• Incentives would establish three districts with 25-year exemptions and size-based PILOT payments
• City council will hold public hearings May 7 and May 15
• Project could be up to three phases with a USD 1bn investment per phase

Sand Springs City Council of Oklahoma will consider tax incentives for a proposed Google data center project next month.

The incentives, as well as an economic development project plan, would create three districts offering a 25-year, 100% ad valorem tax exemption, with annual payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) based on building size and commencing upon completion of each facility for Project Spring.

The campus could be developed in up to three phases, with a USD 1bn investment per phase.

Under the plan, PILOT payments would range from roughly USD 1.3m to nearly USD 3.9m per facility, distributed primarily to the Sand Springs school district and Tulsa Technology Center, with payments increasing 2% annually and adjusted for inflation. The city would not receive a share of PILOT revenues but will receive franchise fee income tied to electricity use under a separate agreement.

City council will hold two public hearings for the proposal on May 7 and May 15.

Project plans, proposed by developer White Rose Partners with Google as the end user, include the construction of multiple data center buildings, a dedicated substation and transmission lines to be located on a roughly 827-acre site off Oklahoma State Highway 97, according to city filings.

According to the project website:

• Buildings are expected to occupy less than 10% of the 827-acre site, and 30% to 40% of the site is to be preserved as vegetated open space, including landscaped buffer zones along the perimeter of the site
• The Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) is to provide power for the campus, which has confirmed capacity for the demand (a figure yet to be publicly identified)
• Project Spring will fund upgrades to local power infrastructure required for the campus
• The proposed site currently generates less than USD 3,000 per year in property taxes and no franchise fees

Additionally, Project Spring includes a phased water strategy, with non-evaporative cooling in initial phases, water use limited to standard domestic needs such as restrooms and kitchens during site operations and any future cooling or water demand to be coordinated with the city.

Last year, council annexed the property from Osage County into the city to allow PSO to provide electric service to the property under Sand Springs’ franchise agreement with PSO. PSO has existing transmission lines across the property.

Council then approved in February a rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment of the nearly 827 acres from agricultural to light industrial and industrial/regional employment land use needed to advance the project.

Despite the progressing entitlements, the project is facing legal challenges tied to land-use restrictions on the site.

Conservation group Land Legacy filed March 23 a lawsuit in the Osage County District Court against property owner Alan Ringle, seeking to block the proposed data center.

The petition alleges a 2013 conservation easement on the proposed site prohibits industrial development, including a hyperscale data center.

Land Legacy is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction preventing construction of the data center.

Neither Google nor White Rose Partners responded to requests for comment.

NPM is tracking nearly 20 data center projects in Oklahoma and more than 50 Google developments across the US.

According to the developer, White Rose Partners’ leadership team has delivered more than USD 11bn of “completed project value” across over 20 entitled data center campus sites and over 2 GW of “commissioned data center capacity from site selection through construction delivery