The Kingston Unified Zoning Board voted unanimously to recommend to deny a controversial annexation request tied to a proposed data center project Thursday night. The vote came after people packed city hall to protest and the meeting ended with the crowd cheering.
The annexation issue will now go before the Kingston City Council. The request was for a smaller parcel on Highway 293 that is tied to a larger parcel where the data center will be located. Annexation would allow the city to financially benefit from the data center. The data center proposal has not been approved.
“Me and my family feels like we’re under attack. Our community has been under attack,” said Paul Muir, who owns 2,000 acres nearby. Another man said the deal would be similar to selling his children’s birthright to have drinking water.
The board had trouble maintaining order in the raucous hearing. Two-minute time limits were attempted, but not followed as many people spoke from their seats rather than from the podium.
Greg Burman of Thor Equities told residents that there was a lot of misinformation about data centers and that the city would get millions of dollars from the annexation.
“We are a good community partner,” Burman said amidst the boos from the audience. “We bring a lot of benefits.”
Residents claimed Burman never returned emails answering their questions. Burman said questions were answered on the company’s website.
Residents in the room told him and the board they doubted all the company’s promises.
“They promise the moon and deliver a paper bag,” Katherine Potts said.
Raj Vohra, also of Thor Equities, told residents the company planned a heavy buffer and a lot of green space but that didn’t alleviate concerns about noise, light, and the effects on water or power resources.
Board member Don Jenkins said he visited three data centers and found their noise was acceptable and within reason.
Some, like Alan Ginn, said they believed it was a done deal.
In the end, a resident raised questions about how an annexation can happen with the property far outside city limits. He said he saw no contiguous land joining the city with the property parcel.
The board never answered the question and didn’t take a roll call vote. It was announced they all decided to recommend to deny annexation.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S, Canada, the UK and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio. She is on Facebook, X, YouTube, content on Substack, and has a podcast on Rumble.