A standing room only crowd packed into the city of Warrenton Annex Building Tuesday evening during the regularly scheduled Warrenton Board of Aldermen meeting to voice their displeasure over a proposed data center to be located north of the Warrenton West interchange.
So many area residents wanted to attend the meeting that approximately a dozen people were initially not allowed into the meeting room as the room had reached capacity, according to Warrenton Police Officers who were providing security on scene.
Nearly 50 residents of Warrenton, Warren County and other surrounding counties spoke during the meeting while several dozen other participants waived their opportunity to speak, but voiced their opposition to the proposed project. The meeting lasted over four hours as the public comment portion and an agenda item on the data center dominated the discussion.
Those in attendance voiced their displeasure and cited a variety of reasons for their opposition to the project.
One of the issues is regarding the annexation of the property in 2023 to be used for the proposed data center.
One resident, Cheryl Roberts, whose property borders the proposed site on two sides, said she received no notification of the proposed annexation of the property, nor its later zoning change to light industrial. She also said, “The way I read the statutes, the land, even though it is voluntarily annexed in, has to border city property.” She added that the property the parcel borders is actually a right of way, which she believes, according to state statutes, is not permissible.
Other area residents also voiced concerns with the annexation process. Ultimately Assistant City Attorney Bradley Pryor said he was not familiar with the original annexation process and would have to look into it.
Still others in attendance brought up a variety of other issues with the proposed data site.
Dr. Pamela Moehl said she felt for a data center, the community was lacking real data on the project. She noted that data centers of the type being proposed require a lot of water to cool them down. She voiced concerns about drawing down the community’s aquifers and water table and the impact on the community’s water supply. She also urged those in attendance to speak on their position regarding the project. Prior to her coming to the podium, several of those in attendance had passed their time without voicing a position one way or another on the project. After she encouraged everyone to speak up, most of those who were given the opportunity to speak that chose to waive their time to speak did at least voice their opposition to the project before yielding their opportunity to speak.
In addition to water issues, county resident Raymond Bergeron discussed issues relating to the environmental impact of the project, specifically addressing the potential deforestation the project might bring. He told the council that he lives near the parcel. He also discussed the potential noise impact of the data center on those who live in close proximity to the proposed project.
Others in attendance questioned the number of jobs the project would bring.
Area resident Tim Starks said that he has 20 years experience designing data centers. He said he didn’t think the jobs that are claimed (around 250-300) will be as high as professed because he said, “Most people that get high paid in a data center are working remotely from somewhere else in the country. The people that are in the data center are your lower paid people who do the maintenance, hardware, they are not on the high end of the scale.
He also noted that the power to be used for the city is more than the total amount of electricity used in the county, effectively doubling the amount of electricity used county-wide.
He further asserted that the cost of the higher demand and the cost of the infrastructure will be passed on to residents in the form of higher utility rates. Specifically he referred to recent rate increases by Ameren for the infrastructure as an example of higher rates already affecting customers.
Dozens of other residents spoke at length about these issues, still others brought up concerns about the effect of the proposed data center on their own lives, especially those that live adjacent, or in close proximity to the proposed site. Issues raised included preserving farm land and quality of life related issues. In total, over 60 residents voiced their opposition to the proposal, with several dozen more passing without clearly vocalizing their opposition. No one spoke definitively in favor of the project of those present during the meeting.
