‘Data Center’ or ‘Agri-business’? Inside Eco-Yotta’s Zoning Application

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
ONEONTA

I am against a data center,” Oneonta Town Board member Kim Fierke said at the Wednesday, October 8 board meeting. “I am not exactly sure what the heck this is.”

Fierke’s candor echoed the sentiments of many Oneontans who have come out to oppose Eco-Yotta Inc.’s zoning proposals over the last few months and called for more information.

AllOtsego has obtained from the town clerk’s office both of Eco-Yotta’s zoning applications, offering new clarity. The company’s latest proposal is for a Planned Development District for an “agricultural hydroponics research & development hub,” according to its application.

The first application, which was paused this summer after community pressure, was filed on May 1 for an Industrial Development District change covering 153.43 acres. On a form line for “Proposed use,” Eco-Yotta’s applicant, Tirusha Dave, wrote “Operation of a data center.”

Prompted for additional information on an environmental review form, Dave wrote that industrial use would “enable the development of a data center within an existing garage/residential structure.” Its purpose, Dave wrote, “is to support regional technology growth and leverage renewable energy infrastructure.”

In the initial proposal documents obtained by AllOtsego, applicants did not write that the property would be used for agricultural purposes. The property, located at 357 County Road 9, currently has a house, garage and a barn. It is currently zoned for RA-40, Residential Agricultural District.

In a copy of the first proposal, marginalia dated May 30 says the zone change proposal was amended from IDD to a Planned Development District. Eco-Yotta’s representatives announced that the application had been paused at the August 13 town board meeting.

Eco-Yotta’s new application, dated October 3, is for a PDD, and provides more specific detail. The proposal is still for the full 153.43 acres.

“This is not a commercial data center,” Dave said during the board’s public comment session last week. “It is a research and development initiative that integrates AI technology with sustainable agriculture, using hydroponics and renewable heat reuse to make farming more viable and economically responsible,” she said.

The application describes the project purpose as “AI servers as a utility for hydroponics agri-business.” Company representatives have said their goal is to conduct research to lengthen the upstate growing season, and that the computers will be used to monitor and support crop growth.

“As an accessory use,” T.J. Ruane, an attorney for Eco-Yotta, wrote in an October 3 letter to the town board, “and to ensure a consistent production of heat and power, the computers will also be utilized to provide state of the art advanced computing power for students and other users.”

In a presentation at the October board meeting, Eco-Yotta representatives showed a site map from the application that included the existing house and barn on the property. The 10,000-square-foot barn, currently used for indoor soccer, would be used for hydroponic farming leveraging the heat of computers. Prashanth Gorantala, another agent of the company and Dave’s husband, said the project will cost $1 million to $2 million in its first phase, which will focus on the house’s 1,300-square-foot garage.

Ruane, an attorney with Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, wrote a September 30 letter to Code Enforcement Officer Clinton Rearick making legal arguments that the proposed “Agri-Business” qualifies as an agricultural use of the property. Ruane argued that such use qualifies as a “home occupation,” and therefore that “agricultural pursuits and home occupations are permitted as of right within the RA-40 zoning district.”

Ruane requested confirmation from Rearick that his interpretation of the law was correct. AllOtsego received these documents shortly before press time and was unable to follow up by publication.

At the October meeting, Ruane told board members NYSEG had informed Eco-Yotta in writing that power lines would not need to be upgraded to accommodate the project. The initial proposal documents said the electricity necessary to run the facility would be 150,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year, operating 24/7 once live. The new proposal says it will require 3,000,000 kWh per year, operating from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a federal statistics agency, in 2022 the average U.S. residential utility power purchase was 10,791 kWh per year.

Eco-Yotta Inc was founded in January 2025 and does not appear to have a strong online presence.