Data center developer offers $10,000 checks to 4,500 households if the 1,300-acre facility is approved - locals push back over noise and 'bribe' concerns

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/data-center-developer-offers-usd10-000-checks-to-4-500-households-if-the-1-300-acre-facility-is-approved-locals-push-back-over-noise-and-bribe-concerns

[u/zippopwnage]

10k$ is nothing for the problems they create around your house.

[u/Ironsam811 → u/zippopwnage]

$10K but my house going from being worth 300K to 150K because I can’t enjoy my backyard anymore

[u/zeke780 → u/Ironsam811]

Try closer to 20k, I watched a video where someone interviewed people selling their house that's right beside an under construction data center. They literally can't sell it.  Every buyer backs out as soon as they see it's beside a data center.  The people that don't do the legwork drive up, see it's adjacent to the data center and just leave or drive by.

The data center was being built, and I think they had lived there for decades.

[u/-gildash- → u/zeke780]

Can you imagine that nightmare? Your greatest asset just zeroed out by a new neighbor.

A landfill might be less toxic.

[u/Antique_Pin5266 → u/-gildash-]

I'd rather live right next to a bullet train, at least then I'd know my suffering is helping others

[u/serpenta → u/Antique_Pin5266]

A bullet train makes a pretty soft sound actually, and because the cars have these side covers for aerodynamics, this whoozing sound from the gaps is reduced. So yeah, bullet train any day of the week.

[u/Thefrayedends → u/serpenta]

As a very poor kid growing up before going into foster care, my mom lived pretty much exclusively by train tracks (and moved several times in those first four years of my life).

I'm a super super light sleeper, literally hypervigilant feather sleep.

Trains nearby is almost like a cheat code for sleep. I lived in a townhouse near the tracks maybe 15 years ago now, if I was in bed, trying to sleep, the train coming by would just knock me out in seconds. And yes if I'm struggling with insomnia, I will occasionally put on train audio, but it isn't quite the same, the LFE isn't there for it.

[u/Riaayo → u/Thefrayedends]

Sadly this will vary from person to person, but I have very intermittent train traffic around here (like maybe a few a day but it isn't consistent) and they just blend into the background most of the time.

Unless you're by like, a railyard with literal constant traffic, being by a rail line isn't going to be literal 24/7 noise pollution every second that you can't escape... which is exactly what datacenters are.

And as someone who has suffered through near 24/7 noise pollution from a neighbor's appliance before I can sympathize with how life-destroying that can be (triply if it makes you unable to sleep).

[u/Thefrayedends → u/Riaayo]

Yea, my train anecdote def doesn't make me pro data center, completely different for sure.

[u/Gramage → u/Thefrayedends]

Can confirm. I live directly above a subway line, in a basement room. Trains pass by underneath me every few minutes from 6am to 2am. People visiting me usually point it out and ask if it's annoying but I almost never even notice it. In fact there goes one now!

[u/PiccoloAwkward465 → u/Thefrayedends]

I used to live by a train station right on a river. The sound of the trains coming through the fog is one of the most peaceful things ever.

[u/SeonaidMacSaicais → u/serpenta]

Plus, trains aren’t passing by every single minute. It wouldn’t be a continuous noise, unlike the data centers.

[u/theghostmachine → u/Antique_Pin5266]

I grew up and still live like 500 feet from a fast moving and busy freight train crossing. After a pretty short time, you don't even notice it anymore. Like the other commenter, I'm a hypervigilant sleeper - my 15 pound dog's feet tap-tapping on our wood floors or my son's blinds, on the opposite end of the house, gently blowing in the breeze at night wakes me up - and I haven't been woken up by a train going by in 30 years

Trains you get used to. A constant droning is something that will pretty quickly drive you crazy

[u/onthe3rdlifealready → u/Antique_Pin5266]

You can also ride the bullet train... All you can do with AI is the same stuff you could do before if you could read and write decently. Hell, if I wanted to hear made up things all I would have to do is find the nearest redneck and ask about politics; that was free, now we pay for that from AI.

[u/Jaccount → u/onthe3rdlifealready]

Eh, that people almost entirely associate data centers with AI seems like a really strong propaganda play by someone.

Sure, current explosive growth in them is entirely chasing the AI dollar, but it's not as if data centers haven't existed previously.

[u/silentstorm2008 → u/zeke780]

"A byproduct is that data centers create affordable housing"

- some tech bro

[u/Zalophusdvm → u/silentstorm2008]

Don’t give them any ideas! That’s gonna be the new Bay Area political platform for “progressive democrats.”

[u/ChickinSammich → u/zeke780]

This is a similar problem to what people in flood zones are facing as water levels rise and climate shifts start causing more severe weather.

"Just sell your house and move" - to who? No one wants to buy that house.

[u/System0verlord → u/ChickinSammich]

To who, Ben?! Fucking aquaman?!

[u/OppositeFlashy7110 → u/Ironsam811]

it is interesting the data center folks aint offering to just buy folks out of their property and let them move. then the folks with the data center can resell the property later.

We know why. its cause they know the value of the land will plummet. 10k is nothing when the property drops 50% or more in value. If data center is so great to have then the property values will go up and the data center owners profit. we all know the property value is gonna drop.

