Taxpayers in Inver Grove Heights won’t have to foot the bill for a multi-million-dollar lawsuit but will likely still get the data center at the core of the issue, much to many residents’ chagrin.
On Monday night, the Inver Grove Heights City Council approved a change to its one-year data center moratorium that now excludes a company that sued the city because of it.
That company, Qlevr — which wants to build a 54,000-square-foot facility at the former Travel Tags building along Carmen Avenue East — says it was in the development process and in good standing with the city for its proposed data center project before that moratorium was passed, so it sued.
After Monday…
The city shared the following about the next steps:
- The City Council will consider the major site plan application at its Sept. 28 meeting;
- If the major site plan application is approved at that meeting, the developer would need to have an approved development contract with the City. That is a standard requirement for all developments in Inver Grove Heights;
- Once that is approved, the speed at which the project can move forward depends on how quickly the developer applies for and is issued a building permit from the City.
That major site plan application process has already been addressed, where the council set when generators can be used and sound testing done by the city.