Council agendas: Waite Park weighs data center moratorium as St. Cloud talks fee hikes, development deals

The Waite Park City Council is scheduled to discuss a proposed year-long moratorium on data center development at its upcoming meeting on Monday, May 4. The city currently lacks specific ordinances to address data centers, and the proposed moratorium aims to prohibit any permitting considerations for new data center projects during its term, with the exception of small-scale fiber-optic facilities under 300 square feet. This discussion comes after a neighboring city, Sartell, recently passed a revision to its ordinances, now requiring any company proposing a data center to apply for a conditional-use permit. The article notes the increasing local focus on data center development, citing examples of companies like Meta and Google utilizing such facilities for AI capabilities.