A view of downtown Shreveport, La. Photo: Emilee Calametti / The Center Square
By Darren Svan | The Center Square
Caddo Parish Judge Ramon Lafitte ruled in favor of a special use permit for Amazon’s multi-billion dollar data center in west Shreveport.
The massive industrial and economic development project was in limbo for 90 days. At stake for Shreveport was the promise of sales tax revenue, more jobs and substantial investment dollars.
Late Monday, Lafitte dismissed litigation brought by three plaintiffs asking for a judicial review of the City Council’s decision to approve the development after the city’s Planning Commission initially blocked it.
The permit is needed for a data center to operate at Resilient Technology Park.
The ruling gives Amazon the green light to move forward with its third massive data center campus in north Louisiana. Development is already underway in north Bossier and rural Caddo Parish, west of Blanchard.
“I do not think that the council, or the legislation that they approved, was arbitrarily or capriciously done,” Lafitte said. “You keep indicating … that the plaintiffs need to see an actual document and title ‘operating plan.’ I am not aware of anything in jurisprudence that indicates that you have to have a specific document entitled ‘operating plan.’”
The plaintiffs are considering an appeal, the Sierra Club told The Center Square after the ruling. The New Orleans-based Sierra Club Delta Chapter helped fund the litigation.
“The lack of information is the point,” said Clay Garside, attorney for the plaintiffs. “A promise is not a document.”
Resilient Technology Park is the location that originally attracted Amazon to the region, leading to its initial $12 billion commitment. It’s unclear how much the company plans to invest at Resilient Park but it’s expected to approach the cost of their other local projects, each estimated at $6 billion.
Amazon Web Services is considered one of the largest hyperscalers. A hyperscaler is a company that provides cloud computing services at an extremely large scale, according to company documents.