Rapid City residents raise data center oversight concerns at city meeting
Rapid City residents voiced concerns at a city meeting about a proposed data center by Sequitor Edge, urging officials to require conditional use permits and public hearings. They highlighted potential impacts on water and power resources and sought a legal opinion on current zoning regulations. No official action was taken by city council members during the meeting.
Residents voiced concerns about a proposed data center development at a Rapid City Legal and Finance Committee meeting. During public comment, a resident urged city officials to implement a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process for large-scale data centers, advocating for public hearings and additional review to address potential strain on the city's power grid and water resources.
The speaker also requested a formal legal opinion from the city attorney regarding whether current industrial zoning regulations are adequate for data center development. These comments were made as Sequitor Edge proceeds with plans for a data center in the Black Hills Industrial Center, located south of Old Folsom Road and east of Highway 79, a project initially announced in February. Sequitor Edge has previously stated the facility would commence operations using approximately 2 megawatts of power, with the potential to expand to 10 megawatts, and would employ a closed-loop cooling system to minimize water consumption.
Despite the public comments, city council members did not respond, and no discussion or action was taken regarding the proposed data center during the committee meeting.