An Update on the Data Center Coming to Inola
We know a little bit more now...
In May I wrote about the sale of 2,000 acres in Inola, OK and the rumors that it was going to be yet another data center. There have been some new developments. And today I had the opportunity to review the zoning change application for the impacted properties under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act.
Read on for the details.
Rocky Point Industrial Park is coming to Inola
Potentia has launched an entire website dedicated to their Inola project.
Potentia has completely revamped the language on its own website.
I regret not screen capping more of the Potentia website back when I first saw it in May. The core message was “Gigawatt Datacenters”. Now it’s “large scale industrial parks”.
But nothing goes away forever on the internet. Fortunately the Wayback Machine caught the language before Potentia changed it. For example:
DATA CENTERS BUILT FOR THE FUTURE. (This is the headline)
Powering the next generation of data infrastructure with scalable, efficient, and resilient solutions. Built for performance, engineered for the future.
At Potentia, we envision a future where data infrastructure is limitless, resilient, and seamlessly integrated with the world it powers. We are committed to delivering scalable power solutions that not only meet but anticipate the evolving demands of modern data center campuses.
And so on. So no, I don’t buy that they are suddenly changing their plans for Inola.
In fact, if you click on “locations” in the new website’s header, then “Oklahoma”, this is what you see:
Let’s unpack this a bit…
Light manufacturing. This sounds so pleasant and non-threatening! It conjures up the image of hard-working people putting things together in a basic metal building. Maybe some welding and fabrication, assembly, etc.
Flex space. Again, who can argue against flex space? That’s like…those gyms that are focused on flexibility, where they help you stretch your muscles, right?
Substations and grid services. Hmm. Why would light manufacturing and flex space need their own substations and grid services?
Digital infrastructure. Now what could that possibly be???
It’s more than clear that the tide has turned against data centers. The work of Erin Brockovitch, and more locally Ron Durbin with Guerilla Publishing, combined with overall concerns about water and power use, noise pollution, and diminishing farm production/acreage have seemingly some communities to pause. A data center doesn’t automatically coast through rezoning and approval the way it did just a few months ago.
So, it makes sense for Potentia to not blatantly advertise that it plans to build a data center in Inola.
But the euphemism “digital infrastructure” is an insult to our collective intelligence. What else is “digital infrastructure” if not a data center?
And here’s the rub. Potentia has officially applied to have the agricultural tracts in the Inola parcels they acquired rezoned to either “light industrial” or “commercial”. And once the zoning is approved, the genie will be out of the bottle, as a data center is a by-right use on light industrial property. So it will be important for the Inola community to unite against the rezoning
Which brings me to the zoning application
Today I had the opportunity to review the application under an Oklahoma Open Records request. This picture tells the story:
To Summarize:
Top of picture, light green shaded area. This is the northern section of the property, directly adjacent to Binam Acres II, the subdevelopment where I live. The request is to rezone this as commercial.
The large orange section in the center. Requested to be rezoned as light industrial. As I mentioned earlier, this would give the developer the right to build its data center.
Purple section on the left. Requested to be rezoned heavy industrial. I suspect this is so the developer can include businesses associated with the aluminum smelter planned for the Port of Inola, which is located to the south of the property.
Very light green shaded area on the right. Requested to be rezoned to multifamily or mixed use.
Here’s another view, showing a potential layout of the industrial park. That stuff at the bottom sure looks like a data center!
Here are PDFs of the application. I did my best to scan these using my phone, so they are not awesome. I could only scan a limited number of pages at a time so I am posting it here in four parts.
Note that Potentia submitted the application under the name Rocky Point Industrial Park, LLC. So, another LLC underneath an LLC. But the fingerprints are there - Richard McCrea, Potentia’s CEO, is the signer on the company’s registration to do business in Oklahoma (as he was on the deeds for the property acquisition under the LLCs called “Tulsa Farms”).
It is noteworthy that the initial application was rejected and the company was sent back to the drawing board.
As of this writing, I haven’t read the application in its entirety but there were a few things that caught my eye as I was scanning it into my phone.
In the Executive Summary (in part 2 above), the company articulates its seven commitments to Rogers County:
Commitment One - Fiscal Responsibility
Rocky Point Industrial Park will not seek ad valorem tax exemptions, Payments-In-Lieu-of-Tax (PILOT) agreements, or comparable property tax abatements for the development of the industrial park itself, allowing new investment to contribute directly to the county’s long-term tax base.
I have to give Potentia credit here. This is what Inola needs, especially after the tax breaks given to the aluminum smelter. And it’s consistent with their messaging in the press release they did for their Indiana project.
But at the end of the day, it’s more PR and marketing slight of hand. The companies that eventually occupy the industrial park will seek out their own tax breaks and handouts and corporate welfare packages. Nothing would prevent that.
Commitment Seven - Transparency and Partnership
Rocky Point Industrial Park is committed to maintaining open communication with Rogers County, neighboring property owners, utility providers, public agencies, and community stakeholders throughout the planning and development process.
This sentiment is also echoed on Potentia’s website:
Note the box in the bottom right, that assures people who live near the park will hear about it first.
Unfortunately, this has already been proven to be nothing more than platitudes.
Potentia’s Rocky Point Industrial Park is literally in my backyard. The other side of my backyard fence is the land that Potentia has acquired to build the park. And I’ve had to learn about their plans from community scuttlebut and eventually an open records request. My direct outreach on LinkedIn to one of Potentia’s employees (Ilich Vahimi, Chief Commercial Officer) was ignored. On Wednesday I sent an email through the “connect” link on the Rocky Point Industrial Park website. But there has been no reply.
The fact that they do not abide by this principal calls into question the rest of the pretty language on their website and in their application.
That’s a lot of information, but the reality is a zoning hearing is coming soon. Inola is under a two-pronged assault between the smelter and the data center industrial park.
The biggest challenge to all of us is time. If we can’t stop the smelter, it will be a four-year construction process before OPA make their first batch of aluminum. So I suspect it will be very challenging to sell a home in this community due to the uncertainty. Nobody is going to want to buy without knowing what, specifically, the impact of the smelter is going to be.
And now there’s added uncertainty due to the data center industrial park.
I didn’t start my blog to be a citizen journalist. I enjoy writing, have been a writer most of my career (corporate stuff, nothing sexy - speeches and such), and I launched my blog simply as an archive for stories I’ve written, and as a repository for stories yet to come.
But fate has put me in a place where I have a very vested interest in what’s happening in Inola, so for the time being this blog will continue to serve as a place for me to update the community on developments.
More to come…