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Bluffdale • The city has officially opened the door for the Utah Data Center.
The City Council unanimously adopted an annexation plan that will add 500 acres to the city, encompassing the National Security Agency's data-processing center and Camp Williams. The annexation will extend Bluffdale's boundaries into Utah County, putting it adjacent to Lehi.
The next step is for the state Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA) to make the formal request to annex the property, said community development director Vaughn Pickell.
The data center will house 1 million square feet of computers and employ 200 people to analyze information to prevent attacks on the nation's computer networks.
MIDA asked that the property, which is on unincorporated land in Utah County, be annexed into Bluffdale so it could have a reliable water supply for cooling its computers. If it were not part of the city, the center would be considered a "surplus priority" customer of the city, meaning its water supply would be cut if there were a shortage.
The city will not receive any additional tax money, as the property is owned by the government, but Pickell said it will mean creating an additional 3 million gallons of water storage that would aid firefighting efforts.
He said the annexation plan was supported by Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Salt Lake County. Utah County filed a late response, raising objections.
Bluffdale Councilman Rod Flannigan said Utah County indicated it would not approve an annexation of land in the county without a resolution, and has not indicated it would issue one. He questioned whether that would affect Bluffdale's annexation plans.
Pickell said it would be up to MIDA to work that out with Utah County. He said Bluffdale had fulfilled its requirement to set up an annexation plan and show where it would draw the lines.