RIVER FALLS — A packed house at the Oct. 13 River Falls City Council meeting urged the city to pass a moratorium on data centers and to take precautions to ensure a safe Election Day on Nov. 3.

City Administrator Scot Simpson shared a presentation to lay out council’s options regarding a moratorium on data center development. Alderperson Scott Downing requested the item to appear on an agenda, and Alderpersons Mei Mei Abdouch and Michael Page backed that idea. The item itself was not a moratorium, but a way for council to know their next possible steps and advise city staff if they would like a moratorium to be drafted.

“The purpose of the discussion is to determine whether the council would like staff to undertake additional work related to data centers, which may include conducting further research, developing options and potential parameters for a temporary moratorium or preparing a proposed temporary moratorium for future council consideration,” Simpson said. “Important to note that no temporary moratorium is being presented for adoption as part of this agenda item.”

A moratorium is a temporary and targeted pause on development approvals. Simpson said a data center coming to River Falls would need to go through a series of local, state and national reviews including land use, water, noise, tax base, utilities and tax exemption examinations.

“I think this is important to note that when people say that data centers are unregulated or nearly unregulated that that doesn’t seem to be factually true,” Simpson said. “You have both the local regulatory reviews, but also a number of non-local, primarily state and federal.”

Simpson said Mann Valley would more than likely be the only spot a data center could enter the city given its zoning and proximity to necessities. Because that land is city-owned, council has significantly wider discretion over what would be built on it.

“You have near unilateral control of what happens in Mann Valley,” Simpson said. “We own the only property that we think is feasible. This is a pretty small hyperscale data center. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s small. It’s huge in all kinds of ways, but on the scale of hyperscale data centers, you can’t get that much power here that quickly to make it that valuable.”

The city was provided with information from Project Badger after going through early discussions for a data center project in 2023. The feasibility examination showed $24 million land price for 195 acres, a $500 million investment in equipment, 20-50 ongoing jobs after construction, 315MW electric use at full buildout, 850,000-2,000,000 gallons of water used per day and 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day.

“Staff had no expectation that we would grant anywhere near that water. In fact, we gave them some stop signs,” Simpson said. “The project did not reach site submittal and evaluation.”

“We were in the initial feasibility study phases, which I think is hard for a lot of people to understand, but not for those that are involved in economic development. We regularly see projects that take multiple years just to do the project development long before things come to council.”

Simpson said drafting a moratorium could be done around the end of the year, if that is what council decides on. A moratorium would give the city a window to examine whether or not there are holes in city ordinances. Additionally, the conversation at the meeting may have an effect on offers received from data centers and non-data centers looking to purchase Mann Valley property.

“This was not the intent of this discussion was to drive more prospects, but one of the impacts of this discussion is it’s going to drive more prospects, because there are companies out there that already know about us,” Simpson said.

A handful of residents spoke in favor of council placing a moratorium on data centers.

“Zero detection PFAs water is going to be unheard of soon, and I see it as one of our greatest resources going forward. Unfortunately, data centers not so much. They have a lot of PFAs, they create a lot of PFAs and they create a lot of wastewater,” Alicia Cosgrove said. “I urge you to put in place a moratorium.”

“Recently, someone asked me, ‘Is there a reason not to pass a moratorium?’ The context of the question suggests that maybe there is a perfect data center design that would not pollute or use up our water, and if there is a moratorium in place, the developer will go elsewhere and our community will lose out. But lose out on what,” River Falls Township resident Wendy DiPeso said. “Unless or until the technology for making microchips is fundamentally changed such that no PFAs is used in manufacturing, there is no such thing as a harmless data center.”

DiPeso said the cost to job creation ratio is far lower than other industries, and that data centers do not attract other businesses into the city.

When the council had their turn to chime in, the majority of the discussion was centered around whether a moratorium would put unnecessary restrictions on the council’s decision making.

“I’ve been on the council this is my ninth year now, and we’ve looked at a lot of deals over the years, and we’ve turned them down because they were not in the best interest of the citizens of River Falls,” Alderperson Todd Bjerstedt said. “We can say yes or no to a bad deal.”

Mayor Alison Page said a major data company recently made an inquiry regarding the land. While there is no specific proposal on the table, she mentioned the city would not settle for something less than a center that did not impact the environment negatively.

Downing said the city needs to ask hard questions, including whether the centers will receive special treatment, whether utility ratepayers will be affected, whether a decommission contract will be in place and whether they will be required to operate on renewable energy.

“The issue I’m raising is simply whether we’re prepared to make these decisions under clear, up-front rules, realizing the full complexity. A moratorium is not a ban, it’s a temporary pause," Downing said. “Once a moratorium is done, property rights go both ways, which is why it’s vital to establish the community’s requirements up front.”

