Hermantown has moved its City Council vote on Google's proposed data center to Friday after protests shut down two meetings. The city scheduled the session for 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 30 with the same six resolutions from the canceled Oct. 27 agenda, according t
Featured: Wide news photograph documenting residents protesting Google's data center plans in Hermantown.o a city press release.
The resolutions cover a special use permit for the facility, a plat reconfiguring 22 existing properties into three lots and a development agreement with Google. They also include a rejection of a citizen petition for an environmental assessment worksheet, a cooperative agreement with St. Louis County and protections for the city if the site stops operating as a data center, the Duluth News Tribune reported. MPR News described the package as the final major local approvals the project needs.
Monday's 6:30 p.m. special meeting never reached a vote. Hundreds of people filled the building, and most were routed to an overflow room, MPR News reported. Many people were still in line to sign up for public comment when the city closed the sheet. About 100 people began chanting "Let us speak!" and later "Shut it down!" Protesters sat on the floor chanting for two hours before Police Chief Jim Crace declared an unlawful assembly and gave the crowd 10 minutes to leave.
Joe Wicklund, Hermantown's assistant city administrator, said the city could not guarantee a safe meeting. "This has certainly been a polarizing issue, and no matter where folks have fallen on either side of it, we've had really neighborly meetings until this evening," Wicklund said.
The city then canceled the Tuesday meeting because early voting ran in the council chambers until 7 p.m., half an hour before the meeting was to start. "The decision reflects the desire to ensure safe, secure entry and exit for voters without overlap with arriving meeting attendees," the city said in a release.
Friday's agenda adds a virtual viewing option that previous meetings did not offer. In-person attendance is capped at the first 85 visitors in the council chambers per the Fire Department, and verbal public comment is limited to those visitors. Written comments are accepted until noon Friday, and attendees will queue outside City Hall so voters can reach early voting, which runs in the chambers until 4 p.m.
Sarah Lofald, a Hermantown resident and board member of Stop the Hermantown Data Center, said the city should have booked a larger venue. "There seems to be a lot of confusion as to why the city would double down on their attempts to limit the public process and limit the public engagement here," Lofald said.
Supporters, including union members and business groups wearing green shirts, objected to the disruption. "We support the ability for citizens to be heard but the behaviors that were displayed this evening were designed to close down the meeting," said Jack Carlson, president of the Duluth Building Trades Council, and Kim Parmeter, president of the Hermantown Chamber of Commerce, in a joint statement.
Google seeks to build a data center of roughly 1.7 million square feet on more than 200 acres in a rural corner of Hermantown, MPR News reported. The Duluth News Tribune puts the figure at 1.66 million square feet. The first phase is expected to cost $650 million, and the project is expected to use about 500 megawatts of electricity. On Oct. 14, Google dropped its pursuit of up to $80 million in property tax breaks.
Baxtel tracks six data centers in the Duluth market, operated by two providers, with none under construction; the largest is Ark's Duluth site at 1 megawatt. Baxtel lists four planned Google buildings at Hermantown on a 403-acre campus, each carrying an 80 MW planned power record in the Duluth market.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission still must approve an electric service agreement between Google and Minnesota Power, with a vote expected early next year. Three lawsuits also challenge the project. Judge Theresa Neo declined last week to issue a temporary restraining order against the city and scheduled a Dec. 8 hearing on three motions, including the restraining order.
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