It’s really no surprise that some elected officials love big government, where unelected bureaucrats tell you what you can and cannot do. The latest Big Government Empowerment Act was introduced at the Minnesota legislature last week: it seeks to empower the state of Minnesota with the right to overturn existing zoning laws throughout the state, including those in your community.
The stated purpose of those supporting this statewide power grab is from those who believe a state bureaucrat knows what is best for your community rather than local elected officials. It appears that some legislators, led on by a small group of NIMBY citizens, don’t like certain types of community development. Rather than working these issues out at city hall, they seek to impose a Met Council, “one-size-fits-all” set of zoning regulations for the entire state and to take away local decision-making.
What are the bill’s sponsored primary concerns? Data centers.
What is a data center? “Data centers are the infrastructure backbone of the 21st century economy. Everything that uses the internet –from the cars we drive to businesses that manufacture, create, and sell goods and services– require data centers to work.” Data centers literally store and help operate everything we use on a daily basis – from mobile phones, internet at home and office, AI, and everything in-between. Without data centers to store and help facilitate the operating of our mobile world, much of life that we’re used to having at our fingertips 24/7, would come to a grinding halt.
Data centers are nothing new: today the bulk of them exist far from Minnesota. However, with the ever-expanding need for more and more data storage, tech firms have discovered the colder weather in the upper Midwest is a good fit for these facilities.
Equally important is what a data center can do for Minnesota communities: they bring jobs – good paying jobs — along with significant local tax revenue in the millions of dollars – to the communities where they are located.
Today, there are nearly 5,400 data centers located in all 50 states operating in the U.S. They have only recently caught the attention of some in our state legislature because of loud complaints from a few angry constituents in Farmington who fear living close to a proposed data center.
The proposed “hyperscale data center” under consideration in Farmington is a good example of how the tail is wagging the dog when it comes to understanding this issue.
Farmington, a city with the “youngest population in Dakota County” is a fast-growing exurban community located next to the more fully developed city of Lakeville. Farmington still has large swaths of land available for development – something that residential taxpayers in the community have voiced support for as a way to help disperse the high property tax rates associated with a growing community (think new schools, more roads, etc.)
A large corporation recently started negotiating the purchase of land in Farmington with the stated purpose of locating a “hyperscale data center” there. The proposal, which would include the hiring of hundreds of construction workers along with, once complete, the hiring of upwards of hundreds of full-time workers (engineers and heating and cooling specialists, round-the-clock security, etc.) who generally bring home good salaries and benefits.
A hyperscale data center can expect to contribute hundreds of millions in additional annual economic input to local tax coffers – a welcomed relief for local homeowners and families who want to make sure our schools are fully funded and new roads and sewers and other municipal infrastructure can be built as needed. To accomplish these goals, growing communities need a strong mix of commercial & industrial taxpayers along with small businesses, local homeowners and many more taxpaying classifications.
All of this new data center development will occur, not only in Farmington but also in welcoming communities around the state only after extensive review from multiple state regulatory agencies. These state-wide regulating bodies will ensure that Minnesota’s groundwater isn’t depleted as well as protecting (or hopefully expanding) our electric power grid. Most importantly, the last thing any local community should wish for is for the state legislature to take away local planning decisions from local elected officials and instead, grant that power to a state agency.
In case you’re wondering how statewide placement of large developments don’t always work in the best interests of local residents, feel free to ask any of the over 200 former residents of Richfield who lost their homes when Best Buy decided to consolidate and build a new world headquarters alongside the busiest intersection in Minnesota. Those homes were taken by eminent domain and the intersection of Interstate 35W and 494 remains dangerous and constantly congested.
Or, ask a member of the Prairie Island Indian Community how much consultation they received when Minnesota officials decide to locate the state’s second nuclear power plant in their back yard. That is what happens when you take away local control and give that power to the state.
