KAXE reports…

The city of Bemidji is contemplating a one-year moratorium on data centers, months after inaccurate reports claiming a project was underway there.

As Big Tech rolls out plans to build enormous data center complexes in Minnesota, like Google in Hermantown and Meta in Rosemount, at least a dozen local governments have pumped the brakes on new development via moratoriums.

Large scale data centers in other parts of the country, such as northern Virginia and Arizona, have come under public scrutiny over their local impacts. Some data center campuses cover hundreds or thousands of acres. Local residents often point to the data centers’ high consumption of electricity and water as the underlying cause of their increased electric and water bills for their homes and businesses.

Bemidji Assistant Planning Director Melissa Fahrenbruch said Monday, Aug. 10, that no developer has yet approached the city for a data center.

But she said a pause on the development of any data centers or cryptomining facilities would allow staff time to update the city’s planning and zoning codes.

There’s a decision to decide…

While no formal action was taken in Monday’s Planning Board meeting, members agreed to vote on a moratorium in September.

Info on upcoming meetings…

To the east, Carlton County is slated to host a public hearing on its proposed data center moratorium on Monday, Aug. 24.

The Bemidji Planning Board typically meets on the second Monday of the month and is slated to reconvene at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14.

Chisago County Press reports...

The other public hearing that was scheduled for the Board meeting was about data centers, or high utility use developments.  The Board voted to impose a one year moratorium on applications.

Data centers need to be defined and conditions need to be drafted and reviewed to control possible negative effects.

Assistant County Attorney Jeffrey Fuge explained the moratorium is not hand-cuffed to being one year in length,  and at any time the county planning commission arrives at a well-worded ordinance it wishes to recommend, the commissioners can convene a public hearing.

The county planning commission will take the lead on writing ordinance language that will specifically address high utility use projects.  This effort addresses only the areas of the county where the county has zoning jurisdiction.

Hometown Source reports…

After months of questions, speculation and debate, Monticello residents are getting their clearest view yet at what a proposed data center campus south of the city could eventually become.

A revised application submitted by Monticello Tech on Aug. 3 doesn’t answer every question. The developer still has not identified the company that would ultimately operate the campus, and many details — from building architecture to electrical demand and emergency backup systems — won’t be finalized until later in the approval process.

But compared with the original application submitted July 6 — one city staff deemed incomplete later that month — the revised submission paints a far more detailed picture of the proposed development.

The City must determine whether the application is complete…

The city has 15 business days from receiving the Aug. 3 submission — until Friday, Aug. 21 — to determine whether the application contains all of the information required under its recently adopted Data Center Planned Unit Development ordinance.

The article proceeds to shar details on the project and potential impacts on the community. It also provides a quick look at the numbers…

Monticello Tech by the numbers

547 acres — Approximate total project area

364 acres — Approximate developable area

3 million square feet — Maximum data center development allowed under the proposal

2 million square feet — Conceptual development scenario used for many current planning calculations

Up to 8 — Potential principal data center buildings

75,000 gallons per day — Estimated average water use, roughly equivalent to the daily water use of 273 households

$73.5 million — Current estimated infrastructure cost

$300 million — Developer’s estimated taxable value at 2 million square feet

$7 million per year — Developer’s projected annual property taxes at that buildout

4-8 years — Estimated campus buildout period

2028 — Earliest projected start of construction

2030 — Projected substantial completion of the first phase

KSTP Eyewitness News reports…

A legal fight over a data center could cost Inver Grove Heights residents millions if the city loses.

The city is being sued by a data center company that submitted its application and said it was in good standing with the city before the Inver Grove Heights City Council approved a one-year moratorium on data centers.

City leaders learned Monday night that losing the lawsuit could cost $20 million — Mayor Brenda Dietrich put that figure into perspective, noting that taxpayers would be footing the bill.

“A resident’s city taxes would go from $1,833 to $3,053, which is an annual increase of $1,220 or 67%. So, just framing that up in real dollar amounts,” said Dietrich.
A city lawyer said Monday the lawsuit would be dropped if the city excludes Q’Levr from that recently passed one-year data center moratorium. Q’Levr wants to build a 54-thousand-square-foot facility at the former Travel Tags building along Carmen Avenue East.
The council voted to change the moratorium to exclude the company, but there are still two more readings before a final vote.

