Hermantown council adopts AUAR for proposed data center amid heavy public opposition

The Hermantown City Council on Sept. 30 adopted the final Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) and mitigation plan for a proposed data center campus in the city’s southwest quadrant, following an extended staff presentation and more than three hours of public comment both opposing and supporting the project.

City staff described the AUAR process and details of the proposal before the council. Eric Johnson, Hermantown’s community development director, told the council the AUAR process included a scoping document (published May 6), a draft AUAR (published Aug. 5) and a final AUAR (published Sept. 16) and that staff received hundreds of public comments between Sept. 24 and Sept. 30 focused on water, groundwater, watershed impacts, energy usage and potential costs to residents. "The final AUAR reflects agency and public comments and includes a mitigation plan that assigns responsibility for specific measures," Johnson said.

Chad Ranchetti, Hermantown’s economic development director, outlined project specifics staff is using to evaluate potential impacts. Ranchetti said the rezoning request covers roughly 220 acres and that the landowner/developer has been working with Mortonson Development representing a confidential, large corporate client. He said facilities on the proposed campus would not use groundwater or water-based cooling and that, at full buildout with four buildings, water demand…