Harlingen city commissioners tabled an agreement with data center company FluidStack after community members showed up to a Wednesday meeting with questions and concerns.

FluidStack wants to build a data center near Harlingen. The city can't decide whether the data center gets built since it's outside city limits, but FluidStack is asking Harlingen for something it does control.

The company wants permission to send stormwater from the development into a city-owned drainage canal. Commissioners were not ready to approve that request.

Commissioners tabled the agreement pending an open house from FluidStack. Harlingen City Commissioner Daniel Lopez said the public needs a chance to get answers first.

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"This was an opportunity to allow the public to ask all the questions that they have on data centers," Lopez said.

The meeting also changed how the city handles similar requests going forward. Any industrial or development project more than one acre asking to connect to city drainage will now have to come before commissioners at a public hearing.

"That means residents will get full notice about the request; they would get the backup and be present and be able to observe how the conversations go," Lopez said.

Harlingen resident Sandra Gonzalez Gomez was among those who showed up to the meeting to voice her concerns. She said she believes the city has already made up its mind.

"I believe that they're going full steam ahead, and that's why I'm angry. I believe that they already decided to do this. So I'm just angry," Gonzalez Gomez said.

Lopez said he believes the data center will move forward regardless of what the city decides about the drainage connection.

"Whether they get our approval to tie into this drain canal or they have to make their own pipeline or go their own route, I think they're coming no matter what," Lopez said.

FluidStack has not yet announced a date for a public open house.

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