Your voice in the process — and what happens next
This last brief is about what happens now, and how Hill County residents can participate in the process.
Where things stand
As of May 2026:
- Hill County has a one-year moratorium on new data center construction in unincorporated areas, adopted May 12, 2026.
- June 4, 2026: Hill County is scheduled to discuss and/or act on adoption of a proposed proclamation regarding large-scale industrial construction projects.
- June 4, 2026: Discussion and/or action on adopting the Hill County Development Review Checklist.
- The Commissioners’ Court is developing a Community Benefit Agreement template that any data center developer wanting to operate in the county will need to engage with.
- Initial discussions with at least one project developer are anticipated under the framework Scope is helping the County develop.
How you participate
- Commissioners’ Court meetings. These are public and open. Watch for agenda items related to data centers, the moratorium, or the CBA. Public comments are welcome.
- Quarterly community update meetings. Once the CBA is in place, the developer is required to hold these. You can attend, ask questions, see the monitoring data, and raise concerns.
- Direct contact with your commissioner. Each Commissioner has constituent contact information available through the County offices. Letters, calls, and emails are read.
- Contact your state and federal representatives. Many state and federal legislators are actively drafting bills for “common sense” regulatory minimums for the protection of unincorporated lands, environmental concerns, water, and waste-energy capture.
- Public records. Annual Compliance Reports filed under the CBA will be published on the County website. You can read them yourself.
What this series did, and what it didn’t
This series was prepared to help residents understand the data center proposals on a factual basis — what they are, how they affect a community, what concerns are real, what protections are being built into the CBA, and how residents can engage with the process.
For transparency — Scope Technology and Manufacturing has offered, under no financial terms, to serve as an independent technical and policy advisor to the County during the moratorium period.
These briefs do not take a position for or against any specific project. The Commissioners’ Court, with public input, will make those decisions. What this series does is make sure those decisions are made by people who have the same facts available — instead of by people who only hear from the loudest voices on either side.
The bottom line — Data centers are coming to Texas at a pace and scale that has caught everyone — developers, regulators, communities — by surprise. Counties should position to set the terms instead of accepting them. That only works if residents stay informed and stay involved. This series is one way of helping with the first half. The second half is up to you.
Start of the series
County Community Education Series · Prepared by Scope Technology and Manufacturing as advisor to Texas residents of unincorporated counties · May 2026