Public comment corpus
Board of Supervisors
April 14, 2026 · Data-center session · 3 spoken public comments
Official meeting recording (Granicus)
| Speaker | Time | Comment (verbatim) |
|---|---|---|
| Shelby Trimm | 1:07:00 | Good morning, Chairwoman Price and members of the board. Shelby Trim, Executive Director of CoLab. I want to begin by sincerely thanking you for approving the proposed lot merger. CoLab supports this action and we view it as a reasonable and necessary planning step that consolidates parcels into a unified site, providing clarity and consistency for responsible future development. This decision supports economic growth, job creation, and infrastructure investment here in Imperial County. It reflects sound land use planning by allowing property to be developed efficiently and in alignment with existing regulations. Importantly, CoLab strongly supports private landowner rights and the ability of landowners to improve and develop their property in a responsible manner. Lot mergers like this respect those rights while also ensuring orderly planning and long-term community benefit. I would also like to add that this approval since the last year of the CoLab project is a great way to improve the community's development. The project also represents a strong and important message to the broader development community. That Imperial County is a place where responsible growth is supported and where projects can be evaluated fairly and thoughtfully. It shows that our local leadership is willing to make tough decisions that are in the best interest of the community's long-term prosperity, even in the face of strong and passionate opposition. This decision was not just important for one project, it sets the tone for future investment and opportunity across Imperial County. At the end of the day, this is about the future of Imperial County, creating opportunity, strengthening our economy, and investing in long-term growth. I would also like to take a moment to thank Chairwoman Peggy Price for her excellent leadership during the meeting. Maintaining decorum in a room full of individuals who are deeply passionate about an issue is no easy task, and I believe that you handled it with professionalism and composure. It does not go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Again, thank you for your thoughtful consideration and your support of projects that move Imperial County forward. I look forward to positive things ahead for our region. Thank you. |
| Jake Tison | 1:11:22 | Good morning, Board. I'm Jake Tyson, Madam Chair. I'm a little slow today, a little tired. We had a little party last night. About 150 people showed up at the old Eucalyptus School, and we had a little shindig, and we got a lot of signatures. And that's news that will come. But today I am formally submitting a demand to cure and correct under the Brown Act regarding your April 7th vote on Agenda Item 17, Part 3, regarding the lot merger. Peter just asked, how do we fix this? And so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to submit a letter. May I submit a letter? Here you go. And for the record, I have submitted this electronically by email as well. At the meeting, the public was repeatedly told we could not speak about the data center, only the lot merger. People were shut down. People were like, keep talking about the lot merger, not the data center. I mean, time after time again. It's on record. But your own record tells a different story on agenda. Item 17. Part 3 clearly referenced a 330 megawatt data center project, the very thing the public was prohibited from discussing. You cannot rely on a project in your record and then silence the public when they speak about it. That is not transparency. That is compliance. So today I'm requesting this letter be entered into the official record, and I am formally demanding that this board void that vote and rehearse. The item with full public participation. So it was it was a little weird seeing all these guys from the union here, and they weren't even from here. But it it's like, is that is that what we are? That's what we told everybody. It's like we're telling, oh, we're going to hire locally. But none of those guys were locally. So we are hiring from outside this county if this project goes forward. So that was a. Absolute. Just a just a conflict of information getting out there. What you see and what you hear were two different things. So it was it was very upsetting. And by the way, I don't know why I was I was let out. I have no idea why. I have zero idea. I was sitting there. In fact, Mr. Rodriguez was sitting next to me. He goes, What's going on? What's what's happening? I had no idea. I was just like, OK, I got up and left when the officer came and got me. You know, I'm never going to have a issue with. A police officer ever. But, you know, I'm going to submit something. I'll probably submit an incident report with the ACLU and go from there. But it was very upsetting. Thanks. |
| Misael Arviso | 1:14:28 | Good morning, board. Ten days ago, it was my brother's birthday and I went to party with him in San. Diego dressed up like Lord of the Rings. Eight days ago, it was my father's birthday. We went to out to Mexico with my grandma. Seven days ago, I came in opposition to an item that I haven't met any person who is in support of this other than the people up here. And I got arrested for it. I was six hours in the county jail, and in those six hours, I met three people. One person that was there because they weren't able to pay their bills during the pandemic. And they were paying off their debt and they were running away and they came back. They did it. The second one that was there for a ticket during the pandemic as well. Nothing violent. And a third one that was a homeless man that got just released in the middle of the night to walk all the way back to In-N-Out where he got picked up. If you allow these strategies of keeping community members out of the board of supervisors when you don't want to listen. It's going to be a slippery slope. Just like Mr. Rodriguez said, like in Minnesota nowadays in Trump's America, the police are your tool. You kick me out for no I have a constitutional right to be here, to clap whenever I want. When there's a public comment being said, I was no disruption to any peace or any meeting. I told the officers, I'm quiet. You don't have to worry about me. I know my rights. You don't. Over and over. And they were hesitant. Because I know they in their mind were like, this isn't a big of a deal. This has affected my family, my life, my work, my friends, my partner. Even if you don't think it affects, it affects Peggy and board. Escobar, I wish you would have stood up for me. You're my representative. You're my neighbor. I want to knock on your door and be like, ¿Qué pasó? Pues, ¿Dónde estabas cuando te ocupaba? Pero pues, ya estamos aquí. I have a court case May 7th. I invite the community to go support me. I don't think anything is going to stick, but I'm not a threat. I want to keep it short and simple. I am not a threat. The threat are the projects that are keeping everyone in this room in danger. Even yourselves. You guys are in danger as well. Believe it. Your children, your grandchildren, and your generations to come will be like, wow, remember when grandpa voted for that? Why did he do that? Um, I urge you guys to. Take back that vote. Re-vote on that. Nothing set on stone. Nothing. No charges. And I'm sorry if I felt threatening to you, Ms. Peggy Price. I was in no way trying to threaten anyone. Um, Escobar, you know how politically active and intense I am. So I think you can back me up on that. I'm no danger to the community. The data center is the danger. |