##VIDEO ID:19wOUR0OVQ8## [Music] [Music] [Music] all right we'll call the meeting to order on behalf of the Planning Commission I'd like to welcome our residents and viewers to this regular meeting of September 10th 2024 in addition to our planning staff with us tonight is our economic development director and our City attorney on tonight's agenda we have one public hearing and one discussion item uh before we get into the public hearing we have one housekeeping item that would be the minutes of our August 14th regular meeting are there any corrections or additions to those minutes if not is there a motion motion to approved we have a motion is there a second second motion a second all in favor say I I I minutes are approved um with that um we're going to open the public hearing first this is a two-part application the first part is a preliminary plat and a preliminary PUD development for the Farmington Technology Park the second part of the application is for the resoning of two Parcels of land including the Fountain Valley Golf Course and the property formerly known as the Angus property from Highway business residential Park and open space and agricultural to mixed use commercial and residential the applicant for both is tracked I just wanted the residents to know that the Commissioners did receive the permiss the petition dated August 7th 2024 along with letters from several residents that would be included in the public record before we send to City staff our City attorney has something to comment on a ARS yes uh thank you chair and commission hello all my name is Leah KO I'm the City attorney for the city of Farmington just briefly um there's been some confusion about AAR in this process just wanted to let you all know that it's not uncommon for the AAR process to run concurrently with some of these preliminary decisions for those that don't know AAR is Al alternative Urban areawide review which is required by the Environmental Quality Board of the state of Minnesota that is running separately from this process that's here today we're not in a position to address each and every environmental concern today as a part of this step of the process but we will have the results of the AAR before final approvals are issued so thank you thank you Leah Tony you going to start out the hearing then I am all right thank you right thank you Mr chair commission members uh as uh chair Rod had mentioned this is kind of a two-part public hearing um with the first being a preliminary PL uh preliminary plan unit development uh for what is termed the Farmington Technology Park and that is uh the developer tract and then uh rezoning of the Fountain Valley Golf Course uh and property formerly known as the Angus property um from B1 R1 R2 R3 park in open space and A1 to Mu which is our mixed use commercial industrial uh do want to mention that uh as the commission is aware uh you did review this uh rezone back uh several months ago um and did table this uh item um do want to mention that um after that particular public hearing the developer did uh listen to a lot of those concerns that were addressed at that time or brought up at that time time and since then they have voluntarily uh applied for What's called the plan un development um along with the plat um in order to try to address some of those concerns and uh have some of that information that wasn't readily available at that initial uh public hearing um available with uh the preliminary plat and PUD so as far as the surrounding uh land uses uh the property is at the very Southeast corner of town There's agricultural uses to the north a low density residential and agricultural uses to the east those being in Castle Rock Township industrial and low density residential to the west and then agricultural uses to the South uh again anything south would be in the township as well uh the preliminary plat consists of three lots and that spread over just over 340 acres of land uh there would be again three lots lot one block one which is 155.25 Acres that's in the very North uh West corner of the plat uh that lot would be deeded to the city for utility purposes and then lot one block two which is the southern portion um of the site uh the school district site or what's formerly known as the Angus site is 185.5 4 acres and again that would be the southern portion of the data center campus do want to mention that they are showing a 75t wide drainage and utility roadway and Trail easement uh specifically along the Eastern uh boundary of what is lot one block one and this is to preserve future uh Corridor for biscan Avenue uh which would be a County Road uh future County Road um at this time it would not be constructed as part of this development um it would be constructed if and when the county decides to move forward with that project so uh the representative site plan um included in your packet is a a site plan and I call it a representative site plan in that um it gives an idea of how the site could be ultimately developed um this site plan is subject to change as the end user has not yet been secured or identified for uh the campus um do want to mention that individual site plans will have to be approved uh by this commission prior to any data center building or an ancillary use being constructed on site uh design standards are being proposed as part of the planned unit development all site plans would have to be in compliance with those standards if and when approved uh what is shown here is the uh the campus as a whole uh the one on the left shows the north campus and the one on the right is the uh South Campus um the gray uh gray areas are essentially the proposed buildings so for reference uh the plan does provide for up to 12 Data Center buildings uh that would be six on either campus along with two administrative buildings again one on each campus uh between the North and South campuses uh the square footage of the data centers on the north campus site is uh 1.6 million square ft uh with uh the southern campus that would be just over 900 uh th000 Square ft building setbacks will be substantially greater than uh generally allowed under our mixed use commercial industrial district um just for reference the muci um the setbacks that are allowed under that specific zoning District the front yard is a zero setback sidey yard zero and rear yard 20 what being proposed as far as the design standards for this would be a minimum of 250 ft from properties adjacent to residential uses and that would be from the property line and 150 ft from any property line adjacent to a nonresidential use uh the applicant is proposing uh a 40ft wide natural buffer in addition to those expanded setbacks uh this would be around the majority of the perimeter of the site um and the intent of this buffer is to retain as many of the existing healthy trees that are um on site as practical um there will be additional bming um potentially 10 ft and or higher um will also be placed within the natural buffer area to provide additional screening and um some visual Aesthetics as well uh do want to note that perimeter fencing up to 14 ft in height will also be provided this will be located outside of the natural buffer area so it will be further than 40 ft from the property line just so uh commission is aware um the other thing to note with the 14 ft in height that type of fencing does require a building permit so uh what we have here is uh basically the um buildable this site or this plan here shows basically what they are proposing for the buildable um portion of the properties um everything in brown uh meets those setbacks um this does show the buffer area um along with um where uh the flood plane is located on the lot one block two in the South um there is about 69 Acres of that site that is incumbered with flood plane um so as far as transportation and parking um there are four anticipated accesses uh for this campus uh the Norther campus includes one off of Highway 50 or 220th Street and one off at 225th Street on the southern end of the the northern campus uh the southern campus includes an access of a 225th Street and then the second one would be off of biscane Avenue uh the proposed development standards uh would require one parking space for each th s foot of office space uh the way the the the development standards are written now now or proposed parking spaces would not be required for the designated uh data Hall areas or the data centers themselves so uh Parks trails and sidewalks uh with this particular plant the city would be looking to take cash in Li versus land dedication uh a future Trail will be constructed in that 75t wide dra enging utility uh roadway and Trail easement and again that would be constructed if and when the county decides to move that project forward as I had mentioned uh tract is proposing to uh develop this project as a planned unit development uh and have suggested certain development standards be established uh and uh include language on the following uh setbacks again provide standards for the minimum set setback of buildings from property lines as I previously mentioned this includes a minimum setback of 250 ft from any property line adjacent to residential uses 150 ft setb back from a property line not adjacent to residential uses and then a 40ft setb back from the RightWay at 225th Street uh number two is natural buffers again provides for that 40 foot wide natural buffer along the majority of the perimeter of the the site uh Landscaping provides for uh types of planting that will be used throughout the site allows for the use of rock gravel mulch as an accent material for maintenance areas uh adjacent buildings or around utility access points and provide standards for landscaping of parking lots as well uh easement for future County Road uh basically just provides some language similar to what I already referred to as far as how that easement would be utilized uh General design standards uh this includes things for facade standards and screening require excuse me screening requirements uh provides language that provides protection from undifferentiated undifferentiated surfaces on principal building facades by requiring the use of at least two um Design Elements um changes in such as changes in Building height building step backs uh that would be projections or recesses fenestration changes in building material the pattern texture color uh use of accent materials overhangs use of canopies or porticos arcades and Vari ations in uh the roof line this also provides language regarding the screening of both uh ground level U utilities such as the substations and above ground mounted uh mechanical equipment and structures Building height the maximum Building height on the site for principal structure uh that is being requested is 80 ft however the maximum height at the building setback line will be uh is proposed at 50 ft uh the provision allows for a step back approach to Building height for each one foot of increase in Building height the building must be step back additional 2 ft um maximum Building height of accessory structure is 50 ft um number seven is the fence height again talks about going up to a maximum height of 14 ft electric utility lines uh provides language on the need for electric utility lines and their construction as part of the overall project uh number nine is noise uh this uh provision provides language that uh all noise generated from the site shall meet the requirements as established by the mpca it provides language that a noise study uh will be prepared at time of sight plan that demonstrates that the applicable noise levels will not uh exceed the Bas will not be exceeded uh based on the specific system and equipment that will be used um on site it's does provide language requiring the uh installation of physical sound attenuation measures on any mechanical equipment that is installed at a Data Center building uh and located within 1,200 ft of any adjacent residential use um under certain circumstances uh again number 10 the parking is just outlining the one parking space for each th000 squ ft of office use 11 substations are exempt from them muci basically states that the substation will be exempt from the design regulations of the mcui zoning District but that these facilities um must be fenced and screened and would be reviewed as part of any overall site plan as well private communication Towers provides language that these are permitted up to a maximum height of 80 ft and lastly number 13 the maximum lock coverage provides language that there is no maximum lock coverage for all uses built in the designated developable area and again that's that brown area that was in that map that I previously showed you okay now the second part of the request is regarding the resoning of those uh specific Parcels the first one is the Angus property that is owned by uh the school district it is p 07005 0076 011 and 07005 76012 uh these Parcels were annexed into the city on April 24th of this year at which time the parcels were automatically zoned um to our uh A1 or agricultural Zone and that is per code uh the request is to reone these Parcels from A1 to the muci uh mixed use commercial industrial and then the second one is the reone of the Fountain Valley Golf Course uh the property located at 2830 220 Street West again this is a mixture of zoning districts including the B1 R1 R2 R3 uh parking open space um and the request is to rezone that to uh the mixed use commercial industrial or muci as well I do want to note that data centers are a permitted use in the muci zoning District as well I do want to mention the comprehensive Plan update um at as the commission is aware the city began this process well over a year ago um well before um this application even was a a thought um it is a Citywide midcycle update um that aims to address among other things there that have been brought into the city via annexation such as the uh School District property as well as the OAA the Orly annexation areas that were part of the Empire Orly annexation agreement um those were brought into the city when Empire incorporated as a city um a little over a year ago uh the rezonings the preliminary plan and preliminary plan unit development will need to be contingent upon approval of the comprehensive plan amendment being approved by the city council uh and ultimately the Metropolitan Council it is anticipated that the comprehensive plan Amendment will be approved by the city council uh by the end of this year so uh therefore the action as requested this evening uh recommend approval of the following applications and petitions and forward the recommendation onto the city council contingent upon approval of the midcycle comprehensive plan amendment number one the preliminary plat and preliminary plan unit development for the Farmington Technology Park two reone the properties identified with pids 07005 0076 011 and 07005 [Music] 57612 from A1 agriculture to muci mixed use commercial industrial and three reone the property address at 2 2830 220th Street West from B1 R1 R2 R3 parking open space to muci mixed use commercial industrial all right thank you Tony is there anything else from staff either Deana or Leah nothing all right I did want to mention because it was asked of Me by one of the residents um if you are interested in speaking you can speak to either one of the two parts of