A farmer's $10 parkland gift became a $10M data center site in Texas

A $10 deed with one condition

In July 1999 a farmer named Bland granted 87.97 acres of land in Taylor, Texas, to the Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation, a public trust, for a nominal fee of $10. The deed, unearthed by activists and published by 404 Media, stipulates that the land is to “be held in trust for future use as parkland”. Long-time resident Pamela Griffin, who played on the farmland as a child and later watched her own children grow up there, recalled that Bland explained his decision to her father: “I see the kids don't really have nowhere to play,” he said, adding that he was thinking of giving the land for parkland because the children needed somewhere to play.

How the land reached a data center developer

The chain of ownership that followed is set out in the deed and in local records. In 2003 the Texas Parks and Recreation Foundation transferred the land to another non-profit, the Williamson County Park Foundation; a month later that foundation gave it to the City of Taylor. In 2008 the city sold the land to the Taylor Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) for $15,000. In 2025 TEDC sold it to the data center developer Blueprint for $10 million. A 135,000-square-foot data center is planned on the site.

The dispute

Residents only learned about the project in 2025, when local organizers called around the neighbourhood to raise awareness. Griffin has said she did not even know what a data center was at the time. Neighbours worry about the effects on air, water, electricity and noise, and about the resale value of nearby homes. In correspondence with the City Council they were assured that health risks would be minimised: a barrier wall, landscaping, closed-loop water cooling and a power substation built by the developer were mentioned.

Griffin and her family hired a lawyer, and the legal disputes so far have favoured Blueprint. They are now filing an appeal with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas. “I'm not fighting just because of a data center,” Griffin said. “I'm fighting because this land was deeded for parkland.”

The city's position

Taylor's City Council says stopping this kind of development in the zone where the site sits is beyond its scope, and points to the tax revenue: an expected extra $30 million over the coming decade, with $20 million earmarked for the school district. According to 404 Media, the council's limited room to act stems from the property's existing Employment Center zoning — the city can regulate form but not function. The developer has not yet secured the city's approval for planning and building permits.