Wright County to consider emergency data center moratorium

The Wright County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on May 19 to deliberate an emergency moratorium on data center development. The proposed moratorium, brought forth by Wright County Planning and Zoning, could last for up to 12 months. Should the moratorium be adopted, the Board of Commissioners intends to undertake a comprehensive process to study and amend existing official controls and adopt new regulations pertaining to data centers. It is important to note that the county's authority regarding this moratorium extends only to townships within Wright County and will not impact cities. Consequently, a proposed 550-acre data center campus currently planned for Monticello, Minnesota, which falls outside the county's direct regulatory scope in this instance, will not be affected by this specific discussion or potential moratorium. The county has invited written comments from residents, which must be submitted to Wright County Planning and Zoning by May 18. Officials have clarified through a Facebook post that while public input on the county's proposed moratorium is welcome, the discussion will not address or alter the ongoing process for the Monticello data center project.