the application or you can speak to both again I ask you to be uh respectful limit your time we have a number of people here again if we start dragging on too long for each person then we're going to have to start limiting it um and While others are speaking please be respectful you know with your phones with anything else and um just be be a good neighbor too with that then I remind you when you want to speak you're going to have to come up to the podium state your name and address for the record um we'll go from there just raise your hand um before we do that I guess I'm going to ask Mr Ste does the applicant have anything to add to the staff report yes all right thank you thank you chair Commissioners um my name is Jacob Steen with Lin Hoffman and we represent trct the applicant uh first I want to say thank you to staff for that presentation uh this is not an uncomplicated project uh this is uh not a small project and we appreciate all of their due diligence and hard work on this uh and I think the Planning Commission should be proud of your staff for the staff recommendation uh or per the staff report and the presentation we are seeking rezonings uh the preliminary plant and the plan unit development uh you had previously seen this project as part of a resoning application uh and that at that time track was seeking uh straight rezoning so development of a data center uh under the muci district uh as staff indicated uh data center is a permitted use as of right uh but we heard this body we heard your comments we heard the community uh and we heard staff and uh we went back to uh to look at our options and we voluntarily opted into the planned unit development procedure and we did this for a couple of reasons um you know it it provides uh some protections for the city uh provides the city some additional oversight and it also provides us uh some flexibility and assurances uh as to how the uh the future development gets phased uh specifically we're talking about the flexibility that uh Mr whiper went through and that's uh guarantees related to screening setback noise mitigation uh and other development standards that would be built into the development contract with the developer so our request tonight is not uh to review and recommend approval of the final development uh what we're asking for is for the rezoning the preliminary plat and the Pud framework uh and that framework is going to set forth the process and the standards by which the actual development will be reviewed uh because this project uh will ultimately occur in at least two phases the standards uh as Tony laid out uh address a number of built form standards uh they're both performance and uh development standards that address Building height uh setbacks screening Landscaping uh and we have the ability again under this PUD to make sure that we guarantee that those exceed uh the underlying muci district and the process itself uh will Define uh again a process in which you as the Planning Commission have additional oversight through every step of this project uh every phase as is contemplated under this plan unit development will include site plan review by the Planning Commission uh it will re it will include uh noise mitigation and noise uh study uh that will be reviewed by the Planning Commission uh if you want a a visual effects study a traffic study uh and it will outline this all in a contractual process and then most important each one of those phases will uh be bound between the developer and the city through a development contract that will make sure we all understand those standards uh so I'm not going to go through all of the individual standards we're happy to uh answer any questions we have the entire track team here uh including our engineers and we're happy to uh address those or we can wait until the end of the public comment and we can address those all at the same time all right thank you Mr Steen appreciate it thank you you and your staff is sale available I'd appreciate that also all right we come to the citizens portion do you want to start sir sure uh oh my mom always told me that I should take my hat off when I talk to betters that's yet to be determined tonight all right thank you can I get your name and address please uh Robert Jones I live on 12th Street um uh I have previously been on the Northwest Regional Planning Commission uh in Wisconsin that's that's my curriculum uh I'm here because my girlfriend has decided that she would be my fiance she's a Vikings fan so you know you're stuck I can't go back to Green Bay you're stuck man I'm sorry um for you guys this is about tax revenue you know no bones about it the city's been bankrupt they've had some trouble right unless you guys want to take a pay cut cut you need to have the tax revenue I support this project 100% with some concerns um the the history I know nothing of uh about the history of tracks do you know something about the history of tracks have they done this kind of thing somewhere else in the country or in the state and and do we have a a history of them are they there for one year two years 3 years 10 years right or once the the paycheck is is uh uh is paid and everything is are dotted and teeth are crossed right are they going to do that somewhere else turn it over to somebody else who may or may not be bound by all of these promises that uh that they have made to you and the things that you expect to happen um the the future County Road and and the trail right can you depend on the county to do that within the next 50 years I don't know much about Dakota County but counties I've men right they only do things when they see a benefit to them and in their in that case the benefit is tax revenue everybody wants tax revenue in addition ta tracks right they're not doing this for free they see a profit in this there's a profit motivation there's a profit motivation for everybody for tracks for the gas station for the liquor stores in town right for the city all right It's All About the Benjamins when it comes down to this and I found that out sitting on the regional Planning Commission we've had lots of people come in there and snookered us or tried to Snooker us into you know they paint a nice warm and fuzzy thing and when it comes right down to it it just doesn't wash I want to know tracks history are they going to be here in 10 years they um a number of things they're talking about 250t setback from residential plus a 40t extra and a 10ft burm if they believe that a 40 foot additional and a t foot burm is required then let's put it in the contract let's not leave that up to to them if they think that sound uh uh issues are going to have right let's look at what they're talking about let's look at let's look at 40 or 60 htz uh motors for fans and pumps and that kind of stuff for the cooling system right let's look at going up to 90 Hertz at times let's look at their water usage is there going to be an issue with there are evaporative system are they going to be drawing more and we ran into this in one instant they going to be drawing more from the city water system then they believe today they might really believe it today but down the line are they going to be drawing more now public service with their electricity you know you know they can string another wire right but when it comes to pumping water out of the ground we're talking about a groundw we're talking about the stuff that we drink and you know that becomes an issue what about monitoring and enforcement do you as a Planning Commission have the authority right right now and can you develop that authority to enforce all of these things if indeed tra moves on and somebody else comes in it's my understanding that this is going to be a whole bunch of small businesses that are taking up these space i' love it I'm I'm an IT guy from way back you know I walked around in the basement of the compai building at 3:00 in the morning waiting for my printer to print okay I I love it I support this I support the tax revenue I support the gas stations and the liquor stores especially the liquor stores um you know this is good for the town but it has to be done right and it has has to be done so that 10 years down the road we're not suffering from it right what kind of bonding can we put on tracks or on somebody so that things can be made right if it goes ay um okay um parking lots if they're going to put up 4 fo towers with CLE lights on it are going to shine into my bedroom I'm not going to be happy with that has that been addressed I know Lighting in in parking lots is for safety is fine for you know the ladies are going to be working there and of course some of us guys too you know um are they going to maintain the Landscaping who's going to maintain the Landscaping if they move on are there going to be bonds to do that they're talking about changing the roof line I don't care what the Building looks like what I care about is down the road are they going to is is is the design of the building going to affect my lifestyle the lifestyle of all these people here and and because we don't want that yes we want development we want this and we want that you know I love it that I got high-speed internet most of the time my carrier is not all that good um you know but I also want to sit on my deck and we're we're north of the 45th parallel and tonight would be a good night and look at the Northern Lights without interruption and and that's you know it's it's it's quality of life that concerns me yes yes we can do this it's possible to do that but it's your job to make sure right that my quality of life matches with the thing they talk about um uh taking up green space and parks for this development is there a plan for any mediation are they going to go over here and dig a swamp you know for the for the loons and the ducks or whatever right to replace the parks in the green space that that they use are you going to require them to do that you guys write the contract well no where's that guy the lawyer him right he writes the contract okay we need to make sure that that's in there um Mr Jones you you start wrapping it up please okay yeah um bottom line is you know the squirrels and the turtles really don't care what the building looks like I do thank you thank you sir well got to have oh there you go and the the fact that you laughed means that I took my hat off appropriately I I Eno I enjoyed listening to you Mr Steen did you want to respond to any of his questions or you want to wait it to the end it I took it as mostly As is what is the guarantee you're going to be here and do a completion and and stand by these uh um minimum development standards yeah yeah thank you chair Commissioners um you know probably for efficiency's sake I I can certainly save save a list of comments and address those at the end but in terms of uh addressing uh this gentleman's comments specifically um you know we we are absolutely in agreement the intent is uh that there will be a contract that holds any future uh end user any of our customers uh to the standards that are in uh in this PUD so uh that is 100% the intent that is why we will have both a a development contract at this phase as well as at every subsequent phase of development okay thank you and you can wait till the end we'll we'll get you at the end now thank you other comments or questions please just walk to theard yes please state your name and address please sure good evening committee my name is David pallo I live on 224th uh Street South just west of this uh rezone area uh I did 14 years active duty Air Force seven combat deployments um I returned back to Minnesota I'm a St Cloud native born and raised up there uh I guess it may be rhetorical to the committee but uh maybe get an answer from Shrek but uh we mentioned the 2040 comprehensive proc planning process which is also going for mid-phase review projects 10,000 households by 2030 11,800 by 2040 um there was a updated comprehensive housing needs analysis for Dakota County Minnesota which was conducted by Maxfield research and Consulting LLC they came to the same uh conclusion expecting 16 to 15% growth per decade so 20 to 30 16% growth and 15% growth in in Farmington as far as residential space so ultimately my well the first thing is I I this action is requested here to rezone I would I would highly recommend the committee disapprove the reone owning of these properties for those reasons uh previously mentioned um furthermore The Guiding principles in the 2040 plan for Farmington uh talked about providing a variety of well-maintained housing choices which accommodate a variety of housing choices and styles for residents promote the upkeep and enhancement of existing housing stock create neighborhoods that are connected and provide a sense of community um further down in that same same document in the appendix land use goal number three farmington's existing how Hometown character is maintained and strengthened throughout his future growth um it's that's that point is further expanded it says create land use patterns that create connections between residential neighborhoods and the city's Park downtown and other amenities I recommended the counil or the committee to deny this rezoning request for those reasons because because I do not understand why we would replace R1 R2 R3 that's already there that is flanked on both sides West on East by residential areas particularly the West that's pretty much fully uh built up in the Executive Estates why are we trading that residential area for mixed use when our own guide already published says that we should commute create communities and meet this housing demand I moved here last year I can tell you that and just driveing to the airport and back for work there's a demand for residential areas and it's forecasted to continue to be there why don't we use those residential zoned areas to meet that demand that is there now and is forecast to still still be there in the next two decades um it it would be really nice to keep this area the way it currently is and having looked at some of the zoning areas on the uh publicly available uh um websites there's other PS I think would maybe have better use that are already in industrial areas or residential areas that could be rezoned because they are not flanked by already established neighborhoods um again my name is David I'm back from uh active duty service trying to live in a little bit smaller town maybe we should keep the farm in Farmington thank you thank [Applause] you he miss me good evening my name is Denise may I live at 22265 bearing Avenue in Farmington um what I'm going to read this evening is um an email I did send to the Planning Commission and to the um Council today but I felt compelled to to read it to you and to the to the audience mayor council members Planning Commission please do not rezone the Fountain Valley Golf Course property which is zoned residential commercial to mix use commercial industrial to make way for technology park my husband Dan and I live at 22265 bearing Avenue we are next to the golf course we share a property line our house is only about 150 ft from the property line a technology park data center on that property would drastically change the quality of life for hundreds of people who would live nearby youve received signed petitions which includes almost 300 signatures of Farmington residents