After contentious zoning approval, Hermantown now delays controversial data center's permits
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The small northeastern Minnesota city of Hermantown has delayed consideration of two permits for a controversial proposed data center after a group opposing the project filed a request for additional environmental review of the proposal.
The move came less than 24 hours after the Hermantown city council unanimously approved rezoning more than 200 acres for the project about eight miles west of Duluth, despite vocal opposition from dozens of community members at the packed meeting that stretched for more than five hours.
Members of the grassroots group “Stop the Hermantown Data Center” filed a petition with the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) asking that an Environmental Assessment Worksheet, or EAW, be conducted for the proposed data center, in addition to the Alternative Urban Areawide Review, or AUAR, that has already been prepared.
In its petition, the group argued that the AUAR did not specifically review the potential for a data center to be built on the site. Rather, the review referred to the proposal as including “communication service facility equipment.”
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The petitioners say the city obscured the true nature of the project from the public, and therefore argue the AUAR is “null and void.”
In response, the city of Hermantown tabled the consideration of both a special use permit and a commercial industrial development permit for the data center project, that were on the agenda for the city’s planning and zoning commission on October 21.
The state’s environmental review rules do not allow governmental agencies to make final decisions on a project until the petition is dismissed or an EAW is completed if one is ordered.
“Our approach was, hey, the request is valid. Let's just pause,” explained Hermantown assistant city administrator Joe Wicklund.
“Now we will take the next legal steps to see if the work that has been done in preparation for the AUAR does indeed meet the mark. Everything is on pause while we take a good deep look at the next environmental step,” said Wicklund.
The proposal to build a massive "hyperscale” data center, which would include up to four 50-foot tall, 300,000-square foot buildings in the southwest corner of Hermantown, has roiled residents of the rural area.
Documents show city officials were in discussions over the data center for well over a year, but residents have only begun to learn details of the proposal in the past few weeks.
The city has not revealed who is behind the project, saying only that it is a “U.S.-based Fortune 50 company.” The $650 million project would be built over eight to ten years. Proponents say it would create hundreds of construction jobs and at least 40 permanent positions, while generating up to $1 million a year in commercial tax revenues, according to the city.
At an overflowing and contentious city council meeting Monday night, residents raised concerns about water and energy use, noise pollution, a loss of rural character and a lack of transparency as the unknown developer has pitched the data center project to city officials.
City officials defended the process, arguing it was standard and fair practice to grant the project anonymity while the developer hashed out details.
In its petition to the Minnesota EQB, the group also raised concerns about the project location in an area of wetlands, surrounded by homesteads, some of which are within 350 feet of the proposed data center.
“The regional community is concerned both about the location of the project as it doesn’t satisfy data center industry specifications,” the group said in a statement. “Residential rural residents are also concerned about noise, light, air, water, that has been inadequately addressed.”
The city will make the decision as to whether an EAW is required. Environmental review is not an approval process. It’s meant to provide information to support permitting and other decisions for development projects.
Hermantown’s Wicklund said if the city determines that additional environmental study is not required, the planning and zoning commission could take up the permits at its next meeting on Nov. 18.
