Palm Beach County Staff Approve Project Tango Data Center Expansion to Nearly 700,000 Square Feet Despite July Commission Rejection

Palm Beach County zoning staff have approved a plan that nearly triples the previously authorized data center space on a portion of the property tied to Project Tango, according to documents obtained by WFLX reporter Michael Hoffman. The Oct. 7 decision raises the approved data center footprint from 206,000 square feet to just under 700,000 square feet, a significant escalation that comes less than three months after county commissioners voted 5-1 to reject a far larger expansion proposal for the same site.

The distinction is critical: the newly approved plan is entirely separate from the Project Tango expansion that commissioners denied in July. Project Tango traces its origins to a 2016 approval that permitted 206,000 square feet of data center space and 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space on the property, leaving roughly 600,000 square feet unassigned. The site sits adjacent to what would later become the Arden community and Saddle View Elementary School. A decade later, a much larger proposal came before the Palm Beach County Commission. On July 15, commissioners spent approximately 12 hours reviewing an application that sought to increase the project's data center footprint to more than 1 million square feet. Following significant opposition from nearby residents, commissioners voted 5-1 to deny the expansion, and the county subsequently passed a moratorium on new data center applications while officials work on updated rules.

For residents who had fought the expansion, the July decision was a victory. Many believed it meant the 206,000 square feet of data center space approved in 2016 would remain the limit at the site. Documents obtained by Hoffman show that was not the end of the story. PBA Holdings, one of two companies that own property associated with Project Tango, had submitted a separate proposal before the July commission vote. Palm Beach County staff approved that plan on Oct. 7 without another vote by county commissioners or a new public hearing before the commission. The additional data center space uses square footage that had been unassigned under the 2016 approval. Under the newly approved plan, the property would include two 288,000-square-foot data center buildings, one 122,000-square-foot data center building, 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space, and a utility building and offices occupying the remaining square footage.

The October approval carries conditions governing development of the property that were absent from the original 2016 plan, a point Palm Beach County zoning officials confirmed in July. Data center buildings cannot be constructed within 850 feet of the property line near Arden. Noise at neighboring homes would be capped between 50 and 60 decibels, depending on the time of day, with sound monitors running continuously and the county receiving access to the monitoring data. The county's water utility would commit to providing no more than 100,000 gallons of water per day for the entire site, and battery storage would be required to comply with fire safety requirements.

Residents have contacted WPTV and Hoffman questioning how the plan could be approved without another commission vote and saying they believed the county's data center moratorium would prevent further movement on the property. Palm Beach County Zoning Director Wendy Hernandez told Hoffman by phone that the proposal was submitted before the moratorium took effect. Because it was already submitted, Hernandez said, county staff were able to continue reviewing it and ultimately approve it. Hernandez declined an on-camera interview. The Oct. 7 approval is not the only application involving the Project Tango property. According to Hernandez, WPB Logistics, the second owner of part of the property, has submitted its own proposal seeking to increase data center space on its roughly 60-acre portion of the site without approval from the County Commission. That proposal could result in approximately 1.2 million square feet of additional data center space. Unlike the PBA Holdings proposal approved Oct. 7, the WPB Logistics application remains under review.

Hoffman also reached out to Ernie Cox, the main project manager for Project Tango, seeking a response to concerns from residents who said they felt the latest approval happened without their knowledge or an opportunity for public input. A member of Cox's staff returned Hoffman's call Tuesday and said the team would respond to the question. Hoffman had not received that response at the time of publication. The episode underscores the mounting tension across U.S. jurisdictions between the rapid buildout of data center capacity driven by cloud and AI demand and local communities' concerns over land use, noise, water consumption and transparency in permitting processes.