Laserfiche WebLink
ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COLINCIL WORK SESSION _ AUGUST II,2O25 <br />public hearing in order to amend it. They are trying to identifu what are the changes that are <br />straightforward and don't change the intent. <br />Mayor Grant said maybe someone wanted Honey locust but the developer wanted a Silver <br />Maple. <br />Rita Trapp said one of the things they are seeing on landscaping plans is that they are unable to <br />get the approved tree species. <br />Councilmember Holden said that's fine to put it in writing. She said we have always included <br />'trp to the discretion of Staff in a lot of our contracts. <br />City Administrator Jagoe said typically with a PUD the first condition says if staff deems it a <br />minor change it is allowed subject to staff approval. <br />Rita Trapp said if someone wants to come in five years later and change something they would <br />have to go back. In her example it was many years later. Little changes, like that, would be a lot <br />easier for folks rather than having to go through the whole approval process. Council will see the <br />list of items that staff can approve and decide if anything should be added or taken off that list. <br />Councilmember Weber asked if there are any items they want to touch on. He doesn't think <br />Council comments were captured regarding Data Centers. He knows there was a mixed response <br />at the Planning Commission review and as well as from Council. <br />Jason Zimmerman said that is a hot topic in a lot of cities right now. Cities are understandably <br />interested in them while also wary of the impacts they may have. One of the things that has been <br />discussed is going to those communities that have allowed them and asking what issues they have <br />had and what standards and regulations they have built in. They are not job generators but they <br />are tax base generators. This is a newer topic and multiple cities are asking for guidance on this. <br />Councilmember Weber would like to see how energy and water intensive are they. Not just <br />what standards have been built in. He wants to learn how much more water they are using than a <br />typical commercial business. Is the resource consumption significantly more than any other <br />business? <br />Rita Trapp said that is a topic that could explode. There are so many unknowns. They could <br />probably provide base level language to put in the code and then come back to it. This is <br />important but doing that level of work on a topic that people are not very experienced with would <br />probably be outside of the scope of the zoning review they agreed to. Data centers are not a topic <br />that was even on our radar. <br />Councilmember Weber thinks that should be more defined beforehand. He has no clue how <br />much water they use. If everything is being liquid cooled, what would the impact on our <br />infrastructure be? He would prefer to see those answers before we make a decision, unless the <br />decision is to simply not allow them. Will it have a detrimental impact on the water service to <br />Lexington Avenue? <br />Councilmember Monson said data centers come in all shapes and sizes. The ones you hear about <br />are the hyperscalers where they take over massive amounts of property. Those are the ones that