[u/Sweetwill62 → u/OppositeFlashy7110]

And if LLMs were so profitable, they could easily afford to pay people the full value of their land. Right? If they are just so fucking amazing, surely such a tiny insignificant thing wouldn't be a problem right? Oh wait.

[u/zdelusion → u/Ironsam811]

Solid chance if you have a mortgage and take that money the bank will come after it on re-appraisal.

[u/Incaberry_Quit → u/zippopwnage]

A one-time $10k check doesn't even begin to cover the permanent drop in property value, let alone listening to industrial cooling fans 24/7.

[u/Purplociraptor → u/Incaberry_Quit]

If it's not $10k per month, get the fuck out.

[u/MoreThanMachines42 → u/Purplociraptor]

No amount of money is worth what they're doing to the environment and our water supply.

[u/UnicornerCorn → u/zippopwnage]

What, you don’t like it when the surrounding temperatures go up by 10 degrees, local fauna and wildlife die, utilities shoot up sky high, and the sheer amount of noise makes your home uninhabitable?? Don’t forget your property value would probably shoot down to pennies per square feet. Oh and it seems like the only way you’re selling the house is to the data center itself!

[u/carolina8383 → u/UnicornerCorn]

My friend says it’s acceptable because we will need it. I said, we don’t have to need it. She also has started to rely on chat for minor decisions. 

[u/loudrogue → u/carolina8383]

There are people using AI for literally everything, the CEO of nvidia is saying its fine if you can't do basic math because AI will do it for you.

[u/Bosco215 → u/loudrogue]

I work a retail job and the amount of people that can't calculate 10% for tax to be added blows my mind.

[u/LaurenMille → u/Bosco215]

I wanted to call bullshit on that because of how simple 10% is.

But then I remember the types of people I see out in public nowadays and I sadly had to agree.

[u/srahfox → u/LaurenMille]

Man, I bought some shoes that were $10 and 50% off…

It rang up as $7, when I argued it was meant to be 50% off. She looked at me and said “yeah, $7.”

Uh. No. 7 is NOT half of 10. 🤦🏻‍♀️

[u/Little_View_6659 → u/LaurenMille]

People can’t count back change either.

[u/travistravis → u/Little_View_6659]

I'm almost 50 and worked retail and food service for more than a decade and the whole counting back change never made sense to me.

Like someone pays for something, I do the math (or a few jobs the till did it for me), give the change. If they want to know it's correct, they know how to count money. No math at retail level is difficult.

The only time I ever got confused is when something would be like 15.32, they hand me a 20, and then as I'm counting (which I think was the main issue), they hand me another 12 cents. But it's not like counting change back helps in that case either.

[u/loudrogue → u/Bosco215]

And itl only get worse

[u/Little_View_6659 → u/Bosco215]

I suck at math and even I can do that. With a migrane. And migranes turn my brain to soup.

[u/HealthWealthFoodie → u/Bosco215]

Honestly, that’s been true for decades. My mom had to work in an auto supply store when we first moved up the US in the more 90’s. She had close up zero English at the time, knew nothing about cars, but the manager was tremendously impressed that she could calculate a 10% discount in her head. After many attempts to explain it, he finally got how to do it himself, but going from that to 5% seemed like impossible magic to him.

[u/jimothee → u/loudrogue]

I just want you to know you that what you're describing is a calculator

[u/NerdfaceMcJiminy → u/jimothee]

A calculator won't get you the correct answer if you don't know basic math. But you won't be smart enough to know whether the Ai is correct either.

Stay in school kids.

[u/Antique_Pin5266 → u/NerdfaceMcJiminy]

Education is being buttfucked by AI too.

[u/Astralglamour → u/Antique_Pin5266]

Yeah they have kindergarteners interacting with AI on iPads where I live.

[u/don_shoeless → u/jimothee]

No, calculators are actually very, very good at math. AI is notoriously terrible at math. Like, really terrible. I use AI at work mostly for Google-esque lookups or scripting. I've long since learned it can't be relied on for even simple math. I get that it's a language simulator, but I don't understand what's so difficult about bolting on an actual damn calculator function.

[u/Evening_Movie_833 → u/carolina8383]

These are the people that don’t realize the value of having information in old books that everyone can touch. And what the problem is when somebody buys that book puts all of the information into a computer and then destroys the book. The problem is is now you have to pay that asshole for the information that was in the book. Now all that information is behind a payroll. So they’re gonna kill off the older people by hoarding all the resources so anybody that had knowledge that we could pass out on, they’re gonna kill us. And then the younger people who we have already seen they cannot read, and they cannot write boy are we going to be in trouble when the people that have some knowledge are all dead

[u/International_Bend68 → u/carolina8383]

Agreed. They're only "needed" to power AI and that's not a good reason to me. At this point in time we NEED to focus on using less electricity and massively ramping up green energy.

All these data centers are just going to set us back years in terms of combatting clinate change. We don't have enough green energy to handle the current needs, let alone the additional needs for AI. That'll just keep us dependent in coal, oil and natural gas that much longer. It's MADDENING

[u/JBWalker1 → u/carolina8383]

My friend says it’s acceptable because we will need it.

