PORTLAND, NY — Residents of Portland, Brocton, and neighboring communities gathered Thursday night to learn what they can do about a proposed data center potentially on the way.
In March, the Portland Town Board gave its "general approval" to the idea of a hyperscale data center project located at the former Sugar Hill Golf Course along Route 5.
WATCH: Portland residents host meeting in opposition to potential data center project
A hyperscale data center is a large-scale data center with extreme capabilities engineered for large-scale workloads.
According to the March 11 meeting minutes, Town Supervisor Richard Lewis spoke to the property owner about the conversion.
"A physical facility that houses IT infrastructure, serves and stores network equipment," the minutes read. From the minutes, Supervisor Lewis "feels this would benefit the town as far as paying taxes." However, the minutes also note that the board supports "the idea of it," not the project itself.
When the project was first being discussed prior to the March meeting, a handful of residents formed The Grape Belt Community Group in opposition.
"It's not something we want in our town for many, many reasons," Michelle Patterson, a member of the group, told WKBW. "If economic development and increasing the tax base is what is needed, and they're (Portland Town Board) looking at this potential data center project, how can we as a community work with them to find alternative projects? Alternative options that are more sustainable and are more with the values of the town of Portland, and its residents."
Patterson and others with her group emphasized that they do not want to approach the matter with hostility; rather, the group wants to stop the project by working with the community and their representatives.
One of the first steps in doing so was educating the public on what's known about the project so far. For the first of several meetings, the group hosted residents at Brocton Central School.
"Ultimately, the goal as far as hosting community meetings like this is to clear up common confusion," Patterson said. "But the ultimate goal, I believe, is to stop the data center project, make it very clear to our elected officials and to the company proposing it that we don't want it here."
That sentiment was echoed by several in attendance.
WATCH: Portland residents share mixed reactions over potential data center project
"We retired to Portland 2 years ago," Brian Okey said. "And I really like the quality of life here and am drawn to the area, and we were caught completely unaware by this."
Okey learned of the potential project through social media posts following the March meeting.
"People come here for the environment, for the grapes, for the picturesque landscape, and it's a matter of scale, of course. (It) Needs certain spaces to do technology, but when you're talking about a small community that really relies heavily on tourism and the quality of life we have here, it's a mismatch," Okey said.
"We are significantly concerned that the land that they're talking about doing this on," Kris Bailey told WKBW. "It is going to impact us as a community, environmentally, financially, everything, everything. We want to get ahead of it. We want to be proactive rather than reactive."
Residents outside of Portland/Brocton also spoke on their concerns related to the project.
"It's nuts," Mitchell Cummings, a Fredonia resident, told WKBW. "I just think it's probably the maybe the worst place to put an AI center."
While Cummings would be miles away from the potential site, his concern stems from the potential impacts on the lake.
"You probably are aware of that in the news, our boil water orders, and we're going to be connecting with the Northern Water District and getting our water out of the lake in a few years rather than out of a reservoir." Cummings continued. "I'm concerned about the water quality because of this AI plant and the massive amount of water they use for food."
According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The group says they'll continue discussing the potential data center project at the next Town Board meeting on Wednesday, May 13.
