The Hastings City Council approved a one-year moratorium on data center development following a public hearing at its Monday, Aug. 17 meeting, giving city staff time to study the facilities and prepare potential regulations governing their location and operation.
The interim ordinance temporarily stops the city from accepting, reviewing or issuing permits for data centers. Community Development Director John Hinzman said Hastings’ current zoning code does not define data centers or clearly address the impacts associated with them.
“What the interim moratorium ordinance would do is it would create a pause in the acceptance, deliberation or issuance of any permits related to data centers over the next year or so,” Hinzman said.
The action was not prompted by a proposed project. Hinzman confirmed that the city has received no applications for a data center and is not aware of a company currently seeking to build one in Hastings.
Instead, council members described the moratorium as a proactive step that will allow the city to update its ordinances before an application is submitted.
“If a data center were to come in today, I’m uncertain as to how the code would be treated in regulating them and looking at the impacts of data centers,” Hinzman said. “We would like to be able to ensure that if a data center application does come forward, that we have adequate ability to determine and to measure impacts.”
The city’s Planning Commission voted 4-0 in July to recommend the moratorium. The City Council’s Planning Committee also reviewed the issue and directed staff to bring the interim ordinance forward.
Only one resident spoke during the public hearing.
John Larson, 113 Rivers Drive, said he has been following discussions about data centers in other communities and believes Hastings should carefully study their possible effects before allowing one to be developed.
“Nobody really even knows what they are, what they do,” Larson said. “I just think that there needs to be more looking into this before anything’s approved or any data centers come to Hastings, which is such a beautiful place.”
Larson specifically raised concerns about water use and possible effects on municipal water systems.
Following the hearing, Councilmember Lisa Leifeld said she had received several questions about the moratorium from residents, including during National Night Out. She emphasized that the city is not responding to an active data center proposal.
“We don’t have anyone that we’re aware of at City Hall who’s looking to put a data center in town, do we?” Leifeld asked.
Hinzman responded that no application has been filed.
Leifeld said the city is trying to understand a rapidly developing industry and determine how existing codes would apply before a proposal arrives.
“There’s not a data center knocking on our door that we’re trying to stop,” she said. “This is us, as the elected public, saying, ‘Hey, what can we do?’”
Leifeld said reports from other communities have raised questions about nondisclosure agreements, the speed at which data center proposals sometimes advance and the legal challenges cities may face if their ordinances are outdated.
“I appreciate staff and committee taking the time to just slow down,” she said. “We need to get our codes up to date. This is something that we don’t even address, really.”
Councilmember Dawn Marie Vihrachoff agreed that more information is needed before the city can make long-term decisions about data center development.
“There’s just a lot that we don’t know, and I think that when you know better, you do better,” Vihrachoff said. “I just need to know more.”
She asked Hinzman what work would take place during the moratorium.
Hinzman said staff will review data center ordinances and regulations being considered or adopted by other cities and determine what provisions might be appropriate for Hastings. Any proposed permanent regulations would return to the Planning Commission and City Council through the normal public hearing and code amendment process.
“The good thing about this is we’re not alone in determining this,” Hinzman said. “There’s a lot of information out there. Cities are considering regulations, so we would be looking at what’s out there, what might work for Hastings.”
Although the moratorium can remain in place for up to one year, Hinzman said the city would not necessarily need the entire period to complete its work.
“We would be working on this during that period, not necessarily going the full year, but ensuring we’ve got adequate time to consider options,” he said.
Councilmember Angie Haus said community members have contacted city officials about the issue and that an online petition concerning data centers had also circulated.
Haus said potential impacts on water supplies and air quality are among the primary reasons the city should take time to develop appropriate rules.
“Data centers can really be problematic for our small communities, as they demand excessive local resources,” Haus said. “They can be problematic facilities that typically rely on evaporative cooling, which can drain our municipal water supplies, and utilize backup diesel generators that emit harmful pollutants.”
Hastings has already faced significant water-related challenges because of PFAS contamination, and Haus said the council should make sure any future data center proposal does not worsen those concerns.
“I believe in Hastings we have enough water problems as is, so I’m grateful that we can do more research into this to see how we can mitigate that in the future,” she said.
Haus made the motion to adopt the moratorium, with Leifeld providing the second.
Before the vote, Leifeld asked whether other communities had faced legal opposition after approving similar moratoriums.
Hinzman said many cities have adopted temporary restrictions on data centers and that at least one city had been sued. He noted, however, that the lawsuit involved a pending data center application, making that case different from Hastings, where no application is currently under consideration.
The council approved the interim ordinance without opposition.
The moratorium gives city staff time to research issues that could include water and energy consumption, noise, air emissions, backup power systems, building size, land use compatibility and the effects of data center development on surrounding properties.
Any permanent ordinance developed during the study period would be considered separately and would include opportunities for public review and comment.
Council members said the intent is not to predetermine whether data centers should ever be allowed in Hastings, but to make sure the city is prepared to evaluate a proposal if one is submitted.
“This is our staff, our council wanting to get ahead of something to try and prevent some sort of problem in the future if we can,” Leifeld said.