Blandin on Broadband

News and information on broadband use, policy, and trends

Blandin on Broadband

Data centers come up in Olmsted and Dodge County forum hosted by Farmers Unions

Posted on by
Reply

KAAL TV reports…

As Minnesota’s data center industry expands, questions are growing about how new developments could affect farmland, electricity costs and rural communities.

Voters took those questions directly to candidates on this year’s ballot during a forum hosted by the Olmsted and Dodge County Farmers Unions in Byron Tuesday, where they discussed the challenges facing farmers and what can be done to support the future of agriculture in Minnesota.

Among the concerns raised were rising operating costs, tariffs and access to health care and childcare in rural communities.

“We are here to help feed our nation and the world, and we want to make sure that we can do that at a at a reasonable price,” said Gail Donkers, director of membership at Minnesota Farmers Union.

But as data center development continues to expand across Minnesota, the potential impact on farmland and the state’s agriculture industry has become another point of concern.

Minnesota has more than 70 data centers in operation, with around another dozen large-scale projects proposed statewide, including the Google data center that could be built near Pine Island, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

For farmers, that growth could mean less farmland, more power lines and higher electricity costs.

Minneapolis Planning Commission closer to adopting zoning regulations specifically designed for modern data centers (Hennepin County)

Posted on by
Reply

MinneapoliMedia reports…

Minneapolis is moving closer to adopting its first zoning regulations specifically designed for modern data centers after the City Planning Commission advanced a proposal Tuesday evening that would restrict where the facilities could operate, limit their size and impose additional conditions intended to protect surrounding neighborhoods.

The October 13 action comes as the city approaches a November 21 deadline, when a six-month moratorium on certain new data center developments is scheduled to expire.

The proposal represents a significant shift from the city’s existing zoning framework, which does not separately classify modern data centers and instead generally treats them as communication exchanges.

That older classification has allowed such facilities to be considered in numerous zoning districts without standards specifically addressing their electricity consumption, cooling systems, backup generators and other operational characteristics.

They look at four types of changes to the rules…

  • Commissioners Reduce Proposed Server-Space Limit
  • Additional Zoning Review Introduced
  • Data Centers Would Be Restricted to Two Downtown Districts
  • Building Design Rules Aim to Reduce Neighborhood Impacts

Next steps…

The proposal is expected to proceed to the City Council’s Business, Housing and Zoning Committee in early November.

The committee’s consideration is scheduled for November 6, according to the hearing account, while the full City Council is expected to consider the ordinance November 12.

Those dates place the council’s anticipated decision only days before the November 21 moratorium expiration.

EVENTS Oct 20 & 26: The Future of data centers in Blue Earth County

Posted on by
Reply

KEYC reports…

Blue Earth County is hosting two open houses about the future of data centers in the community.

The county will be hosting open houses at the Mapleton Community Center on October 20th and the Lake Crystal City Hall on October 26, both from 4 p.m. to 6, and has put out an online survey.

The survey is seeking input on all facets of data centers from property value to energy consumption, and feedback can be given online or at the open houses.

The open houses come as a follow-up to the county’s moratorium on data centers that was passed in August, and the county says that feedback will be used to inform future discussion.

Lino Lakes City Council continues to discuss data centers (Anoka County)

Posted on by
Reply

Quad Community Press reports...

The Lino Lakes City Council continues to have discussions around data centers.

At the council’s most recent work session, Community Development Director Michael Grochala reviewed the city’s current land use regulations and provided an overview of data centers.

“We’re hearing a lot more about them now,” Grochala said. “They’ve been around for years … but we’re seeing a lot more locally within the Twin Cities Metro Area and as a whole nationally.”

The article outlines major topics coming up in communities around the state and ends with the local views…

Council Member Julia Nelson clarified that no company has approached the city about building a data center. “I would be for anything that gives us the most power and control over this,” she added. 

Council Member Randy Rennaker, who brought this forward for discussion to the council in July, said he wants to make certain the city is protected and has the control of what type of facilities are built in the city. 

