Forest Park urban design board tables review of proposed two‑building data center after public concerns

Forest Park’s Urban Design Review Board on June 20 voted to table consideration of the conceptual design for a proposed two‑building data center in the Fort Gillum industrial district after extended public comment and requests for additional technical information.

Staff presented the proposal as a multi‑building data center complex sited within a roughly 2‑acre parcel in the northern portion of the Fort Gillum district. In the staff presentation, the buildings were described as concrete utility structures with glass curtain walls; the transcript of the staff report listed Building 1 as a two‑story structure described in the presentation as “1,600,004 feet” and Building 2 as a three‑story, “200,000 square feet,” and noted associated components including a site electrical substation, surface parking, stormwater management features and landscape buffers. Staff recommended three conditions: (1) the side facing adjacent residential property should…