Minneapolis City Council set to consider data center regulations ordinance

The Minneapolis City Council is scheduled to consider a data center regulations ordinance on Thursday.

According to the city's website, the ordinance would amend "regulations for certain uses associated with distribution and use of electric power, including data centers, electric or gas substations, backup generators, utility boxes, and battery energy storage systems."

The Minneapolis Committee of the Whole discussed the proposed ordinance for over two hours on Monday before voting to forward it to the full council. 

On June 25, the City Council approved a five-month pause on data center development, temporarily halting new data center projects to allow city staff to study regulations and examine concerns about environmental impacts, energy use and public safety. The moratorium expires on Nov. 21, according to city officials.

The proposal, in part, says a new data center may only be established in a building existing on Jan. 1, 2027, and that the floor area of a facility "shall be limited to no more than (50,000) square feet on any zoning lot."

"As an incentive to advance the deployment of renewable energy, a data center shall be authorized to establish up to one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) square feet of white space when subscribing to a renewable energy rate option from the local electric utility service provider," the proposal says.

White space, according to the city document, is the floor area within a data center that is primarily dedicated to servers, IT racks, power systems, network gear and air conditioning units.

City Council member Elizabeth Shaffer said on Monday, "Data centers in Minneapolis are not the same as data centers in other parts of Minnesota or the nation in size and scope. Admittedly, regulating by square footage is a bit of an imperfect measure, but it's the tool that we have to work with in this moment."

The proposal also calls for a "sound attenuation plan" that addresses noise from data center equipment both inside and outside a facility.

City records show the City Council is set to consider the ordinance during its meeting on Thursday, which is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.

NOTE: The attached video first aired on Aug. 21.