A state district court judge dismissed a lawsuit on Thursday against Blueprint Data Centers and its proposed project in Taylor.
The lawsuit, which was filed by five residents who live near the site, claimed the data center is being built on land that was supposed to become a park. It sought to stop all commercial development and construction on the land, referencing a deed from 1999 that shows the previous owners granted the property to a nonprofit "to be held in trust for future use as parkland."
The lawsuit also mentioned concerns about the potential environmental, health and safety impacts of bringing a data center to the neighborhood.
Judge Ryan Larson granted Blueprint's motion to dismiss the case, agreeing with the company that the residents lack jurisdiction in the matter.
Larson also denied the residents' request for a temporary injunction against the project. He had previously blocked Blueprint from moving forward with any work on the site while he considered the case.
A group residents opposing the project said in a Facebook post on Thursday that plaintiffs are in the process of filing an appeal.
"At its core, this is a property rights dispute: a generous family set aside land for a future park, and this change of use directly impacts a largely working-class community," they said.
Blueprint purchased the site in southeast Taylor from the city's Economic Development Corporation last year for $10 million. Its planned 135,000-square-foot data center will house servers, or computers, that can be used for data storage, artificial intelligence processing and more, according to the city of Taylor's website.
The company also plans to build a similar facility in nearby Georgetown.