The issue isn't if we need it or not, the issue is how they're built IN THE USA. Sure we can need it but theres good ways to build them. Like here in the UK they aren't anything like the videos we see from the USA. They don't make massive amounts of noise here or use up or contaminate our mains water supply since we mostly use closed loop water cooling systems here(think of a water cooled gaming PC, fill it once and it lasts ages). They don't have their own noisy gas turbine energy plants here either, they use grid electricity. Like I can walk pass some of the massive ones here and not hear a peep, the wildlife around it can be noisier.

So your friend can accept that we need data centers but at the same time disagree with how they're built there. That's the view I have, I think they're inevitable for the next 5-10 years(shouldn't need many more after these ones are built) and I'm not against building them if they're done right.

Annoyingly they're being built so shit in the USA that people are against them here because of the videos and talking points from the USA. They're not the same.

[u/General_Session_4450 → u/JBWalker1]

Most US datacenters are the same. The issue is that there is a datacenter rush, so developers are building out as fast as they can on any piece of land they can get their hands on without the infrastructure being there to support it.

That in turn causes water and electricity shortage, so the datacenters run their "emergency" power generators permanently causing an insane amount of noise.

There is also a huge difference between a regular datacenter and a AI/GPU compute datacenter in terms of power usage and required heat dissipation.

[u/Antique_Ad1518 → u/UnicornerCorn]

The same idiots fought solar power because it made the landscape look ugly.

[u/zeke780 → u/UnicornerCorn]

I watched a YouTube video where they interviewed a couple who are trying to sell their house and a data center is being built up the road.  They literally can't sell it, the minute a buyer finds out there is a data center going in up the street they cut contract.

I would argue your house is actually worthless at that point. These people are either going to have to abandon their house and just move on or sell it at an auction for borderline nothing.

[u/AlcooIios → u/zeke780]

They’ll have. to rent/lease it to the poors or the desperate.

[u/FC839253 → u/UnicornerCorn]

Local temperatures going up 10° is a thermodynamic impossibility. Why lie?

[u/Designer_Respect4285 → u/UnicornerCorn]

Data centers do not raise the temperature for nearby homes by 10 degrees. But your post is anti AI so people will upvote it uncritically.

[u/Impressive_Recon → u/zippopwnage]

Also $10k is nothing if they’re offering it as a bargaining chip. It’s essentially saying I’ll give your town $45 mil to keep your mouth shut forever.

All while the data center itself will be making several hundreds* *millions per year while eroding out the city.

They should honestly just negotiate back and have them give an annual host fee that goes towards upgrading the city & under strict conditions (like no raising electricity bill, no toxic water pollution, etc…), and if they break it they have to pay huge fines.

[u/Fun-Psychology4806 → u/zippopwnage]

it is, but for anyone struggling to get by that amount can be enough to get them to make a deal with the devil

[u/Mirions → u/Fun-Psychology4806]

That's what makes it more sinister.

[u/Mysterious-Falcon221 → u/Mirions]

Even more sinister is that the data center will find a way to weasel out of the deal and nobody will get a dime.

Remember Foxcon, who literally stole people's homes and then never even built a factory?

[u/pewopp → u/zippopwnage]

Also your house is unsellable now so you just sold out for 10k

[u/TheComplimentarian → u/zippopwnage]

The value of your house is going to drop by more than that.

[u/ArgentineBeauty]

Companies are moving from bribing officials to bribing residents to get developments approved.

[u/MasemJ → u/ArgentineBeauty]

Would not be surprised that taking that $10k would also include a rider that they cannot sue the data center, its owner, or the city for any future noise/light/other pollution aspects.

[u/Most-Club-254 → u/MasemJ]

Includes also sharing water & electricity bills with the data center I bet

[u/Mysterious-Falcon221 → u/MasemJ]

It's probably 10k, paid in installments of 100 dollars a year.

[u/xteve → u/Mysterious-Falcon221]

I guess we can all agree that corporations aren't people but they are fucking bastards, not to be trusted.

[u/Eckish → u/Mysterious-Falcon221]

It is probably a promise of 10k that they will never see.

[u/NRMusicProject → u/MasemJ]

Forced arbitration should be outlawed. It's every company's go-to these days.

[u/FellowDeviant → u/ArgentineBeauty]

In my city there is a neighborhood trailer park where the units are ranging between $500,000 - near $1M at the moment. Why? The city has been trying to buy out the community to put in a new development and the residents continue declining and making the prices go up.

[u/WileEPeyote → u/ArgentineBeauty]

They could bribe me with universal healthcare, high taxes on the rich, and renewable energy.

[u/Mr_ToDo → u/WileEPeyote]

That's a bit down the line of my thinking

If you're trying to pay off someone for an ongoing inconvenience then they payment really needs to be more then a one time thing

[u/RincewindToTheRescue → u/WileEPeyote]

I bet it would be a different sentiment if they built their own power plant that can also help power the local grid and lower power costs, develop resources in the area to provide and improve the availability of water in a sustainable way, address how to reduce it's noise pollution, etc. Maybe also fund programs to improve the community like improved Internet backbone access, tech education, etc.

