Meta announces data center expansion, new community investments in Eagle Mountain

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Meta has announced a massive expansion of its data center in Eagle Mountain, and the city said it fully supports the plan.

Meta first broke ground on the center back in 2018, with about 2.4 million square feet of space, home to data storage and processing equipment. But city officials said their relationship with the social media giant is a partnership more than anything else, and that it is a welcome addition to the community.

"The data centers have come into Eagle Mountain, and we have had them fit into our community instead of the other way around," City Communications Manager Kyle Ireland said. "Meta has come into our community, and they have become part of our community."

Part of that community involvement includes significant financial donations and support to the city's workforce and infrastructure, efforts which Mayor Jared Gray touted in a press release.

"This is a company that showed up here eight years ago and has kept its commitments to us since," he said. "Meta's presence has meant real money for our schools, real improvements to our roads and water systems and good jobs for people who live here."

The new expansion agreement includes even more investment into Eagle Mountain, including more than $1 million of education funding. A total of $600,000 will be allocated for the Lake Mountain School District to purchase three acres of land, where it will later build a new elementary school, and another $450,000 will be put toward the Walden Park Observatory construction project.

The city said that the space will provide stargazing opportunities for students and families, acting as a hands-on science education building.

On top of the donations, Ireland said Meta has been proactive about energy needs and protecting the city's infrastructure.

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"You think about the energy that it takes to run a data center … and one of the things that Meta is doing is they're having a new energy storage project as part of this — a 150 megawatt battery storage facility," he said. "Obviously data centers are a hot topic here, but it's really cool to see how there has been such a good partnership between the city of Eagle Mountain, the school district and obviously Meta and our other data center partners here."

Ireland said Eagle Mountain is one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation, and Meta has helped it stay ahead of that growth.

"As the city has grown, the partnership with Meta has grown as well," he said.

Mayor Gray said the expansion is a chance to further that partnership and create even more investment opportunities and jobs, which he said will benefit the community as a whole.

"It means Eagle Mountain continues to be a place where families can build a future," Ireland said.

In Utah, there are multiple data center project proposals underway, many of which have generated significant opposition. Those against the centers typically cite concerns about environmental impacts, energy use, tax rates and more.

A growing number of communities are putting a hold on data centers for the time being. That includes Clearfield, which recently imposed a 180-day moratorium on all development, allowing it time to develop a framework for regulations and city code.

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