Data center zoning

Questioned who profits from data centers, citing research on electric bill increases of 7-8% and billions of gallons of water used for cooling, and told the council "we want you not to decide for us."

Submitted a detailed packet on water, electric, noise, air pollution, and land use impacts, noting data centers disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities and citing problems in Virginia.

Said residents feel public input is a box to check and urged that any data centers be sited at FISTA rather than near neighborhoods, with developers paying their share.

Disputed the city's water estimates, saying a two-megawatt facility could use 40,000 gallons per day, raised groundwater contamination concerns, and said the pros don't outweigh the cons.

Asked the council to close the I-1 permitted-use "loophole," require closed-loop cooling, developer-funded infrastructure, noise modeling, and decommissioning plans.

A recent transplant said he moved to Lawton for its open plains and beauty, and warned data centers would drain the power grid, raise bills, and turn the community into "forgotten warehouses."

Urged closing the I-1 zoning loophole for data centers, requiring site-plan review for all of them, water performance standards like closed-loop cooling, developer-funded infrastructure, sound mitigation, and demolition bonds.

Urged more guardrails: evaluate water and ecological impacts, and noted data centers bring a construction surge but only about 100 permanent jobs per a Brookings report.

Argued data centers aren't like crypto mining and that 5 megawatts is significant — urged the council to require public review for all data centers rather than allowing small ones by right.

Warned of a possible data center investment bubble and criticized the city's legal-notice public hearing advertising, urging clearer outreach through media and social media.