WILMINGTON — Two new data centers could be coming to our area.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, people in Wilmington gathered for a town hall on Sunday to discuss the details of those proposed data centers.
They had many questions and voiced concerns.
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>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Residents gather to discuss proposed data centers in Wilmington
News Center 7’s Malik Patterson said that many of them wanted to learn more about the data centers and what building one means for their environment.
The Wilmington Residents for Responsible Development hosted Sunday’s town hall.
The group was formed after learning about a property that was rezoned from residential to light industrial.
One of their concerns was what would happen to all the water.
“When I went to the federal government, the Corps of Engineers, that’s the guys who run the lake,” said Bob Thobabem of Wilmington. “He said, ‘For what you’re doing down there, Bob, you need 20 to 25 million gallons a day.’”
He told Patterson that he thinks it is more than just about money.
“All I’m trying to do is remind these businesses that you’re in it for money. I’m in it for life,” said Thobabem.
There is an empty plot of land behind their homes. It is the proposed site for the first data center.
Jessica Sharp leads the town hall group. She lives in that neighborhood and is concerned about the noise.
“Also, air pollution,” she said. “The first site is going to have something like 250 diesel generators, and those are big ones.”
Patterson reports that at the last city council meeting, Wilmington Mayor Patrick Healy said he would like to get Amazon representatives to come and answer questions.
“If we can get somebody who can actually answer our questions, that would be great,” said Sharp.
During Sunday’s meeting, another man was introduced to the group. Kurt Cooper is acting as a liaison between the residents and the city council.
He told Patterson that the only way this will work on either side is to be transparent.
“Get the community’s buy-in, and reassure them that they’re going to be good,” said Conrad. “Good stewards of the property if it has to be there.”
The next city council meeting will be on Thursday. That’s when they will have the second reading about the second proposed data center.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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