St. Cloud City Council Sets November 16th Public Hearing on Data Center Rules

(KNSI) — The St. Cloud City Council voted 5-0 Monday night to set a November 16th public hearing on proposed data center rules.

Council Member Tami Calhoun pulled the item from the consent agenda for discussion, mainly to thank city staff for their work preparing the proposal.

“I was so appreciative that [Community Development] Director [Matt] Glaesman had given us all this background information because that’s what we need. We need the information going forward.”

No developer has brought a specific project to the city. Calhoun told KNSI data centers are relatively new and the city’s planning rules haven’t caught up.

“So we need to be sure, be proactive, and be sure that we get exactly what we want in there before we’re ever approached to ask if we want a data center.”

Calhoun says energy use, noise and what happens to a building if a data center operator leaves are among the concerns she’ll be weighing before the hearing.

In a memo to the council and Planning Commission, Glaesman says adopting standards ahead of a site-specific proposal is the best practice. The city’s code currently has no data center category and allows a broad “communication facility” use by right in the I3 planned industrial district, with no design standards.

The proposal has two parts. A comprehensive plan amendment would call data centers a valuable part of the city’s economy and tax base, while saying the city must limit effects on residential areas and address noise, public resources and the environment.

A land development code amendment would create two categories. Smaller enterprise data centers, with 2,000 servers or fewer, 10,000 square feet or less of building area and 50 megawatts or less of peak electrical use, would be allowed by right in the C3 Central Business and C5 Highway Commercial districts. Larger hyperscale facilities would need a conditional use permit in the I3 district and would have to stay a quarter mile from residential zoning.

All data centers would have to submit studies on noise, environmental impacts, community impact, backup power, sustainability and decommissioning. Projects of 450,000 square feet or more also require a state environmental review, and the memo says findings from that review could be grounds to deny a permit.

The Planning Commission recommended approval of both items on a 4-2 vote October 13th. In a September 8th letter to the city, Pipefitters Local 539 voiced support for responsible data center development and asked for clear, objective standards with no arbitrary geographic restrictions.

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