who oppose the resoning we are not objecting to a technology park in Farmington we object to the proposed location we object to the rezoning we have many concerns and fears you have heard and will hear the concerns from many Farmington residents about many issues in regards to Data Centers Dan and I are also very concerned about all of those issues right now I'm going to focus on the noise we are extremely concerned and fearful of the noise that would be generated by a 12b Building Technology Park Kristen dean of track said her in her presentation to the Farmington Council and the Planning Commission that an ambient noise study was being done for the properties surrounding the proposed data center site to measure what levels are at the property lines her presentation contained a slide that said and I quote noise from data centers cannot create noise that exceeds the DBA on adjacent resident property residential property we have been in end of quote we have been in contact with Kristen Dean and asked her specifically which noise levels would not be exceeded we asked her specifically what is the ambient noise level that was measured at the property lines she responded this way in an email to us and I quote track engaged with a noise consultant to ensure that the data center campus can be designed to meet the applicable noise applicable noise standards and specifically to ensure that the noise generated from the proposed project would meet the noise levels at the adj adjacent res idential property lines what noise standards is she referring to is it the legal maximum limit of daytime 6065 DB nighttime 50 55 Deb at the property lines a 70 D level is equivalent to standing 10 ft away from a running vacuum cleaner while indoors but those legal levels are far above what we currently experience in our neighborhood we purchased a sound level meter and tested the sound level at several different times outside on our deck when the AC is running the level is 51 DB without AC it's 38 currently in the evening we have crickets that level is 43 the noise from the data center would be constant 247 could be up to 65 DB daytime 55 at night and then there is the backup generator testing which would happen on a regular basis our air conditioner goes on and off in in the winter with no crickets the level would be around uh 38 DB day and night which is really quiet I we have screenshots to prove our measurements we have very little traffic on our streets and noise from the neighborhood is the occasional lawnmower snowthrowers kids laughing the usual noise from the golf course is occasional lawnmowing or someone excitingly yelling because of a great shot or sometimes yell for a PR prise of no more than 60 65 50 55 DB when our actual levels are so much lower is obviously an issue and worry for us definitely would affect our quality of life what about tonal noise that's the low frequency noise a hum the kind you may or not hear but studies show it can cause health issues and sleep issues at the August 20th community meeting held by track tonal noise was included on a slide on the presentation but it was not talked about in an email to Kristen Dean I asked for facts and her thoughts on tonal noise and she has not responded in regards to tonal noise I have seen and read recent news stories from other parts of the country where people living near data centers are very bothered by the noises coming from data centers which are disrupting their disrupting their lives this is happening in Arizona Illinois Virginia just to name a few those City councils are dealing with very unhappy happy miserable residents trying to figure out a way to resolve the noise issues or at least reduce the noise with no acceptable resolutions for those residents it is harder if not impossible to deal with end users after data centers have been built and operating applications for rezoning for data centers have been denied because of concern for nearby residents track's presentation to the council Planning Commission and the residents on June 4th of this year stated that data centers are good neighbors and that includes proper planning track said and I quote when Ci's master plan growth data centers along with critical infrastructure like airports are best located away from residential centers end of quote so they admit that a data center being located near a residential area is not good so why are they requesting to build one right next to residential areas in email conversation I had with mayor Hoy he stated that the city has a legal requirement to issue a finding a fact when denying an application I quote not liking it feeling uncomfortable with it or any other arbitrary reasoning is not sufficient if the applicant pursues litigation how about the finding of fact that this resoning looks and smells like spot zoning how can you look at track's preliminary PL PUD plans focus on the 100 hundreds of homes surrounding the property and think this would be a good idea for the residents there would be an extreme departure in land use you in departure in land use between residential zoning and Industrial zoning another consideration the Minnesota League of cities and its zoning guide for cities says neighborhood opposition can be considered as a finding effect when denying a zoning application the guide says and I quote while broad General State St ments of opposition may not qualify as a reasonable finding effect fact specific statements made by the public that are concrete and factual in nature and relate to the public welfare do rise to the level of acceptable findings according to the mayor Farmington is 45% undeveloped there are other industrial or Farmland areas in Farmington that makes sense for a data center have land owners been made aware that tractor other developers are seeking land for devel M track says they want the golf course in school district property because it is close to the power line they don't care that residents are close this is all about money we would be naive to think otherwise I'm sure it would save track millions of dollars not to have to bring in their own power line the city of Farmington can collect just as much tax revenue from another Technology Center at a different location track needs to look for suitable land that makes sense for everyone it does not make sense for those residents living near the school district property or the golf course property the same property you annexed and reson 17 years ago in 2007 for residential commercial use Dan and I moved to Farmington on August 19th 1986 that's 38 years ago and our home was one of the last ones built in our development the first one was 45 years ago our property abuts up to the golf course we Overlook the golf course the golf course feels like a continuation of our backyard we intentionally did not plant any trees or shrubs in our backyard so we could have full view of the golf course we moved here because of the golf course and we still enjoy our view but we also love the community we don't want to live anywhere else we are indeed lucky to have great neighbors all of us residents of the Farmington Community we have paid 38 years of taxes of property taxes we have supported local businesses whenever we could including getting help with Home Improvements house maintenance purchase of gasoline Medical Services banking services Furniture purchases food convenience stores Bakery vet services hardware store liquor store haircuts Golf and More we have participated in fundraisers Dan Works in Farmington and I did too before I retired we've been very loyal to Farmington for many years and that's got to mean something we know someday the golf course will no longer be a golf course we hope whatever it turns into much thought and respect for all of us who have called Farmington home for decades will have gone into the planning and decision-making of the future of Farmington our quality life is in your hands please say no to rezoning thank you thank you Mr my name is Jeff shler I live at 22420 Calico Court Farmington Minnesota thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight thank you everybody for coming and showing some some support I don't need to go on and on about the negative impacts from the noise and the size of the of this type of project and the obvious environmental impact as I know you have heard from many of us privately over the last couple weeks you must already know this is not a good fit for a residential neighborhood this very is being protested and picketed in many US cities right now over sound and negatively impacting surrounding residential areas this is what's happening in other places at what they're proposing at the distances you've seen what they've proposed if you look up the other protests and the pickets and the lawsuits that are going on it's what they've proposed this can't be permitted this property was never intended or designed to be an industrial park until the specific land transaction started the this attempt at rezoning is a very definition of spot zoning this does not follow or remotely resemble the current comprehensive land use plan that was presented to every person in this room you have seen the renderings of what they want to do with the supposed Industrial Park you absolutely must know there is no way this belongs between two neighborhoods the only advantage of this project is money we cannot toss away a well-designed and expensive comp plan and negatively impact resid buiness every time a project pops up that provides tax money this is an embarrassing move for Farmington to attempt this resoning or to even to allow it and it must be denied we're here tonight as a group to ask you to protect our current quality of life and our investment by denying the application Farmington needs to value and respect its residents more than tax money and deny the project the comp plan gives plenty of diversity to these specific parcels and needs no modifications these owners want to sell the property put them for sale they haven't been for sale in over a decade there's every type of residential there plus some Light commercial this is a sellable property we're not doing anybody a favor by rezoning this so the Olsson can retire they haven't attempted to sell this it hasn't been for sale this reiterates part of the spot zon it wasn't for sale I mean this is a big part of all of that the pl to place an industrial park between two neighborhoods and allow deviations that exceed even mua zoning is ridiculous between neighborhoods to allow and exceed muci zoning you're putting 50 foot tall buildings under 300 ft from homes that's crazy um this is what the lawsuits around the rest of the country are about right now they're in that 2 to 400 foot range it's you have to look into some of that I'm sure you guys have I know you have you've heard from everyone of us I think you've been given examples of all of it I'm not telling you anything new I'm telling you my opinion it needs to be denied I hope you acknowledge the residents voices tonight deny this application based on the fact it doesn't follow the current comp planned land use doesn't reflect the current surrounding areas it'll ultimately result in direct negative impact and a lower quality of life for all that live by it there's no doubt in that it will impact every person's house within a block of that place if not more and the ones that are just past the sound and the feel and the effect of it they will be negative negatively impacted by losing their friends and their neighbors this isn't where it belongs you have other room you have opportunity you've had two opportunities this year there will be 10 more next year if they want to come in and and present something to you be so respectful about it make it so we don't see it so we don't hear it put a guarantee don't say up to a 16t burm because up to means 0t to 16 ft don't assume we're going to use water cooling guarantee it because the second they find out that the DNR or whoever says there's enough water we're going to air cooling you can't mitigate that sound you can't run that sound down with buffers and trees and Hills the air cooling is a whole different animal if you've gone out and studied and researched these things meta has now switched from almost all water cooling to half air cooling that's in Rosemont why did they switch cuz they don't have enough water now bangal is going to be farther along what are they going to do when they're told there's not enough water and and it's not them it's 12 end users all of this has to be denied if they want to come back to the table and give some guarantees and put a bond soon as you start violating these noise ordinances so you're going to be running at these 60 65 DB call Interstate power supply of Lakeville they're supplying the coer generators that they spec out and put pictures of on their plans those generators run individually at 100 DB and they'll be getting them from Interstate who supplies this whole region with colar generators they can't even the second they start one keep up the city code I don't understand how it's allowable between residences that's all I got thank you for [Applause] appreciate good evening I'm Kathy Johnson and thank you to the um Planning Commission for listening to our concerns my concerns are called promises promises promises on May 31st Kristen Dean director of entitlements for tract Land Management promised they would be good neighbors as the process to reone the Fountain Valley Golf Course and the farmer former Angus farm to the South moved forward this resoning would allow a data center or technology Park to be built on these properties and in my article to the Farmington independent which was published on August 23d I believe all the council members got a copy of it I mentioned how she said that the first tenant of being a good neighbor is not building in a residential area track and the city of Farmington have ignored that rule from day one now several other issues have been addressed in a public meeting put on by track on August 20th and I don't know how track can promise that a data center will be a good neighbor when the company which is less than 2 years old has not completed a project yet how do they know promises promises noise was addressed during the present presentation with Dean stating that the decel statute would be the the rule 60 to 65 daytime maximum I don't believe she mentioned the 5055 for the evening but that's the rule for comparison 70 DB is about the level of a vacuum cleaner decel reading would be measured at the residential property line and Commercial levels are higher but cannot cross over into residential areas there's several issues here as I stated in my 823 my August 23 article deciel ratings are not the cause of complaints in residential neighbors surrounding exact existing data centers in other cities the tonal h is the culprit and is not really a big contributor to the decel ratings yet it appears that track is not acknowledging that issues despite the fact that it is a very common cause of complaints generally not addressed I have research to back that one article that I read even says it's called the classic data center hum because they all have it the consistent hum contributes very little to the deciel ratings and these companies are are not because the data centers are outdated often times even newer all data centers have it and