Woodbury’s City Council approved a moratorium Sept. 23 on new data centers and expansion beyond existing approvals, giving the city up to a year to study water use, electricity demand, noise and possible zoning changes.
Before voting, council members worked through which changes would require new permits and which activities existing approvals already allowed.
Woodbury has no active applications or conversations with data center developers, City Planner Eric Searles said. The city intends to study the industry before another proposal arrives.
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Before approval, council members broadened the restriction to cover building permits and other city permits, including electrical permits and permits for work in public rights of way.
The ordinance presented to the council blocks related rezoning proposals, comprehensive plan amendments, conditional use permits and variances, along with applications to establish or expand data centers. It also covers proposed water or sewer users whose annual consumption would place them among the city’s largest users. It takes effect upon adoption and publication and can end before a year if the city repeals it or adopts replacement regulations.
Woodbury’s three existing data centers include two IronGate facilities and a Medtronic facility at 515 Bielenberg Drive.
The city identified the three centers as similar or like uses and does not regulate them through conditional use or other zoning permits, but the future study could establish regulations and rules for permits that would affect existing facilities and future development.
At its existing Woodbury facilities, IronGate lists 15 megawatts of capacity for computing equipment at 401 Bielenberg Drive, its east campus, and 6 megawatts leased at 500 Bielenberg Drive, its west campus. The company describes both campuses as fully leased. Its website does not report either facility’s actual electricity use or capacity for future expansion.
Operators of the facility at 500 Bielenberg Drive had told the city they were at electrical capacity, although space remained available inside the building, Searles said. City officials did not provide exact electrical capacity figures for each facility at the meeting.