Fort Worth Panel Backs 350-Foot Data Center Buffer, Closed-Loop Cooling

A Fort Worth advisory commission handed the City Council 19 recommendations on data center development on Tuesday, including a mandatory 350-foot setback between facilities and homes and a requirement for closed-loop cooling that reuses water instead of drawing it continuously.

Mike Slattery, Ph.D., chair of the Data Center & Infrastructure Commission and director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at Texas Christian University, presented the findings during a Special Called City Council Work Session at City Hall. Slattery served as a non-voting chair; 11 voting members — community members, industry experts and advocates — made up the commission, supported by 10 academic experts who contributed research.

The Council created the body by resolution on Aug. 11, charging it with a comprehensive, fact-based evaluation of data center development within the City's regulatory authority. The commission is advisory only.

What did the commission actually find?

The panel studied four areas: electricity and energy reliability; water use and local resources; land use, siting and neighborhood impacts; and economic and fiscal impacts. For each, the report separates what research has established from what remains uncertain.

Its overall finding is deliberately hedged: effects depend on the specific facility, how it is designed and where it is placed. That is a caution against blanket claims in either direction — a point worth holding onto as the debate moves to Council.

The report also flags hard limits on municipal power. The electric grid, air permits and statewide water policy belong to state agencies and regional bodies, including the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The City controls zoning, noise, lighting, terms of its own water service and its economic development incentives — and nothing more.

The 19 recommendations break down this way:

• Two on electricity, five on water, eight on land use, four on economic impacts.
• Eight continue current City practice; five build on standards City staff proposed on June 2; six are new.

What are the headline measures?

On water, the commission wants closed-loop cooling required — the system reuses water internally rather than continuously drawing new supply. It also calls for a facility-level water-impact statement before the City approves water service or any incentive.

On neighborhoods, the proposed 350-foot "Neighbor Protection Distance" between data centers and homes or other sensitive properties would increase for taller buildings. The panel recommends limiting sound at a neighbor's property line, verified by a 72-hour background noise study before construction and follow-up checks afterward. It would keep the City's zero-foot-candle standard for light reaching neighbors and add a way to verify it in the field.

Further land-use items:

• Support the screening and buffer standards City staff proposed June 2.
• Study low-pitched hum at existing data centers.
• Publish a guide to state backup-generator permit records.
• Prepare a one-page community profile for each proposed data center.
• Ask that the City's 2050 Comprehensive Plan address air quality, heat and cumulative environmental burden.

On electricity, applicants for City incentives would submit a standardized technical fact sheet and attach verifiable grid-related commitments to those incentives. On economics, the panel recommends continuing rigorous fiscal review of proposed incentives.

Are these rules now?

No — and the report says so plainly. The recommendations are not adopted rules or policies; they serve as advice. Any change to zoning, noise standards, water policy or incentive practices requires City Council consideration and action through the City's normal processes. Those next steps are pending Council direction, and nothing in the report binds anyone yet.

TCU, in a statement, framed the work as evidence-based. "Research partners from Cornell, TCU and UTA supported the Commission's research and analysis, resulting in broadly supported recommendations from the 11-person Commission of community members, industry experts and advocates," the university said. It added: "Decisions on next steps rest with the council."

Where does the moratorium process stand?

Separately, the Council's 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday included the first public hearing in the legal process for a proposed temporary moratorium on new data center development. A second hearing is scheduled for the City Council meeting on Jan. 12, 2027.

The full report and presentation are available online. The practical test arrives when the Council decides which of the 19 recommendations — if any — it turns into enforceable standards.