Overview
- The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission voted to recommend denial of Project Tango, a proposed AI data center on a 202-acre site near the Arden community.
- County planning staff had earlier recommended conditional approval with a daily water-use cap of 100,000 gallons, a figure that conflicts with the project manager's previously stated 5,000 gallons-per-day estimate and has fueled resident skepticism.
- More than 100 residents attended public hearings and voiced worries about the site's proximity—about 1,100 feet—to homes and the newly opened Saddleview Elementary School, citing low-frequency noise, emissions and property-value impacts.
- Commissioners said they lacked sufficient understanding of the project's new AI/data-center technology and questioned whether the use should be classified as heavy or light industrial, sending the matter to the County Commission for a final decision.
- The dispute highlights wider tensions over data centers' resource demands and local land-use rules and could shape future county policy on buffer zones, moratoriums and review standards for similar projects.