“I have friends and family who live in the city that can’t water their yard on a Monday or a Wednesday,” he added. “Some of these data centers are using exorbitant amounts of water. That’s just not right.” 

Council Member Chris Lyden asked Grochala if it would be possible to ban data centers in the specific zoning districts. 

Grochala said staff have not gone down the path of exploring prohibition, but the city could establish standards. 

There was no formal action taken by the council. It was discussion only. 

Data centers come up in City Council debates in Owatonna (Steele County)

Posted on by
Reply

Owatonna People’s Press reports...

City Council candidates faced questions on some of the most pressing issues in the community at the final candidate forum.

Data centers got a lot of attention…

Drawing a hypothetical situation submitted by the audience, Rethemeier asked the candidates if they would support building a data center in Owatonna if it would bring in $5 million to the city annually.

Ward 1 candidate Brad Flemming said he would be “generally be in favor” of a data center if it presented a good deal for the city and didn’t impact residents’ utility bills. He acknowledged widespread “disdain” for data centers, and said he’d have a number of questions if one were proposed, including its size, location and potential strain it would cause for Owatonna Public Utilities.

Tim McManimon, also running for Ward 1, said the community should be cautious if a data center is proposed, noting such a project could have unintended consequences.

“What if that data center goes dark and we’re left with a stranded project and we increased infrastructure and now don’t have the income to support it?”

However, McManimon suggested he’d be more favorable to a smaller project, like a locally-owned server farm, rather than a large data center owned by a tech company.

Ward 1 candidates were generally opposed to data centers, although they offered a variety of rationales. Melissa Danielson responded with an “absolutely no,” arguing a data center would make Owatonna a less attractive place to live.

“People don’t want data centers in their backyard. People don’t want to live near a data center. People don’t want their home values dropped and not being able to sell their house because they’re next to a data center,” Danielson said.

Dale Fairbanks said $5 million paid to the city wouldn’t properly compensate the citizens of the community. Fairbanks said he would only support a data center if it were self-sustaining and located away from populated areas and farms, “nowhere near the town.”

Bruce Nelson said data centers place significant demands on electricity, water, land and infrastructure, and residents should not have to bear the costs.

“I support a moratorium on a new data center until an impact study is completed and concerns of residents are addressed,” Nelson said.

Rebecca Rand said she has questions about the long-term health impacts data centers have on people and the environment, as well as the utility costs. Rand said the city would have to seriously consider the financial benefit of welcoming a data center against the impact to the community, and based on the information available to her, she would not support one.

Data centers come up in Mayoral Debate in Harmony (Fillmore County)

Posted on by
Reply

KTTC reports...

Voters in Harmony packed the community center Tuesday evening to question their mayoral candidates and hear how each one plans to tackle local issues.

The forum hosted by the Filmore County League of Women Voters featured candidates current Mayor Steve Donney, Kerry Kingsley, owner of Kingsley Mercantile, and Harmony Public Library assistant Sue Olinger.

During the hour-long forum, the candidates covered a wide range of topics, answering questions on everything from election security in Fillmore County to how to maintain strong emergency services in small towns.
The issue that drew the most attention was the city’s current data center ordinance. Candidates were pressed on where they stand, where they’re getting their information, potential incentives from developers, and what, if anything, might make them change their position. …
Harmony’s current data center ordinance is set to go in front of the planning and zoning committee at a special meeting on October 28 with a public hearing.

The University of Minnesota unveils a tool kit for local government decision makers on data centers

Posted on by
Reply

MPR reports…

Seeing how data centers have churned up local politics and spurred newcomers to run for office, some city administrators came together to seek help. The end result is a new toolkit developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota to help local government officials better understand and weigh the pros and cons of having Google, Meta or some other big tech company build a massive data center in their community.

What does the toolkit include?

The guide, which will be made available to the public Wednesday, includes sections on how data centers can impact energy and water usage, and how these impacts can be regulated at the local level to manage environmental impacts. It also includes guiding questions for city leaders to ask if they get an inquiry from big tech about a data center proposal as well as examples of how to address data centers in local code.

