Data Center Public Comment Letter Builder

A data center public comment letter does one job: it puts your specific concerns on the record and asks the board to answer them in writing. At Ban the Bots, we track proposed and operating AI data centers on our data center map, and the builder can cite a tracked project's listed operator, status and capacity in your letter.

How the Data Center Public Comment Letter Builder Works

Name the decision the board is making, tick the concerns that apply to you, and pick the outcome you want. The builder turns those three choices into a dated letter that asks for specific answers in writing, plus a list of questions to ask at the hearing.

Fill in the fields in this order. Each one changes a part of the letter.

1. Your name, Your town or county, and the State dropdown. These feed the opening, which says who you are and where you live.
2. Tracked project (optional). Pick a project from the dropdown for your state. The dropdown lists projects on the Ban the Bots data center map in that state. Picking one fills in the project name, and the letter then cites the operator, status and capacity the map lists for it, with the source link.
3. Project name or address. Type it in if your project is not in the dropdown.
4. Who you're writing to. This defaults to Members of the Board. Change it to match the body you are addressing.
5. What they're deciding. Choose a rezoning or land-use change, a permit or site plan approval, a tax break or incentive agreement, a utility, water or power agreement, or something else / not sure.
6. Meeting or case number (optional). Enter it if you have one.
7. My concerns. Tick the checkboxes that apply. Water use and supply, Electricity demand and my bill, and Secrecy are ticked by default.
8. What I'm asking the board to do. Choose one of three asks, covered below.
9. In your own words (optional). Add a few sentences in your own voice.

The letter updates as you change the form. It includes today's date, a To and Re line, an opening that says who you are and where you live, one paragraph per ticked concern, your ask, a request to include the letter in the public record, and a signature. The letter sits in an editable text box. Typing in that box stops automatic updates until you change the form again.

Below the letter, the Questions to ask at the hearing list is numbered and built from the same concerns. It always ends with a question about the comment deadline and whether there will be another hearing. Four buttons handle the output:

• Copy letter copies the letter text.
• Download .txt saves the letter and questions in one file.
• Print letter + questions prints only the letter, then the questions on a new page.
• Copy questions copies the question list alone.

The builder runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.

The Objections the Letter Can Raise

Each ticked concern adds one paragraph to the letter. Every paragraph asks for specific information or a written commitment, and none of them accuses anyone. The seven concerns are these.

• Water use and supply asks how much water the facility will use in a typical year and at full build-out, where it comes from, and what happens to supply for homes and farms in a drought.
• Electricity demand and my bill asks how much power the facility will draw, what new lines or substations it needs and who pays, and asks the board to get a written commitment from the utility on residential rates. The data center power calculator turns megawatts into household terms, and the explainer on whether data centers raise electric bills covers that question directly.
• Noise and backup generators asks for a noise study at the nearest homes by day and night, limits written into the approval, and a schedule for generator testing.
• Tax breaks and who pays asks the board to publish any incentive's full value over its full term and the permanent local jobs it buys, with clawback terms if the jobs do not appear.
• Farmland, land use and scale asks whether the site is zoned for this use, how large the campus could grow, and what setbacks, buffers and height limits protect nearby homes, farms and roads.
• Jobs promised vs. jobs delivered asks the applicant to separate construction jobs from permanent ones, say how many will go to local residents, and report those numbers every year.
• Secrecy (NDAs, code names, unnamed end user) asks who will own and operate the facility and, if an NDA or code name is involved, that the end user be named before the vote.

For background on these concerns, read the explainer on community impacts and the guide to living near a data center.

Choosing Your Ask

The ask tells the board what you want it to do with the application. You pick one of three options, and the letter states it in its own paragraph. The options are:

• Vote no / deny the application: the letter asks the board to vote no on the decision you named. It fits when no answer or condition would change your view.
• Delay the vote until the questions are answered: the letter asks the board to postpone any vote until the applicant answers your questions in writing and the public has time to review them. It fits when you need the facts before you take a side.
• Approve only with binding conditions: the letter asks that the answers be written into the approval as binding conditions, with public reporting and penalties. It fits when you could accept the project if its promises are enforceable.

Ban the Bots does not recommend one of the three. You decide which one the letter makes.

Making Your Comment Count

Add a few lines in your own words to the In your own words box. Say where you live, how long you have lived there, and what sits near the site. A comment in your own words is harder to dismiss as a form letter.

Use the project name or case number you have. If your project is on the map, pick it from the Tracked project dropdown, and the letter cites the operator, status and capacity the map lists, along with the source link. You can browse projects on the data center map. Map records come from public utility filings, state permit records and news reports, and capacity figures are estimates.

Your board sets its own rules for public comment. Those rules cover deadlines, length limits, whether comments are read aloud, and whether email counts. Ban the Bots does not publish any of those rules for your board, so the deadline and the way your board takes written comments are details you need to settle before you print.

Bring the printed questions to the meeting. Print letter + questions gives you both on paper, and Copy questions gives you the list alone for your own notes.

What the Letter Cannot Do

The letter is a template, not legal advice. It does not know your board's rules, and it does not state any fact about your project that you did not supply, except the operator, status, capacity and source link the map lists for a tracked project.

The letter does not decide anything on its own. It asks the board to include your letter in the public record and to answer your questions in writing.

For the larger levers, such as zoning, moratoriums and organizing neighbors, read the guide on how to stop a data center. A letter works alongside those steps.

Fill in the builder above, then print the data center public comment letter and its questions before the meeting.