CLAREMORE, Okla. — Claremore City Council approved a tax incentive district and the development plan for Project Mustang, taking the proposed data center to the finish line.
While city leaders say this is a great move for the future and economy of their community, some neighbors close to the planned site are worried.
“Everybody on this road is against it," said Tom Clark.
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PROJECT MUSTANG: Claremore explores possible data center
He's lived in Claremore since 1967, and in his house directly across the street from where Project Mustang is planned for the last 25 years.
From concerns of water consumption and bill rate hikes, Clark told 2 News Oklahoma that he is against the data center.
“I’m a nature person, I like nature, and I didn’t move to this part of the town to be surrounded by businesses," he said. "I moved out into the country because I like my area, and now they’re wanting to migrate into us. I’m just deadset against it.”
Claremore City Manager John Feary said the concerns neighbors expressed in more than two hours of public comment at the last meeting on May 19 are valid.
But Feary said that this wasn't a knee-jerk decision; they've been working through this plan for years.
“People that don’t want change, don’t want change," he said. "Their mind is made up regardless of what the answer is. Overwhelmingly, the majority of people that had concerns that we had real conversations with, that took the time to engage with us, left those conversations when we went over everything and said, ‘Oh, that’s a good thing for Claremore.’"
In that meeting on May 18, while many voiced why they didn't want Project Mustang, some voices shared why they were for the development, too.
"My daughter, with no experience, was trained to work security at Google, making $18 an hour with benefits," said one speaker. "It’s more than tech and construction jobs. It’s jobs your kids, your neighbors, and anyone else have a shot at."
Feary said the deal they made with the developer, Beale Infrastructure, put the people of Claremore first. Rather than taking money from residents and out of the community, he said Project Mustang will boost the economy.
“We found a way to drastically increase our revenue to the tune of $400+ million over the next 30 years without a rate increase on utilities or initiating a new tax," he said. "It’s a unicorn in municipal government in Oklahoma, and we're very proud of the deal we put together because it placed Claremore, its residents, its rate payers above everything else."
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