Weld County Group Seeks Voter Control Over Global AI Data Center and Future Projects

Weld County voters could get a chance to overturn Global AI’s data center approval—and claim a vote on future facilities. A citizens group is gathering signatures for two measures that would shift those decisions to the ballot, but each must first clear a 9,103-signature threshold.

Protect Our Water and Energy Resources, known as POWER, said the Weld County Clerk and Recorder’s office approved both petitions for circulation Monday. Chase Woodruff’s Colorado Newsline story, published by KUNC on October 1, describes the campaign’s response to commissioners’ September 9 approval of the project near Windsor. The petition drive is not itself a reversal of that decision.

One project challenge, one countywide rule

• The referendum petition targets commissioners’ approval of Global AI’s proposed 41-acre data center at the former Carestream Health property southeast of Windsor. It seeks a public vote on that specific county decision.
• The citizen initiative reaches beyond Global AI. It would prohibit the county from issuing an occupancy permit to any data center without approval from a majority of county electors voting in a regular or special election.

Those are distinct legal routes within the same campaign: a challenge to an existing resolution and a proposed rule for occupancy permits. Each petition needs its own qualifying support from registered county voters. The threshold equals 5% of ballots cast in the previous general election. Under the county charter, sufficient signatures would require commissioners to call a special election, rather than leave the measures awaiting a discretionary decision.

9,103Valid signatures per measure

Each measure needs support from at least 9,103 registered Weld County voters to qualify.

45 daysSignature collection window

Organizers have 45 days to collect enough valid petition signatures.

Within 60 daysElection after qualification

If the measures qualify, the charter requires commissioners to call a special election held within 60 days.

Opposition survived the unanimous vote

Commissioners approved the permit 5–0 after a daylong hearing that included hours of public comment, mostly opposing the project. Local opponents have organized for months over concerns about electricity demand, water use, noise and other potential effects. These are concerns about a proposed facility, not findings of harm from an operating data center.

POWER campaign manager Matt Cheroutes argued that residents’ concerns had not been heard. “The commissioners had their vote. Now it’s the people’s turn,” he said in a statement. County officials offered a different assessment of the process. Commissioner Coordinator Lynette Peppler said community concerns prompted officials to examine the proposal closely, and emphasized that it would reuse an industrial facility rather than take agricultural land out of production.

The approval is narrower than the expansion ambition

Global AI has described an initial capacity of 27.5 megawatts, served by the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association, with long-term plans to reach as much as one gigawatt. That larger ambition is not what commissioners authorized in September. The county’s explanation of the permit says approval covers the reviewed application, not every future phase, infrastructure project or proposed use of the wider property.

The land-use permit allows the approved data center use at an existing vacant industrial facility. Global AI still needs applicable construction, electrical, fire-safety, utility, environmental and other approvals before associated construction can proceed. Future phases or changes require additional review and approval. The county also says operational requirements remain in force, including a 65 dB(C) noise limit at the property line and compliance with state water-use requirements.

The project’s employment figures also have different scopes. Global AI claims about 1,500 construction jobs and 200 long-term jobs for the project. The county describes approximately 20 employees in the first phase. It says that phase includes a closed-loop, air-cooled cooling system; the company says its cooling design minimizes water use. The larger job and capacity projections should not be read as the dimensions of the phase already approved.