Vulcan Core bitcoin mining facility (Tyler) data center, Tyler, Texas

The Tyler Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-2 on July 7, 2026 to deny Vulcan Core a special use permit for a 12-megawatt bitcoin mining data center at 1101 and 1105 West Erwin Street near downtown Tyler, in Smith County, Texas. On September 3, the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment ruled unanimously that it had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal from Barrio Resources LLC, which owns the site, because it was filed 364 days past the deadline.

Vulcan Core, working with Barrio Energy, planned to reuse an existing building on about 1.8 acres, with eight 40-by-8-foot containers beside an electrical substation with available capacity, and said it would not use city water. The permit would have capped the 8,090-square-foot facility at 12 megawatts, with closed-loop cooling, outdoor dry coolers and no diesel generators. Barrio Energy announced in August 2024 that it had closed on the property.

Twenty-six residents spoke against the data center and five for it, two of them from Vulcan Core, over three and a half hours. "In our technical review, the proposed activity is inconsistent with the Future Land Use Map (FLUM) and the Tyler Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan," said Kyle Kingma, the city's planning director, who recommended denial. Vulcan Core's community liaison, Mark Buntsev, said an independent sound study found the fans at full capacity would stay below the neighborhood's ambient level of about 45 decibels, and offered to sign 15 conditions, but commissioner David Hudson said the planning department still had questions that the noise "could be much higher than what they're hoping for."

"We have to consider the overall benefit to our community with this just being seven to 10 jobs when you compare the potential impacts," said Phillip Olivares, who runs the building next door. Kathy Williams, who lives a block away, said: "We have entrusted the Planning and Zoning (Commission) to protect the public interest and we don't feel like this is in the interest of the public to have a data center there." Supporter Bob Westbrook said the project improves existing industrial property, expands the tax base and uses surplus grid capacity.

The appeal went back to 2025, when Kingma ruled that bitcoin mining was an unlisted use needing a special use permit in the M-1 light industrial district. Barrio's attorney, Jason Mazingo, argued the city had given conflicting answers, pointing to a later email from a planning department employee saying a processing center did not need the permit; the city said only the planning director could make that call. "Barrio did not file its appeal in the 20-day statutory deadline, then you don't have the authority to hear this," City Attorney Steve Kean told the board.

Barrio Resources had 10 days under state law to take the board's ruling to court. It also has a separate appeal of the July permit denial, filed on time and still pending, that would send the final decision on the data center to the Tyler City Council.