just the fact that it's an older data center is not an excuse a second sound issue that comes from Dean's statement from on Theus 20 presentation in her statements about mitigation and soundproofing of buildings she referred to the 6065 daytime ratings and that means the noise cannot ex exceed 60 DB for more than 50% of an hour or 30 minutes and not exceed 60 DB for 10% or 6 minutes out of every hour but she did not mention the date the nighttime at 5 55 and she didn't mention noise generated by large trucks which are frequent visitors to Data Centers as they deliver servers and Equipment the noise from delivery trucks actually became part of the ordinance that man Manasses Virginia had to adopt because deliveries were happening at all hours of day and night and she did not affect address What's called the doubling effect I turned to the Minnesota Pollution Control agency to get the straight story on noise law in Minnesota and how it's enforced I used a guide to noise control in Minnesota which is the Minnesota Pollution Control agency sort of Bible of noise statute and control and I have discerned some challenges to Dean's claims the mpca does have the power to enforce these statutes when sound is being admed or emitted from several sources the noise increases by 3 DB as the sources of the sound are doubled in other words if a generator produces 70 DB two generators produce 73 and four generators produce 76 12 sources produce 80.5 remember that the number of buildings which are in the hypothetical plat uh design presented by track is 12 12 buildings also when demon applied that the sound will be be something not quite as loud as a vacuum cleaner or 70 DB at the property line she's admitting certain admitted certain other pertinent facts the noise cannot exceed 50 at night now remember it's a consistent sound no more than 6 minutes out of every 30 out of every 60 but it's a consistent sound since Data Centers do produce consistent ambient noise from fans generators other heat transferring equipment the prediction of 65 DB at the property line is not only grossly underestimated it's illegal promises promises Miss Johnson how much longer are you going to plan um I'll be just a couple minutes okay according to the Minnesota statute 116 powers and duties consideration shall be given to such factors as intensity the type of noise um part of it is it cannot interfere unreasonably with the enjoyment of life or property one of the noise statutes that I think is very important 703 3.03 is noise control requirement any municipality having the authority to regulate land use shall take all reasonable measures within its jurisdiction to prevent the establishment of land use activities in the nois area where standards established will be violated immediately upon establishment of the land use in other words the minute it opens it's breaking the law and the standards go on to talk again again about what Denise said speech sleep annoyances hearing conversations um um and so forth I know that you have acknowledged that the mpca requires a preconstruction review it will be part of this but I also think it's important to know that we have spoken or I have contacted Lauren Dickinson Dickerson who is with the US noise and I'll make sure that she knows again um the feelings that we have in this community responsible um for not allow the community is responsible for not allowing land uses that would immediately violation the standards I want you to think about something I was a classroom teacher in middle school for 40 years and in middle school there was you know there would be disruptions always you hear the oh it was those guys over there or it wasn't me now we have track coming in and they won't be here after it's all up and running because the pro you know they're they are the developers and they'll sell it out to end users all those end users will be saying is oh it's not me making that sound it's that company over there or they're the ones overusing the water that's a common game there's no way to enforce the auar with all these multiple users coming in after the fact noise will be an issue here just as it was in Manasses Virginia um and the fact I can cite Stephen Gonzalez's research that it's not an an out-of-date data centers Northern Virginia is now starting to deny rezoning of data centers because of noise and that city has far more experience all of Northern Virginia does as compared to Farmington in realizing factors like noise how many reasons does the city need to deny this what motivation does the City have to help to mitigate this when they're the ones pushing for it in the first place for the tax dollar how many reasons maybe I could talk about the Bengal project that's appropriate Place appropriately placed it's up on that Corridor on Highway 50 West of the gas company and so forth um even though that's and it's ahead I guess of this one in terms of the approval process but even the DNR is skeptical of things like water usage there I could also talk about the promise of high paying jobs here's a quote from forums Magazine on August 13th 2024 data centers not only fail to create jobs and significant loan numbers they're huge drains on local infrastructures and they use a lot of tremendous water to operate Microsoft has a project going in Scotland right now to put data centers on the floor of the ocean and they only have to lift that data center for inspection the goal it's it's not quite there but the goal is every 5 years they have to have a physical inspection of the data center these technology jobs are remote they're not in on site Farmington will have maintenance jobs they would probably be some technician jobs but this large promise of jobs especially high paying tech jobs is again promises promises di cin asked to have a neutral third party or promised to have a neutral third party educate the city council about data centers and she called on afcom well one of we did some research on afcon it was supposed to educate the city officials about data centers afcon membership is fee based it's an organization that provides education and networking for end users consultants and vendors all of whom have to pay to be a member and that's about as far from a neutral third party as you can get that's a lobbyist Miss Johnson can I ask you again I will read my conclusion okay thank you false promises are part of the reason that our city has hired with more than 300 petitions has hired an attorney and um are objecting to the rezoning it is not incumbent for the residents of South Eastern Farmington and Countryside Estates and Council Rock to sacrifice our lifestyle and well-being let alone our home equity to allegedly provide the tax base for the city it is incumbent upon the city of Farmington to obey the law and not allow for rezoning for a land use that's in violation of new of noise statutes immediately upon completion The Proposal is incompatible with existing zoning it is illegal spot zoning I ask that you vote no to resoning thank you you know I mentioned can I just ask I mentioned earlier that everybody that wants to speak will get a chance can I see by show of hands how many people want to speak tonight okay so we still got quite a few so we're going to have to set a time limit now because some of them are going 10 12 minutes so um I what do you recommend five minutes three I uh I'm comfortable with that I I think you've been doing a good job managing expectations with each speaker okay if they start getting long um that one there went almost 13 minutes so I you know I get concerned if everybody that wants to speak goes that long that we're not going to get home tonight so go ahead I'm sorry okay no that's fine I will be fairly brief um and the comments that I prepared were geared more to have us look back towards the beginning of the project put it your name and address please oh I'm sorry my name is Sarah fry I live in Executive Estates on Karina Court um when we were informed about a year ago that the school District was going to sell land um and I won't get into too much math I know we don't want to sit here and listen to math um but the basics told us that the profit of the sale would be I mean in accordance with Public public school funding and accounting this profits of the sale would be to use on maintenance and equipment for the school and we know there's a lot of sales tax gifts from the state but there would be property taxes received although we need to keep in mind that the property taxes received are limited based on Dakota County split and the fact of the annex which reduces the amount of Farmington actually receiving of the property taxes so I think it's important to keep in mind that 90% of the property taxes the first year actually in is Farmington handing that to Castle Rock but that the sale was planned as we were told in an effort to benefit farmington's children so since the sale of the land was announced we know who the buyer is potentially for the land we also know that there's project Bengal that's happening right now and it's a short distance from Farmington High School about 1 to two miles perhaps and based on other presentations we know scientific data had scientific data pre in previous presentations that lowf frequency noise can easily travel several miles after what we've learned about health effects of exposure to long-term noise and low frequency mood swings anxiety raiseed stress hormones that lead to heart disease and CDC warnings against pregnant women working in a place with constant Motors running why would we assume that children aren't going to suffer from illnesses related to data campuses in their environment and children who live near the technology campus who would also attend Farmington High School would only be free of that low noise that tonal hum on days when they would be able to leave South Farmington and District 192 has stated that it wants to be a destination District life near data centers has been troubled with bad reputations for years with many many other Publications prior to this meeting placing a data campus in the middle of a residential neighborhood won't attract people to Farmington it will most certainly chase them away there are probably families who are already thinking of leaving and maybe our mayor doesn't care if they leave but it's my impression that our school board wants Farmington to be a welcoming place and those children that we supposed to see a benefit how will their learning improve while they're suffering from increased anxiety fatigue and a constant sense of impending Dre dread and threat that you get from being around the tonal noise I'm asking the Planning Commission and the city council to remember the original purpose of of the land sale and to actually help farmington's children thank you thank [Applause] you hi I'm Stacy King I live uh in Canova Court in as a executive estate um and I had a whole list of all the different facts that we've heard from everybody else and are very um worried about the quality of life so instead of reading from my list I thought maybe I would share with you my neighborhood because I love my neighborhood I love you guys um we moved here in 2017 and that summer my husband had a heart attack and all my neighbors came together before I even knew anybody and I found a card in my mailbox with money in there and all these people had signed it giving us well wishes like our neighborhood is a community who always comes to together for each other in many different ways during Co we couldn't do our annual Easter egg hunt at the park that all the neighbors put together so instead we planned summer Halloween and all the kids got dressed up all the people all the houses took part handed out candy in the summer it is an amazing neighborhood an amazing group of people and setting up this data center will destroy all that everybody will leave housing market will go down the community will be gone and I wanted to keep it quick cuz I know a lot of other people want to say but I think you need a picture of where this is going and how it will affect the actual citizens that live in Farmington and love this area thank you thank [Applause] you trying to make it real quick my name is Patrick rug 20115 Street farington um a lot of good comments and where I'm coming from I'm putting a little bit of a Twist on this because actually my experience uh is in the semiconductor business and quite a bit of knowledge with these particular types of uh buildings and all the equipment inside all the questions and concerns they have are legit uh for the life of me I cannot even understand why this would be considered uh rezoning and building it in that area you heard all the concerns obviously the noise it's a constant noise go camping we love camping listen to somebody run a generator next to you all day long okay but besides that environmentally speaking and my hard time because honestly this affects my business line is the water consumption it's there I mean you're talking hundreds of thousands of gallons okay and how are they doing it are they going to be using floorer coolant as well are they're going to using chemicals are they going to do free cooling during the winter time I think the first gentleman had a lot of good uh comments do your research okay do your research on what these are maybe even go visit one what is the life cycle these aren't forever okay they don't last forever 15 years 20 years 25 they probably don't know it's all about the money okay I wouldn't want this next to me went I came here at the Farmington I love listening to the frogs that night I love the community like I said in my business it's kind of detrimental I work on the most advanced equipment in the world my clients are Intel broadcom Seagate microchip tsmc I've been through every Intel site across the world I've worked for Japanese companies I worked for American company Netherlands and there's some concerns you need to be worried about the water consumption yeah a lot of times you're using a couple hundred thousand gallons a day for cooling you got to cool okay down probably 68° 18° C somewhere in that area the water sometimes go back is cleaner than what it is but it's the consumption but it's also going out back at a higher temperature or maybe it's being free collected back maybe they're using free cooling during the winter time ask these questions how are you doing this how are you doing responsible it might not affect you because you're not living to this you have to listen to it you got to see that your values are going to go down okay because nobody wants to live there I get it's about the money it is about the money I'm not necessarily against a data center like I said it kind of hurts me but I think there's a right way to do them a right place to have them do your homework do your research okay you're sharing the same water as well so even if it's going back cleaner it's probably going back at a higher temperature how is that affecting a my I'm not to talk about the power consumption good luck okay I'm sure the power company will be happy there's better places probably to put this where it makes more sense to the people and even maybe to them so this kind of just kind of got thrown on me tonight just find about didn't really have a lot of time and I was asked to come talk a little bit about it ask the right questions take in the serious