Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now
Data centers in Minnesota
MPR News Staff
Inver Grove Heights, Minn.

Inver Grove Heights exempts data center project from city moratorium

A sign is visible
A sign voicing opposition to a data center project hangs on a fence in Farmington last year. The city of Inver Grove Heights passed a one-year moratorium on data centers — but has now allowed one project to be exempted.
Kirsti Marohn | MPR News file

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!

The Inver Grove Heights City Council voted Monday to allow a data center proposal to continue despite a moratorium on such projects.

The city had been facing a lawsuit filed by the developer of that data center, which Inver Grove Heights officials said could cost the city at least $20 million in damages if it lost the case.

“I really struggle with the idea of continuing this fight,” Council Member Tony Scales said at Monday’s meeting. “Continuing the fight doesn’t mean it won’t happen, it actually means the city and the residents are going to pay a lot of money, and it’s still going to happen.”

Scales had supported the one-year data center moratorium when it was approved in June on a 3-2 vote — and he also voted for the exemption on Monday.

The project in question — a proposed 55,000-square-foot data center on Carmen Avenue East — had already been in the works when the council approved the moratorium. That measure was backed by residents who raised concerns about data centers.

The developer, Florida-based QLevr, then filed a lawsuit in Dakota County District Court in July, arguing that it had “followed all applicable zoning rules to build a permitted data center, only to have the city change course at the eleventh hour and impose a moratorium specifically designed to stop that project in response to misguided public opposition.”

QLevr, along with the property owner, called the moratorium “unlawful.”

City officials said QLevr’s attorneys had offered to dismiss the lawsuit without the city having to pay damages, if the project was excluded from the moratorium.

With the exemption approved, the council is set to consider a site plan application for that proposed data center at a meeting later this month.

The one-year moratorium remains in place for any other data center projects in the city.