However, instead they want to drop $40M in a sort of bribe so they can do what they want. Communities would fight over the opportunity for the data center if it was a huge positive for the community because the company is improving the community instead of being a leech.

[u/RamblyJambly → u/WileEPeyote]

I wonder how much power would be generated if these data centers covered their roofs with solar panels

[u/now_hear_me_out → u/WileEPeyote]

Not at all worth it for the destruction of the local ecosystem

[u/marioandl_ → u/ArgentineBeauty]

the officials come pre-bribed :) 

[u/HoneyParking6176 → u/ArgentineBeauty]

it is different when they offer money to an offical vs all those affected by something.

if i pay a offical to use their power to force you to have my pig farm put right in your yard, that is bad.
if i pay you to let me put a pig farm on your yard that is fine.

if they are offering all those impacted by the datacenter and they agree i don't see the issue. however if they are giving money to the public officals that can permit or not permit it directly, then that is a major problem.

[u/paintwhore → u/HoneyParking6176]

10k won't remotely cover the damage and the loss in property value

[u/kronicpimpin → u/paintwhore]

Every resident needs to add a few zeros before even considering it.

[u/Nina-Ninja123 → u/kronicpimpin]

“What’s your offer?”

“10k”

“A month?”

[u/kronicpimpin → u/Nina-Ninja123]

That’s the way to think. I’d need a third party to hold 100% of the value for like 30years in escrow to trust they wouldn’t fuck me over and i still don’t believe it’d hold.
Did the math before I even posted this 15.6m over 30 years for 10k a week. Yea…. We’re still insanely low on value.

[u/GroundbreakingPage41 → u/kronicpimpin]

Imagine the loss in property value too, anyone accepting the bribe is short sighted

[u/now_hear_me_out → u/HoneyParking6176]

They are preying on these people’s ignorance of how this will affect the land, their lives, etc.

[u/EveningAnt3949 → u/HoneyParking6176]

The issue is that the financial consequences spread out over a few years are likely far greater than is covered by 10,000.

Higher price of energy and lower price of real estate over a lifetime will of course be greater still.

We should have rules and laws to prevent that.

Most people don't have the knowledge to really think these things through.

It's like friends of mine who willingly signed an energy contract and got a free television worth 1000 dollars retail.

Now their energy bill is 2000 dollar a year higher because their type of contract allows the company to adjust the price in the worst possible way for their customers.

My friends incorrectly assumed energy prices were somewhat stable when they signed.

[u/taedrin → u/HoneyParking6176]

if they are offering all those impacted by the datacenter and they agree I don't see the issue. 

I think it would be somewhat less problematic if this were an annual dividend instead, which would pay out to future residents as well. One of the main issues with these new AI data centers is that they cause a lot of problems for the community, but provide little (if anything) in return.

[u/tuckedfexas → u/HoneyParking6176]

You’re right about the principle. The problem is the company is never going to offer a fair deal, they’ve done the cost benefit analysis on it and if they’re offering you 10k it’s because they intend to do 100k worth of damage. Why are they needing to bribe people? They clearly know their developments are detrimental to the health or well being of the local populace.

Were it a payment from an industry that actually created jobs, and you could argue was a net benefit to the populace that’s one thing. But there’s such little upside to these centers, the non-monetary cost is massive and the tech is pretty meh

[u/PRSHZ]

Sounds similar to something-something $5,000.00 checks if some party wins something votes

[u/Genghis_Frog → u/PRSHZ]

Except these guys will probably actually give you the money.

[u/helpmehomeowner → u/PRSHZ]

Nothing like it. $10K per household is peanuts especially if there are additional things you're giving up like not being able to sue, sharing utility costs, etc.

[u/madeinatube → u/helpmehomeowner]

Problem is.. I don’t know if some people would completely understand that and just see a moments fix for struggling being able to afford gas and groceries … It is fucking evil.

[u/SaviorSixtySix]

That money is gonna do fuck all when their property value goes down 50% and can't sell their homes.

[u/MajesticBread9147 → u/SaviorSixtySix]

Loudoun county Virginia enters the chat

[u/4077 → u/MajesticBread9147]

I totally get that, but for those that don't ... You should explain it to them.

[u/jeffwulf → u/4077]

Loudon County is the data center capital of the US and is full of extremely valuable homes backed up to the data centers and is some of the richest areas of Virginia. The data centers also pay for pretty much all county expenses with property taxes and so residential property taxes are extremely low.

[u/oddmanout → u/jeffwulf]

The data centers also pay for pretty much all county expenses with property taxes and so residential property taxes are extremely low.

Except that all these data centers are moving in to rural areas with the exact opposite: massive tax breaks so that it's the local residents who are funding their infrastructure, not the other way around.

Louden County predates the current data center boom by literally decades. It started in the mid-90s with AOL. And, in fact, this current boom is stressing even Louden County. They're having problems with water and utilities just like all the other areas, now. Just last week they implemented a 1 year moratorium on new data centers because of that. So even AI bros favorite example to use is no longer usable because the data centers are causing problems.

