(The Center Square) – The legal challenge to the proposed Shreveport data center settled Monday evening in Caddo District Court is not expected to slow progress.
“I think STACK was happy with the expected outcome and they are looking forward to placing additional investment into the region and in the city of Shreveport,” said Justyn Dixon, president and CEO of North Louisiana Partnership, a regional economic development entity. “We don’t anticipate this hindering the project’s forward movement.”
Caddo District Judge Ramon Lafitte ruled in favor of a special-use permit for the multi-billion dollar data center in west Shreveport, a requirement for the tech campus to operate at Resilient Technology Park.
STACK Infrastructure is the Denver-based developer building major data centers in Caddo and Bossier parishes. It develops and constructs new data center campuses in partnership with Amazon Web Services.
Two separate $6 billion projects are underway north of Benton in Bossier and west of Blanchard in Caddo. However, a lawsuit filed in January in Caddo Parish District Court forced the Shreveport project to sit in limbo for 90 days.
Lafitte’s ruling clears the way for construction to proceed.
“I think they’re in a very comfortable spot where they can move forward,” Dixon said. “STACK will continue working on the business case, and we hope to see some development out there in the near future.”
Mooringsport Mayor Tyler Gordon, Michael Craft and Mary Blakemore filed the petition, challenging the city’s decision to approve the development after the city’s planning commission had initially blocked it.
“The ordinance requires that the public health and safety must be protected,” said Clay Garside, attorney for the plaintiffs. “I do not believe the approval of the zoning permit and the facts on the record have enough evidence to show that public health and safety have been protected.”
City attorney Nichole Buckle said, “They are not satisfying their burden. As long as the council … decision was not palpably erroneous and without any substantial relation to the public health, safety or general welfare, then this court has to affirm.”
Plaintiffs asked Lafitte to remit the case back to the City Council and to require the developer to create an official operating plan.
Lafitte said the city’s decision was not “arbitrarily or capriciously done,” and affirmed the city’s decision to issue the permit.
“It’s a great project for Shreveport,” Dixon said. “STACK and Amazon will be held accountable for creating jobs, substantial job creation. And then it is a major investment into the area, and they will be paying substantial taxes. Even with the PILOT in place, we expect them to be the major taxpayer in both Caddo and Bossier parishes within four to five years.
“Lastly is the cutting edge technology that we are actually supporting in the community now, with the likes of SLB, Fibrebond, Sabre Industries and Gordon. We have a major supply network of infrastructure that’s already here. We hope the ripple effect will be substantial, providing great resources to the schools and the people of Caddo and Bossier parishes.”
It’s unclear how much the company plans to invest at Resilient Park but that investment is expected to approach the cost of their other local projects, each projected at $6 billion.
