Theresa Sorensen has lived in her West Jordan neighborhood for more than three decades, and these days she says the sound coming from across the street is impossible to ignore. A steady low hum drifts from the data center campus nearly every day, but when the backup generators kick on, it turns into something much louder — loud enough, she says, to hear in every room of her house.
Sorensen’s home sits near Aligned Data Center’s West Jordan campus, a roughly 55-acre complex, according to ABC4 Utah. She told the outlet that the noise makes it hard to hold a conversation or enjoy her backyard, and that the unpredictability is part of what wears on her. “You never know when they’re going to kick on. My property taxes keep going up,” Sorensen said, adding that she plans to sell her property within the next couple of years.
Neighbors Describe Lost Views and Sleepless Nights
Sorensen isn’t alone in her frustration. Allen Smith, who has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years, said his family was there long before the data center went up, and that the building’s height cost residents their view. He also said generator emissions are visible from his property, and that the noise doesn’t stay contained. “The noise carries and echoes off our houses,” Smith said, describing sleepless nights that sometimes push him to make his own background noise just to fall asleep.
Steve Ready, a self-described light sleeper, said the generators run on an unpredictable schedule that has jolted him awake in the middle of the night, including once at 3 a.m. “3 a.m., they’re running, it’s like a wind tunnel,” he said. With more data centers being proposed across Utah, Ready said he wants other neighbors to pay attention early, before construction begins near their own homes.
What Aligned Says About Its Generators
Aligned Data Centers has said its backup generators are housed in sound-reducing enclosures and are generally used only for maintenance or during emergencies, and that the company has taken steps to reduce impacts on neighbors. In a separate account reported by KSL, the company said the generator exhaust equipment sits mostly idle throughout the year, running only for brief compliance testing, grid emergencies or planned utility outages. A KSL decibel meter recorded a reading of 70 decibels about a block away from the West Jordan facility…