concerns it will affect them affects their livelihood not against the data center I know we need them everybody loves it okay 90% of what he's putting in there I guarantee has been made by my company or a product of that I guarantee it so but there's probably a good way to do it ask the tough questions do your homework talk to the people get their feedback all right thank you sir thank [Applause] you good evening my name is Andy ber I live at uh 22255 calhon court and is there a way to go back to one of the maps on the screen sure thanks do you like uh preferably the color one that one all right thank you yep um I have a laser pointer here this is not a weapon of any time I just want to point out for you guys where if I can get it to work there we go oh it's not showing on the screen anyway in the northern part on the west half of that site is where myself several of the folks here tonight live if you see on the east side it's all residential along that site on the North side is sapphire Lake which is a recent uh residential development this this land is completely surrounded by residential so to say that it's anything other than spot zoning I think we kind of covered that so I'm not going to go through that again tonight a couple points that I want to really touch base on I will keep it very brief number one is in the two meetings that I've attended and the several others that that I've watched and I'm one of those people that watches every meeting yes I know it's nerdy um I have yet to hear anyone come up and support this project or provide anything saying hey this is a great place for it this is a great idea and I realized that the squeaky wheel gets the grease but I would imagine if this was such a fantastic idea for fton you would get someone coming up and and voicing that that voice voice of support um and I have not heard that yet I haven't seen all the emails you all receive um it really is a tax dollar thing and and I think that's clear and I'll I'll keep uh again keep this brief the other thing I really want you to consider is if this was you if this was your house that we're talking about you know we talk about the extended setbacks of 250 ft plus 40t if you think about that that would be sitting on the North End of the Farmington football field and having to look at the high school building that's exactly what we're talking about that's a football field is 300 ft right 100 yards that is really what we're can we're talking about going to is going from a golf course to looking at the high school building all day every day with constant noise and everything else that everyone else has mentioned so I want to put it in that perspective I I welcome anyone you can come to my house you can sit in my portch you can see exactly what I'm talking about the other thing that I in in my day-to-day life is I'm a vendor risk manager so what that means is we work with in my company some of the biggest vendors in the world and we take all these things into consideration when we work with a vendor what are they doing for the community things like that so I work with Google Amazon uh Microsoft several of the other big technology companies very frankly they aren't going to care what the city says they're going to do what they want in these situations yes they have to abide by the laws yes they have to uh follow the city ordinances but I will tell you from experience they will push every boundary that they can to maximize every dollar that isn't a surprise to anyone in this room we're all smart people we know that companies are in the business of making money but I want you to remember that tract is not the one that is making those decisions that's the end user that's the Microsoft the Amazon the Google that will come in and and push those boundaries track is setting up the the place map for them say hey we've got this part so land you can come in and have a data center here so I want to really provide that professional language as well around this is this is something we have to be very careful about and I I think the most important piece to remember is we're talking about a residential surrounded property if this was the Bengal project as previously mentioned or somewhere in a better spot it makes way more sense this really is just not the right spot I think you're hearing that from the residents I think you've you're seeing that for yourself um and and again I want I know last time I was here I quoted our our mayor I'm going to quote him again in the state of the city he said that Farmington is a a community of people that want to be here and that they listen to their residents and they act and that's exactly what all of these people here this is what all of us are here for is we're the residents saying hey Planning Commission this isn't the right place I haven't heard anybody say tonight we don't want a data center don't do this they're just saying this isn't the right place for it so I really want you to take that talk to Heart uh when you're making the decision tonight and really think about what impact this is going to have long term so please don't vote for this I will leave it at that thank you all thank you [Applause] Andy it's one page swi on the back uh my name is Jason fuler I live at 3015 224 just a few houses down from Andy my house is 100 ft from the property line here when my family and I chose to move into this community it was with the understanding that this property could one day be homes or commercial spaces that would complement our neighborhood this proposed change to Industrial use goes far beyond what any of us expected it threatens not just the value of our homes but more importantly the quality of life we've chosen for our children what's especially concerning is that there's no planned buffer zoning to protect our neighborhood from this Industrial development typically we'd expect some sort of transition retail parks open space that would maintain the integrity and feel of our community right now it seems like our neighborhood would go straight from residential to Industrial that's simply not a responsible or thoughtful approach in farmington's 2040 comprehensive plan you all speak to protecting neighborhoods and natural resources the vision statement talks about valuing people in neighborhoods this proposal just does not align with that a data center on a large natural resource certainly doesn't promote sustainable or a connected Community not many members of the community how many members of the community do you see here tonight voicing their support for this resoning I understand the need for growth and the temptation to increase the tax base but this is not the right way to do it there are other properties far better suited for industrial use please avoid focusing on all the reasons why this particular site is attractive to track instead advocate for all of us here tonight focus on the reasons why you simp L would not support this development so close to your own home throughout this process we've heard from an extremely biased far from neutral Third Party Source in tract of all the benefits and other pros of their proposed project I've yet to hear anyone from City acknowledge a single con that may come from this project I know that the last time we were all here some of you admitted that you wanted to do your own research and become smarter on how this project would affect the neighboring residents before a vote is made I really hope to hear about some of that research that you've all done track has mentioned plenty of benefits that would come with the project please share with us tonight what are some of the cons that are on your radar as you weigh this heavy decision I recognize that this is a tough decision and that you're you're weighing many factors but this vote will have a major impact on so many members of this community My Hope Is that we the residents of this neighborhood aren't seen as collateral damage for the sake of tax revenue this decision will affect me my wife my two daughters are friends in this neighborhood for decades to come we trust that you'll make the choice that best reflects farmington's vision for its people thank [Applause] you good evening um dear commission Esther Varga 394 225 um I would like to point out from the zoning on the comp compensation plan comprehensive plan the purpose is promoting the public health safety conservation of property values compa compatibility and land use of land use so I ask the commission that please do not feel sorry for track if they need to spend a few million dollars more to move this project to an area where they need to pull more power please feel sorry for us thank you m [Applause] r uh thank you to the commission and have in this meeting it's uh been an interesting Road here uh my name is Dave Aken I live on Pont Avenue just east of the golf course I played there forever I want nothing but the best for Bryce and Carol but this doesn't seem to be the thing I'm going to be very brief I'm fifth generation here in town uh my great great-grandfather was one of the settlers in that Community my rits Run Deep my dad was a mayor none of that matters I was driving back from New PR the other day past the Catholic Church see some new dewatering going on for the apartment buildings out there I guess more plan plotted blah blah blah here goes the water and you know what I thought back to something I heard a long time ago this originally was called the lake of Many Colors this entire area out past the fairgrounds out past where I'm talking about watering now out past my house out past all the stuff east of Farmington that doesn't have basements because the water level was appropriate for wet lands okay so I'm driving back now it's like this was a lake of Many Colors this is supposed to be a lake Chris my wife this isn't supposed to be a desert it's not supposed to be dewatered and all of our water tables going it's going from here to Waterford to Elco to everywhere in between everybody is taking our water our Minnesota water that we sit on and I've asked the question a couple times of of course there's no answer I have a well at my house at some point it's going to go maybe it'll go tomorrow maybe it'll go in two years but when I have to put in a new deep well for a cost of probably over $50,000 I doubt the city of Farmington or track or anyone else is going to be handing me a check to fix my well now at some point it's going to fail on its own we don't need to help it I'm not opposed to the data center I'm opposed to this location and how we've got to this point so far thank you for your time [Applause] thanks anybody else Ryan Peach I live on Cambry way Executive Estates thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk I got a whole list of facts in but I think that's been covered I I just want to come up here and and and ask you don't have to answer it but would you all be okay with with this in your backyard would the city council members all be okay with this in your backyard I don't know how we got to this point this is really the best location we can find I I mean who's who's deciding this I mean a city planner or like this is the best location we could come up with for an industrial park inside of residential neighborhoods come on that's it's ridiculous there's so many better options I just want you to think about that when you make your decision I mean if you if you say yes this I mean you're basically saying you'd be okay with this in your backyard so thank you thanks [Applause] man good evening chair and Commissioners yes uh my name is Drea dafing I live on 225th Street Farmington Minnesota I live in Cerro Township and I'm on the east side of the golf course in Countryside Estates which is east of this proposed Technology Park project the proposed PUD for this project is showing 12 data centers buildings throughout the course of the preliminary plat with 250 ft setbacks from property lines burms are at least 10 ft High High tentatively the minimum height for buildings could be 50 ft or higher undetermined clearly the pictures taken for the proposed landscape around the proposed project seem to have been taken from the ground not a clear 3D effort from the drones of the reality for the landscape burms trees and building Heights which are minimum minimally obscured from pictures taken from the ground up these are speculations and not defined project boundaries all this for track just to get the infrastructure in place so that they're done have cashed in their profits for quick financial gain this is shooting from the hip and not to think about the unforeseen and results which is clearly absorbed by the citizens of this community because we will bear the cost of unforeseen mishaps that are Unknown by the end users all of us track mentioned that this is only the only property that they could put this project um project at uh and that's that's a first there's plenty of land for sale between city of Farmington to the West up to Pilot Knob there that's more established for commercial industrial than whe where they want to put it in between all our residential homes put it where the planning should be planned in industrial commercial side of city of Farmington all you have to do is take a drive down Highway 50 and there are plenty of for sale signs posted on the open land there's lots of for sale open land on Highway 50 if you need some pictures and some phone numbers I can get them for you an Al an alternative would to be to move your project instead of asking us to move if we don't like it this was mayor hoy's wording to us at The Joint 192 school district and city of Farmington work session August 21st 2024 by the way Cerro Township is going to become a city I'm officially announcing that tonight they are in session tonight for that they are in process of reviewing the action efforts as we speak just wanted to FYI the city of farming Farmington in case you were considering expanding your high high Horizons of Technology campus going east now you'll have to go west at this time I'd like to introduce our attorney Dave kellerer he represents our envir environmental Coalition group that's all here tonight Dave uh thank you for that introduction uh my name is David Keller I'm with the firm of granis and HGI uh 3459 Washington Drive in Egan um and you have said that my letter is already in the record and and as well as their petitions so I'm not going to read that I am going to talk about the two things that came to my attention just today uh first in regard to Zone um hate to reminisce a little bit but I'm a bit of a gry beard um I cut my teeth studying what's a planned unit development when I first joined the firm and ended up arguing it with uh I think Mr Hoffman uh in in Egan um but that planned unit development was something of mixed uses and I won't give you my definition I'll give you a definition from from another source it's that a planned unit development is a type of flexible nonukan zoning device that redefines the land uses allowed within a stated land area plan unit developments cons consist of unitary site plans that promote the creation of Open Spaces mixed use housing land uses environmental preservation and sustainability and development flexibility that's not what I see here what I see is a single use I see plan unit development being used as a term to soften the the fact that it is a single massive use of