The Colorado Springs Planning Commission rejected appeals Thursday night against a proposed artificial-intelligence data center off Garden of the Gods Road.

The vote of the commission was 6-2, but residents who filed the appeals will have 10 days to challenge that decision.

While allowing Project Taurus to proceed, the commissioners set four conditions on the company, Raeden. These include:

1. Requiring Raeden to report utility use data for the first 10 years of operation.

2. Limiting utility use to a specified level of 50 megawatts, with the condition that if Raeden wants to exceed that, it must return to the commission for further approval.

3. Raeden must furnish a corrected “single sheet” to the existing building plan.

4. The company must modify its sound-monitoring plan to include “dB(C) monitoring in the same fashion as dB(A) monitoring and reporting.”

The vote came shortly before midnight after a session that began at 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

Known as Project Taurus, the data center has sparked significant community interest. More than 100 people signed up to speak in opposition to the data center while only 13 signed up to speak in support of it. Much of the opposition centered on environmental and noise concerns and power and water use.

Those speaking in support of the data center highlighted how the project will support the construction industry and make use of an old, abandoned building that does not generate any income for the city.

During the three-hour public comment session, Ean Tafoya, the vice president of state programs for Green Latinos, an environmental nonprofit, raised the issue of chemicals and coolants used within the data center’s closed loop cooling system. In a bid to use less water, Tafoya said the industry at large is using “forever chemicals” like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ethylene glycol and hydrofluorocarbons.

He raised the issue of chemicals and coolants used within the data center’s closed loop cooling system. In a bid to use less water, Tafoya said the industry at large is using “forever chemicals” like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), ethylene glycol and hydrofluorocarbons.

Contamination by PFAS are believed to contribute to health conditions, such as cancer, infertility, interference with hormones, among other conditions, The Gazette previously reported.

“These chemicals are made in industrial areas of Houston and other places that also have people living on the fence line. It’s a supply chain of suffering” in the race to use less water, Tafoya said. “You’re repeating the mistakes of the past, like with fracking. Do you know if your wastewater utility can remove these and to what efficacy and what that cost will be?”

PFAS from firefighting foam at Peterson Space Force Base contaminated the groundwater under Fountain, Security and Widefield in 2015 and 2016, prompting all three communities to install water treatment systems.

The Air Force spent $41 million on three water treatment plants meant to remove PFAS from residents’ water that were implemented in 2021.

Raeden, a California-based company, is planning to build the data center and has said it will use a closed-loop cooling system, which is designed to have a one-time water use of 200,000 gallons of water. The company’s CEO, Jason Green, has said beyond that, the company doesn’t want more water and won’t need more water.

The 200,000-gallon figure is roughly one-third the amount that would fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Those speaking in support of building the data center point to the economic benefits of refurbishing the disused building. An economic impact report produced by the Ryan Tax Firm and commissioned by Raeden estimates the project will bring 600 “construction-related positions.”

At an early community meeting, Green said the jobs will be union jobs. While these positions are temporary, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said they have built their careers on jobs like this.

“(I am) not either pro-or anti-data center, I’m pro-providing for my family,” said Mike Ham. “Know that those jobs, those short-term jobs, can have a lasting impact.”

The building will need constant maintenance, he added. The jobs to address that will provide good benefits, health care and retirement savings for workers.

Former Colorado Springs City Councilmember Tim Leigh said he’s seen a lot of “civic tomfoolery,” adding that the Raeden plan is “not a real problem.” He argued that filling the building will be a good thing for the city but also for school District 11.

“For nearly two decades, the old Intel buildings have mostly empty over that time, District 11 classrooms went without roughly $750,000 a year in property tax,” he said. “If we approve the micro data center, District 11 is going get a steady check every year.”

But residents citywide are still concerned and pressed for a data center moratorium.

“A deliberate pause is needed for the city to understand how a hyperscale data center will cost the people that they’re meant to protect,” said Kate Kent, a resident in Chelsea Glen. “In close, we ask for a moratorium.”

“The reality is that everyone on the grid will pay the costs,” she said.