Board backs controversial data center well permit

The Port Washington Board of Public Works on Tuesday recommended that the city approve a request by Vantage Data Centers to use three existing private wells at its Lighthouse Campus until city water is extended to its site — action taken after a number of town residents living near the 672-acre campus urged the city not to approve the request, saying they fear the impact use of these wells will have on the water they depend on.

The well permit now goes to the Common Council, which will consider the request at its Tuesday, Sept. 15, meeting.

The board action came after City Attorney Matt Nugent told members that because the Department of Natural Resources has signed off on the well permit the city has little choice but to approve it.

If it didn’t, he said, “essentially we would be denying something the DNR has authority over, which we don’t have the authority to do.”

Ald. Mary Lou Mueller, a member of the board, said that means the city has little say in the matter,

“They really don’t need our permission,” she said. “They have DNR permission.”

That’s especially true since the city agreed in a developer’s agreement to supply water to the data center, Mueller said. If it doesn’t, Vantage could sue the city.

The DNR permit allows Vantage to use four wells on its property, but officials said  one of those wells has already been abandoned. Another well would be used by Lake Breeze Seeds and capped in 2027, according to information submitted by Vantage, while the other two will be used to serve offices used by the construction companies building the data center campus.

Once municipal water has been extended to Lake Drive, something expected to occur next year, Vantage will be required to stop using the wells except, perhaps, for watering the lawn on its site, officials said.

“Vantage has told us their intent is to cap the wells once water is extended next year,” Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said.

But town residents remain wary of the idea of Vantage using the wells, especially since the company has said it intends to use city water for its operations.

Chris Karnish of the Town of Port told the board Vantage should be required to continue trucking water to its site rather than be allowed to use the wells.

“There’s absolutely no reason for them to use our aquifer for their trailer city,” he said.

He asked board members to be wary of the request, saying Vantage still owns a significant swath of land to the north that it hasn’t developed. When it does, the company may ask to use the wells on that land as well, he said.

Kim Tydrick, another town resident, told the board residents had been assured Vantage would use municipal water, not groundwater.

“Why all the sudden is groundwater in play when it never was in the beginning?” she asked. “We were promised it would never be a part of this whole situation.”

The city has extended water service to the south end of Vantage’s property and it could truck water to the north end if it’s needed there, Tydrick said.

Town resident Dean Wiegert questioned why Vantage needs the wells, which are expected to draw as much as 12,000 gallons a day, the equivalent of water used by 35 houses each day.

He also asked whether the well water would be used for the data center’s closed loop cooling system and questioned the planning for the campus.

“Why was none of this necessary infrastructure of water and electricity nailed down by now?” he asked. “This isn’t somebody’s bait shop on Lake Drive set up in a tent and running on an extension cord and hose from the house.” 

Town resident Catherine Gardner told the board Vantage has “a consistent pattern of stretching the limits, of starting with reasonable-sounding requests and then returning with greater demands.”

She asked that the city set “reasonable” limits on the amount of water used from the wells and monitor their use, and said officials should “hold firm when Vantage comes back to you asking for more.”

Vantage is required by its DNR permit to report well water use annually to the agency, but Port can ask for more frequent reporting, Nugent said.

“We have spoken with Vantage and they are willing to provide that information on a monthly basis,” Vanden Noven said. “If we need to go out there and check the meters ourselves, we have the ability to.”

Spencer Myers, senior director of construction for Vantage, told the board that one of the two wells Vantage is asking to use has drawn 6,000 gallons from November 2025 to June 30 and the other has drawn 2,421 gallons during that time.

The maximum daily draw would be 12,000 gallons, Myers said, something the company is “well under.”

If Vantage were to exceed the amount, Mueller asked who would be responsible for enforcing the permit. That would be the DNR, Nugent said, adding that the DNR’s enforcement is “more stringent” than the city’s.

When asked, Myers told the board that Vantage has abandoned about 20 wells on its property so far, but said he did not know how much water they previously pumped.

City Engineer Roger Strohm said the wells were rated for between 10 and 20 gallons per minute, estimating each likely pumped 300 to 500 gallons a day — more if used for farm operations.

Ald. Mike Beaster, a member of the board, cast the lone dissenting vote on the recommendation to issue the city permit after unsuccessfully trying to limit the duration of the permit to 18 months.

“If I could have done that, I probably would have supported it,” he said after the meeting. “I’m just uncomfortable with the five years.”

But Nugent said city codes require that the permit be issued for five years.

“We can’t limit it to 10 years. We can’t issue it for one year,” he said.