Developer of controversial Hermantown data center plans public meeting, weighs changes
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The developer of a controversial proposed data center in the northeast Minnesota city of Hermantown is hitting the pause button and is planning to hold an open house to address community concerns, while city officials decide whether an additional environmental review is warranted.
The project was scheduled to go before Hermantown’s Planning and Zoning Commission on Nov. 18. But Mortenson, the development company working to build the massive project on behalf of an unnamed Fortune 50 company, has removed its request for a special permit from the commission. It’s also no longer on the City Council’s agenda for its Dec. 1 meeting.
The move follows a tense city council meeting last month, in which councilors approved a zoning change for the project following more than four hours of public testimony, during which more than 50 people spoke, many raising significant concerns about the project and what they saw as a lack of transparency.
City officials have been in discussions with Mortenson for over a year about the proposed data center — dubbed “Project Loon” in documents — but only recently have they discussed it publicly. They acknowledge signing non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, which prohibit them from disclosing certain details about the plan, so they’re still not saying who’s behind the $650 million project — only that it’s a “Fortune 50” company.
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In a letter to city officials sent this week, Dan Lessor, a vice president for Mortenson Development Inc., said the company takes “the public’s requests for more information seriously, and for this reason, our team is committed to hosting an open house to answer questions and provide further facts about the project.”
Lessor wrote that the company is working to identify a date and a venue large enough to host the meeting “to foster meaningful dialogue,” and he states that the company wants to ensure the project “reflects the values and priorities of the community while meaningfully participating in the public process.”
“The project team understands the significance of the proposed project, not just as an infrastructure investment, but as a long-term relationship with residents, business owners, the City of Hermantown, St. Louis County, and the greater Northland region,” the letter adds.
Mortenson declined a request for an interview but added in a statement that the company has adjusted its planning timeline for the proposed Hermantown data center, and it is “considering changes based on the public feedback we’ve received.”
“This is a significant project and one with great benefits for Hermantown, but it’s clear that more engagement with the community is appropriate,” the statement reads.
The plan calls for building up to four structures that would house the data center equipment on a more-than-200-acre site in Hermantown, about eight miles west of Duluth. Each building would be up to 50 feet tall and 300,000 square feet — about the size of five football fields per building.
Nearby residents have raised a host of concerns, from noise and traffic and impact on the area’s rural quality of life to the demands for huge amounts of water and electricity to cool and power the facility.
Project supporters say it would create hundreds of construction jobs and provide a huge boost to the city’s tax base, and they add that the developer would help pay to extend water and sewer infrastructure to that part of Hermantown.
Members of the group “Stop the Hermantown Data Center” say they’re excited about plans for an open house.
“This, to me, looks like democracy in action,” said John Gustafson, a member of the group who operates a small farm about a mile from the proposed site. “Citizens have to have a voice, and the politicians can't just ignore us and decide what's best for us. They need to consult the citizens.”
Gustafson said the group is demanding the city complete an environmental impact statement analyzing the impacts of the project, a more rigorous review than what the city has conducted.
Last week, the group joined with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy to file a lawsuit against the city of Hermantown, challenging that environmental review. They allege it didn't describe the proposal as a data center and failed to provide details about the project's water and energy use, potential noise and light pollution.
The project is one of at least a dozen “hyperscale” data centers that have been proposed across Minnesota. Just one, a Meta facility in Rosemount, is under construction.
The city of Hermantown has until early December to respond to a citizen request to the Environmental Quality Board asking for additional environmental review. The earliest the city could take up the proposal again would be at its next planning and zoning commission meeting, scheduled for Dec. 16.
