St. Cloud Data Center Rules Return to Planning Commission With Staff Answers on Water, Taxes

(KNSI) – St. Cloud city staff are recommending the Planning Commission hold the line on its proposed data center rules, without a cap on water use or a wider buffer from homes.

The commission takes up the city’s first-ever data center rules again Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at St. Cloud City Hall, after postponing action in September and sending staff back with a list of questions.

In a memo to commissioners, Community Development Director Matt Glaesman says a water cap isn’t needed because every project already gets checked against the city’s water capacity before approval, and the city can require changes or deny a project that threatens supply. St. Cloud’s treatment plant can produce 24 million gallons a day. Average demand is about 8 million, with summer peaks around 15.5 million.

Staff also say widening the buffer between large data centers and homes from a quarter mile to a half mile would wipe out much of the land where one could go. They add that it would bring little added benefit, since any facility must already meet state noise limits at the property line.

Commissioners also asked what a data center could mean for city revenue. The memo doesn’t give a local estimate. It points to Meta’s planned Rosemount facility, which is expected to generate more than $1 million a year in property taxes, and notes that some cities have offered tax breaks to land these projects.

The memo also answers how the city decides what counts as a hyper-scale data center. The proposal sets the line at 2,000 servers, which staff call a conservative number meant to push more projects through a public hearing. Anyone applying to build one would have to file a public community impact study covering water, noise, air, traffic and electricity use. Staff also note the state is working on legislation to keep data center power demand from driving up electric rates for everyone else.

Under the draft, the largest facilities would be limited to industrial zones and would need a conditional use permit. Smaller enterprise-scale data centers would be allowed in two commercial districts.

Whatever the commission recommends goes to the St. Cloud City Council, which holds its own public hearing before anything takes effect.

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