The Colorado Springs Planning Commission will hear arguments for and against a proposed data center off the Garden of the Gods Road corridor Thursday.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. at the Shockley-Zalabak Theater at the Ent Center for the Performing Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave.

Those wishing to speak must register in person at the hearing and will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis, according to information from the city. There will be three hours of public comment time for those opposed to the data center and three hours for those who support it.  

According to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs website, the Shockley-Zalabak Theater is the largest section of the Ent Center and can seat about 750 people.

Known as Project Taurus and proposed by California-based Raeden, the data center is cleared to use 50 megawatts of power and will require a one-time use of 200,000 gallons of water, according to Jason Green, co-founder and president of Raeden. It is proposed to be built in the former Intel and Rockwell International computer chip manufacturing plant, south of Garden of the Gods Road and west of Centennial Boulevard.

Supporters have argued the data center will prime the Colorado Springs economy for explosive growth while detractors worry about water and power use as well as adverse health effects. On June 11, city planners approved the development plan for a data center proposed by Raeden. Five appeals were filed with the city opposing the development.

A data center is a physical location for digital data storage and computing. Our World in Data estimates data centers currently account for 1.5% of global energy consumption, but forecasts indicate demand will grow to 3% by 2030.

Some cities and towns along Colorado’s Front Range have instituted a data center moratorium while gathering more information. In Denver, the city council adopted a 12-month moratorium to give city planners a chance to develop specific permitting requirements.

On Monday night, the Monument Town Council voted to impose a six-month ban on data center applications.

“This is really just a chance for us to take a step back,” said David Ungerleider, planning director for the town on the northern edge of El Paso County.

Last week, Woodland Park in neighboring Teller County approved an 18-month moratorium.

Meeting format

According to the outline released Thursday, city staff will open the meeting with an overview of the data center proposal. Each of the five residents or groups that filed an appeal challenging the data center will then give a 12-minute presentation. The appellants can cede time to each other if they do not need the full 12 minutes.

The appeals will be followed by a presentation from Raeden for up to an hour. The planning commission members will be able to follow up on all presentations with their questions and discussions.

After the presentations, the meeting will be opened for up to three hours of public comment from residents opposing the data center, then another three hours allotted for supporters.

Both the appellants and Raeden will be able to provide a closing rebuttal comment before the commissioners enter their final discussion and vote on the appeal.

What’s next?

Whether the planning commission votes for the appeal or the project, its decision can and likely will be appealed to the Colorado Springs City Council, which holds the final decision on planning issues.