Residents urge stricter ordinance, transparency and mitigation ahead of any data-center approval

During the audience-comment period, several residents urged stricter protections and greater transparency regarding a potential data center and an associated ordinance now before the planning commission.

Theresa Andrews summarized public-safety and housing concerns, warning that a large temporary workforce "of 6 to 8,000 people working around the clock" could overwhelm local police, fire and emergency medical services and asking, "Are our public safety systems capable of handling this immediate influx of need as they stand today?" She requested a binding plan addressing staffing, training, equipment, housing mitigation and cost reimbursement before the project moves forward.

Other speakers raised environmental and procedural concerns. Carol McGuire said most protections in the current draft ordinance read as discretionary: "A protection that you are free to skip is not a protection," and urged stronger, mandatory language—asking for bans on diesel generators, 1,000-foot air-quality buffers from day cares, schools, churches and parks, and monthly public reporting of water and power use. Clark Clayton cited Iowa DNR and EPA materials about rising PCE levels at wells near the Kemplex site and urged stricter sampling and modernized testing standards on the city’s side of Highway 30.

Several commenters also alleged inadequate notice and secrecy around the project, urging councilors to require ordinance language that protects residents rather than leaving protections as optional items in development agreements or as “may” requirements.