Largo Plans Neighborhood Meeting for Proposed Data Center

The community is invited to discuss the building of a new data center, which is estimated to cost about $1 million more than the originally estimated $2 million cost, according to a Largo city report.

The proposed data center would be located in a corner of the Largo Public Library parking lot. The data center could be built by the end of 2013, according to city officials at a recent meeting.

All people living within 500 feet of the library in Largo Central Park have been notified of the meeting, to be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 17. The meeting will be in the Jenkins Wing of the library

The meeting is not required by city code "but has been scheduled to provide an opportunity to communicate with the effected property owners and address any concerns they may have," according to a city report.

Details on the Proposed Data Center

Currently, the city's main data center is located on the second floor of Largo City Hall. The current building will not support the weight of additional equipment, has some hurricane-survivability issues and has some significant air-conditioning issues in the server room, according to Assistant City Manager Henry Schubert at a recent city commission meeting.

The proposed data center would be a 3,000-square-foot building in the southwest corner of the existing library parking lot. The new building would be Category 5 hurricane survivable.

The cost of the proposed new data center seemed to be the biggest issue raised at a city commission work session last month. The city budgeted about $2 million for the building from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) fund. But the completed project is expected to be slightly more than $3 million.

Data centers are the most expensive type of building to construct. City officials said the numbers they used for the original estimate may have been outdated or the other municipalities may not have given Largo the cost of completely equipping and connecting the building.

The meeting will give the community the opportunity to address any concerns they may have.

If you go:

• Jenkins Wing of the Largo Public Library
• Dec. 17 at 6 p.m.

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