this property it is spot zoning it is huge putting setbacks and BMS and stuff around it isn't a plan unit development thing it's a development standard thing and and so I object to the zoning on that basis the the second thing that came to my attention just today was the uh I guess it's the final a AR um I I remember talking about the plan unit development in the 80s now in the 990s I'm the Savage City attorney and they do the first AUA ever in Minnesota so I've been watching these and now today I got the one that says that the anticipated use will utilize water cooled system based on anticipated size of scenario one it would have a peak water demand of up to 2.5 35 million gallons per day during the summer months um if you compare that to what's happened with trying to drill Wells and Randolf as I put in my letter it's way bigger it's as much as a whole city takes and and that's on page 44 on page 45 it Compares water demand again points out that the use for the data center would be 2.35 gallons per day million gallons per day whereas the demand for what it is zoned for would only be 3 382,000 gallons per day um the day is coming when water is more important than a o and and I know that we all want Ai and that's why we have these massive data centers there are small data centers in Egan in the Twin Cities but these massive ones are for AI can I live without AI maybe can I live without fresh water no and so I would ask you to not rezone this property not do the Pud on the basis that it needs to pass those tests first that the uh applicant should come up with a plan that does not drain the water out from under Dakota County thank you thank you [Applause] Mr my name is Drew roach I live at 312 11 Street in Farmington uh and I think there's been a lot of great points here made by by the individuals that spoke tonight you know many of these uh these people are are Property Owners they've been invested into this community for as as as they stated for decades our business owners have children in this community uh and they've had stake in this community for quite some time so the voices should be heard and respected uh you know as they've stated that they're not against the data center but against the rezoning of this property uh one of the things that I that no one has brought um to your attention is the fact that in 2023 legislation uh we have uh sustainable energy that we are have brought forth by 2040 uh that home residents are supposed to be carbon free of their energy for energy uses by 20140 so my fear is what is it what is our energy consumption going to look like at 15 years down the line when we're using sustainable energy and we have a higher demand for the energy with electric cars and and higher uh population and we don't have the the energy to provide for the people we're going to have rolling brown outs and the people that are going to be affected are the homeowners the small business owners track is not going to have their energy shut off their power shut off but these homeowners are people that work from home small business owners and so my fear is that is the fact that we won't have enough energy to supply the grid uh for the people that are going to need need it most we rely on that we have extreme temperatures and extreme Weathers in both the summer and the winter months so what is it going to look like in in in you know January when it's 30 negative 30° and we have higher energy usage so that's that's one of the things that I want to bring attention to the the Planning Commission I hope you guys take that into consideration and again uh you know here the voice of the people and not the dollars of the corporations thank you Mr Roach good evening uh I'm Ian English I live up on Crimson Way in the North Creek neighborhood and you know a lot of people have spoken tonight I appreciate everyone coming out I'm glad you've all made your voices heard um not a lot of points plus or minus that I'm going to make that other people haven't made but I just really want to touch on who the constituency of the Planning Commission is and that's the city of Farmington and its residence so I really encourage you guys to take into account seriously take into account what people say how people feel and how this is going to affect their neighborhoods and listen to what people are saying and and vote the way that they want you to vote so thank you for your time thanks everyone for coming [Applause] out anybody else interested I want to thank you for being respectful to each other and uh uh we're going to ask Mr Steen did you want to respond to some of the or many of the comments and questions that were presented thank you chair Commissioners I think I'm going to address what I heard were really address two primary issues and then I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have and if I don't have the answers we we've got the full team um first I want to talk about the noise um the noise as as I uh as I previously mentioned you know our intent is that any subsequent phase any future phase uh requires a noise study uh that noise study is going to consider the exact equipment that is being proposed um we have uh we we don't have a noise study right now what we have done is worked with our consultant uh to confirm that we can in fact operate a data center here in compliance with Minnesota law and rest assured that we will not be operating our customers and clients will not be operating a data center here that is out of compliance with Minnesota law and that will be uh not just enforced through your police Powers as a city but also contractually um and again you know I don't want to speculate about what uh I think what we heard is a lot of speculation about what that noise impact could be uh based on you know maybe some anecdotal evidence but uh ultimately any uh any project will come through subject to a noise study that that looks at the exact project the exact buildings and the exact equipment with respect to water um I think it's it's really important to point out that uh yes I mean 65 million gallons uh it sounds like a lot uh and that is a lot of water uh what we're talking about is the absolute maximum scenario uh but it's important to note that this isn't uh we're not starting at at zero it's not 65 million of additional gallons uh the existing site has a water appropriation permit for 48 million gallons per year uh so that Delta is approximately uh 17 million and again 65 million assumes the absolute worst efficiency cooling uh so again we're looking at worst case scenario that's 17 million gallons per year uh the city's existing water system is approximately uh 850 million gallons per year so we're talking less than 2% of the total City's water system increase under the absolute worst case scenario and the numbers that you heard under the AAR is again worst case scenario on the worst day of the year uh the reason that you would site uh a data center among many reasons in the state of Minnesota is we have uh we have great weather um and that weather is cool uh for much of the year so realistically uh at at most you're probably looking at uh up to two months maybe of cooling uh so again we're looking at Absolute Peaks here and I think it's important to remember that we're not starting at zero we're talking about a very a nominal increase so with that I there were a lot of other comments that were made I'm happy to answer questions if you've you've got those questions I don't want to uh assume uh specifically what what you're looking for but we're happy to answer um with the commission's permission I have some questions can I go first um and Mr Steen you know I know everything initially is minimum development standards and I understand that um I got to believe you and your staff have knowledge and you know some of the questions that I've got are possibly looking into the future maybe anticipating things um I don't expect you to answer them all but do your best um what type of Bill construction is a tip up or another type you know I I think that that's something that I'm going to defer to our team on the specific developments uh but here's what I would say is we don't know what that specific development looks like today what we know is that the design uh there are design standards uh minimum design standards and you will have an opportunity uh to review the exact specific buildings when they come forward maybe procedurally you know this is preliminary and and there will be a final and all that we'll get into more of this detail I'm trying to help the commission get a feel help the residents get a feel um some of the other ones are phasing of the construction you know you have 12 buildings what do you anticipate the phasing of that construction would be over what period of time again it is a little hard to speculate we would anticipate that beginning in uh probably 2027 is when the infrastructure would go in uh and then we would anticipate at least least two phases uh that is ultimately determined by the market uh and uh you know as as we have it right now there's an outside date but we anticipate it would be a couple of of years between the the phases to to complete everything just a couple of years you it it you know best case scenario couple of years worst case scenario could be uh more than that but again it's a multiphase project and the intent is that as those projects come in and and as those pH has come in you have the opportunity to review them review the new technology the new design and the new models that are out uh at that time and then I know you had a slide on from your website um about plan construction accesses um for each site what type of upgrades do you anticipate having to those accesses because those are also would be there could be a disruption to the residents that live in the area absolutely um so the intent is uh right now we would anticipate uh access from both the North and uh the south of that North Parcel uh and I don't recall the exact name is it 2 uh 225th would access both uh we would anticipate that there will be turn Lanes uh on both roads and those turn lanes and and other improvements uh will be uh based on that final site orientation and site design uh and those costs will be borne by the developer uh and those will be costs that are are not borne by the city uh but they will be borne by the developer as part of that development contract that we would enter into at that phase would the access be also on the North side on Highway 50 and what what upgrad would you do to that there would also be turn Lanes on on Highway 50 correct okay um you know I looked at it and you had the the ponds and the um northern part of it so do you know the elevations of the site uh you know personally I I can't uh name them off right now but yes we have surveys and they should be part of your packet uh there is Wetlands to that North uh but uh and then there is the flood plane to the South um very far south yeah right very far south um but the majority of the site in brown is developable area and is uh outside of the flood plane and outside of the uh wetlands and and you mentioned in your minimum development standards um towers are they anticipating Towers on this site if so how many uh say that again Towers you mentioned towers as communication Towers uh you know I think that we want to I I don't think we can commit to the number of towers right now I think what we want to know or want to be able to commit to is that we will be able to do those as needed again this is really uh Technology based and proposal based uh but we would anticipate uh that that there will be eventually some Towers again those Towers could be up to 80 ft but again they're going to be subject to that that same spacing requirement uh so it would be more than a football field away from the property line at a minimum I know I know you had a slide this now gets into more building characteristics you had a slide on Cooling and that's that's a big thing with the water usage will they all be evaporative cooled or will some be electric cooled or don't know yet so the the fact is that that technology is rapidly developing right uh and even from the the time that this project started uh to today uh we're seeing changeovers it's uh it's really intended to one uh reduce water consumption and two Embrace newest technology and then three uh reduce noise uh so those are are technologies that are rapidly evolving uh you know in a year uh when H you know when we we put shovels in the ground we'll probably be having a different conversation and that is exactly why we want to make sure that this process uh gives this Planning Commission another opportunity to review the specific specs of that that development okay um can you explain you mentioned in the slide or something the concept concept of recycled water what can you explain that to us so there are a variety of systems uh that use recycled water uh not all water is is waste water uh that we use uh there will be some uh that be treated as Industrial Waste Water but uh it primarily would consist of uh recirculating water allowing it to cool and and using that uh for cooling purposes before we would put it back into the system okay Tony can you build put up the building slide on there please the next one's kind of deal a little bit with that uh help get the feel for the commission this one yes um where do you think the HVAC positions be placed on the building you know how many of them what kind of sound attenuation or noise mitigation are you planning for those so that is going to ultimately depend on the end user uh there's a couple of factors right ultimately what they're proposing to do uh but then the specific equipment that they're using what we've done within the development standards of this PUD is make sure uh that we have uh requirements related to noise mitigation uh and they're pretty extensive if you read through your packet uh talks about mufflers vibration dampening and again at at the time again this is purely conceptual uh this is our 2.5 million uh square foot maximum this is what it could look like but you're going to have an opportunity to review it uh to ask those those questions about the specific technology at the time and we'll see it on on if we get to any final plat but you know my sense is is if you put them in a certain location of the property there could be less effect to anybody on the outside or or the surrounding parts of the property absolutely and and what we do see uh with these hypers scalers that will be the end end user uh is that often times they will try to collocate uh some of this equipment interior to the site you know it's a large site uh so we have lots of flexibility to put it in between buildings um and there will be you know there will be uh opportunity for for uh citing those throughout the site okay and then we had a resident that talked about light will there be a photometric study done if so when so the photometric study will depend on the specific project uh is part of the city site plan review code there is uh you have the absolute authority to ask for photometric studies uh viewshed studies sound studies and the expectation is that at that time uh those will be provided and and that's very typical uh and not unexpected okay and then Tony did a great job of explaining because I did have the question on where the fence would be relation