Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure And Utilities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges Mankato to withdraw from consideration of North Mankato data-center plans; city manager says city is not providing water
Summary
At the Sept. 8 meeting a resident urged the city to withdraw any participation in processes tied to a proposed North Mankato hyperscale data center, citing water and electricity concerns; City Manager Arntz clarified Mankato is not being asked to provide water service and is not processing an application for the project.
At the public open forum during the Sept. 8 Mankato City Council meeting, community member Benton Bakke urged the council to withdraw any Mankato resources from consideration in an AUAR-related process tied to a proposed hyperscale data center in North Mankato.
Bakke said he understood Mankato was not the decision-maker but warned that combined water-production capacity in Mankato and North Mankato "have only half of the production capacity that would be required for this facility, this 1 facility, at peak demand." He also asserted the facility's electrical demand would exceed the state's solar and biomass generation and said offsetting it with new solar would require "16,500 acres" of panels. "I urge you at your soonest opportunity to withdraw Mankato's resources from consideration in that disastrous plan," Bakke said.
After public comment, City Manager Arntz told the council he had spoken with the commenter and wanted to clarify the city's position: "We're not involved in that project whatsoever. We don't provide water service to the city of North Mankato. We've not been asked to be part of providing water service for that development project," Arntz said, while noting the city does provide wastewater services for North Mankato.
The council recorded no formal action on the data-center topic during the meeting. The technical claims raised by the commenter about regional water and electrical capacity were not verified at the meeting; staff confined their response to clarifying municipal involvement and service responsibilities.
Quotes
"I urge you at your soonest opportunity to withdraw Mankato's resources from consideration in that disastrous plan," Benton Bakke said during public comment.
"We're not involved in that project whatsoever. We don't provide water service to the city of North Mankato," City Manager Arntz said in response.
Next steps
No formal council action followed the public comment. Council and staff clarified municipal roles and responsibilities; any future requests for city involvement would be considered through the city's normal review channels.