Star Tribune/KARE 11 Poll shows found that 68% of likely MN voters are wary of AI

Posted on by
Reply

The Minnesota Star Tribune reports…

More than two-thirds of Minnesota voters worry that artificial intelligence could someday destroy humanity, according to a new Star Tribune/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll, an extraordinary fear that joins more familiar anxieties about jobs, politics and the future of American life.

The poll found that 68% of likely voters are very or somewhat concerned that advanced AI could bring about humanity’s destruction. Nearly a quarter are very concerned. And 71% favor government regulation of the industry, a rare point of broad agreement among voters otherwise divided over much of the country’s direction.

The findings capture a peculiar moment in the technology’s ascent: AI is becoming an ordinary feature of daily life, even as many Americans remain uncertain about where it is headed — or whether anyone can control it.

Willmar Connect plans to go live this year, 2026! (Kandiyohi County)

Posted on by
Reply

The Institute for Local Self Reliance (aka Muninetwork) reports…

Willmar, Minnesota officials say they’re making steady progress on construction of the city’s planned $24.5 million open access fiber network, with the first residential and business customers slated to come online sometime later this year.

Dubbed Willmar Connect, construction of the city-owned fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network broke ground in May 2026, marking a pivotal turn from years of feasibility studies and council debates to actual directional boring, conduit placement, and fiber splicing.

When we last checked in on Willmar back in March, the city council had just voted 4-3 to sign off on the $24.5 million open access project. After a summer of steady construction the city says it’s making meaningful progress toward a full commercial launch.

“We expect to light up our first users on the network this year,” Willmar City Administrator Kyle Box tells ILSR.

Construction of the network is occurring in three phases.

The article goes on to detail the three phases.

EVENT TODAY (Oct 14): Broadband and AI in the Midterm Election 11am CST

Posted on by
Reply

An announcement from Broadband Breakfast…

Concerns over data centers and the risks of artificial intelligence, including artificial superintelligence, have transformed the midterm elections. On the one hand, local communities are fighting the power, water and land demands of new data centers, and voters are feeling those costs in their electric bills. On the other hand, we’re at a moment where broadband funds under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program are finally being deployed. What do informed policy observers and political hands feel about the Republicans’ and the Democrats’ prospects on November 3?

Panelists

  • Blair Levin, NEW! Senior Fellow, Center on Technology Policy (CTP) at New York University
  • Joel Thayer, President, Digital Progress Institute
  • Nicholas P. Garcia, Senior Policy Counsel, Public Knowledge
  • Evan Swarztrauber, Principal, CorePoint Strategies
  • Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Monticello Commissioners vote to recommend approval of applications that open the door to a specific hyperscale data center (Wright County)

Posted on by
Reply

The Monticello Times reports...

The Monticello Planning Commission recommended approval of three applications this month that would establish the framework for a hyperscale data center campus south of 85th Street NE and east of Highway 25.

The applications, submitted by Monticello Tech LLC under the name Edmonson Business Center, cover approximately 547 acres extending south to a public water basin. The development takes its name from nearby Edmonson Avenue.

Commissioners voted 4-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 6 to recommend approval of a preliminary plat, rezoning and a conditional use permit. Commissioner Rick Kothenbeutel was the lone dissenter, opposing all three.

Although the applications were considered together, each serves a different purpose.

Here are those three areas, which are fleshed out more in the original article:

  • Preliminary plat: How the land would be divided
  • Rezoning: What could be built
  • Conditional use permit: How the data center could operate

Swift County Commission is thinking about data centers

Posted on by
Reply

Swift County Monitor reports...

Counties and cities across Minnesota are assessing their need for policies, ordinances, or moratoriums to address how they should handle permit applications for constructing data centers.
Their construction and operation have drawn strong reactions across the nation, with many communities holding contentious public meetings at permit hearings and citizens protesting them.
“Everybody knows that it is a matter of time before we get an application,” Swift County Environmental Services Director Scott Collins told the county board of commissioners at their Oct. 6 meeting.
“Maybe we never will,” he then added, “but some counties are starting to get really serious about it.” Big Stone County has already put a moratorium on data centers, he said.
Collins’ office would be the first to see a request for a permit to construct a data center. So far,  no permit applications have come to the county yet, he added.
Data centers come in many sizes and serve different purposes. However, the ones that are getting attention today are classified as hyperscale data centers. They can range in size from 10,000 to 1 million square feet (23 acres.)

Full notes from the meeting are not yet available on the Swift County website.

EVENT TODAY (Oct 13): Minneapolis Planning Commission agenda include data centers

Posted on by
Reply

The City of Minneapolis shares the agenda for the Mpls Planning Commission meeting..

Regular Meeting
October 13, 2026 – 4:30 pm
Room 350, Public Service Center (PSC)
250 S 4th St, Minneapolis, MN
Members: Christopher Meyer (Chair), Tom Wagner (Vice-Chair), Bill Baxley, Aurin Chowdhury, Angela Conley, Jason Garcia, Michael Gordon, Kellie Jones, David Sheppard, and Lucie Skjefte (Quorum: 5)
Staff: Kari McKeague

 

Call To Order

  1.  Roll call
  2. Adoption of the agenda
  3.  Acceptance of minutes

Public Hearing

Zoning Code Text Amendment: Data Centers and uses associated with distribution and use of electric power

City Staff: Jason Wittenberg  All Wards

A. The Department of Community Planning and Economic Development recommends that the City Planning Commission and City Council adopt staff findings to amend Title 20 of the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, as follows, and further recommends that Chapter 535, Overlay Districts, be returned to the authors:

Text amendment to Title 20, Zoning Code, to adopt regulations governing data centers and uses associated with distribution and use of electric power.

Recommended motion: The City Planning Commission recommends that the City Council approve the text amendment to adopt regulations governing certain uses associated with distribution and use of electric power, including data centers, electric or gas substations, backup generators, utility boxes, and battery energy storage systems.

Chapter 540 related to the Zoning Code: Built Form Overlay Districts

Chapter 545 related to the Zoning Code: Use Regulations

Chapter 550 related to the Zoning Code: Development Standards

Chapter 565 related to the Zoning Code: Definitions

Staff Report Data Centers Text Amendment

Adjournment

Next Planning Commission meeting :
You can get a little background from CBN News.

EVENT TODAY (Oct 13): FBA Presents – The Cost of Permitting: New Research on What Makes or Breaks a Fiber Build

Posted on by
Reply

From the Fiber Broadband Association...

FBA Presents – The Cost of Permitting: New Research on What Makes or Breaks a Fiber BuildTuesday, October 13, 2026 at 02:00 PM EDT

What is the true cost of permitting for a fiber build? Join the Fiber Broadband Association and Cartesian for a first look at new research examining how state and local permitting practices affect the economics of wireline deployment. Drawing on more than 100 real-world permitting examples across 30 states and territories, the study models 12 common permitting scenarios to quantify how fees, requirements, delays, and approval processes can affect network investment.

The report finds that certain permitting practices can turn projects that would otherwise be economically viable into investments that are no longer viable. The webinar will unpack the findings, identify the practices with the greatest impact on project economics, and explore how those challenges can influence decisions about where and whether to build. FBA and Cartesian will also discuss the policy implications of the findings and how clearer, more predictable permitting practices can support fiber investment and deployment, as the FCC weighs new rules on wireline deployment barriers.

 

Candidates are learning that personal stock holdings and data center policy issues can clash

Posted on by
Reply

E-Meida reports…

In a recent debate, Minnesota attorney general candidate Ron Schutz pledged to insulate himself from his vast stock portfolio if elected.

The Republican, in a close race with Democratic incumbent Keith Ellison, had faced questions about conflicts of interest related to his 174 stock holdings. Each investment exceeds $10,000, many of them in Fortune 500 staples like Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Disney.
But Schutz is also deeply invested in Meta, Microsoft, Google’s parent company and more than a dozen more corporations looking to build, use or maintain hyperscale data centers.
It’s the latest example of how data centers are shaping races across Minnesota and the country.