in relation to the to the both the buffer and the burm and it would be on the building side of both of those too um again this is a a Thing If have you looked at the site do you know about how many trees would be saved in that 40ft buffer the intent is that we would save as many as possible uh and if you look at the standards that talk about that uh there the intent is absolutely to retain as many uh existing trees uh certainly diseased trees and trees that would uh need to move move will will be moved but uh that 40ft buffer uh within the setback that's intended to go around nearly the entire site and you would intend be a natural buffer so using the existing growth and you know I thought you mentioned or somebody mentioned in the the explanation about the substation and that that doesn't fall under the screening are you planning any screening if you have a substation on one corner there there would be uh screening required of the substation what we're asking for is exemption from the the building design standards which talk about fenestration and you know height changes a substation is a substation but we would work with the city to to wrap that presumably and and screen it okay yeah and some communities have required things like that um do you know if is and I believe it was in your either your slides or your write up you you called it a transmission system is that a distribution substation though or a transmission substation that is a that's not a question that I can answer off the the top of my mind um we can certainly answer it if that's a a burning question though so you don't know if that's a looped substation yeah you're the utility guy yeah I spoke with you before Philip sandino up here yeah hi I'm Phil primary metered or are they distribution substation uh so there's going to be we're going to take off the transmission system but it will be distributed across the site yeah so it a combination of both okay do you know if they're planning to Loop the transmission system they're yeah it's definitely going to be that's part of the res I think it would I mean for could redundancy no doubt okay thank you um and then um I know Dave left but I I did have a resident question on the well and um just want of will it impact the could it impact uh any homeowners Wells out there and if so um what support will they have or mitigation will they have yeah the answer is no uh this this project would draw off City well uh the city already has uh capacity to serve this project again we're talking about a Delta of uh you know maybe 17 million gallons per year um so the answer is no it would not happen if that's the case uh if there was not sufficient water for the site it would uh we would not be drawing water um it's that you know I can tell you John Powell your city engineer is uh very clear about that and uh we've been working closely with them to look at the serviceability study for this area uh and and as part of your comp plan the city is looking at that uh and we are assured that uh the development of this area will be addressed it's also worth noting uh again that based on the zoning of this area alone uh the golf course alone uh you could have up to 600 houses uh and if you had that type of density medium density housing we're talking about up to eight uh houses per acre uh you would have have more than double the draw of the absolute maximum anticipated and that's a much more consistent draw on your wells uh so uh realistically this is you know this is a uh a less intense draw uh than straight housing which would likely you know would certainly be an alternative here I would agree with you um and you had a slide that mentioned the number of construction employees and the number of FTE afterwards can you repeat that for people yeah it's anticipated uh that at full buildout so the 2.5 million square feet that we were uh were we would be looking at about 270 I think the estimate is 273 uh full-time jobs uh those are what we consider quality jobs uh they they exist of uh both uh skilled or education required skilled um unskilled highly technical jobs uh the whole range those are on-site positions um the the construction jobs we anticipate during that period would be about 1,500 uh construction jobs of all trades I'd imagine correct okay and then last thing can you discuss uh site security both during construction and after full build out yeah site security is uh very serious uh obviously um what you know in addition to the fence we would have uh security guards on site it would be monitored 247 uh so you would have uh both remote security and on-site security to ensure uh yeah site security I mean these uh data centers are used for all types of uh information it's absolutely critical you know infrastructure information banking information defense information uh and ser uh security is taken very seriously yeah I've also heard that very few if any people can get into it that is correct that is correct all right thank you the commissioner for LA the list of questions um others I'm sure have questions to start with commissioner tesy um no I think uh chair R asked majority of the questions I had which was great thank you um I appreciate the community stepping out tonight and speaking up um and I also appreciate the track team stepping forward and putting together the framework that if this moves forward we will adhere to and amend if and so if needed so without knowing those end users yet it's it's pretty ambiguous but I appreciate that effort to put that forward uh for the Neighbors surrounding that site so thank you Chris commissioner winshuttle no I appreciate everybody coming out um you know personally I have done my own research I've looked into it I appreciate the presentations City staff putting together everything too um and you answered my question which was going to be on the technology for noise um and how it is changing so you made a point and I think it's a valid point that when this project gets developed if it does um you know who knows that technology might be there to reduce the noise to very minimal standards um you we we can't say that now but you know looking down the road something to think about so appreciate the time thank you Phil commissioner leato yeah um thanks everyone for coming and speaking up and I think this has been a really great presentation I just wanted to make sure that I'm grasping this concept So based on the end user you could possibly have less buildings here correct so you could have like eight or four or one on each kind of thing depending on who uses it so we're looking at this preliminary plot to be something potential full buildout could be all of this so I just want to make sure I'm clear on that aspect and then a lot of people are concerned with their property values and their quality of life do you have anything and also one last thing is and other sites so could you possibly address those three um issues that have been brought up by several people the possibility of other sites for this um the concern of property values going down in the quality life for people in the neighborhood please yeah uh so I'll I'll take those I think in order um so first question about who the end user is and what that design is absolutely this is a maximum uh 2.5 million sare ft maximum uh if it's more efficient uh then they'll build it more efficient uh if they want to if they wanted to do one building and they could figure out how to do that uh they might do that uh but uh you know I I think that we want to just make sure that we plan for the maximum with the expectation that it can always work back from there okay uh in terms of other sites uh we're constantly looking for other sites uh this is this is a from a a development perspective uh this is a good site it's got uh you know a uh readily accessible power uh it's got sewer and water in the planned future uh and uh you know we're able to uh plan around the edges uh to try to hopefully mitigate some of those I understand that we're not going to address all those concerns but we're always looking at other sites as well um in terms of property values um you know I understand that that's always a fear right uh this is the US and and our property ownership is very critical to individuals uh we all uh you know want our piece of land and uh that is we want to protect that dearly um we get that um the data it's often used as a boogeyman uh but the data uh generally uh plays out that it is either uh maintains static or actually results in a net increase uh in property value and there's a number of reasons um it's this project is going to result in uh the extension of uh sewer and water to this area of the city uh in this area of what it sounds like could be future city of Castle Rock um that sewer and water is going to make this area ripe for redevelopment is going to make people want to move in uh and it will uh anecdotally you know it has the potential to all right you know what excuse me they were respectful when you had an opportunity to speak please let them speak he's answering a commissioner's question thank you go ahead the other piece I would I would know note is uh again you know this is anecdotal evidence in in U but looking at Le L Lowden County Virginia uh in recent years they have seen consist they have about 25 billion uh dollars worth of uh data centers uh and they have consistently seen uh the residential property values increase as uh data center development has increased uh so we would anticipate uh that that it it is not going to negatively impact um the other piece I would note is there's a pretty substantial tax base that comes with uh the you know potentially 20 billion in investment of a data center here uh that $20 billion in investment uh is taxed uh and that gets divided among the city uh the school district and has the effect in general of subsidizing residential housing uh to allow communities to uh again in general uh potentially even avoid future tax increases or blunt those future tax increases okay that's all I have thanks so much thank you Le commissioner snc yeah thanks for all the comments today um I I have some of the same concerns as uh some of the speakers tonight um as the end user comes in I just wanted to be crystal clear that that things everything adjustments to this plan is going to come through the Planning Commission go through the city council so that there is a graduated um look at each decision made by this end user I think that's so important for people to to feel that um it's not a one and done that there's going to be followup and there's going to be regulations rules followed um um and and you are saying that's going to be this process along all the way along the way absolutely for each phase of the project uh you will see the site plan review and be able to require all of those documentation um outside of preliminary rating uh nothing is going to going to move until you give it the blessing and the conditions of your approval uh are enshrined in a contract with the city I think that's important to understand even the cooling system right um just just hearing on the information the new technology and understanding how that's going to affect our water our electricity and our property vales in our community but um thank you for answering the questions um and we appreciate your time thank you Mitch and now I have a a question for the Comm Mission and you can think about it for a few seconds um my question will be are you ready to make a recommendation this evening or would you like this continued um to our next meeting I'll will ask you that question first and then if the majority want to move on or make a motion tonight then we will explain rationale to our residents so think about it just for a few seconds um um there is no wrong way no wrong answer but I'd just like to see what the majority is I'll do it through polling I'll start with commissioner winshuttle I say we move forward do that mean a vote Yes commissioner leato vote tonight commissioner snow vote tonight commissioner tesky vote tonight so the commission will be voting on this this evening um and so I with the commission's permission I'd like to go first all right um you know some people would ask commission do your homework you didn't close the public hearing yet they what's that I didn't hear you CL the public hearing that's CU I haven't closed it yet okay so I'd like to put in you what I'd like to speak go ahead G ristl 941 a street former mayor and for former council person what I want to leave you in your minds and I haven't heard you speak yet tonight about any of it what is the land is it a good use does it fit in your comp plan you're changing your comp plan you're changing your you're zoning you're rezoning it from residential what is already how many more times is this going to happen these people come in I hope they're paying for all this time when I had a cup in my own name I had to pay $350 it isn't free you're wasting all of our people's time and money by coming here first you had it in the front door now you come around the back door these people they're throwing stuff at the wall to see how stupid Farmington really is and if you people are Commissioners you better think about this I don't know how many of you lived here but I've lived here for 70 plus years and that land isn't suitable to be built on when we went with Castle Rock that land was for a school and a school only can you imagine what the infrastructure is going to cost we put in a prairie Waterway for East Farmington derck you were on there it talk it took a lot a lot of money because you know why we put in water you does any under water Waterway is on the you4 yeah I do I haven't heard you no but I'm just saying I know they can't answer me that's not relevant it is relevant CU this water's got to go somewhere and you got to I'm just saying before leave this in your mind think about before you vote and I think you owe it to the residents of these people here and the residents of Farmington does it fit does it make sense does it fit in the in the planning of what you're doing thank you thank you Jerry all right where was I at no I oh somebody had mentioned do your homework um I went to a visit uh data centers and went on probably one of the warmest days of the summer about three weeks ago was a Monday you probably remember we had a bad storm that night um 100° actually we were down visiting it was 102 um we went to wuke Iowa visited the Apple um data center it's not online yet Beyond on the 24th the reason we went there really was to look at um design setbacks things such as that um learned some new things a new building their technology it already changed and when I mentioned I asked about electric cooling they were they were being electric cooled they weren't being cooled with uh water they were being electric cooled so it was and it was quiet you know what it was we went to De Mo Iowa um Microsoft I think believe they have five Microsoft data centers um and when we went there there um we parked and it was with some trees and I I go when are we going in there when we going to get there uh we were there and we couldn't hear anything um through the trees we did drive around on the main road to the front and what I could hear at that time and the reason I asked about with the location of the cooling towers um was if they're in the middle I I don't