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Palm Beach County Blocks Project Tango Expansion After Marathon Hearing

The vote forces a policy reset on how the county will review hyperscale data centers and sets up new rules for future proposals.

Overview

  • County commissioners voted 5-1 Wednesday night to deny the developer’s request to expand Project Tango into a hyperscale AI data center after a nearly 12-hour public hearing.
  • The denial was made without prejudice, which means the developer can revise the plan and resubmit it later under the county’s permitting process.
  • Existing entitlements granted in 2016 for more than two million square feet of warehouse and smaller data-center buildings remain valid so some construction could still proceed.
  • County leaders have placed a temporary moratorium on large data-center applications and will draft new regulations to address concerns about water use, power demand, heat and noise.
  • Hundreds of residents, teachers and local groups drove the opposition by raising risks to nearby wells, Saddle View Elementary School and neighborhood quality of life, reflecting a wider national trend of communities challenging large AI data centers.