center.
Some people were in favor of Project Atlas. Some workers from other data centers spoke about the benefits of having data centers.
The city council will vote on the final decision on February 2nd.
