Warrenton planning panel approves Crusoe data center conditional use permit amid public concern over water, lighting and taxes

The Warrenton Planning & Zoning Commission voted 8–2 on Jan. 8 to approve a conditional use permit and the site plan for a proposed Crusoe data center campus on about 337 acres, advancing the project to the Board of Aldermen with a set of conditions the commission said are intended to reduce noise, light and landscape impacts on nearby residents.

Crusoe’s chief real estate officer, Matt Field, told the commission the two-building campus will include two ~805,000-square-foot data halls and a 40,000-square-foot administration building and uses a closed-loop chilled-water system for cooling. “Our buildings, once they’re operational, we use a 120,000 gallons of water annually for both buildings, so less than a single house,” Field said, citing the project’s planned cooling approach and asserting the campus will not drill on-site wells but will be served by the Montgomery County Water District.

The commission’s approval included conditions requiring denser perimeter planting and tighter lighting controls; commissioners discussed requiring dark-sky–compliant fixtures, lowering color temperature targets toward 3,000 K where safety permits, and specifying motion-sensor operation to minimize night-time lumens. Commissioners also asked Crusoe and its civil engineer, Kimley Horn and Associates, to provide further documentation on stormwater permits, tree-preservation plans and species selections that avoid known local diseases and invasive lists.

Public commenters at the hearing were sharply divided. Local trades representatives urged approval because of the projected construction work and apprenticeships. “Let’s put these kids to work,” said Scott Ramshaw, a representative of the plumbers’ union, who cited large-scale construction opportunities. But dozens of nearby residents pressed the commission for more information and protections. “I would like to understand what safeguards are in place to prevent harm to local ecosystems,” said Cody Turner, who said he farms adjacent to the site and asked for transparent monitoring of water temperature, discharge and pH.

Other residents asked that the community be given a vote on the project and raised long-term worries about property values, generator emissions and the possibility of future expansions. Some speakers cited potential habitat for three bat species and urged tree-clearing timing and mitigation measures; Kimley Horn’s environmental consultant reported a recent protected-species assessment and said tree clearing would be scheduled in winter months to minimize impacts.

Commissioners spent extended time questioning the developer and technical team about who will ultimately occupy the buildings (Crusoe said it owns/develops the site and intends to lease space to end users and that no end user is currently announced), responsibility for conditional-use compliance if the property is sold, and the composition of the cooling fluids. The presenter said propylene glycol is used in the closed-loop system, that leak-detection and valving will be installed to isolate breaks quickly, and that any off-site disposal of process water would be managed by the eventual tenant in compliance with city and state rules.

Representatives from Ameren Missouri explained that transmission and substation costs for large customers are charged through construction agreements and a new tariff design requires such customers to pay a share of interconnection costs so that ratepayers are not left to cover those upgrades. Ameren said excess capacity, if any, can be sold into the MISO market and that the utility requires long-term service contracts for very large customers.

After deliberation, the commission approved the conditional use permit 8–2 and approved the site plan by the same margin. Commissioners recorded that the approvals are not final and will be forwarded to the Board of Aldermen, which will consider the project and any tax-incentive requests at a Jan. 20 meeting. Several commissioners and residents urged the city and developer to resolve outstanding questions about potential tax abatement requests, and some asked that the developer commit to leaving local sales and personal-property taxes in place for taxing jurisdictions.

The developer provided several commitments at the hearing: no on-site water wells, tested generator enclosures to meet the city’s noise standard, perimeter screening that exceeds the minimum code setback, and efforts to hire locally. City staff said required land-disturbance and stormwater permits will be filed with state regulators and pledged to work with the developer on final landscaping and lighting details.

Next steps: Crusoe and its consultants will return with revised engineering and landscaping plans addressing the commission’s requested clarifications; the Board of Aldermen will consider the CUP and any tax-incentive requests on Jan. 20.