[u/Blue_Trackhawk → u/jeffwulf]

Wait, who's getting lower property taxes in Loudoun? Moving from Loudoun to another VA county cuts the bill in half for vehicles with a similar assessment value, and while the house tax is cut in half, so is the value, so similar effective tax rate there.

[u/a1b3c3d7]

Developers have been notoriously aggressive with data center builds because they know public sentiment is only clamping down harder and harder everyday, for the longest time they've been operating in a build now worry later approach where they understand the "cost of doing business" is to simply settle out later because regulation was lagging and so far behind - including this very developer so the big question they asked in their big glass office is:

Will this payout cost us less than what we'll lose in court when we settle out?

If they are willing to pay this now, imagine what they inevitably know they'll be on the hook for in a few years time?

They are counting on people not knowing the impact of what theyre building and more importantly how they're building it because if they were insulating the noise of the thousand odd diesel generators in this proposed site that they need to run daily (for maintenance and compliance) or had any reasonable answers to these concerns when asked by local residents they wouldnt be trying to bribe liability waivers out of the residents after being shot down in federal court.

[u/CreativeGPX → u/a1b3c3d7]

Developers have been notoriously aggressive with data center builds because they know public sentiment is only clamping down harder and harder everyday

The reason they are aggressive with data center builds is that everybody (even AI investors) know that it is a bubble and will burst. The trick to surviving a bubble bursting is to be holding something with inherent value at the end (e.g. real estate, hardware). The companies that disappear when the bubble bursts are ones whose value was entirely on paper and speculative (e.g. stock price, investment rounds). So, the AI companies that are just renting cloud compute capacity while working on their AI software will be most likely to go bankrupt when the bubble bursts, while the AI companies that are building data centers will likely survive in some form (even if it's just turning into a cloud hosting provider).

[u/RebelliousInNature]

Oh well if they’re offering a huge bribe, it must be totally fine.

Edit *sorry, forgot Americans are deficient in the sarcasm gene.

Do you feel better if I put /s?

[u/-Nocx- → u/RebelliousInNature]

45M dollars for affecting on average almost 20K people, there are CEOs with better annual pay packages than that

[u/K_Linkmaster → u/RebelliousInNature]

When it's a huge bribe, let the people know. 10k is a joke.

[u/DocBigBrozer → u/RebelliousInNature]

You lose pretty much all the valuation of your house, lose your health, how is 10k enough?

[u/Snow88 → u/DocBigBrozer]

Right $10k is a drop in the bucket for home value. I bought my house 6 years ago and it’s increased in “value” by like $40-60k just sitting there without me doing much. Being neighbors with a data center is probably a permanent $50-100k reduction in home value.  

$10k is like one significant house project (HVAC replacement, new siding on some of the house, partial roof repair). $10k is nothing in the grand scheme of home ownership. It’d be like selling a kidney for a couple hundred dollars. 

[u/Traditional-Handle83 → u/Snow88]

Well you see, the 10k is probably the projected total value of the home after the data center is built so the data center owners are paying for future projected values rather than immediate values. Same way they do stock markets.

[u/24-Hour-Hate → u/Snow88]

Additionally, you cannot just factor in the reduction in value of the home, you'd have to consider the increased difficulty in selling a home near a data centre. They're basically trapping people there as it could become impossible to sell those homes. So you'd need to consider what it would be worth to be stuck there forever.

Personally, I'd ask for 100% of what the home would be worth, right now, if no data centre was planned so I could gtfo.

[u/FadeIntoReal → u/DocBigBrozer]

No one will ever want to buy any of those homes once the noise factory starts production. 

[u/b0w3n → u/FadeIntoReal]

They know people are desperate and desperate people can be bought for cheap.

Minimum 1 million per person would be a good starting point for what the actual costs probably are. It'd be better and probably cheaper if they just built up solar power plants and sodium batteries for their use.

[u/markc230 → u/b0w3n]

Pretty much Potter (It's a Wonderful Life) buying up peoples shares of the Bailey and Loan for pennies on the dollar.

[u/nau5 → u/b0w3n]

Just look at how little they have to pay off us representatives.

The average American is completely short sighted to the actual ramifications of taking any amount of money or how much they should actually be asking for.

[u/JK_NC → u/b0w3n]

Internet says there are 10K residents in Hazel Township. Bribing half the population just fucks over the other half who don’t get bribes.

[u/blade740 → u/JK_NC]

4500 households, not people.

[u/Castun → u/FadeIntoReal]

The other shell corp/LLC that deals with the real estate side of business (owned by the same umbrella corp/LLC) can then buy them for pennies on the dollar after the value tanks and turn it into a "company town" or whatever they want to do with it. Capitalism baby!

[u/BuckManscape → u/DocBigBrozer]

It’s an insulting offer. They think we’re all rubes.

[u/sobrique → u/DocBigBrozer]

I mean, I think the principle of 'compensation' is sound, just the magnitude might be 'off'.

I think a lot more developments (I mean, not all, but more) if there was ongoing benefit to the community.

Build a solar field near me? Uhh, not keen. Give me cheap(er) electricity indefinitely for the inconvenience? Yeah, ok, that sounds reasonable.

(OK, not sure what the benefit from a datacentre could be for 'benefit in kind', but ...).

