Residents Frustrated by Burlington Data Centre Open House

Construction is already underway on the data centre at 3110 South Service Road. Last Friday the developer, Gliese AI, held a community open house about the project at the Art Gallery of Burlington, and a number of residents left saying they had learned nothing.

The complaints started with the format. There was no presentation and no formal question-and-answer period. Gliese AI staff were on hand, but many questions were pointed toward a box where residents could write their concerns down to be answered at a later date. The session ran from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on a Friday, which several attendees said made it hard to get there at all.

"I came here today and took time off to be given information and to be heard," longtime resident Maria Gerow told BurlingtonToday. "Instead, I've come to a social." She added that there was "a room full of residents who are full of concerns about this and we have wasted our time coming here."

The information boards on display covered recovering heat from the facility, how the closed-loop water cooling system works, the expected draw on the local power grid and how much noise the site will make. That was not what resident Cynthia Welton came for. She had questions about the effect on water, wildlife and CO2 production. "I don't know a lot about data centres, I have a lot to learn and I came here to do that but there's nothing for me here," she said.

Seating was the other issue. Attendees said there was next to none, and older adults had to ask for chairs to be set up. Mia Dutka, a disabled resident, said she left her walker in the car because she expected the session to be run like other open houses in the city.

Several people also said it was unclear who to approach. Gliese AI representatives were spread through the room, identifiable only by the fact that they were all wearing black. The questions left in the box are still to be answered.