The Round Rock City Council will consider a measure to rezone a property for a data center in January, after approving a first reading in a December meeting.

What happened?: About 20 speakers addressed Council and representatives of Skybox about the rezoning, sharing concerns about the proposed data center such as noise, water use, health impacts and potential impact on energy prices. 

The details: The request from Skybox Datacenters, approved on its first reading, would see the property rezoned from light industrial to a planned unit development, city staff said. 

The property is bordered on two sides by others zoned as light industrial, but backs up to the Chandler Creek neighborhood.

What's next?: City officials will again take up the matter of rezoning a 29.69 acre property near the intersection of A.W. Grimes and E. Old Settlers Boulevards in January, after giving preliminary approval following a public hearing Dec. 4. 

In December, Round Rock will break ground on a $25 million expansion to its Public Safety Training Center for firefighters and police officers, seven years after it originally opened.

Funded by a 2023 voter-approved bond package, the project will increase the Round Rock Public Safety Training Center’s classroom space, outdoor skills training space and include a driving track. These enhancements will keep officers and firefighters in town for training and reduce local competition for training space, avoiding the expense of travel and lodging.

The big picture: Since the completed construction of the Public Safety Training Center in 2018, the Round Rock Police Department and Round Rock Fire Department have each grown by over 50 personnel to serve a city of over 140,000.

However, the center has remained the same size.

“It truly is a fight to sometimes find free space because the classrooms are full,” Fire Department Chief Shane Glaiser said.

Nine new medical cannabis dispensaries could soon open in Texas, the Department of Public Safety announced Dec. 1.

The overview: The nine companies were preliminarily approved to join three existing dispensaries that provide medical-grade, low-THC products to eligible patients through the Texas Compassionate Use Program. The program's expansion comes after state lawmakers passed House Bill 46 this spring.

Lawmakers also allowed dispensaries to store products in multiple locations, which advocates said would cut costs, and added more qualifying conditions to the program.

Zooming in: The nine providers given conditional licenses Dec. 1 are:

• Verano Texas LLC in West Texas
• Trulieve TX Inc. in the Panhandle
• Texas Patient Access LLC in North Texas
• Lonestar Compassionate Care Group LLC in North Texas
• Lone Star Bioscience Inc. in South Central Texas
• PC TX OPCO LLC, dba PharmaCann, in Southeast Texas
• Texa OP, dba TexaRx, in the Rio Grande Valley
• Story of Texas LLC in Southeast Texas
• Dilatso LLC in North Texas