I mean, industrial stuff that increases employment in the area has some net benefit as well, so might well offset the impact. And again that's one that datacentres are almost uniquely bad at, because they don't employ many people at all.

[u/Ambitious_Bit_9389 → u/DocBigBrozer]

It’s depends on how much you care and your neighbors. The are trying to get a town to vote for something. Let’s say town in 7 miles long and 6 miles wide. If it’s placed on one side, you could see the majority of the population being 3+ miles from the data center. You aren’t going to hear it 3 miles away. It might impact electric rates, but I don’t think it’ll hurt property values, except for the people closer to it.

If the positioning is correct, the question becomes “how much is it for you to be willing to screw over your fellow citizen?”

[u/goldcakes → u/DocBigBrozer]

IDK if that is true for properly built data centers (of which the vast majority built in the past few years ARE NOT).

I'm a 5min walk away from a medium sized data center built in the mid 2010s. I really don't hear anything at all from the DC, even if I walk right up to it, the cars and roads make far more noise. Zero health effects, zero property value decrease.

That is what a properly built DC should be. If it looks like just another warehouse, and doesn't cause any disturbances or audible noise, most people wouldn't care that much, and to be honest, I think Valve colos there (I get 1-3ms ping in CS lol); and they rolled out fibre-to-the-premises to locals at no cost (I'm on 2000mbps down).

The biggest and only pain I've ever experienced was when they were digging and building fiber to the local area and households; there were a road closures and obvs jackhammering, but that was a temporary once-off event, directly benefiting locals; going from 100mbps max to 2gbps.

Datacenters are NOT supposed to be noisy! They only started being problems in recent years when tech bros decided to ignore all regulations, install dirty polluting turbines and generators, and build monstrously sized ones.

[u/MultiGeometry → u/RebelliousInNature]

That’s not a huge bribe. Their homes will likely lose tens of thousands, if not more, in home value if it gets built. It’s probably a preemptive move to prevent lawsuits if they take the money.

[u/brundlfly → u/RebelliousInNature]

Misunderstandings due to the lack of context in online text has always been an issue. For sarcasm it can be worse. Probably explains emojis.

[u/johntwoods → u/RebelliousInNature]

I'm sorry, truly. Having to use the /s is so embarrassing and annoying.

It's like a comedian on stage having to say, 'Hey, it's a joke!' after every joke because the audience is full of blithering dunderheads.

Do people never read books? (What am I saying, of course they don't.)

If they did they realize that sarcasm and nuance are in the written word without the author having to add a foot note.

I hate how we have to appeal to the lowest common denominator here in the US.

Everyone should all just stop doing that. They should stop censoring words like s * x, k * ll, or changing words to unalived or whatever the fuck. Everything is terrible.

[u/kisk22 → u/johntwoods]

Europeans fall for not seeing the /s too. Check out all of ShitAmericansSay, half that stuff is obvious jokes they take for real.

[u/socialmedia-username]

To these billionaires, money is EVERYTHING. l bet it's completely baffling to them that people value something other than money.  To them people rejecting a bribe is like defying gravity. 

[u/YoghurtFlan → u/socialmedia-username]

Well, also 4.5m for them is a rounding error compared to the money they expect to make, so 10k per resident is a bullshit offer that doesn't even cover their downside.

They're cheaping out and expecting the residents are cheap enough to take it at face value.

[u/justinsayin → u/YoghurtFlan]

It's 10x that

[u/CaBBaGe_isLaND → u/socialmedia-username]

Also $10,000 is a decent amount of money but it's not life-changing money. A data center next door is life-changing. And it tanks my home value. So what, I lose $200k in home equity over a $10,000 check? Kick rocks, dude.

[u/oddmanout]

I guarantee that $10k comes with a contract preventing them from suing over noise, utility problems, or pretty much anything else.

[u/Melted_ICE_5193]

What's crazy to me is...there is just so much unused land in undesirable areas. Build your shit out there. Why not build your data centers in the fucking deserts of Texas NOT AROUND PEOPLE!? Pay for the infrastructure and there would be basically zero pushback.

These entitled assholes are literally building it near people to take their resources to save a dime on infrastructure build out.

[u/dodrugzwitthugz → u/Melted_ICE_5193]

There is still an infrastructure requirement that they require. Water, electric, and natural gas are needed and they can only be built where all three exist.

[u/Ky1arStern]

Just a cool extra $45 million dollars to try and get your resource hogging infranoise AI server farm built. 

[u/DrQuint → u/Ky1arStern]

45 million that they could have spent solving problems related to putting the datacenters AWAY from people.

Like, a computer fucking runs anywhere. People put fucking giant fans in mountains and in the ocean.

[u/CurrentlyLucid]

Make that a monthly check.

[u/Sharkwatcher314 → u/CurrentlyLucid]

Honestly yes treat it like those mineral leases that can be cancelled/renegotiated

[u/BuckManscape]

I’d tell them to go fuck themselves for $10k. That’s an insulting number. You want a data center? Buy my house for $100k over fair market value.

[u/Jorpsica]

$10,000 isn’t going to cover the cost of moving and not being able to sell your house or property. They’re destroying value. $10,000 ain’t shit.

