Questions abound at Vantage event

For months, people living, working and driving around Port Washington have watched as the $15 billion Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus has started to take shape on 672 acres on the city’s north side.

The campus, scheduled to be completed in 2028, will have four single-story data center buildings totaling 2.5 million square feet that will be used by Oracle and OpenAI as part of the Stargate project to build next-generation artificial intelligence data centers.  

Last week, several hundred residents had a chance to ask representatives of Vantage, Oracle and OpenAI questions about the campus during a two-hour “community conversation” at Inventors Brewpub in Port Washington.

Although Vantage officials have been present at public meetings for much of the last year, it was one of the first times the public had the opportunity to interact with Oracle and OpenAI representatives.   

The data center project has proven contentious, igniting passion from people on both sides of the issue, and those entering the open house were shuttled through security points and metal detectors.

Once inside, people asked about issues such as the impact of construction on roads and the environment, the use of water and electricity and on jobs.

Some people left frustrated, saying their questions weren’t answered, and others shared their concerns about the project. One of those people was Town of Port resident Dean Wiegert, who talked in part about traffic issues on Highway LL near the construction site.

“Those people don’t stop,” he said of workers turning from Lake Drive onto Highway LL. “I need them to stop. I shouldn’t have to slam on my brakes every day.”

He asked why construction traffic couldn’t be routed along Highland Drive to avoid some of the conflicts with residents.

Ramon Perez, Vantage’s environment, safety and health manager, said roughly 800 construction workers use the Highland Drive entrance to the data center campus, adding construction equipment also uses that route.

Perez also told him he would speak to workers about the need to follow traffic rules.

Right now, he said, there are about 3,200 workers at the site, and by mid-October there will be roughly 5,000.

The purpose of the session was to provide information and help ease tensions by giving people an opportunity to talk one-on-one, Beatrice Fullan, Oracle’s vice president of community relations and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure product development, said.

“We wanted to create a forum for people to get more information, to get to know us,” she said. “This is an opportunity to start a dialog. People have a right to ask questions, to get information.”

While many people are wary of AI, Fullan said, it has the potential to improve life.

“What I’m excited about with AI is advancements in the medical field, being able to cure cancer, diseases,” she said. “I’m actually working personally on a project with companies using our technology on accelerated food growth.”

The Lighthouse Campus won’t necessarily be used for one specific AI application, such as medical or defense, Fullan said, noting these data centers typically aren’t segregated.

“It could very well be multi-use,” she said.

It’s also likely to benefit individuals looking for help in their daily life and businesses, she said.

Fullan said that when the Lighthouse Campus opens in 2028, the jobs available will include everything from data technicians to hardware experts to security.

“We’ve got a wide range of job opportunities,” she said, noting there will be about 1,000 long-term workers at the campus.

Fullan said that Thursday’s meeting is only the first of the “community conversations” the companies will hold.

While the open house was calm, one group in the media area was asked to leave by security and escorted out.

Jonathan Klett, a filmmaker, said he had arranged for an interview and planned to have Port resident Tracy Finch ask questions of the officials there. They started but then were asked to leave.

Town resident Kim Tydrick, who accompanied them, said they were escorted out and told they could return, but were denied entrance.

“I did not raise my voice. I did not threaten anyone,” Tydrick said. “This was supposed to be a conversation.”

Mark Freeman, Vantage vice president of global marketing, said that when doing the interview the women seemed distraught so the interview was paused. She was told she could return to the open house and follow up with emailed questions, he said, adding she did that and his team responded.