The Monticello City Council voted 4-1 Monday night to adopt an ordinance that could open the door to developers building massive data centers in this community 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
The ordinance also includes new restrictions for data centers that city officials say are aimed at reducing negative impacts on people living nearby and ensuring Monticello residents don’t bear any financial costs.
After the vote, council member Tracy Hinz called it “one of the best, most well-framed ordinances in our state, if not broader.”
“I feel disappointed that I've let down some people with my vote, but I also have really, I think, balanced that disappointment out with my duty as a public servant,” she said. “It’s not about pleasing everyone. It’s about doing what’s in the best interest of the community and not closing any doors for future development.”
The vote came after more than two hours of debate. About a dozen people spoke, nearly all opposed to data centers being built in Monticello.
Many expressed deep worry that the massive facilities could lower their property values, drain resources like water and electricity and create constant noise from equipment, affecting people and wildlife.
“I am very much against the data center, because to me, it’s experimental, and I don’t think Monticello should have to be the guinea pigs for this,” said Joan Bondhus, who has lived in the city since 1964.
Monticello is one of several Minnesota cities wrestling with whether to permit hyperscale data centers, which are huge warehouses filled with computer servers that help power cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
The plans have sparked strong opposition from some residents who are concerned about their massive size, water and energy consumption and possible noise and light pollution.
But some cities, including Monticello, see potential benefits they could bring, including property tax revenue, construction jobs and investment in roads and utilities.
“We need to diversify our tax base,” Hinz said before the vote. “We need to think about opportunities. And I cannot possibly deny an ordinance that allows for future applications and consideration of opportunities."
Monticello is considered a prime location for a data center because of available land, water and electricity. No developers have submitted formal applications to build a data center yet. But at least two have expressed interest in building facilities on land the city plans to annex.
That includes Monticello Tech, which has proposed building a data center campus covering about 3 million square feet — about 50 football fields — on about 550 acres east of Highway 25.
Another developer, Scannell Properties, wants to build a 1.3 million-square-foot data center on about 100 acres near the Bertram Chain of Lakes Regional Park.
Monticello’s ordinance creates a zoning designation specifically for data centers. Developers who want to build a data center would first have to get the property rezoned, then apply for a conditional use permit.
The ordinance requires data centers to demonstrate that there’s adequate water and energy to meet their needs. It also tries to reduce impacts to people living nearby by setting standards for landscape buffers, screening, noise and lighting.
After a debate, the council increased the distance that data centers will be required to be located from residential areas to at least 300 feet. Opponents of data centers wanted to require a much greater distance.
David Thorsen, who lives in a neighborhood near one of the proposed sites, said he’s worried about potential health impacts if he has to live next to a data center, and not being able to sell his house if he wants to move.
“I dont want to sit on my patio for six years and listen to construction,” he said. “And fine, great, it brings temporary jobs to the community to build it, but it doesn’t bring long-term jobs.”
Several residents asked the city to consider pausing new data center development, as some other Minnesota cities have done.
Monticello officials say the ordinance does not mean that the city will automatically approve a proposal to build a data center. They say each application will be considered individually.
The ordinance also makes clear that the city will not extend tax incentives to lure a data center to Monticello, and the project’s developers would have to pay for any new infrastructure that’s needed.
Mayor Lloyd Hilgart said he thinks that the city has done “everything within our power” to create an ordinance that is the best for the city of Monticello” and addresses residents’ concerns.
“I believe that everything but the kitchen sink is in that ordinance,” he said.
After the meeting, some residents voiced disappointment, but said the ordinance was better than originally proposed because of public input. They vowed to closely watch any applications to build a data center to make sure they follow the rules and aren’t granted any exceptions.
Jenna Van Den Boom, who helped organize a group called Stop the Monticello Data Centers, called the council’s vote “a kick in the gut.”
“I think we kind of expected that it was going to happen,” she said. “But also, I think there's always that hope that Monticello is family-first city, and that we would pick our families and our community. And it was just really disappointing that we didn't see that.”
