It was given back to the city over 20 years ago. Trying to tie the current owner into what happened forever ago just does not make sense.
A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
521–530 of 574 posts
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#522Earlier quoted context omitted.
Literally in the article is a proposed development that is (easily) walkable from residential houses.
Who the hell wants to walk to data centers? From residential houses or whatever.
So you can avoid paying for remote hands when something goes wrong with a server.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#523On the one hand, the wishes of a donor should be respected to some degree. On the other hand, the government should be allowed to make the best use of land in its jurisdiction for the people who live there today, since “The earth belongs in usufruct to the living” and we should “preserve the soil of the country from being daily more & more absorbed in Mortmain” as Thomas Jefferson might say. Our land should not be bo…
I disagree with you in principle. I think a town that accepts a donation of land for a specific purpose should be as bound as anyone else to the terms of the deed. In practical terms, it’s not clear that an entity with the power of imminent domain can meaningfully be constrained by deeds.
In principle, I think there aught to be a rule against perpetuities. Including conservation easements. The community should be able to decide where their parks will be, not some former landowner. There is another 55-acre park (Fannie Robinson Park, 1009 E MLK Jr Blvd) about 1/2 mi down the street from the datacenter site (1601 E MLK).
Legally, this case is about the terminology of a deed that was sloppily made “in trust… for parkland”, and standing to sue. It’s currently on appeal. (Trial court: https://judicialrecords.wilco.org/PublicAccess/CaseDetail.as.... Appeal, 15th Court of Appeals: https://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=03-25-00831-CV&coa=.... Appeal, 15th Court of Appeals: https://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=15-25-00202-CV&coa=...).
It’s a shame that the deed was poorly granted. Perhaps it would have been better for everyone if it had been held privately and taxed as such.
And as far as newsworthiness is concerned, the actual deed lost its restriction in 2003, and the city transferred it to the Economic Development Corporation in 2008. It could have then been sold to any industrial purpose. This is not really a national story about datacenters. It is the story about a 2008 sale for industrial purposes. The fact that this is recirculated as a datacenter story is meant to poison the public on any mention of the word datacenter. I think this trend of biased news is intentional.
According to opus 4.8, here’s the chain of title for the 87.797‑acre Taylor tract:
1. 7/7/1999 — Bonnibel Bland Cromwell & family → Texas Parks & Recreation Foundation (deed carries the "held in trust… for parkland" restriction). Recorded #199947198. Consideration: $10 (charitable donation).
2. 10/7/2003 — Texas Parks & Recreation Foundation → Williamson County Park Foundation, Inc. Recorded #2003100356. Consideration: $10 (nominal/recited).
3. 11/20/2003 — Williamson County Park Foundation → City of Taylor. Consideration: $10 (nominal/recited).
4. 11/12/2008 — City of Taylor → Taylor Economic Development Corporation. Recorded #2008084718. Consideration: $15,000 cash + a land swap — the EDC also conveyed two tracts back to the City “by exchange” (a ~22.708‑ac tract in the Samuel Pharass Survey + a 16.658‑ac tract in the Coursey Survey); no dollar value stated for the swapped tracts.
5. 11/19/2024 — (Plat Map Recording Sheet; not a transfer)
6. 4/11/2025 — Taylor Economic Development Corporation → NCP Travis TPP Project, LLC (Blueprint Data Centers). Consideration on the deed: "Cash and other good and valuable consideration" — no figure stated; reported at ~$10 million in the press.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#524Earlier quoted context omitted.
seems like this behavior would have a chilling effect on deathbed donations, especially when it sends the message gives: "screw you, we'll do what we want" I also don't see how this behavior is in the public good, even if the donor has some ulterior motive, governments are free to reject donations
If you take one step further back, you can make the discussion about what deed restrictions are reasonable rather than about breaking the deed restriction. Like for an example with different dynamics, Menard's will say you can't use the building as a hardware store when they sell to build elsewhere. That's a stupid restriction for society to allow.
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Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#525Gonna play a little devil's advocate here. Setting aside whether I think data centers or good or bad and just focusing on the sale of the land (for whatever purpose). The land was donated back in 99 and looks like they never followed through on making it anything. Which is pretty shitty to Mr Bland's vision. Though that donation itself is a bit weird because literally on the just the other side of the neighborhood is…
It's crazy how people in this thread wanted to physically cause harm to this city's councilmen when it does seem pretty believable that "nobody at the office knew why they had the land or any stipulations attached to it" when someone takes a second to look into it
@dang what kind of site are you trying to run here?
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#526[flagged]
What do you see as wrong with that? What was supposed to happen to the land instead?
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#527Can it be both? Trying to think of a data centre themed expedition now where you go visit the robots and interact with the machines
You know, you joke (I think?) but data center companies could genuinely at least open up for tours to try to appeal to the public, if public approval is apparently such a concern. It's funny that they haven't done it at all yet. Think nuclear power plants in the 60s or 70s, many of them were open for tours or school field trips or such to try to make them more appealing to the populace around them. I haven't heard of…
> data center companies could genuinely at least open up for tours to try to appeal to the public, if public approval is apparently such a concern.
Do you actually find anything appealing about a datacenter? I've been to one and while it was mildly cool from the standpoint of "wow how do they manage this many machines" I didn't find anything appealing about it that would make me want it in my neighborhood.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#528Earlier quoted context omitted.
France is a much smaller country. When there is a mass protest in the US, it ends of being a bunch of smaller protests all over the country, which lacks the power of a single concentrated protest. These various satellite protests just end up being a minor nuisance, which don’t amount to much. The media in the US often ignores the protests they (or their owners) don’t agree with. This also weakens them significantly.…
Democracy needs real journalism to function. Having all the rich people own all the journalists isn't going to end well. We need to find a working business model for journalism that doesn't rely on rich folks.
I think news outlets need to be run as a non-profit to remove the types of people with aspirations of wealth, instead of aspirations to report and inform the public, from the sector.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#529Earlier quoted context omitted.
Farmer donates land for a park If you are my friend and I gift you a nice item … I would be majorly pissed at you and would not talk to you ever again if you would sell it online. I would expect you give it back or pass for free to someone who is also close to you.
When you put it that way, i disagree. A gift is a gift. Once you give it to someone its their's to do with as they please. A gift with strings is not a gift. This story is different though, the farmer sold the land for cheap in exchange for some conditions. This situation is more like going back on a contract.
Sure, a gift if a gift, but if I give you a gift and then you go off and sell it for $10mil you're a terrible friend.
Re: A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Data Center
#530Earlier quoted context omitted.
Median US income is $45k. Almost 18% of US household income goes to healthcare costs. So you’re saying healthcare access/quality, time off, and mortality are moot once you make $23/hr? Color me skeptical.
I mean, you're on the cusp there but $23/hr is around where "full benefits" jobs become the norm. Also keep in mind that French pay a lot for healthcare too, except it's called taxes. That $23/hr in France would be taxed at 30% compared to 12% in the US. This only gets more dramatic as you climb the income scale, which inevitably means (in France) you are paying way more taxes (41% at $100k) while using those social…
When was the last time you lived on $23/hour?