By Ben Morgan
Sand Springs residents have initiated a recall effort against the city council in response to Project Spring, a proposed data center that will be operated by Google.
Residents gathered over 130 signatures for each councilor in just four hours.
They expressed concerns about transparency and the lack of citizen input in city government.
Meanwhile, a property rights issue has emerged with a non-profit land trust claiming rights to a portion of the land involved in the project.
Last week, the Sand Springs Planning Commission approved a rezoning request for the proposed data center.
The center would be used by Google and would be located just east of Highway 97 and a mile south of Rock School Road.
Many residents have expressed concern about noise, the amount of water the center would use, rising utility costs for people in the community, and potential environmental impacts.
Kyle Schmidt, the President of Project Sand Springs Alliance, said they are still fighting against the proposed data center.
“Most of us learned everything that we know about data centers last November. We had heard the term thrown around at Pryor campus and so we kind of knew, but we didn’t know [what] the impact was or how big it would really be or the kind of energy consumption it would have, [or] the potential water impact,” said Schmidt. “I mean, we didn’t know anything about it until it landed in our backyard and we had to learn about it really quick.”
The group is not saying they’re against having a data center in Sand Springs, Schmidt said, it just has to be done the right way and placed in the right location.
Tonight’s City Council meeting will take place at Charles Page High School at 6 p.m.
For more information on Project Spring, click here.
