09-08-25-R - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — AUGUST 11, 2025 8 Councilmember Monson said data centers come in all shapes and sizes. The ones you hear about are the hyperscalers where they take over massive amounts of property. Those are the ones that we would want to have a handle on. You don't even know the smaller ones are there. Shoreview has one just north of TCAAP. They have a number of different ways to cool. Many of them don't cool with water anymore. Data centers continue to grow and they continue to change. At this point she believes we should leave it as a prohibited use until one tries to come in. We can tackle it better at that time. We can ask what it is. How they will cool? How much sound will they create? How many jobs will it create? How big will it be? Mayor Grant said we should just remain silent on it. The jury is still out on these. Rita Trapp said it will still appear in the use table but it won't be allowed. Mayor Grant said he doesn't disallow it and you don't put it in the use table. They definitely come in all shapes and sizes. He thinks it will be an important element for a number of companies in the next 10-15 years. To rule it out, at this point, is equivalent to not allowing vehicles because horses were around. Technology is coming and it's coming really fast. Councilmember Holden said we need to be careful about how we talk about it. There are already some institutions within our City that have small data centers. Councilmember Monson said then the discussion is if it's a primary use vs. an accessory use. Councilmember Holden said the bottom line is Land O Lakes has a lot of land. If they want to build an accessory structure to house one, what are we going to say? Councilmember Monson said generally everything she has read is the right direction for her. Said there may be a solution for Home Occupations by putting in standards. She asked the consultant to walk through that. Jason Zimmerman said every city handles these in different ways. Some where none of them rise to the level of having to go to Planning Commission or Council but they outline guidelines and regulations, within certain limits. Other cities allow lower level ones to be approved administratively. There may be more regulation depending on business type, number of visitors, employees or hours. Those categories can have a little more oversight. There was a case where a piano teacher had to go through a long process to allow his students to come during the day. It would be helpful to have the standards written to avoid that long, drawn -out process. It comes back to what the City's primary concerns are and can you capture regulations and standards to address those, without having to have a full public hearing process. Typical regulations for Home Occupations are traffic, noise and advertising. There are other specific uses that can be prohibited. Councilmember Monson wants Home Occupation to be as friendly and easy as possible to start their own business. She would like to see it permitted use within whatever parameters Council decides on. We might want one list that explicitly prohibits certain things. It's important to foster starting a business from home. She would like to see affordable housing regulations in the ordinance. During the strategic planning process a list of policies was created. She understands some of those topics are going to be bigger discussions but she wants to see affordable housing in the ordinance.