LOXAHATCHEE, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2025) — A proposal to dramatically expand an industrial site off Southern Boulevard into a massive AI data center is facing growing resistance from nearby residents, who say “Project Tango” would overwhelm the rural-suburban area with noise, pollution, and higher utility costs.

Palm Beach County is set to consider the application, known as Project Tango (DOA/ZV-2025-01602), as a Development Order Amendment and variance request for the Central Park Commerce Center on roughly 202.67 acres north of Southern Boulevard, about 3.7 miles west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road.

The project site sits next to the Arden community and near an elementary school, a proximity that has become a central point of concern for residents organizing against the plan.

According to a petition on Change.org, which had 1,163 signatures at the time of this writing, opponents describe Project Tango as “a massive AI Data Center” that would cover more than 200 acres with buildings up to seven stories tall and almost 4 million square feet of space. They argue that the “sheer scale” of the development “poses a substantial threat to the health, safety, and wellbeing” of nearby families.

The petition warns that constant noise from the facility, along with what organizers describe as “the certainty of air and water pollution from its operation,” could have serious consequences for neighbors and for students at the school located roughly 1,200 feet from the site. Petitioners also claim that “our electricity and water rates will rise,” and say they believe “nothing good will come of this for Palm Beach County residents.”

Beyond health and quality-of-life concerns, opponents are also focusing on environmental impacts. The petition says Project Tango would disrupt local agriculture and ecosystems, put wildlife at risk, and threaten “contamination of our air, water, and land.” Residents argue that “our community’s natural resources, our health, and our environment should not be compromised for the benefit of a commercial endeavor that will have limited local impact.”

The county’s zoning notice describes the request as an amendment to the previously approved master plan for the Central Park Commerce Center, an Economic Development Center Multiple Use Planned Development (MUPD). The applicant is asking to add square footage and modify phasing across the full 202.67-acre site, including a request to increase total intensity from 2,020,000 square feet of warehouse and other industrial uses to a maximum of 3,692,000 square feet as allowed by a 2025 county ordinance.

The application also seeks a Type 2 variance to reduce parking requirements for Data and Information Processing uses to one space per 2,000 square feet of data area across the entire property. A similar variance already applies to the original 138 acres of the MUPD; the new request would extend that standard to the full site.

Existing uses on the property include warehouse space, Data and Information Processing, and three non-conforming mine accessory operations — a concrete plant, an asphalt plant, and a contractor storage yard — along with an FPL grid resiliency laydown yard. Under the current approvals, those uses can remain until replaced with Economic Development Center uses in future phases. Access to the project will continue from Southern Boulevard (State Road 80).

Opponents say that while the land has long been industrial, the scale and intensity of Project Tango would fundamentally change what it feels like to live nearby. The petition frames the issue as a choice between local quality of life and a high-intensity technology buildout.

“We urge the Palm Beach County Commission to carefully consider these impacts and explore alternative locations that do not impose such risks on residential communities and sensitive natural areas,” the petition reads. It calls on “local residents, environmentalists, and concerned citizens to stand together against this development” and to sign in order to “protect our community and environment from the irreversible damage that Project Tango will cause.”

The application is scheduled for a Palm Beach County Zoning Commission hearing on December 4, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. at the Vista Center on North Jog Road, followed by a Board of County Commissioners hearing on December 10, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. at the Governmental Center on North Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach.

Residents who want to review the zoning materials can find a summary and map on the county’s zoning hearings website, and those who wish to weigh in on the petition can do so through the online campaign opposing the project at Change.org.

Source:

• Palm Beach County Zoning notice for Project Tango (DOA/ZV-2025-01602)
• Change.org petition “Say No To The Construction Of Project Tango AI Data Center In Palm Beach County” (https://www.change.org/p/say-no-to-the-construction-of-project-tango-ai-data-center-in-palm-beach-county).