EDITORIAL: Construction misery: It’s time for the city to show it cares

The construction of the Port Washington data center is such an awe-inspiring logistical spectacle that it has been compared to a military operation like D-Day.

The comparison is apt, but there is another wartime metaphor that also fits the mega project underway on hundreds of acres of former farmland annexed to the city.

The Iran war was started with the (unfulfilled) promise of a rewarding victory for the U.S. but without consideration of the collateral damage it would inflict on innocent bystanders with the worldwide economic pain caused by the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.

Similarly, the Port Washington data center was approved with the promise of economic rewards for taxpayers but without consideration for the people who would be exposed to the disruptions caused by one of the most enormous construction projects ever undertaken in Wisconsin.

In the tens of thousands of words relating to the data center published in Ozaukee Press are news stories with headlines like these: Data center mess called ‘inexcusable’; Town residents beg for relief from data center work; Data center construction ‘hellish,’ town residents say; Data center project a nightmare for school bus drivers; Data center a dirty neighbor.

The nuisance effect of the data center building process is not part of the ongoing debate over whether the technological wonders of artificial intelligence are worth the environmental drawbacks of the data center boom. Nor is it related to the disagreement over whether the Port data center will result in the tax-relief windfall promised by its advocates in the city government.

Those are separate issues. The angst felt by the affected residents derives from a huge-scale construction operation that was invited into their daily lives by elected representatives without a plan to mitigate its most onerous impacts.

Anyone who couldn’t see this coming wasn’t bothering to look. An operation that requires as many as 4,000 construction workers, hundreds of quad-axel dump trucks making thousands of trips weekly hauling 17 to 25 tons of dirt and gravel each to and from the construction site, a vast fleet of earth-moving vehicles including some of the largest in the world, super-sized flatbed trucks loaded with gargantuan pieces of equipment weighing far more than standard road limits allow adding to the bumper-to-bumper parade on public roads doesn’t sneak up.

Critics of the city’s enthusiastic embrace of the data center pointed out early on that its construction would be such a massive undertaking that it would have painful consequences for residents.

Yet, little was said about that looming issue in the remarkably dissent-free discussions by elected and appointed city officials at public meetings. If it was mentioned in closed sessions, that doesn’t count.

The city government’s tone deafness was on graphic display in a decision that is still astonishing months after it was made when Plan Commission members voted to allow longer daily working hours than the developer requested. Worse was to come. This accommodation was merely a prelude to approving a 24-hour-a-day construction work schedule, which was modified only after months of anguished complaints by residents.

City officials have signed away most of their leverage over the data center development, but there are still steps they can take to address the construction misery.

Start by demonstrating sensitivity to the public’s pain. The seemingly never-ending data-center controversy has eroded trust in Port Washington’s elected government to the detriment of the community. Elected officials have to work to restore it by being visible advocates for the citizens they represent.

An Ozaukee Press reader’s suggestion in a recent letter to the editor has merit: Create a position for a person who would have the express responsibility to hear and attempt to deal with complaints and be accessible with a dedicated hotline.

Then be proactive. Don’t wait for people to have to beg for help or demand it in angry appearances at Common Council meetings. Monitor the construction site, travel the clogged roads, splash through the mud, see the dust, hear the racket, identify problems that are likely to be stress points.

Discuss these issues in public meetings. Show that the city government cares.

The city has little power to enforce changes in the construction effects that are annoying people, but it can engage the developer in mitigation discussions.

The priority of Vantage Data Centers is, understandably, to get its multibillion-dollar enterprise built and running, but the company has shown it cares about public opinion in the Port Washington area with its public relations efforts in mailings and newspaper advertising, gestures like free car washes and with financial donations to local nonprofits. There is good reason to believe its managers will try to respond with a measure of assistance when the city advocates for relief for residents.

The city’s construction nuisance response requires a dedicated mission with an established unit of government to carry it out. Think of it as semi-permanent fixture of the city government. Construction of the four Port Washington Vantage Data Centers will go on for years.