Data center in Forest Grove? Neighbors say not so fast

FOREST GROVE, Ore. (KOIN) -- A 35-acre lot near Fern Hill Elementary School is the site of a proposed data center in Forest Grove that promises to bring hundreds of jobs to the region. But neighbors are more than a little worried about the issues surrounding the project near Heather Street and Mountain View Lane.

Matt Pfile, the CEO of San Francisco-based Crane Data Centers, told KOIN 6 News this is the first data center they're hoping to get up and running since they started the company in 2019. He said they looked at other places before settling on this spot in Washington County.

"A lot of people don't know that the Pacific Northwest has a lot of really clean energy, and so there's a lot of renewables, and that drew us to sort of the general region," Pfile said. "We obviously looked at a bunch of different communities, but when we met the planning folks here in Forest Grove and the economic development team here, they really struck us as being, you know, forward looking, and really invited us with arms wide open to the community."

He added the two-phase project will have a positive economic impact on the community. A new road is needed extending from Heather Street, creating hundreds of jobs. And, Pfile said, there will be about 100 jobs when the first part of the data center opens up.

Pfile said they will power the building with air, not water or electricity.

The Forest Grove center is the only one in the US currently under "active development." Others in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Phoenix and Chicago, plus Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, are in "pre-development," with locations in Atlanta, northern Virginia and Dallas, plus Sydney and Melbourne, Australia listed as "future growth" spots on the Crane Data Center website.

But at a public hearing Monday night, residents voiced their varied concerns, from noise to traffic to wildlife impact.

Sharon Klein and her husband have lived near the site for 47 years. She's worried about the noise and traffic it could bring to the area.

"We knew something was going to go in there, but we could've used a grocery store if nothing else in Forest Grove," Klein said.

One of those who spoke, Jammie Gloss, said there are houses about 200 feet from the building.

"So that's a lot of noise and we already get noise from the manufactured plants back there," Gloss said. "Between that and unanswered questions, that's kind of why we're here."

But Pfile said it's a matter of helping residents understand the positive benefits of data centers. "They probably have a maybe different opinion of what we're hearing," he said, "so we're excited to be here."

Jammie Gloss, though, was not impressed with Crane Data's presentation.

"In the Forest Grove community, I don't think we're ready for something like this," she said. "Give us, the community, the answers we're looking for. We pay taxes, we live here, and we simply just want to know if this is right for our community."

Late Monday night, the Forest Grove City Council voted unanimously to deny the appeal to stop the site from happening in the future. Community members told KOIN 6 News they will continue to fight the plan.

There will be other procedural hurdles in the not-distant future. But it is safe to say it will be a long time before this data center is operating in Forest Grove.