Residents Oppose Data Center Proposal in Heated Board Meeting
By JULIA DelPOZZOSUNY Institute for Local NewsONEONTA
A crowd of more than 60 people packed into the Oneonta Town Hall on Wednesday night, October 8, for the monthly town board meeting. Concerned citizens filled the room to hear the latest on a proposal from startup Eco-Yotta Inc. to build an AI data center in Oneonta’s West End.
The item on the meeting agenda was a zoning amendment application for 357 County Highway 9. Eco-Yotta and its agent, Tirusha Pankaj Dave, seek to convert the land from residential-agricultural use to a planned development district (PDD), which can permit industrial use through flexibility in land use and design. This rezoning would give the company permission to develop a data center.
The proposed rezoning was first announced in July, and it received significant public opposition during August’s town board meeting. Eco-Yotta previously requested to have its application removed from discussion at that August 13 meeting. This meeting marked its reintroduction to the town’s official docket.
