By Fox23.com News Staff
TULSA COUNTY, Okla. — A lawsuit filed against the City of Sand Springs over a proposed data center was moved to the Tulsa County District Court.
We told you last month when Protect Sand Springs Alliance filed a lawsuit in Osage County against the City of Sand Springs, accusing the City of improperly annexing the site where a proposed data center development would be built.
The organization said they believe the City of Sand Springs overstepped as they were facilitating the annexation of the land where the data center development, called “Project Spring,” would be built by failing to follow proper legal procedures and other statutory requirements.
Protect Sand Springs Alliance said they hoped the court would void the City’s annexation of the land, which would prohibit the Project Spring data center from being built there.
At the beginning of this month the Sand Springs City Council voted to approve the rezoning request for the proposed Google data center. Project Spring would be located just east of Highway 97 and a mile south of Rock School Road. The project is proposed by Google and White Rose Developers and could house a total of three data centers.
When the rezoning request was approved, the Sand Springs mayor said the city council’s decision was a tough one for the council to make, and while many neighbors are against it, he said he thinks it could be a good thing for the City of Sand Springs.
Google and White Rose announced they want to start building in 2027 and plan to be done by 2029.
Despite the decision, the lawsuit against the City is still active. The City moved to dismiss the lawsuit last month, but that motion was denied on Feb. 13. The judge on the case also approved the plaintiffs’ motion to transfer the lawsuit to the Tulsa County District Court.
The City said it does not see any merit in the claims made in the lawsuit and expects it to be dismissed in the near future.
You can read the City’s full response below:
“The City of Sand Springs expected that the lawsuit would be transferred to Tulsa County as that was the proper venue for the case as was presented in our response. The City of Sand Springs does not see any merit in the claims made in the lawsuit and fully expects that it will be dismissed in the near future. The City Council made the decision after multiple public meetings to proceed with the annexation and zoning which will allow the project to move forward bringing Google to our community. This will allow our citizens to benefit in many ways and we are excited that this opportunity to better our community presented itself.”
To learn more about Protect Sand Springs Alliance, you can visit their website here.
To learn more about the Project Spring data center, click here.
You can view Protect Sand Springs Alliance’s original full petition below:
