Mankato Free Press reports…

North Mankato residents will have the chance to speak their mind regarding a year-long data center moratorium, following shortly after Mankato unanimously passed a moratorium of their own after the majority of public input was in favor of the ordinance on July 13.

The City Council unanimously voted in favor of setting a public hearing on Aug. 3 on an ordinance authorizing a study and imposing a moratorium on data centers.

The proposed ordinance defines a large-scale data center as a facility primarily used for storing, processing, managing or transmitting digital data that exceeds 250,000 square feet or uses 50,000 gallons of water per day or more. The definition also includes supporting infrastructure such as offices, cooling systems, generators, water storage and utility substations, while excluding smaller computing facilities that are incidental to another primary use.

Under the proposed ordinance, any new data center is considered a prohibited use within the city during the moratorium. The ordinance also bars the construction or expansion of new or existing data centers and directs the city not to accept, review, process or approve permit applications or other requests related to those projects while the moratorium remains in effect.

The new action follows a July 6 council work session where council members discussed adopting a temporary moratorium to allow time to study potential zoning regulations, environmental impacts and development standards for data centers. No formal action was taken at that meeting.