The Warrenton Planning and Zoning Commission approved a conditional use permit and site plan for the proposed data center in Warrenton by an 8-2 vote Thursday, Jan. 8.
The vote followed a presentation and nearly an hour and a half of public comment regarding a plan submitted by Crusoe, the vertical developer on the project during the commission’s meeting Thursday. The two votes against the measure were by commissioners Scott Costello and Melissa Jepsen.
Costello had brought up an issue regarding proposed tax revenues from the project, which received significant comment from the commission members. Costello wanted guarantees from Crusoe that it would not seek tax abatements, especially with respect to personal property and sales taxes. He also wanted Crusoe to commit to a requirement that any tenant or occupant of the project procure all equipment locally that would be subject to local sales and use taxes.
Ultimately after extensive debate, especially from Commissioner John Cornell, the commissioners instead voted to approve the CUP and site plan with slight modifications pertaining to trees and lighting. The data center is planned on property north of the Warrenton West interchange.
The proposal now will be reviewed by the Warrenton Board Aldermen, who will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, at Warrenton High School.
The meeting began with a presentation by Crusoe Chief Real Estate Officer Matt Field in support of the CUP and site plan. Field said the site will include two 805,000-square-foot buildings and one 40,000-square-foot administrative building, which will be built to a height of 42 feet. The site plan also includes a substation, which will be owned by Crusoe and a switch-yard, which will be the property of Ameren. Field said the two buildings will use a closed-loop system, which will use only 120,000 gallons annually, which would compare to the average usage of an American household of 140,000 gallons per year. He said the system Crusoe uses to cool the chips inside the facility results in almost no evaporation, which is the reason they can use so much less water than other data center facilities. Field said because of this, the data center will not need to drill any new wells and will take its water from the Montgomery County Water District. Field said the facility will use 6,200 gallons of water per day for all of its uses, including standard uses such as water for staff, toilets, etc., which is equivalent to 16 single-family homes per year.
Field said the property includes 337 acres in the city and 243 acres in the county. The 243 acres will not be developed and will act as a buffer to the 337 acre site, Field said. Of the 337 acres, while Crusoe has the right under the code to develop 45 percent of that acreage, Field said the company only plans on developing 19 percent of the site. Upon questioning later in the meeting, he said the company has no intent to expand its footprint on the site in addition to the 19 percent they plan to use.
The site will additionally include two stormwater retention ponds.
Field said the anticipation is that with construction the facility will support 2,000 to 2,400 construction jobs total, with 100 permanent jobs once the facility is operational. He said the goal is to work to hire local community members first for any jobs.
Field said all existing trees on the site will be retained and noted that along the eastern side of the property there is currently a 100-foot buffer of existing trees that will remain. The buildings exceed the 100-foot setbacks from the property line required by the city, with the two large buildings having a 500-foot setback, while the substation will have a 400-foot setback. The setback for the switchyard will be 150 feet from adjacent property lines.
There will be six backup generators for each building and the generators will be placed inside sound enclosures with an acoustic panel wall to ensure the generators meet the city’s requirement of no more than 60 decibels of sound at the property line. Fuel storage for the generators will be kept onsite and have a full-time leak detection system.
Field said Crusoe would expect to start construction on the first large building sometime in the second quarter of this year, with engineering and commissioning in quarter one of 2027. Full operations would begin in the third quarter of 2027. The second building would begin construction in quarter one of 2027, with operations beginning in quarter two of 2029.
Field said the facility would bring economic impact in the form of real property tax revenue in the amount of $70 to $80 million per year, which his associate Sara Axelrod, who is Crusoe’s vice-president for public and government affairs, said is an extremely conservative estimate.
Commissioners debate CUP and site plan
Following the presentation and public comments, the commissioners asked a series of questions to representatives from several companies connected to the project.
As Crusoe is the vertical developer on the project and an end-user has not yet been named, Cornell asked a series of questions regarding who retains ownership and therefore who would be responsible for meeting any restrictions placed upon the property. Field said that Crusoe would continue to own the facility and would lease it to an end user.
In response to a question from Damion Frederick and Stephanie Tibbetts regarding chemicals for the cooling system, Nelson Beaver with Southland Industries explained that the standards for the cooling system are established by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. The system will use primarily water with a bit of propylene glycol as an additive.
Field reiterated that the system has a complex leak detection system and Beaver added that any leak that would occur in the system can be reacted to rapidly, as leaks are detrimental to the entire system.
Commission Chair Rich Barton asked a question that has been of concern to many in the community, specifically what happens if the company who comes in as an end user fails and has to leave the facility.
Field told the commissioners that under their business model they don’t give tenants “outs.” He explained they are committing huge resources to these facilities in the form of expenditures for items like the chips used in the center. He said the standard commitment would be 10 years or more.
Ameren representative James O’Meara also added that Crusoe would be responsible for paying any cost associated with the project, including inter-connection costs up-front. They would also be required to pay for a minimum amount of electricity, even if they don’t use that amount. If the contract with Ameren were to be terminated there would also be penalties Crusoe or an end-user would have to pay.
In response to a question from Cornell, O’Meara also said that if there is any overcapacity of electricity in the system due to Crusoe or their end-user not meeting their obligations, Ameren could resell that electricity back into the grid, to allow Ameren to spread the risk.
Eventually the discussion led to the proposed tax revenues, with Costello raising a series of questions regarding tax abatements. Costello suggested tabling the commission's decision until Crusoe could confirm they would not be seeking any tax abatements, however this received pushback from Cornell who said that he didn’t think abatements was one of the things the board could consider. City Attorney Drew Weber said that revenue generation for a project was not one of the standards the commission could consider as that would be under the purview of the Warrenton Board of Aldermen. Commissioner Jason Cullom said he agreed with Costello, but Tibbetts sided with Cornell on the issue. Cornell again said he had a problem taking any action that involved consideration of financial aspects. He said that while he agreed there shouldn’t be any abatements on the project, that wasn’t a decision for the commission.
Ultimately the board continued forward with continuing with the consideration for the site plan and CUP, with two minor conditions. One would be to retain as many trees as possible at the site and possibly to add more trees, and the other was for consideration to lower the height of a number of light poles in order to ensure less light escapes from the property onto nearby properties.
The site plan and CUP will now be considered by the Warrenton Board of Aldermen Jan. 20.
