Weld County commissioners approve permit for Global AI data center

The Weld County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the development of a new data center by an artificial intelligence infrastructure company.

The 5-0 vote approved the zoning for a proposal from Global AI to create a 41-acre data center in an unincorporated area of the county near Windsor. It could become the biggest data center in the state. The decision came after a daylong hearing that included hours of public comment, mostly in opposition to the project.

“It is incompatible with future development. People do not want to live next to data centers,” said Marc Savela, the senior vice president of development at the Broe Real Estate Group. “This application ignores the fact that 600 acres of undeveloped land in the county immediately west to the site is planned and zoned for 2,000 residential units. Global AI has ignored our planned residential development. They have downplayed the impact of data centers.”

Planning Manager Angela Snyder told commissioners that the county received over 400 written public comments about the proposal, with concerns ranging from water and electricity demand that could impact household use, environmental impact and worries about noise. People worried about Global AI’s ability to meet its need for electricity and water, though Global AI said Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association is prepared to deliver 35 megawatts of power and presented them a “will-serve” letter. The data center is expected to start at 27.5 megawatts during its first phase.

Local governments in Colorado enact moratoriums on data center development

“(The PVREA letter) doesn’t estimate or allocate the power that is needed, contains only a commitment to provide power for three years and it does not describe how that power can be physically delivered to the site,” attorney Hugh Gottschalk with Windsor Renewal said.

Global AI aims to have a capacity of 1 gigawitt in its network by 2029, according to the company’s website.

The board agreed a new data center was a proper reuse of the former Carestream Health site, which is already zoned for light industrial use. The county’s planning commission voted on Sept. 1 that the plan met the approval criteria, setting the stage for the commissioners to vote on the “Use by Special Review” permit required for projects with a bigger impact on the community.

“The community concerns have caused us to take the time to dig really deep into this topic,” Commissioner Lynette Peppler said, detailing how she overcame anxieties over water use, electricity consumption and noise levels through site visits and research. “I may very well have one of these as my next door neighbor. I live next to an industrial center. We have put these guidelines in place with citizens in mind.”

Global AI will have to use a closed-loop cooling system as a condition of the permit’s approval, and that initial water fill will be about 65,000 gallons with an annual top off of about 6,500 gallons. The company will also need to limit noise to already-established ambient levels around the site, and it will need to secure a bond to cover decommissioning costs.

David Foster, an attorney who represented Global AI, said the data center would operate at around 65 decibels and only exceed that in emergency situations that require the use of generators. A typical rock concert hits around 100 decibels.

Global AI bought the 438-acre property for about $15.6 million last December. It has eight buildings, and Global AI’s Chief Operating Officer Michael Cadigan said the first data hall could be operational later this year.

“When I toured the complex in Weld County, it reminded me immediately of our complex in New York — how well it was built, how the infrastructure was in place,” he said. “We know how to take that facility, which people have driven by for years, and bring it back to life in a responsible way.”

The approval comes as other local governments in Colorado enact moratoriums on data centers, and a few months after competing bills about the issue in the state Legislature died. Meanwhile, Colorado Springs is set to consider a major data center project during a hearing next week.

Global AI has one operational data center in New York and three others under contract. The company estimates that the new project will bring about 1,500 construction jobs and 200 long-term jobs to the county.

“I think this is a perfect place to put a use like this,” Scott James, chair of the county commissioners, said. “It repurposes an industrial facility that has been vacant for years. It will spur economic activity — granted, not to the level (Eastman Kodak) once held, but to a certain job level.”

“AI is necessary to what we do at this point moving forward in our society, whether we want to rage against it or not,” he said. “When you talk to anybody who develops aerospace or military applications, AI is absolutely essential in the way they move forward and do business. We want to be friendly to those uses.”