Millard County has approved a multi-billion dollar artificial intelligence data center

FILLMORE, Utah (ABC4) — The Millard County Commission unanimously approved a rezone Tuesday, paving the way for its second major data center facility to be built.

Mark McDougal, a partner with Joule Capital Partners, went before the commission asking for a rezone of 4,000 acres of rural Millard County. “Our plan is to take this area and make it into an exquisite artificial intelligence data center campus.”

The data center is a multi-billion-dollar project and is expected to bring in billions more in revenue.

McDougal told ABC4 the project is expected to begin construction and house tenants as early as 2026. The data center will host major artificial intelligence companies from across the globe.

“These data centers could be a huge blessing to everyone in Millard County,” Millard County Commission Chair Trevor Johnson said during a public meeting on the rezone.

Vicki Lyman, a Commissioner with Millard County, noted the increase in tax revenue. “The data centers will bring in tax base… which will make our property taxes decrease.”

Not all residents are as optimistic about the data centers. One resident who lives across the street from the property said he moved to Millard County to avoid industrial zones. “There’s a reason we chose to live there. We’d like to try and preserve that as much as we can.”

A representative with the Millard County Sheriff’s Office also raised concerns about the project and the construction’s effect on traffic.

“I’m not worried about the zoning, but… just how that traffic is going to affect that McCormick Road where we have little kids, we have animals,” one resident said in Tuesday’s meeting.

McDougal says despite being Utah’s largest geographical area for a data center, his company’s designs are meant to respect the privacy of the citizens, a group he identifies with.

“This project is actually on the farm that my family and I have been farming for the last two decades. I grew up here as a boy,” McDougal told ABC4. “Our hope is that we can… integrate with the local population. We want to be neighbors.”

The site of the future data center is found about a 25-minute drive northwest of Fillmore on a farm known as Triple C Farms, where McDougal is also an owner.

McDougal created Joule Capital Partners in 2017. In the same year, companies like Facebook and Apple invested heavily into leasing data center capacity on top of building up their own centers.

Now, the approval of the project moves to a conditional use permit, which will mark the final step before Joule can begin construction.