know if you how much You' hear them and I'm sure every one of them was running at full full bore that day because it was the hottest day of the summer and then we went to elun Iowa and we looked at the meta one which is as you know they owner of Facebook um and that was operational um very similar design as this um other than where the resident and there were residents right there right across the street um and I forgot to mention the one in wae there there are residential subdivisions building out and around this one sh the  through Jesus Christ are you done so then we went to El tuna and visited the me meow one again the residents they had the front rather than the sides and you know that's why I asked where the cooling towers were going to be because if to me if they're placed appropriately I don't even know if you're going to hear those um so we did that um you know as far as somebody people have mentioned is this the right um location um we start started more than a year ago and you know we hear the residents saying we need more commercial in this community um and I you know Highway 50 is a major thorough far through the community um so you know this is seems logical that it's going to be off of this so um those are what I learned I'll start with commissioner tesy yeah I had done some research I've worked on data centers in the past long long time ago the technology has changed significantly um and along with um chair Rody's uh review the noise is it's not I think what you all are expecting so I'm just gonna leave it at that commissioner winshuttle yeah same as everybody else i' I've done my research um you know I've talked to plenty of residents in town uh throughout the town down in that area you know you name it um and I've done my research I've driven by these data centers um again I I think the noise is a perceived problem which I think can be mitigated by a lot of these systems and dark B grade points were where the cooling towers are put you know where the trees are put you know all that so commiss leato um I just want to mention I've also done my research I in June went to the city of chasa and went to their data center area for United Healthcare um which is my insurance company so I was very involved in wanting to make sure that my data is secur and safe there um they um have I think four or five data centers at the end of a culdesac there is a field and residential housing across the field the only thing I could hear was the sound of my car running and the birds in the field so um I just want to leave that at at that and to let you know city of chasa is also considering doing another data center I have a colleague that's um Vice chair of their Planning Commission so commissioner SN yeah um um listen everybody's ideas here and on the commission um my one thought is if not here where it's going to go someplace in the community close to our community it's going to pull from the same aquafer the same electrical grid um so some of those concerns um you know why not gain a tax revenue for our community rather than five miles down the road so um I think that's one thing I've really thought a lot about is it's going to be a it's going to be tax on Minnesota's water or energy at some point someplace because the data centers have to come um so um that's one thing that's going through in my head during this process with that I'd look for a motion to close a public hearing make a motion to close for a second a second motion a second call roll please winch yes tesy yes Rody yes Lo yes snowback yes in front of the commission and we'll take them jointly we have a preliminary plat preliminary pde uh for the Farmington development Park we also have the resoning of two Parcels as explained in the staff report along with three contingencies is there a motion this will be a recommendation to our city council I'll make a motion to approve we have a motion is there a second a second we have a motion and second for a favorable recommendation to our city council on both any more discussion if not call the roll please tesy yes Rody yes Leo yes snowback yes windsh yes all right thank you for coming we will take a five minute break from from the commission I'd ask you to stay at the table please I have question [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we'll call the meeting back to order with that we'll move into our discussion item this is the Vermillion Commons fourth edition final PL plan unit development Tony you going to take this I am thank you uh Mr chair commission members uh we do have a a final PL and final PUD uh before you this evening uh lenar is the uh applicant and developer uh it is for the vermillian comment fourth edition uh the final plat does consist of 67 single family lots spread over just under 20 26 Acres uh it is consistent with the approved preliminary plat uh the plat the preliminary plat also contains 66 town home all right thank you lots uh and those town home lots would be developed at a later date uh the property to be reson R3 plan unit development um average lot size within the development is 6,198 square ft with a minimum of 4,800 Square ft uh the plaque contains three out Lots uh those being outlots a b and c out lot a will be dedicated uh as Parkland with this plat out Lot B is a storm water facility and will also be deed to the city and out Lot C is the uh future town home uh portion of the plat uh this is the final the overall final plat um have to forgive me the orientation North is going to the one side uh the out lot a is that parking area uh on the Northern end of the the site and then as you see Outlaw SE is in that Southeast Corner uh and would be uh Town Homes future town homes so again just a copy of the Plaid for the uh single family lots as well uh access to the site will be to the south end or at the South End of the plat with the connection of 218 Street West um uh to 220th Street West uh 218th straet I do want to mention 218th Street West uh that's in uh the Vermillion Commons town home addition directly to the uh East uh will not be extended at this time um to this plat due to some ongoing negotiations with the gas company and um The Crossing of that uh their pipelines um without that extension it does create uh one access point to this uh fourth edition for egress and in Ingress and that would be at that 218 Street and to 20th Street uh on the south end the developer has agreed though to construct a temporary binous emergency access that would extend from what would be the Terminus of Rose Drive South through that out lot sea um to 220th Street um to provide a at least a secondary access for emergency services um that uh access um would have barricades and signage to keep out any unauthorized vehicles from utilizing that um access it would be strictly for emergency and temporary until that connection to um or through those gas pipelines is made uh the connection of this emergency access uh will have to be approved by Dakota County um just from a spacing uh guideline um all public roads will consist of a 60ft rway uh with a 32t uh wide roadway um as IID mentioned uh the park that will be located in out lot a is a 1.5 acre Park um 5 foot wide sidewalk is proposed on the west side of Rose Drive souths side and east side of 218 Street West and also Dakota County has a 12T wide Trail drain and utility easement which was granted back in 2022 which runs along the western and Northern boundary of the plat uh and that easement is shown on the plat document as i' had mentioned this is they are seeking final plat or final PUD um with this as well um within your packet there is a draft PUD agreement um the developer has uh reviewed that agreement and finds it acceptable the agreement outlines certain deviations for the development uh and includes the allowance of single family dwellings within the R3 zoning District reduces minimum lot area for single family lots to 4,800 Square ft reduce minimum lot width for single family lots to 40 ft uh the minimum setbacks for single family lots uh would be front of 25 ft the side interior lot of 6 fet uh side corner or Street uh would be 20 ft and then the rear would be 25 ft uh the max maximum lot or building coverage for single family lots would be increased to 45% and that's because again the the lot sizes are being reduced uh allowance of private streets within the R3 zoning District that would be the the town home portion uh and then reduce the private Street width to 24 ft versus our standard 26 ft and again that is only for the town home portion of the development future phase the engineering department has reviewed the fourth edition final plat and recommends approval upon satisfaction of all engineering comments related to construction plans for grading and utilities as well as the developer entering into a development contract with the city and that all security fees and costs shall be paid the action as requested this evening then is to recommend approval of the vermillian common fourth edition final plat and P agreement contingent upon the following and forward that recommendation onto the city council uh the first condition is the satisfaction of all engineering com related to the construction plans for grading and utilities and number two a development contract between the developer and city of Farmington shall be executed and security fees and cost shall be paid submission of all other documents required under the development contract shall be required thank you Tony Mr trosy thank you for waiting do you have anything to add thank you Tony Tony is is really great uh pleased to work with him did a great job happy to be back in Farmington it's moving really quick uh you'll probably see me again here you know shortly don't know if that's good or bad but we're we're excited to move forward with this so happy to answer any questions you remember that house where that young lady was in here along 22th yes was some kind of burm or something has that been resolved so right now that would be for the town home portion and we're not requesting to final plat that right now that'll be you probably a year or so away okay but that was noted and we've got space for increased Landscaping there you remember that please I mean she she was pretty easy about it but I I still think it should be done of course yeah we spoke after the last meeting and you know we we had a good conversation so we both agreed okay thank you all right we're bring back commissioner windsh shuttle no I think it looks good my concern would have been the easement or the access point I should say and you guys get that resolve so looks perfect to me thanks from a safety guy here now you expect that wouldn't you sorry Tony mentioned uh crossing a pipeline we found out halfway through the process that the owner of that pipeline will be vacating one of the pipes in two or three years and they wanted a seven figure sum to cross it and so uh City staff here has been kind enough and hopefully you'll agree that U we're going to put in that temporary Road and until they vacate that easement and then we can cross it with the permanent road so if anybody's asking why isn't there a connection here it didn't make a lot of business sense to pay over seven figures uh for a temporary road so um we've got it John has been great in the engineering department um so just just happy to be here so Tony is that put in the developer agreement then that it will be their responsibility when that is done if what if it's never done the ated never done I what right what happens um good question um can I address that absolutely we're happy to put that in the development contract so we'll lock it in it we don't review the development I'm just asking if you know Tony when he gets put on the spot with the council you knows what is going to happen we can certainly add language to the development contractor we want it for our customers and residents and your residents too so we we want it there so happy to put that in the development contract it's a safety issue for our community it's not only a safety issue but just from a connectivity standpoint between the two between the you know vermillian Comm forth and the first four phases of the Town Home Development just from connectivity it makes sense to to have that okay I'm sorry so just a clarification since you're on the topic could that road if it's never resolved be a permanent road that binus one if it if you don't go to the next phase or like what is it do you understand my question it it could potentially that's not the intent here the intent is to and again I I realize that intent can turn into a long-term solution but that's not the intent here the intent is that once the the pipeline that the gas company is looking to vacate is yeah five years old 105 years old it's it's been say it's almost as old as me it's been they've been looking to decommission that line for a little while and the development of the town homes around this has kind of prompted them to speed up that decommission um and once that line is basically removed um it frees up them from um doing the additional work that would be needed to safeguard the the resident um from that that line that potentially hazardous line S interrupted okay commissioner L though wen't we yeah I think so I don't have any questions it looks good I have no questions either I just back I just had the same question about it and it's been answered so thank you I do have a question for you Tony um the private streets and town homes where we at with that as far as the we had a discussion yeah we had a discussion of it a couple years ago yep um and basically what we did is we moved that directly to just the R3 okay um zoning District cuz that's where you typically have your town homes that's where you're going to have your private streets um if you recall it was originally in the R2 yeah it was um some f right so we we moved it strategically because of that knowing that the R3 is your generally your town home District where you're going to have those HOAs you're going to have you know um the the other off street parking type situations um so yeah okay well we're glad that it's going so well out there and that you're continuing to come in hopefully maybe we'll see you again this year we'll put you at the beginning of the agenda possibly boms the word possibly all right yeah all right all right um in front of the commission then is a recommendation to our city council for Vermillion fourth edition final PL and plan unit development along with two contingencies is there a motion I'll make a motion you have a motion is there a second a second we have a motion for a favorable recommendation is there any more discussion if not call a roll please Rody yes L yes snowback yes windsh yes tesy yes all right well I want appreciate staff coming we don't used to keep you here till 9:30 but we actually Tony at the beginning of the night he picked the time exactly so I'm just I kind of want to just delay a little bit so he's one minute off so no I just remind our residents and viewers the next regular meeting is October 8th and with that I'd look for a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn we have a motion is there a second second motion a second all in favor say I I you're officially adjourned thank you everybody for your time you know exactly [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music]