The conversation around data centers at the Lake got heated fast. But behind the headlines, something bigger is happening.

In this episode of Take On The Lake, I sit down with entrepreneur and local developer James Rericha. And midway through the episode James revealed something: he’s part of a team that's helping rewrite the code on how data centers are regulated in Camden County.

James also was directly affected by how the whole "Data Center" and "Opportunity Zone" conversations got married... we get into that too.

Among the many topics:

• How new data center rules are actually being written
• The difference between data centers and opportunity zones
• What’s been misunderstood—and what hasn’t
• The real tradeoffs around growth, taxes, and development

The conversation around data centers, opportunity zones, and large-scale development at the Lake has gotten loud—and fast.

So we did what we do: invited the developer to come talk about it.

In this episode, Blake Hodits walks through his proposed 2,000-acre master-planned community near Camdenton—what it is, what it isn’t, how it doesn't have to include a data center... and how all the pieces fit together.

Blake is equal parts dreamer, tech guy, and systems engineer. And that all comes across in this marathon of an interview.

We cover:

• The role of a potential data center
• Why this project is much bigger than one single component
• 3D-printed homes and other unconventional ideas
• Water, power, and infrastructure questions
• Why he didn't reveal his plans sooner (and whether he regrets it)
• Where things actually stand right now

Whether you’re for it, against it, or just trying to understand it—this is a chance to hear directly from the person behind the proposal.

• (00:00:00) - Welcome/Intro to Developer Blake Hodits
• (00:03:09) - From Lake Kid to Tech Career (and Back Again)
• (00:10:55) - Buying Crypto, Losing It All, Risk & Thinking Long-Term
• (00:19:15) - Dreaming On Paper: 2,000 Acres at the Lake
• (00:27:06) - Losing the Deal… Starting Over
• (00:31:34) - 3D-Printed Homes & Rethinking Housing
• (00:38:40) - Phase One: What Would Actually Get Built First
• (00:43:30) - The Bigger Idea: Education, Innovation & Year-Round Economy
• (00:45:25) - Breaking Down the Master Plan Map
• (00:47:27) - The Data Center Question: What’s Real?
• (00:56:02) - Wild Ideas: Heat Reuse, Surf Park & Systems Thinking
• (01:02:56) - Water, Pollution & Environmental Concerns
• (01:07:37) - Public Reaction: Fear, Scale & Pushback
• (01:11:35) - Will It Use All The Water? The Closed-Loop, Rainwater Plan
• (01:18:33) - Will My Electric Bill Go Up? Power & Infrastructure
• (01:19:37) - The 30-Year Vision
• (01:26:01) - Opportunity Zones
• (01:33:42) - The Blow-Up: Ordinances, Public Pushback, & Fallout
• (01:37:36) - What Comes Next

In this episode, I begin with an apology and clarification on a recent video that... well, just didn't land quite right.

Then we jump into the questions people are asking about data centers, in the aftermath of a frenzied week in Camden County related to this topic. I lay out the background (what happened last week), and the biggest questions/concerns people have about them.