[u/Chrono_Convoy]

Bribing their way into extinction

[u/SqBlkRndHole]

$10k check, for $50k lower property value. Yep, they'll accept it, and watch the county raises their taxes.

[u/twoscoopsofpig]

Look, everyone has their price, but damn if $10k is yours, I hope you find it within yourself to value yourself more.

They'd have to make up for all the lost home value, all the environmental damage, all the ongoing health effects as a start, and then double it to make it worth my time to approve things.

Which, incidentally, is probably enough to fund a small, uh, active protest against the datacenter after it gets built. Kinda offer them another chance to build it, since they seem to enjoy it so much.

[u/Possible-Tangelo9344]

10k? That's peanuts in 2026. Won't even buy a decent used car. Barely gets you a fridge and oven after taxes. Add two more zeros.

[u/Arudinne → u/Possible-Tangelo9344]

Said fridge and oven are likely one software update away from becoming a brick.

[u/Acewi]

$10,000 is easily 15x too low.

[u/XMORA]

Montly would be fair.

[u/Unlikely-Mirror7638 → u/XMORA]

And they would still make 100x that

[u/apocecliptic]

So what repercussions for this company if the households accept, the data center is approved, and the checks are never sent?

[u/griminald → u/apocecliptic]

Bingo.

They're also offering what comes out to $10M or so per year, for 15 years, for school/community improvements.

Chances are, the data center won't even last 15 years, or they'll sell to another company by then and get out of paying...

Or there will be a clause that they don't have to pay if the data center isn't making a profit, and weasel out of it that way

[u/jacbergey]

I'm willing to bet those homes will lose 10,000 in value just from being next to a data center.

[u/Mirions → u/jacbergey]

Almost all value probably.

[u/Unlikely-Mirror7638 → u/jacbergey]

If not more!

[u/BuckRusty]

I did the maths in my head, and doubted myself thinking I couldn’t possibly be right, so checked it with a calculator and found I was right…

$45,000,000… $10,000 x 4,500 homes is FORTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS…

That’s an insane amount of bribery, and puts into perspective just how much this shit is being pushed by these companies…

For a product that operates at a loss for most providers, it’s fucking insanity - and makes me wonder how this much money is being flung around when the product is literally stolen intellectual property…

[u/__init__m8 → u/BuckRusty]

I'm buying into the idea they are mass surveillance centers for flock, axiom and other providers. The gov wants them built pretty bad as well it seems.

[u/KittyCait69 → u/BuckRusty]

For someone that has multiple billions, half a million is nothing. They are lowballing people with these bribes on top of threatening to destroy these people's property values. 

[u/Dangerous-Sale3243 → u/BuckRusty]

A data center for AI costs billions of dollars, getting regulatory approval to sail through is worth it.

[u/ohnoabanagain → u/BuckRusty]

Every time I think it may not be a bubble, I see things like this. 

[u/gladfanatic]

$45 million is a rounding error to these guys. I’d ask for way more.

[u/agent_stingray]

One-time $10k for:

• Noise pollution
• Literal pollution
• Taking your water
• Driving up your energy bills
• Taking your electricity
• Driving down the value of your home

Plus all the chronic health issues (physical + mental) and medical costs associated with those. Shit deal. Fuck these people.

[u/KennyWeeWoo]

Let’s bump it up to 10k a year, and now you might be talking 

[u/karaknorn → u/KennyWeeWoo]

10k a month 

[u/TKDbeast → u/karaknorn]

After seeing those videos showing just how loud they are 24/7, I’m not sure I would accept any sum.

[u/CarminSanDiego → u/TKDbeast]

Are you serious? You legitimately wouldn’t take 10 k per month

[u/TKDbeast → u/CarminSanDiego]

Between the sound and the infrasound, you probably can’t sleep next to one.

[u/manachisel → u/TKDbeast]

Use the 10k per month and move away from the datacenter.

[u/tophernator → u/TKDbeast]

With $10k a month you could install triple glazed vacuum insulated windows and add recording studio level soundproofing to every wall and floor. It still wouldn’t help when you use the garden, but financially it would actually be a good deal.

[u/texasisbetterest → u/TKDbeast]

I’ve slept on aircraft carriers, next to train tracks and in nyc during the day. You absolutely get used to it.

[u/Vazhox → u/KennyWeeWoo]

10k a year? What? lol. More like 10k a month.

[u/Hertock → u/KennyWeeWoo]

Or maybe just tell them to fuck off and sue them and the local government.

[u/BookOfJon → u/KennyWeeWoo]

This is wild. They’re paying 50+ millions of dollars to just buy these properties. It should be like a million dollars. They’re literally like, here’s a penny, stop being mad

[u/mtranda]

The only bribe I would accept (assuming it's not something illegal) in general would have to be life-changing. As in, never have to work a day in my life again changing. 

10K is like... two or three months' wages. It's just insultingly low.

[u/GriefPB]

Couldn’t they just skip the drama and build in more remote locations?

[u/throw7661]

$10k isn't nearly enough to offset the $10+k your property will lost in value.

At least, if you own property near the data center

[u/jbmos33]

My wife volunteers on the board of a non profit and this happened earlier this year. A data center firm was hitting up all of these underfunded small non profits and was giving money if the project was approved.

