--- title: Amazon secretly circumvents community vote for massive... description: Amazon's AI data center in Gilroy, California began construction after quietly navigating a permitting process that started in 2020 and closed its public... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-secretly-circumvents-community-vote-for-massive-ai-data-center-using-45-year-old-rules-gilr-iwocsudjz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Amazon secretly circumvents community vote for massive AI data center using 45-year-old rules — Gilroy residents locked out of public comment window | daily.dev og:description: Amazon's AI data center in Gilroy, California began construction after quietly navigating a permitting process that started in 2020 and closed its public... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-secretly-circumvents-community-vote-for-massive-ai-data-center-using-45-year-old-rules-gilr-iwocsudjz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/iwOcSudJZ.png og:image:alt: Amazon secretly circumvents community vote for massive AI data center using 45-year-old rules — Gilroy residents locked out of public comment window og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Amazon secretly circumvents community vote for massive AI data center using 45-year-old rules — Gilroy residents locked out of public comment window **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Amazon's AI data center in Gilroy, California began construction after quietly navigating a permitting process that started in 2020 and closed its public comment period in 2024 — before data centers became a widely contested topic. The project, sited on 56 acres of farmland, leveraged 45-year-old local zoning rules that allowed industrial projects of similar scale to proceed without a community vote. Residents, including those concerned about water usage in a drought-prone area, found themselves locked out of the comment window. Amazon says it followed all legal requirements, held an open house, and is building a wastewater recovery system. The city mayor acknowledged the need to update how Gilroy handles such approvals going forward. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How did Amazon get its Gilroy data center approved without a community vote? Amazon's Gilroy data center was approved by adhering to 45-year-old local zoning rules that allowed industrial projects of similar scale to proceed without a community vote. The permitting process began in 2020 and included public notices and a public comment period that closed in 2024, before data centers became a widely contested issue. Residents who later tried to comment were told the window had already lapsed. _Teams tracking data center siting disputes and zoning policy shifts follow developments like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [A city paused AI data centres. 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The permitting process began in 2020 and included public notices and a public comment period that closed in 2024, before data centers became a widely contested issue. Residents who later tried to comment were told the window had already lapsed. Teams tracking data center siting disputes and zoning policy shifts follow developments like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```