Overview
- After a nearly nine-hour hearing, the council delivered the 2:14 a.m. vote as hundreds attended and the remaining crowd cheered the outcome.
- The proposal from Highlander SM One LLC called for a nearly 200-acre campus at 904 Francis Harris Lane near the Hays Energy Power Station, with five buildings of about 76 megawatts each.
- Union supporters touted years of construction work and new tax revenue, while opponents cited limited permanent jobs and heavy demands on scarce water and electricity.
- Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra plans to bring forward a pause on permits for projects needing more than 25,000 gallons of water per day, as aquifer levels remain low.
- The denial is a setback rather than an endpoint, since the developer can refile in six months despite earlier mixed planning votes and mounting regional constraints, including ERCOT’s forecast of a 71% demand surge by 2031 tied to data centers.