It’s likely no other business investment in Colorado Springs has been vetted so thoroughly with the public as the intensively scrutinized, exhaustively reviewed — and ultimately innocuous — data center that will occupy a shuttered, former Intel chip plant on Garden of the Gods Road. 

And probably no local project’s developers ever have been more accommodating of community concerns or more accessible and transparent in addressing them.

It’s also likely the project wouldn’t have been the focus of so much debate in the first place if data centers nationwide hadn’t landed in the crosshairs of political activists looking for a new boogeyman in an election year. (Never mind that they use the same smart phones as the rest of us — increasingly reliant on powerful, AI-driven functions and features that, in turn, require the support of the data centers the activists now seek to vilify.)

So, it was something of a milestone earlier this month when the Colorado Springs city planning staff administratively approved the redevelopment. That means it checks all the boxes but, for procedural reasons, still is subject to further public review and appeals prior to final approval.

As recounted in The Gazette’s extensive news coverage of the project, developer Raeden has patiently met with neighbors in community meetings and worked swiftly and diligently to fine-tune its development plan. Raeden has done so, even beyond what city planners require, to meet concerns some neighbors have raised. The developer incorporated additional engineering work at the company’s own cost.

That’s over and above some of the fundamentals of the project that should have quelled the biggest concerns months ago. Notably, as The Gazette’s editorial board learned in a meeting last month with Raeden point man Jason Green, the project will not be a drain on the community’s water or power and won’t generate appreciable noise. 

It will use a closed-loop cooling system for its IT infrastructure, so it will tank up with water only once because the water in its coolant won’t evaporate. It will use half the power of the old Intel plant. And its noise level will be only 49dBA — a suburban neighborhood at night.

Despite meeting or exceeding all the city’s criteria for the site’s redevelopment, the development plan still must await public comments, which the developer then responds to under the city’s planning procedures. The process is all the more protracted because Raeden tweaked the plan to further accommodate concerns raised by the public, necessitating additional “comment windows” and “response windows” for the changes prior to final approval.

As The Gazette reported, the deadline to file an appeal against the plan with the planning department is today. An appeal would move the decision on the development plan to the Planning Commission, whose ruling either way could be appealed to the City Council. The city’s staff has said that as of last week, no appeals had been filed.

Residents eligible to contest the administrative approval have to live nearby — although they can live up to three miles away if they previously have commented by email or at a hearing. Such reasonable limits should serve to weed out at least some of the activists.

Presumably, any challenges filed with the city at this point must be substantive — meaning they should be able to prove the city’s findings supporting administrative approval were somehow factually in error. The appeals can’t just be open ended.

It’s a safe bet once it’s up and running, Project Taurus will lapse into obscurity and cease to stir controversy, just as its developers predict and the city has concluded. Neighbors will hardly notice it’s there, and political opportunists seeking to agitate will move on to the next cause.

Meanwhile, thanks to data centers like Project Taurus, the ever-evolving Information Age will continue to drive our economy and create opportunity.