The Colorado Springs City Council will consider the appeal for the hotly debated Project Taurus data center at a special standalone meeting on Sept. 17.

In an announcement Tuesday, City Council spokesperson Michael Montgomery said the meeting will be held at the Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts beginning at 9 a.m. The larger venue will be needed to handle the “anticipated increased attendance,” according to Montgomery.

The city’s plans for September’s meeting show they are aiming for a slightly shorter hearing than the 14-hour session in July before the city Planning Commission, which voted during a special meeting to approve the data center. In emails with Integrity Matters, the local political nonprofit representing a group of Chelsea Glen neighbors opposed to the data center, City Council outreach coordinator Sam Friedman said the special meeting would likely last between eight and 10 hours.

Much of the time difference will come from what is allocated for public comments. The September council meeting will allot two hours for 120 comments for or against the data center, with each person allowed two minutes to speak. For comparison, the Planning Commission meeting featured three hours of comment opposing Project Taurus and roughly 30 minutes of comments supporting the project.

The City Council will be the final stop for the data center and the final say on whether the project will move forward in Colorado Springs.

The data center being proposed by California-based company Raeden would be built in a former semiconductor manufacturing facility off Garden of the Gods Road. Raeden’s proposal states that the facility would use up to 50 MW of power and reuse 200,000 gallons of water for its closed-loop cooling system.

Raeden said it will undertake several measures to mitigate noise from its backup generators and cooling equipment (chillers). The company pointed out backup generators only run when there is a power outage and during once-a-month, 30-minute routine testing. Raeden encloses chillers and generators with sound-attenuating walls that are padded with sound-attenuating materials. According to a third-party study, the company’s designs keep sound levels at property lines between 40-45 dBA, which it compared to a quiet office.

The prospect of a large artificial intelligence data center quickly drew crowds of opposition from nearby neighborhoods and residents across the city. Multiple groups appealed the development plan that was approved by city planning staff, with concerns ranging from water usage to noise levels to the technicalities of the approval process.

Although the Planning Commission voted to approve the data center, it placed additional restrictions on its maximum power usage and required reporting of its utility usage. Hundreds of residents attended a portion of the 14-hour Planning Commission hearing, with a supermajority speaking against the data center. The vote to approve was later appealed, sending it to City Council.

Anyone who wants to provide public comment is encouraged to email allcouncil@coloradosprings.gov and include their name, address and whether they support or oppose Project Taurus. The city is registering sign-ups for the meeting in advance.