(Wright County Board of Commissioners)
Wright County’s townships are now under a temporary moratorium on applications for data centers.
The Wright County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved enacting an emergency moratorium at its May 19th meeting.
The topic of data centers has been controversial in many of the areas they have been constructed or proposed, including in the City of Monticello, where the city council recently passed language that would define how a data center could be developed there.
County Commissioner Kirby Moynagh commented on the need for the county to get a firm plan in place for land use before companies come forward with proposals to locate a data center in any of the county’s 18 townships…
“I originally brought this up a couple of weeks ago because I think that we need to get out in front of this by the chance that there are any data centers that want to go into the townships so that we have appropriate setbacks and that we’re being proactive instead of reactive for anything that may come up. I think this gives us a good time frame to be able to do that. We have a lot of resources that we can tap into over the next year…If we lean into that and be proactive on this we can make so if (data centers) do come into the townships, it’s in a very appropriate manner for the environment which they’re in.”
County Ordinance 26-2 created an emergency moratorium on applications for the construction of data centers in Wright County townships, including those that do their own planning and zoning. The moratorium would provide the county up to one year to study, review and adopt ordinance language that would establish the time, place and manner in which data centers would be permitted. The county moratorium does not, in any way, change the recent ordinance approved in the City of Monticello.
A total of 14 individuals spoke at the public hearing – all siding with the option of enacting an emergency moratorium. Water usage, electrical usage, environmental impacts, noise and light pollution, geothermal concerns, risk to aquifers and other concerns were cited by those who offered comments.
Following the closure of the public hearing, Board Chair Darek Vetsch thanked those who have an interest in the topic and the comments and concerns they raised. He also reminded those on hand and the public in general that an emergency moratorium should not be confused with a “ban”….
“The outcome can’t be to prohibit them,” Vetsch said. “State and federal laws would prohibit us from creating an ordinance that would say absolutely no data centers. We have to be amicable. (We) have to create an ordinance that says if the right conditions are met, you can build. If you create an ordinance that says you shall not build a data center in Wright County, we will get litigated and we will lose.”
Vetsch said any resident wishing to apply to be a candidate on the work group to consider and lay out parameters for potential data centers should reach out to the commissioner from the district they live in to be considered.
