Marketplace APM reports…
Hyperscaler data centers have just arrived in Minnesota, but they’ve already sparked a major debate. With these projects turning into a midterm election issue, local residents are split — some are worried about tanking property values, while others think the facilities could bring a much-needed boost in jobs.
Hermantown’s City Council will hold a dedicated meeting on Monday, Oct. 26, to consider the Special Use Permit (SUP) and other associated agreements related to
the proposed Google data center project.
The SUP and Plat are set to be heard by Hermantown’s Planning and Zoning Commission at its Oct. 20 meeting. Following the Planning and Zoning Commission’s public hearing and subsequent recommendation, the SUP moves on to the city council for consideration.
To note: The Planning and Zoning Commissions serves as a recommending body to the city council on Special Use Permits. The SUP and Plat continue to city council regardless of the recommendation given by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The Oct. 26 meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.
The World Resources Institute reports…
This article explores these policy levers, highlights emerging practices from communities across the U.S. and offers practical considerations based on WRI’s ongoing technical assistance to local governments. Together, these levers can shape where data centers are built, how they operate and whether their energy demand supports or undermines broader community goals.
Here are the six policy levers…
Minnesota gets on nod in relation to Lever 4…
Data center design is a primary determinant of energy use and environmental impact. Key considerations include building and IT equipment efficiency, cooling systems, backup power and opportunities for heat recovery and reuse.
Local governments can encourage more sustainable design through permitting requirements, development incentives and sustainability standards. Some jurisdictions, like Lake County, Indiana, require an energy efficiency plan demonstrating how facilities will conserve energy and use renewable energy resources for permit approval. Jurisdictions can also require or incentivize certification under recognized sustainability programs such as LEED for data centers, Green Globes for Data Centers and BREEAM. Minnesota recently enacted legislation requiring just this.
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 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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
The City of Minneapolis shares the agenda for the Mpls Planning Commission meeting..
Regular MeetingOctober 13, 2026 – 4:30 pmRoom 350, Public Service Center (PSC)250 S 4th St, Minneapolis, MNMembers: 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
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
Adjournment
Next Planning Commission meeting :
Broadband Breakfast reports (via Institute for Local Self Reliance)…
Tribal broadband is not simply a faster connection. For tribal nations, panelists said Wednesday, durable infrastructure can preserve language, extend health care and education, support economic development and strengthen sovereignty, but only when tribes control the choices shaping their networks.
That connection between culture and infrastructure emerged during a Broadband Breakfast Live Online discussion on tribal broadband and adoption.
The conversation ranged from fiber and satellites to open-access networks, spectrum rights, data sovereignty and the cost of helping residents get online.
“We want our members to learn the language. We want other people to learn the language,” said Rob Griffin, tribal broadband director for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. “But to do so, we have to have good infrastructure.”
The Choctaw Nation began pursuing fiber after encountering a school limited to satellite internet, Griffin said. It has since received $110 million in grants and is building 1,000 miles of fiber alongside fixed wireless connections. Such networks can support language programs, remote work, testing and telehealth for decades.
Broadband is a lifeline and a line to a better livelihood; the full article is a good reminder. It’s interesting to see the perspective on local ownership.
Lakeland PBS has posted he video from Representative Josh Heintzeman (Republican) and Nicky Hardy (DFL) debate in the Lakeland PBS Debate Night 2026. I’m not sure if they use the word data center, they do discussion permitting and other issues around recruiting new businesses in Minnesota (around minute 14)…
St. Cloud city staff are recommending the Planning Commission hold the line on its proposed data center rules, without a cap on water use or a wider buffer from homes.
The commission takes up the city’s first-ever data center rules again Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at St. Cloud City Hall, after postponing action in September and sending staff back with a list of questions.
In a memo to commissioners, Community Development Director Matt Glaesman says a water cap isn’t needed because every project already gets checked against the city’s water capacity before approval, and the city can require changes or deny a project that threatens supply. St. Cloud’s treatment plant can produce 24 million gallons a day. Average demand is about 8 million, with summer peaks around 15.5 million.
Staff also say widening the buffer between large data centers and homes from a quarter mile to a half mile would wipe out much of the land where one could go. They add that it would bring little added benefit, since any facility must already meet state noise limits at the property line.
Commissioners also asked what a data center could mean for city revenue. The memo doesn’t give a local estimate. It points to Meta’s planned Rosemount facility, which is expected to generate more than $1 million a year in property taxes, and notes that some cities have offered tax breaks to land these projects.
Faribault Daily News reports...
Two city planning commissioners were in agreement. They would not accept the environmental commission’s recommendation to prevent a data center from shining light on any adjoining property. Instead, commissioners suggested the wording revert to only residential properties.
More about the meeting…
When the Faribault City Council directed the environmental and planning commissions to work together to create standards for any data center developments coming into the city, the two bodies sat down in a work session Aug. 17.
It was the only meeting where both bodies worked together.
Two months later, the environmental commission voted to send its recommendations to the planning commission, where it will approve or reject the suggestions made by Lamb and her fellow members.
But Lamb went into the planning commission’s Oct. 5 work session thinking she and other members of the environmental commission would get a chance to explain their recommendations. She left feeling frustrated and worried about the timeline to approve these standards.
“Now that we essentially signed something that says this is our recommendation, we have not been invited to come back and continue the process. So basically, this was our last opportunity. I was told I cannot speak and we no longer can be involved in the process. We’re done,” she said. “We literally had one month to put all our presentation together. But we worked hard and we did what we needed to do. I wish we would have had more time. I’m thinking the public hearing will happen whether they’re ready or not, and that to me is so disheartening, because Faribault citizens deserve better.”
During the two hour meeting, some members of the planning commission were red-faced, others rubbed their temples as King and Planning Manager Harry Davis explained the different recommendations made by the environmental commission. No final decisions were made on Monday and commissioners will continue to deliberate on the environmental commission’s recommendations at its next meeting on Oct. 19.
