At least 42 people commented at Friday’s special hearing of the City of Bloomington planning commission that sought public input on potential data center regulations, with cheers and applause backing commenters’ demands for outright bans.
Over 110 people gathered that afternoon at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts for the meeting. Following a presentation of the city's draft of data center regulations, a public comment period extended into Friday evening with no time limits enforced on individual speakers. Instead of concluding the meeting, the commission moved to continue the public hearing at the second of two sessions Nov. 16 at the BCPA.
WGLT reported the set of proposed rules defines various types of data centers; acceptable zoning locations; community benefits; required reports on water and power use, noise and vibration; limits on design features, power consumption, noise, and water use; and decommission procedures. Fines and fees levied on data centers found in violation of city rules are also being weighed.
The draft of the regulations was proposed just over a month before the city’s six-month moratorium on data centers greater than 5 megawatts is slated to expire on Nov. 16. After the second public hearing set for that same, the commission is expected to deliberate, vote and provide a recommendation that would go before the Bloomington city council on Nov. 23 for a final vote.
Jobs and taxes
Gil Brockway, representing Laborers Local 362 and Livingston & McLean County Building Trades unions, said data center construction brings family-sustaining benefits and fair prevailing wages that get spent in the local economy.
“Data centers are the backbone of the digital economy, and our local unions are ready to be the backbone of their construction,” said Brockway.
Bloomington’s Ashley Farmer said that Gov. JB Pritzker paused new tax incentive deals for data centers this summer, but the draft of Bloomington’s land use rules say nothing about the city’s checkbook.
“Local property tax abatements, TIF districts, enterprise zone benefits, and publicly funded infrastructure are all still on the table, and we want them off. And they should be off the table entirely,” Farmer said.
She cited a Gallup poll that found that among Americans who support data centers, jobs are the top reason. Once built, Farmer said data centers don’t employ that many people.
“The nonprofit Good Jobs First notes that data centers require large amounts of capital investment, but unlike manufacturing projects, they create few jobs,” said Farmer.
“Besides electricity and water, data centers buy very little from local communities, and so their economic impact on a region is limited.”
She said communities should be able to say no to the data center hype, and she came to Friday’s hearing to say “no.”
‘Bring your own new clean energy’
Ruth Burke, who lives in an unincorporated part of McLean County, said her home is within 700 feet of the current extra-territorial jurisdiction border. That’s an area defined as being within 1.5 miles of the city’s corporate limits.
Burke said the draft of regulations gives people less say in where data centers can be built. Under the draft, she said a data center using just under 10 megawatts on less than 10 acres can be built in a Manufacturing 2 zoning district without any public hearing, special use permit or vote.
“That is not a server closet. That is a neighborhood full of power,” Burke said.
She asked the commission to require a special use permit with a public hearing for every primary data center in the district, and to set the limit on “hyperscale” data centers at 5 megawatts to match the current moratorium.
Responding to Brockway, Burke said jobs are important, but those benefits come from any large project.
Michael Brown, executive director of the Ecology Action Center, presented to the commission several reports on power use, energy sources and air quality. He said Bloomington’s proposed regulations only require 25% on-site renewable energy generation or on-site energy storage for 50% of a facility’s peak needs for only 15 minutes.
“None of these are sufficient. The storage alone is inadequate, as the storm in August left many in our community without power for as long as 24, 36, or even 48 hours,” said Brown.
He said the community’s total energy consumption averages around 200 megawatts. Depending on its size, Brown said a proposed hyperscale data center can range from 10 to 1,500 megawatts.
“While the proposed city ordinance limits data centers to 10 acres or 10 megawatts of power consumption, there's nothing to prevent multiple data centers, either within the city jurisdiction alone or from a combination of city, town, and county jurisdictions, from still doubling, tripling or more our local power demand,” said Brown.
He first recommended a statewide ban on hyperscale data centers, and if not enacted, to then establish statewide legislation with safeguards like the POWER Act. Absent state action, Brown called for regional guardrails for hyperscale facilities.
He termed his first recommendation as B-YONCE — that’s not a reference to the singer of the “All the Single Ladies“ pop track, he said.
“Bring your own new clean energy, whether it's on site or elsewhere in the community, adding directly to the local grid, 100% clean, 100% renewable, and it needs to be a new addition, not the purchase of clean energy already going to other uses, as has been done already by major companies like Facebook or Google," he said.
Brown also called for committing to net-zero water, the Leading in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certification, a closed-loop cooling system, ethical battery supply chain standards, and a prohibition on diesel backup generators.
Noise
When presenting the draft regulations, city officials noted that their research looked at measures by the city of Aurora.
In his public comment, Nick Frillman said Bloomington’s drafted rules on setbacks for rooftop chillers and generators fell short of Aurora’s 1,500-foot setback on chillers or 1,005 feet for homes, schools and hospitals.
“Bloomington’s draft states 500 feet. That is 1/3 the distance for chillers and half the distance for hospitals,” Frillman said. The Bloomington man added hyperscale data centers are only set back by 1,000 feet in the draft floated by his home city — he said that’s not far enough.
“A smaller data center with its roaring rooftop chillers can sit just 500 feet from your bedroom window,” Frillman said.
He said the draft of Bloomington’s data center rules copied the ordinances Aurora set, but cut the protections.
“Silence is not a luxury. It is how families sleep, how children learn, and how neighborhoods stay livable,” said Frillman.
Expanded non-disclosure agreement ban sought
Nate Marshall was the first person who had registered to give public comment. Marshall thanked the city for setting a ban on non-disclosure agreements for hyperscale data centers.
While describing the provision as “strong,” Marshall also noted it stops at hyperscale.
A data center under 10 megawatts can still come with a secret agreement, Marshall said.
“Secrecy is secrecy at any size,” Marshall said.
Citing an NBC News report, Marshall said over 30 data center proposals in 14 states found local officials had signed NDAs in most cases.
Marshall asked the commission to ban NDAs for every data center of every size in every district.
“Keep the protection for genuine trade secrets, but water use, power demand, noise, public costs, and community benefits must always be public,” Marshall said. “Sunlight is free. Secrecy is expensive, and the people who pay are always the residents.”