The city is asking for input…

As it sits now, the city is asking people to send written comments. The mayor and council would have to add a public hearing as the process moves forward, and at least two council members supported that Monday night.

I wrote about the Aug 5, Harmony City Council meeting earlier, but The Fillmore County Journal provides a more complete account, starting with…

In a joint planning session on August 5 the Harmony City Council, the Harmony EDA and the Harmony Planning and Zoning came together to review a draft data center ordinance for the city. Mayor Steve Donney opened the meeting and explained that there would be no public comment; the public was encouraged to submit written comments following the meeting.

City Attorney Greg Schieber introduced Soren Mattick, a municipal attorney from the Twin Cities who was assisting Harmony with the ordinance. Harmony had been approached by MiEnergy last fall about the possibility of building a data center in Harmony. Since the city had no ordinance on the books about such centers, the EDA, P & Z and council began a series of five or six meetings to consider the item.

Mattick shared that the main concerns with data centers were electricity and water consumption, noise and overall environmental concerns. Using a slideshow presentation, Mattick walked the group through the draft ordinance.

The ordinance would provide for a CUP (conditional use permit) for data centers. This means that a company would need to apply to the council for a permit before proceeding with development. A public hearing would be required, which would give the public opportunity to share any concerns.

News Break reports…

The Elk River City Council unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on new data center development Aug. 3, giving the city time to study the rapidly growing industry and develop regulations before considering future proposals.

The action came after the applicant seeking to develop a data center in Elk River formally withdrew its requests for a zoning ordinance amendment and a conditional use permit.

The community was engaged…

The vote came after weeks of packed public hearings, emotional testimony and intense community debate over a proposal that drew widespread opposition from residents concerned about noise, environmental impacts, energy use and the long-term effects of locating a large-scale data center in Elk River.

What does it mean?

“The moratorium does two things,” Carlton told the council. “First, it prohibits all data center development applications, including land use applications, rezoning requests and similar proposals. In other words, all data center development is prohibited during the moratorium.”

He said the second purpose is to direct staff to begin studying what a data center ordinance should include.

The Isanti-Chisago County Star reports…

The city of Cambridge is officially placing a one-year moratorium on the construction of data centers within the city limits.

The council had previously instructed staff to do some initial research into data centers in order to determine if an official moratorium is needed. During an official moratorium, more extensive research will be performed leading up to crafting appropriate ordinances and city codes on the subject. …

estover said staff looked closely at three proposed data centers in Minnesota: at Pine Island, Monticello, and Hermantown. Through that research, staff came to the conclusion that if a hyperscale data center were to be constructed here, most or all of the land would have to be annexed into the city limits. This also means city utilities would need to be extended.

She did note there may be some perceived benefits to a city such as tax base growth, stabilization, and employment opportunities both during construction and once the data center is operational. She added that what would need to be researched very closely is whether those benefits outweigh the negatives that have frequently been voiced across the country. …

About a month ago, ICTV reported on Facebook…

“No data center has been proposed in Itasca County, but the issue has become a contentious one in other communities, including Hermantown.” Cory Smith, the current Itasca County Commissioner for District 1 running for reelection, shares where he’d draw the line if the question ever comes here. Watch the full candidate forum with all three District 1 candidates at watchictv.org.

Today, the Grand Rapids Herlan Review publishes a summary of recent (July 7, 2026) proceedings of the Itasca County Board of Commissioners…

Commissioner Johnson reported on attending Coffee with Commissioners, a MN Data Centers meeting and also visited a data center in Duluth.

It’s not a lot of information but enough to see that leaders in Itasca County are thinking about data centers. For folks outside of Itasca County, these are some of the things to look at to get early signs that data centers are a topic of conversation in your community. Look to local news (even on social media) and notes from local public meetings. Many meetings are livestreamed and archived if you have the time to look.