A data center rezoning proposal has been approved by the City Council of Fort Worth, Texas.

The developers, Black Mountain Power LLC, claim that the facility will span approximately 450 acres, but the two applications approved by the City Council on Tuesday only rezone around 160 acres of land.

The two parcels, located at 7600, 7740, 7780 Forest Hill Drive, and Lon Stephenson Road, will be rezoned from agricultural to light industrial and Planned Development Specific Use, respectively.

Local residents did express opposition towards the data center, citing concerns about water consumption, environmental concerns, and noise, light, and air pollution.

Reporting on the proposed data center surfaced in January of this year. Details about the facility’s capacity and its end user have not been disclosed.

“We feel like it’s going to be one of the largest economic developments in the history of Tarrant County,” said CEO Rhett Bennett. He added that the facility would generate more than $8 million a year in local tax benefits.

Founded in 2005, Black Mountain is an energy company largely focused on investments in oil and gas as well as lithium mining, but is also targeting battery storage, water, and carbon capture.

It is unclear whether the company has operated or developed a data center in the past. In January, its energy storage unit sold a 200MW/800MWh BESS project in Oklahoma to GridStor to meet growing data center demand.

Fort Worth, located in north-central Texas, together with the adjacent city of Dallas, constitutes one of the state’s largest data center markets. It is home to operators including QTS, Lumen, Centersquare, and Cogent. Hyperscalers, including Google and Meta, also operate in the wider Dallas area.