St. Cloud Planning Commission Approves New Standards For Future Data Centers

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The city of St. Cloud has taken a step in regulating any future data center proposals.

At Tuesday's meeting, the Planning Commission voted 4 to 2 to amend the city's Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code to address larger hyper-scale data centers.

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The commission held a public hearing at its previous meeting.

Read More: How St. Cloud Is Preparing For Future Data Centers |

Under the amendments, larger hyper-scale data centers would only be allowed as conditional uses in the business parks on the outskirts of town at least a quarter-mile from residential areas. The new language puts in place five, ten, or more steps that any future proposal would have to go through to get city approval.

Commissioner Clare Richards.

So just to clarify, these are really the guardrails of the studies and materials a project would have to gather and put forward for consideration, at which point it would be determined whether or not it could move forward.

If a proposed data center were to come to the city, it would trigger steps like an environmental review, a comprehensive plan amendment, a CUP permit, rezoning, and construction permits. Officials would also be able to ask the applicants about potential impacts like traffic, noise, and city services.

The city doesn't currently have any of these steps in place.

Commissioners Charlie Hobbs and Sabrin Ali voted against the amendments, stating they preferred a moratorium on data centers instead.

The action now moves on to the St. Cloud City Council, where a second public hearing will be held in either November or December.

The changes don't impact smaller on-site data centers, which would still be allowed by right and would go directly to a building permit application.