WEST OF LOXAHATCHEE GROVES — Ernie Cox sat behind the wheel of Dodge Durango on a recent summer afternoon, gearing up to give a tour across a large swath of land that may one day be the site of a data and warehouse center.

Cox is one of the public faces behind the proposal that’s still under review. He has been offering such tours in hopes of fostering a better public understanding of the plan. Over the past year, the controversial initiative has drawn opposition from many residents, as well as concerns from some local officials.

The property sits near a rural stretch of State Road 80. To the north is a rock mine; to the south is a stormwater treatment area.

As Cox steers the SUV, the project manager describes where everything would be on the property. Where the warehouse buildings would rise. Where the data and information processing buildings would be.

“I’ve been working on this project for over 10 years,” Cox shared.

It all has led up to a key moment: Project Tango, a proposal for data and information processing buildings with warehouses, is set to be discussed by Palm Beach County officials at two upcoming meetings, the first one being held Thursday.

Facing questions

The plan’s opponents include many residents living in Arden, the gated suburb directly east of the site. They and others in the county are concerned about noise, environmental, health and safety impacts. County school board officials also recently weighed in with concerns about potential consequences for students and staff at Saddle View Elementary School, which also sits east of the Project Tango site.

Responding to concerns, Project Tango’s developers commissioned impact assessments. The project itself also has been modified in recent months, most notably with a relocation of and reduction in the proposed size of the data center buildings.

The final Project Tango verdict now lies in the hands of the county. Planning commissioners are set to consider the project on Thursday, with county commissioners set to vote on it on July 15.

What’s there and what’s to come

The current Project Tango site is set to rise on a patchwork of industrial land — about 200 acres just north of Southern Boulevard near 20 Mile Bend.

The land-holding company PBA Holdings is responsible for the 127 acres where Project Tango is proposed. An entity called WPB Logistics Owner owns a 60-acre parcel, but has an agreement with PBA Holdings to buy some of PBA Holdings’ land in a phased approach, according to court records. The remaining 15 acres is owned by the Central Park Commerce Center Master Association.

Project Tango’s proposed grounds are vast and certainly not empty.

“Rule No. 1, everything out here is bigger than we are,” Cox said.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature is Florida Power and Light’s West County Energy Center, a natural gas power plant that Cox pointed out.

To the southeast of FPL’s power plant and fronting State Road 80 is an asphalt plant and concrete plant.

But if Project Tango is approved, those would be removed and replaced by three, one-story data and information processing buildings plus the corresponding cooling equipment, Cox said.

“This is going to go away,” he said from inside the site where the concrete and asphalt plants operate.

The one-story data center buildings would be about 40 feet tall with a maximum height of 50 feet, Cox said.

The other data center buildings are proposed to be built on a currently empty field directly east of FPL’s power plant. At two stories tall with equipment on the roof, these buildings would be about 90 feet, Cox explained.

At the end of 2025, Project Tango proposed nearly 1.8 million square feet of data and information processing space with nearly 2 million square feet of warehouse.

The data and information processing space has since been reduced to about 1 million square feet with an increase in warehouse space to more than 2.3 million square feet, according to the latest proposal documents.

Those warehouse buildings are set to rise on land west of Arden. As of now, that site acts as a place for overgrown plants and FPL equipment storage.

A canal and a line of trees currently separates Arden from the Project Tango site along with berms, which are raised mounds of land. The county would require Project Tango to have additional landscape buffers if approved.

Still, some of the Arden homes peek through the trees, and nearby Saddle View Elementary School also can be seen from a distance.

“A lot of the views depend upon where your perspective is,” Cox said. “The single-story (Arden) homes, the windows don’t pop up over the berm. If it’s a two-story home, they may have windows that can see over the berm.”

Addressing concerns

Among those who questioned the project are Palm Beach County School Board members, who cited the proximity of Saddle View Elementary to the site. The School Board on June 10 wrote to the County Commission, requesting public records, impact studies or reports the county received about Project Tango.

“We are concerned about the potential long-term consequences of placing a hyperscale artificial intelligence facility in such close proximity to a public school,” the board wrote. “We share the community’s concerns regarding potential industrial noise, environmental impacts on human health, public safety, emergency response capabilities and the potential strain on local infrastructure.”

Cox addressed concerns in a letter sent to the Palm Beach County School Board on June 19. He explained how an “independent public health and safety assessment prepared by an international panel of experts” generated several conclusions about the project.

Included in the experts’ findings were that sound levels will not aggravate the neighborhood, the air quality and residents’ health will not be negatively affected, the surface air temperatures at Arden or Saddle View won’t increase and traffic will not worsen or disrupt school access, according to Cox’s letter.

Residents weigh in 

Despite some of the changes the Project Tango proposal has undergone, and the assurances provided from Cox and others, some county residents intend to keep opposing the project.

Rachel Smith, who lives in the Acreage and considers her fight against Project Tango a “full-time job,” encouraged people to “show up, wear our green shirts and bring signs!!” on a social media post about the county’s upcoming Zoning Commission hearing about Project Tango.

It remains to be seen whether any legal or administrative issues would stall the process.

According to county documents, WPB Logistics, another company that owns part of the site, has a separate application with the county to also build data center buildings. This has spurred legal and administrative issues with the county and PBA Holdings, according to county officials.

And according to court records, WPB Logistics, along with the Central Park Commerce Center Master Association, is suing PBA Holdings over Project Tango’s alleged impact and contract disputes. In response, PBA Holdings recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

County Commissioner Maria Sachs isn’t certain the legal issues can be sorted by July 15.

“Unless their issues have already been decided in a court of law, they should not even think to come before us,” Sachs said. “They shouldn’t even think about it. Let’s get their house in order first.”

In a recent memo sent to the county commissioners, the county’s executive director for Planning, Zoning and Building wrote that the concurrent applications and “differing development figures” are creating confusion and complications.

Sachs said, “This is a big enough deal for both parties that whatever time they need, they should take. And we should allow them to take that time so that a true and correct vision is presented to the staff and then presented to us.”

Cox declined to comment on the litigation.

Instead, he is focused on presenting the project to the county. The county’s possible rejection of Project Tango wouldn’t be a final deterrent, in Cox’s perspective. “Well, we’ll just keep working on the project,” he said.