A $30 million data center in the city of Killeen, Texas, has failed to get a recommendation for approval from the local planning and zoning commission for a conditional use permit.

The permit would allow a data center to be built on an approximately 2.6-acre land parcel at 6509 South Fort Hood Street, as per a report from KWTX.

The project is backed by civil engineering firm Belton Engineering on behalf of 4 Lazy J Properties, who currently owns the land parcel, and is being developed by data center company Onmine.

According to reporting to KWTX, Onmine executives said that the data center would use no municipal water for cooling and implement grid balancing.

The planning commission voted 4-1 to deny the permit, despite it getting recommended for approval by staff.

But final approval for the developer’s permit request lies in the hands of the Killeen City Council, which is set to consider the matter next month.

Killeen, located around 108km (67 miles) north of Austin, is not a data center hub. There seem to be no facilities in the city, according to Data Center Map.

Belton Engineering is a Texas-based engineering firm. The company’s previous projects include business parks, car dealerships, car washes, and entertainment centers.

Onmine, which calls itself an "infrastructure and development firm" on LinkedIn, is a data center developer and cryptominer. Information about the company is sparse, and its website seems largely unfinished - its homepage contains large amounts of placeholder text, and many of its webpages cannot be accessed.

The company is currently building two 10MW facilities in Texas. The first is located in Big Springs, but the location of the second, called the "Adrian Project," is unknown.