Wichita Falls Planning and Zoning Commission approves a conditional use permit for a DataNovaX data center on Airport Drive
The City of Wichita Falls Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional use request from DataNovaX. It lets the company put a data center inside an existing building at 2236 Airport Drive on the north side of the city. The building is a former grocery store and call center of about 37,000 square feet. City staff attached conditions rather than approving the use outright, and the largest was a ban on evaporative cooling, which forces an air cooled design and holds water use down. Development Services director Fabian Medellin said the applicant agreed to the limits, which also cover light pollution and electricity use. City officials put the load at 12 megawatts and the investment at an estimated 100 million dollars. The Airport Drive building is a first piece of a larger Pioneer Park project with a much bigger second phase planned.
How to take part
The Planning and Zoning Commission is a public body of the City of Wichita Falls. Its agendas and minutes are posted through the city's Agenda Center, where a resident can find the meeting date, the item and how to speak. A conditional use permit item is heard in open session.
Where
1 county. In Wichita Falls.
Timeline
- ordered
Date NewsChannel 6 reported the Planning and Zoning Commission approval. The commission's exact meeting date was not confirmed against a city agenda.
- Today
How this decision moved
One dated line per check, oldest first. A line that says nothing changed means somebody looked and it had not.
- 2026-08-19
Whether the permit has been revisited is unconfirmed. The city's agenda archive lists no meeting dates or item text and carries nothing dated July or August.
- 2026-08-22
Whether the permit has been revisited is still unconfirmed. The conditional use permit for the DataNovaX data center on Airport Drive still stands as approved and the city's agenda archive carries nothing later.
- 2026-08-26
Checked and unchanged. The conditional use permit for the Airport Drive facility still stands and the second phase is still described as planned rather than filed.
- 2026-08-29
Checked and unchanged. The conditional use permit for the Airport Drive facility still stands, and the conditions the commission attached to it are unaltered. A second phase is still described as planned rather than approved.
- 2026-09-02
The conditional use permit stands as approved and the prohibition on water intensive evaporative cooling is unchanged.
- 2026-09-05
The Wichita Falls conditional use permit for the Airport Drive site still stands as approved.
- 2026-09-08
The conditional use permit for the DataNovaX data center on Airport Drive still stands as the Wichita Falls commission approved it.
- 2026-09-09
The Wichita Falls conditional use permit for the Airport Drive data center still stands as approved.
- 2026-09-12
The Wichita Falls conditional use permit for the Airport Drive data center still stands as the commission approved it.
- 2026-09-13
The conditional use permit for the Airport Drive building still stands, and the prohibition on evaporative cooling is still attached to it.
- 2026-09-16
The conditional use permit for the Wichita Falls data center is still approved as granted. No appeal or revocation has been posted.
- 2026-09-19
The conditional use permit is still granted and the commission has taken nothing further on the site.
- 2026-09-24
Whether the conditional use permit still stands is unconfirmed this run. The city's agenda center could not be read again, and the reporting on the vote sits on newsroom sites whose exclusion files refuse the reader that checks it.
- 2026-09-26
The conditional use permit for the Airport Drive data center still stands as the commission approved it, and the report of the vote reads as it did.
- 2026-09-29
The Wichita Falls conditional use permit for the DataNovaX site on Airport Drive stands as the commission approved it.
The evidence
Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.
Another data center is coming to Wichita Falls after the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional-use request for an existing building on Airport Drive.DataNovaX data center approved for Airport Drive in Wichita Falls Journalism · newschannel6now.com
The project, developed by DataNovaX, will bring a smaller-scale data center to the north side of the city, taking up about 37,000 square feet of a former grocery store and call center at 2236 Airport Drive.DataNovaX data center approved for Airport Drive in Wichita Falls Journalism · newschannel6now.com
The facility is expected to use 12 megawatts of electricity and represents an estimated $100 million investment from DataNovaX, according to city officials.DataNovaX data center approved for Airport Drive in Wichita Falls Journalism · newschannel6now.com
"We did prohibit evaporative cooling systems, so those systems that will be more water-intensive. We wanted to make sure and button down really what they can, can't do. And they were willing to commit to all those limitations on themselves," Medellin said.DataNovaX data center approved for Airport Drive in Wichita Falls Journalism · newschannel6now.com
The Airport Drive facility is part of DataNovaX's larger Pioneer Park project. A second phase is planned for the future and would include a 550,000-square-foot expansion.DataNovaX data center approved for Airport Drive in Wichita Falls Journalism · newschannel6now.com
Questions about this decision
Answered from the record itself. Every answer is assembled from stored fields, so an answer the record has no basis for is left out rather than guessed.
What is this decision?
The City of Wichita Falls Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional use request from DataNovaX. It lets the company put a data center inside an existing building at 2236 Airport Drive on the north side of the city. The building is a former grocery store and call center of about 37,000 square feet. City staff attached conditions rather than approving the use outright, and the largest was a ban on evaporative cooling, which forces an air cooled design and holds water use down. Development Services director Fabian Medellin said the applicant agreed to the limits, which also cover light pollution and electricity use. City officials put the load at 12 megawatts and the investment at an estimated 100 million dollars. The Airport Drive building is a first piece of a larger Pioneer Park project with a much bigger second phase planned.
Who decides it?
City of Wichita Falls Planning and Zoning Commission decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.
Can the public take part?
The Planning and Zoning Commission is a public body of the City of Wichita Falls. Its agendas and minutes are posted through the city's Agenda Center, where a resident can find the meeting date, the item and how to speak. A conditional use permit item is heard in open session.
Where in Texas does it apply?
It covers Wichita County in the Wichita Falls, TX area.
Has it been decided?
It has been decided. The dates on the item page carry when.
What happens next?
No future date is on the record. The last dated step on it was ordered on August 13th.
When did it start?
The earliest date on its record is August 13th, 2026.
What kind of decision is it?
It is filed under data centers.
What sources back it?
One source backs it.
Is it on the ERCOT grid?
Yes. It sits inside the ERCOT interconnection.
When was it last checked?
Every fact on it was last verified against its source on September 29th, 2026.
Cite this
Texas AI Docket, Wichita Falls Planning and Zoning Commission approves a conditional use permit for a DataNovaX data center on Airport Drive. Tracked since August 13th, 2026. Last verified September 29th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0041/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0041.
Beat
Filed under Data centers, with every other decision on that beat.