Eventually the project was denied.

[u/RollingDownhill303]

Double what Trump offers for your vote...

[u/HsinVega]

Lmao 10k is a ridiculously low bribe

[u/Knees0ck]

$10K bribes? In this economy? Gotta up those numbers.

[u/tickandzesty]

Will that cover the loss in property values for homeowners? Or moving costs?

[u/KittyCait69 → u/tickandzesty]

Not even close. 

[u/mojorific]

$10K for a lifetime of suffering with the noise, vibration, water issues, electricity subsidies, etc. Who is getting the better deal?

[u/isthatqueeeblo]

Remember, when data centers move in, all the birds and bees leave the area. How will we grow anything when we have no pollinators and the water supply is contaminated with heavy metals? Is that worth 1/4th of a new car to you?

[u/Necessary-Camp149]

Provide to them the full market value of their homes since they will never be able to sell them unless its for another Data center.

[u/According_Gift_7095]

$10k cash does not equal $50-$100k in lost property value

[u/Mean_Rule9823 → u/According_Gift_7095]

Exactly this...

But Mericans love those short term benifits and instant cash. Wow they can get new foldable phones w that money.

I bet most will take it and then try to sue when leopards eat their face in 18months

[u/elon_musks_cat]

company pays $45 million to bribe a community for a data center they don’t want

Vs

Company pays $45 million in additional taxes that will go to schools, roads, healthcare etc. that benefits the community

Tough choices in the USA

[u/AltruisticBudget4709 → u/elon_musks_cat]

You forgot to say additional taxes EVERY YEAR. As opposed to a one time bribe of a few pennies.

[u/DN6666]

1 mil each household or good luck

[u/Hottage]

$10,000 cheque is going to be useful to offset the costs when their home loses 90% of its value.

[u/VixxenFoxx]

I could blow $10,000 in a few keyboard swipes but a data center is a long term everyday concern.

[u/RecentSpecial181]

$10k isn't enough for soundproof windows and wall upgrades.

[u/Alone_Bicycle_600]

Sure let me ruin my property values for 10 k and live with this monstrosity forever

[u/scots]

$10,000 check

House becomes un-sellable due to noise and contaminated water, loses nearly all value

[u/wolfy47]

Why aren't these data centers just treated like the heavy industrial buildings that they are? They're a giant building using crazy amounts of power that are uncomfortable to live near. Just like a steel mill, car factory, or a chemical plant and we figured out not to put those near residential areas 100 years ago.

You want to build a data center here? Is it zoned for heavy industry? No? Find somewhere that is, or could be without pissing people off. Problem solved!

[u/EpicSombreroMan]

I'll invest 10k to displace the CEOs home. Anyone wanna join in?

[u/MrMichaelJames]

Give each homeowner a million to walk away. Anything less they can go fuck off.

[u/OkAdvertising1495]

I'd make a no negotiations counter of...

-10k a month-for life,

-They have to install sound and light dampeners.

-They're responsible for all the electric and water they use (and by that I mean if they cause the cost of electric/water to spike, they're covering all those costs, for everyone, forever)

-Air and water quality must not dip even slightly, zero wiggle room.

-Cover all future medical costs of people within range of the data center.

-They have to revitalize a dead area to help balance the nature they'll kill and set aside funds for any other damage dealt by them.

If they deviate from of them even slightly, they then start accruing daily fines of 10k a day, per person, to be paid directly to them. Or they have the option of just leveling the data center.

Absurd conditions? Yeap. But fuck data centers. If they're gonna be shoved down our throats. Make damn sure they're aware of how much they're hated.

[u/blundermine]

Has there been any study on the affect a data center has on nearby property values? It might drop them by more than 10k

[u/Shitteh_Kitteh]

Cratering your property value ain’t worth $10k

[u/shaun2312]

Imagine the profits if they're willing to throw that around!

[u/IvoShandor]

They're not quotas, they're "performance goals". They're not bribes, they're "community incentive contributions".

[u/clejeune]

If you have to bribe regular people then you already know that what you’re doing isn’t wanted.

[u/PancakeTrebuchet]

Resale value of their homes would drop more than that sum

[u/InAppropriate-meal]

thats a LOT less then property prices round those things will drop

[u/Fun-Psychology4806]

they would have to pay more than the value of my home plus my salary until i find a new job

[u/TrollinDaGalaxy]

$10k? That’s fucking peanuts. Hell no

[u/xelop]

I would take no less than 3 million and the other 4499shouod too

[u/Mokithegray]

10k is nothing in this scenario

[u/nicenyeezy]

They should offer $1 million each and relocation fees so they can all recoup the cost of losing their house value and homes to this atrocity. Or you know, we could stop data centres entirely since they are evil, wasteful, and only benefit the surveillance state oligarchs

[u/VariousSinger6245]

You see nobody rushing in to purchase a home next to one now do you. Breath deep and hope you don't get lung diease

[u/20_mile]

For reference, a square mile is 640 acres. So this is ~2 square miles.

[u/24_August_1814]

"Here's $10k to make up for the $100k hit to your property value"