A Bloomington council member plans to host a discussion about data centers days after a joint Bloomington-Normal panel discussion on the issue.
Council member John Danenberger said he will host a casual, town hall discussion at 2 p.m. Sunday at Fell Avenue Park.
There won’t be any experts available and there will not be a formal agenda, according to Danenberger. The event is meant to be a chance for neighbors to meet face-to-face and openly discuss how they feel about data centers.
Ward 4 covers areas east of Downtown Bloomington, including Ewing Manor and Towanda Avenue. It also covers Fairway Drive, which is where one resident placed a pro-data center sign outside of his home.
Danenberger said the sign has been trampled and knocked down, and he felt he needed to host an event where people in support of data centers felt able to express their opinions.
“I have invited folks that have come out in the community as being pro data center — and I have even more that are anti — but I want everyone to sit down, have coffee, have cookies and educate one another,” he said.
“I don’t want this to become a knock-down, drag-out argument,” he continued.
Danenberger said he personally is against data centers.
“I know that I like the fertile soil and my bird migrations and some more environmental concerns, but I may not know everything in terms of what benefits data centers might have,” he said.
He also wants to clear the air on rumors of collusion between data center companies and Bloomington’s City Council, saying he has not been asked to sign any non-disclosure agreements or been involved in any back-door data center discussions.
“I think each alderperson owes that to their ward,” Danenberger said.
Bloomington and the Town of Normal are in the middle of dual moratoriums on data center projects, put in place to give the municipalities time to draft regulations on hyper-scale data centers. Hyper-scale data centers use five or more megawatts of power.
Both the city and town are hosting a joint panel discussion on data centers Wednesday. The event has drawn criticism because organizers have asked people to submit questions ahead of time electronically.
There will be at least two opportunities for public comment with the Bloomington Planning Commission hearings on data center regulations. The first will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 1 at 4 p.m., the second will be 4 p.m. Nov. 5.
The city has not announced a location yet for either of those hearings.
