Amazon hosted a community meeting in Gilroy Wednesday to address concerns raised by a huge data center that is already being constructed. Many residents say they knew nothing about the project until it had already started, and now, they want more details on the impact of these data centers and mo re of a say on proposals like this when they first come up. South Valley Resistance gave Amazon credit for the meeting but is skeptical with questions about the center’s impact on the local energy and water supply. “It feels dishonest to me, and I appreciate them trying to work with the community, but I just feel like they’re just trying to make themselves look the best they can,” said Landon Sepulveda with the South Valley Community Resistance. Gilroy May 30 Gilroy residents push back on Amazon data center project Artificial intelligence May 13 State pondering regulations amid AI boom NBC Bay Area talked with Amazon officials beforehand on what they hoped to convey to the community. “This project is 100% recycled water. It’s 100% carbon free energy and, you know, I’m not sure that that’s what’s out there, but we want to make sure that folks have that understanding and, most importantly, we understand they have questions and we’ve been adhering to all the processes all along, and this is just an extension of that; of having that conversation with the community,” said Roger Wehner, with the Amazon VP Economic Development. The other big issue people attending want answered is the city’s role. In Gilroy, a “data center” is a type of project that, when built in an industrial zone, can be approved by a city permit process without a city council hearing or a vote. But some people from the resistance group said just because it can be done that way doesn’t mean it should be. “This happened just out of the blue for a lot of people, a lot of people were completely blindsided by this. That’s just a question we’d like to ask. The city council is planning to address it, and I commend them for that but, still, as a community that is our primary concerns, transparency, environment impacts, energy and water,” said Justin Chavez, a Gilroy resident. Gilroy did not respond to NBC Bay Area’s questions about the approval process, but according to the City Clerk’s Office, that approval procedure is going to start being reviewed at the city council’s June 15 meeting, with a focus on possibly adding ‘public hearings’ to, what is right now, just a permit application process all done within city hall. ...read more read less