There was no vote on the item, and the consensus was to review zoning regulations, provide administration with suggestions and discuss the topic again at a workshop during the coming months. Council agreed to continue dialog with proposed businesses but make no approvals until that work is done.

Election Safety

Many spoke during public comment about concerns that the Nov. 3 election could be tampered with by outsiders. Mayor Page led off the comments by making a statement to those in attendance.

“We are living in challenging times. A time when our politics have polarized us to the degree we haven’t seen in this country for a long time. Issues of common interest are being used as political fodder, dividing neighborhoods, neighbors and friends. Who would’ve thought that an infectious disease would become an issue of partisan politics, but it did,” Page said. “We’re also seeing a decline in our collective confidence in government, elected officials and our institutions. In fact, our confidence in each other is low. For example, in Canada 60% of people express confidence in their fellow citizens. In the United States that number is 30%. All of this is happening at a time where we’re facing challenges and opportunities we could not have imagined a decade ago. This makes it more important than ever that we, as a community, roll up our sleeves and do the work of democracy right here in River City.”

Resident Tonya Schmitt thanked poll workers and said their process is being threatened.

“Voting is key. Voters choose our leaders. Leaders and not to pick their voters. Right now, this premise is under fire. Across the country, there are efforts to keep eligible people from voting and to control the outcome of elections. Pressure campaigns, intimidation and manufactured chaos are aimed at the very people who run our elections: clerks, poll workers, canvassers. When people are kept from voting, or when the process is thrown into confusion, the electoral outcome can shift because some voters never got the chance to be counted,” Schmitt said.

Fellow resident Hal Watson said a threat from an outside source may not happen, but the city must be prepared in case it does.

“What I’ve been hearing from friends and neighbors is concern and some level of anxiety that on this particular Election Day we may encounter or be forced to deal with some kind of disruption to our regular process. Will that happen or not? I don’t know, none of us do. I’m not here to start any rumors or to try to predict the future. However, as my mother used to say to me, hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Watson said. “What I, and others in the community, are looking for right now is some level of assurance that we are prepared for the unexpected on Election Day, that we have systems and contingency plans in place to deal with a potential disruption and that everyone knows how and who to communicate with if the situation requires managing.”

Flock Cameras

The River Falls Police Department recently announced a plan to discontinue the use of Flock automated license plate reader cameras in the city after completing an investigation. Multiple people thanked the city for that decision during public comment.

“Any time a city is presented with technology, it might seem like a great idea at first, and it might be sold as to cities and municipalities as the latest, greatest technology, but what we’ve learned from examination of Flock is that a lot of times technology isn’t exactly sold to us for the intended purpose,” Bridget Faricy said.

Faricy said the city should learn from the Flock process as they make important decisions about data centers. The two are fields seeing rapid innovation.

Community member Dana Linscott said the next question for the department is whether they are planning to go with another license plate reader brand or be done entirely.

Driveway Ordinance

The ordinance amendment to allow residences to have 30-foot driveways at the right-of-way rather than 25 and grandfather in those in non-compliance was approved at the meeting. The item was heavily discussed at a previous meeting during the first reading, as 55% of examined homes were in non-compliance with the current ordinance.

Multiple residents and multiple members of the council spoke against the change.

“I’m still having a little trouble with going from 25 to 30 feet. I know it’s easier for the three-car garages and it’s only at the right-of-way that it’s the 25 or the 30 feet, and then up by your apron where your garage is you can have it wider,” Alderperson Rose Walker said. “I’m still concerned about the imperviousness of the surface. I’m concerned that it will go beyond 30 feet.”

Walker also said a change to 30 feet may green light property owners to continue stretching that limit. Abdouch also spoke against the change, saying the responsibility should fall on the developer to know the ordinances of the city.

“Unfortunately, I am. If that homeowner feels that they were misled by whoever built their home if it wasn’t their own, then perhaps they can follow through on that,” Abdouch said of enforcing the ordinance on homes currently not in compliance. “I don’t want this to be a slippery slope of just granting more and more ordinances because XYZ builder didn’t care what our ordinances were.”

At 30 feet, some homes will still be out of compliance. Driveway width is not something that is actively monitored, but Simpson said city staff could take that on if council urges them to.

“Staff didn’t bring this because we’re trying to get everyone in compliance,” Simpson said. “Staff is suggesting that this would reflect current development patterns. It’s something we often do.”

Council voted 4-2 in favor of the amendment, with Abdouch and Walker voting against the motion and Alderperson Nick Carow absent.

Other business

• Approved an $87,789 contract with Total Excavating for the repair of a damaged stormwater pipe and bank stabilization under the South Main Street bridge. They also approved a $275,907.80 bid from the same company for Cedar Street improvements and Lametti Interceptor replacement.
• Approved the WPPI Energy Amendment No. 3 long-term existing power supply contract, extending the initial contract to 2073 with the power supply company from 2055.