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Residents press Deuel County commissioners for answers on data center impacts — public meeting scheduled for zoning setbacks
Summary
Residents and commissioners raised a long list of infrastructure, safety and land-use concerns about a proposed data center; the board said it will pursue answers and the zoning board will meet Jan. 13 to discuss transmission-line setbacks and related zoning issues.
Concerns about a proposed data center dominated the ‘‘old business’’ discussion at the Deuel County commission meeting on Jan. 6, as residents and officials compiled a long list of questions about public-safety capacity, infrastructure impacts, land-use effects and community notification.
Commission Chairman Jay Grabow said the board will work to learn from previous projects and to ‘‘try and do right this time around’’ as it gathers more information. The list of concerns read into the minutes included 43 items, among them whether the sheriff’s office, ambulance and fire departments can handle construction-phase demands; the route and setback for proposed 765 kV transmission lines; potential depletion of gravel supplies; water use for large roofs; light pollution from site lighting; tax and land-price effects; workforce and drug-related concerns; and questions about whether county meetings are adequately publicized.
Resident Steve January told the commission he is concerned about transmission lines that would cross his property and suggested a 2,000-foot setback from those lines because of health concerns; Mary Nosbush said zoning ordinances typically freeze once a transmission-line application is filed and urged the Planning and Zoning Commission to act quickly. Cory Borg, identified in the minutes as a participant who had been contacted by an elected official, urged commissioners to coordinate with ambulance, fire and law-enforcement leaders to develop a public-safety plan.
Commissioners did not adopt policy changes at the Jan. 6 meeting but recorded that they would start working to get answers to the listed questions. The minutes show the Planning and Zoning Commission scheduled further discussion of powerline setbacks for Jan. 13 at 6:30 p.m.
The record is a list of concerns rather than formal findings; several items are phrased as questions or community worries. The county did not record technical responses or commitments to specific mitigations at this meeting, only the direction that staff and officials will pursue follow-up work.
