Clinton residents voiced mixed reactions Monday night to a proposed data center that city officials recently announced, with some welcoming expected revenue and others raising concerns about limited details and high energy demand, attendees and officials said.
The facility is planned for a building on Industrial Road Drive, just north of Interstate 20 and west of downtown Clinton. City officials said the property was a Milwaukee Tool facility from 2021 to 2023 and had been a wiring plant that closed in 2009. The new owner has not been publicly disclosed; WLBT reported on March 4 that Amazon would own the data center, according to records it obtained.
Mayor Will Purdie told the Board of Aldermen he expected to release more details “in the next few weeks.” Purdie said the facility will be “air cooled,” reducing its need for large amounts of water, and that it will connect to the Entergy grid, which he said should lessen air and noise pollution concerns. He also shared projections tied to a fee-in-lieu of taxes, or FILOT, agreement: $3 million to the Clinton Public School District and $2 million to the city budget in the first year. Purdie said annual gains would decrease over the following decade before rising again in year 11, and he said the project would create about 50 permanent jobs and 800 to 1,000 temporary construction positions…