Planned data center in Pittsburg brings residents out in force in opposition

By John Ramos

Big technology companies are rapidly building data centers around the country and the Bay Area. But one project in the East Contra Costa city of Pittsburg is causing a revolt at city council meetings.  And residents packed the council chambers again on Monday to voice their opposition.

In 2018, the city of Pittsburg closed down its municipal golf course and later announced that it would be the site of a new business and technology park. But little did anyone know exactly what that was going to mean. 

“Well, I thought I knew what a business park was. And I thought I knew what a technology park was. But apparently, I didn’t,” said Pittsburg homeowner Keesha Johnson. “And when I looked at the pictures. When I heard ‘hyperscale’ and all of these things starting to trend on NextDoor, I looked it up. And I said this does not belong in a residential neighborhood.”

The proposal is for a company called Avaio Digital to build a massive data center on the open land. The project, named “Perseus,” would have a 99 megawatt capacity. Their website displays glowing quotes from Pittsburg’s mayor and economic development director. But a lot of people in the community feel differently as evidenced by a raucous council meeting on June 15th.

“I feel that this will not bring any long-term benefits to us Pittsburg residents!” said one woman as other people shouted from the back of the room.

“We have the ability to clear the chambers if we continue to be disruptive!” Mayor Dionne Adams chided the crowd. “We want to hear everybody.  And we’re trying our best.”

“… as you can see by the turnout today, nobody is happy about this data center.” said another resident, choking back tears.

Four hundred people attended the meeting to express their disapproval.  

“We’ve never had this kind of response,” said resident Allen Tatomer on Monday. “This is a very unified, very articulate, very passionate group of people.”

“The response of our community shows that they dropped the ball on this,” added Johnson. “You don’t get a response like this when you effectively communicate. So, this shows that something was done wrong.”

The company says the planned data center would be mostly air-cooled and would be using recycled water in its operation. But the residents opposing it say the lack of transparency has instilled a general sense of fear about the whole project.

“It’s kind of unknown to them. They read what’s on the outside, you know, different towns, different cities. They see how it’s impacted wildlife, water, electricity, other things like that,” said resident Mark Linde. “It’s an unknown and I understand why everybody is speaking up at this time.”

But the real concern is where it’s being located, which is right next to a residential development. Carmen Magallan lives across the street from where the huge new facility will be sited. She says it’s changed the way she feels about the neighborhood she’s lived in for 30 years.

“Horrible. Horrible. I, gosh, should we move? You know, we’re really considering moving,” she said.  “This is a neighborhood. There’s so many homes around here. How can you just plop it right down there?”

The residents may be protesting it now, but the project actually got final approval two years ago. But that’s just Phase One. There are two other phases planned that the company’s website says could ultimately boost the facility’s power capacity up to a whopping 500 megawatts. So, the community is digging in for a fight.

“The city’s always going to say that the project’s a done deal,” said Linde. “There’s always an alternative. Whether the city backs out, whether the developer backs out, whether so much pressure is put on it by the community around us, that the city and developer say, ‘You know what? We can’t deal with this anymore.’ Which is what we’re finding across the United States.”

“I think they’ve been reminded, and hopefully we’re going to remind them again tonight, that they work for us,” said Tatomer. “We voted for them to represent our best interests. And they clearly have not.”

“AVAIO Digital’s Perseus data center was approved after thorough environmental review by multiple state regulatory agencies and the Pittsburg City Council,” said a statement from Avaio Digital emailed to CBS News Bay Area. ‘AVAIO focuses on sustainability in its data center designs, and has committed to use recycled waste water rather than potable water at this site, that it will use ultra quiet equipment and noise management to avoid impacting neighbors, and that it will purchase green energy credits to make its electricity consumption 100% zero carbon equivalent.  The project is being built on an abandoned site that has been a fire hazard for years, and will bring meaningful revenue to Pittsburg, funding that goes toward roads, parks and public safety without raising taxes on residents.”

The City of Pittsburg did not a request for comment as of Monday afternoon. A “community engagement workshop” has been scheduled for July 30th, but it will not be in person. The city has opted to conduct it as a Zoom meeting instead.