County to consider tax abatement for data center

Jack County Commissioners Court will consider a tax abatement agreement for the construction and operation of a data center campus near the Jack and Wise County line.

The court will give consideration during the regular meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, June 8 at the Jack County Courthouse in Jacksboro. 

The county filed notice of the upcoming meeting Friday, May 8. According to the notice, C1 Jack 1 requested to enter into a tax abatement agreement for approximately $1.4 billion in improvements related to a facility designed for lease to data center tenants, along with supporting electric generation infrastructure.

The property subject to the abatement agreement is located within the C1 Jack 1 reinvestment zone No. 1 with an approximate range of 485 to 940 acres in southeastern Jack County, south of Texas State Highway 199.

Developer CyrusOne, operating locally as C1 Jack 1 LLC, submitted an application to the court Monday, Jan. 12 and commissioners signed a letter of engagement the same day with Capex Consulting Group Tax Consultant Jeff Snowden to develop, negotiate and execute an abatement agreement.

The assessed value of the property was $345,600 at the time the application was submitted. The minimum value of real property expected to be added to the project site was $600 million, though CyrusOne President John Hatem said in January that value could increase to $2 billion depending on how many data centers were built and the total cost to construct them.

A total of eight buildings were proposed for the data center campus, with four detached structures and two double buildings.

Founded in Houston in 2000, CyrusOne is a data center developer and operator with 65 data centers in operation worldwide—with about 20 located in Texas.

Hatem said CyrusOne acquires a site to build out infrastructure, then leases the data centers to hyperscale customers like Microsoft, Meta or Google.

If the tax abatement is approved, construction on the data center campus could begin as early as this year. Each data center takes approximately 15 to 18 months to complete.

If the project moves forward, anywhere from 400 to 1,000 workers could be on-site to oversee its construction. After operations begin, a total of 40 to 80 workers could be expected to be on site daily.

Each completed data center building was expected to create at least 20 new full time jobs.

Since the tax abatement application was submitted earlier this year, many Jack County residents have spoken out against the data centers, saying the construction and operation could pose a threat to the rural environment.

Many Jack County residents have expressed their concerns directly to commissioners, asking the court to consider all options carefully before entering into a tax abatement agreement with CyrusOne.

“We need to see the negatives—not only the positives but the negatives associated with this and what effect it’s going to have on the county,” Jack County resident Jack DeShazo said during public comments at a commissioners court meeting earlier this year. “If you affect one part of the county, it affects the whole county.”

While some residents were concerned about water and electricity usage, others closer to the site worried about excessive noise and traffic, safety, nighttime lighting and the disruption of wildlife patterns.

“For most people this project is a series of lines on a map and figures in a budget. But for me it’s a direct assault on my property and quality of life,” Jack County resident Vickie Bruce said. “You’re being asked to shift from the natural silence of a rural night to a 24/7 industrial roar. …You’re effectively voting to strip away that very thing that makes our community livable.”

Commissioners maintained that CyrusOne could move forward without an abatement agreement with the county, but the county would have far less oversight, especially over road use, without an agreement in place.