Planning Commission Delays Data Center Decision Until October Meeting

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud is the latest city to have the discussion about data centers. Right now, the city doesn't have any rules regulating large-scale data centers.

Tuesday night, the Planning Commission held a public hearing that would amend the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code to address the issue.

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Planning Director Matt Glaesman says we don't currently have any large-scale data centers in the community, and there aren't any current proposals, so this is just a proactive measure. He says the passage of these changes would actually give the city more oversight of any potential proposals than what it currently has right now.

Five people spoke during the public hearing, including former St. Cloud State Professor Bryant Julestrom. He says technology is evolving quickly.

It's likely that the demands that data centers, particularly the large ones, will place on local resources will diminish.  That means the wisest course of action in a lot of these cases may be just to wait.

The draft splits data centers into two categories: hyper-scale, which would run to a million square feet and have thousands of servers. Those would need a conditional use permit and a separate public hearing each time one is proposed. They would be limited to the city's industrial parks.

Smaller on-site centers would only require a building permit.

The Planning Commission voted 5 to 1 to postpone action until its next meeting in October. After that, the next step would be another public hearing at a City Council meeting.