Fort Worth's temporary data-center moratorium looked cautious when the council passed it. This week, caution became the moderate position in Tarrant County.
In Keller, the City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to retain legal counsel over a data center that neighboring Westlake approved on the towns' shared border, a project outside Keller's jurisdiction and beyond its direct control, as reported by NBC 5.
"Every legal option available"
The specially called meeting ran hours, with a packed house waiting to speak. Mayor Ross McMullin told the crowd Keller would "explore every legal option available" to protect residents, and urged Westlake to weigh Keller's concerns before taking further action.
Then he went a step beyond. "I'll be adding an agenda item for council to consider and authorize formal legal action should Westlake choose to move forward at a future council meeting, because those residents deserve nothing less," McMullin said, drawing a standing ovation.
Much of the council's discussion happened behind closed doors in executive session with its newly retained lawyers. The dispute's core is jurisdictional: the project sits in Westlake, so the residents who would live beside it, many of them in Keller, had no seat at the approval.
