Town residents warn of data center impact
Even as plans for a massive data center to be built on roughly 2,000 acres in the Town of Port Washington and annexed to the City of Port move ahead, town residents attending two Town Board meetings and a Common Council meeting during the last week implored officials to do what they can to stand in the way of the facility they fear will destroy their way of life.
“It’s not going to be the Town of Port we came here to live in,” Michelle Wozniak told the Town Board.
“The only leverage the town has is the 2004 border agreement, Jim Dawkins of Weiler’s Way told the board. “We have to get it right the first time.”
The border agreement is set to expire on Dec. 31, but to facilitate the data center complex city officials sought to end its control of the land for the proposed data center sooner.
That happened Tuesday when the city and town reached an accord that gives the city the right to annex property for the data center as of Feb. 2 in return for a number of concessions.
Cloverleaf Infrastructure has proposed a sprawling data center that would cost billions of dollars, require a gigawatt of power and could include multiple multistory buildings.
The Houston-based company develops plans and secures permits for data center projects, then sells the project to technology companies to build and operate.
The data center would be phased in over the next five to eight years and construction could begin this fall, with completion of the first phase in the next three years.
Dawkins suggested last week that the town seek a requirement that a closed loop cooling system be used at the center to minimize the environmental impact and that aesthetic considerations such as berms, trees and setbacks be imposed to hide the project as much as possible.
A larger culvert on Lake Drive could be installed, he suggested, especially if a water pipe for the data center were to be installed there, and dead ash trees along the road should be removed.
A noise ordinance would safeguard the quality of life in the areas surrounding the complex, he said, and officials should seek guarantees to make the town whole if the project fails.
Dawkins also suggested looking into protections to prevent the data center from expanding farther into the town in the future.
Jane Fellenz, who lives on Highland Drive, told the Town Board the best idea may be for the town to do nothing.
“I think it would be a good thing to hold out until we know what entity is (the end user),” she said.
Amanda Mueller, 4488 Lilac La., told the Town Board she moved to the area from San Antonio three years ago in large part to get away from data centers, noting there were three there.
“They add stress to the community in more ways than they (officials) allude to,” she said, adding the town should seek whatever it can that will benefit the area. “I don’t want to be a doomsayer. I want to be realistic.
“I don’t think we can stop it. All we can do is make a lot of noise.”
Construction will go on longer than expected, she said, home values will decrease and noise and light pollution will be rampant.
The noise, Mueller said, “is a hum you will hear constantly.”
Matt Gaulke asked whether the data center is a harbinger of things to come.
“What are the odds of agriculture being able to thrive and expand in this area?” he asked.
Paige Dawkins of 799 Weiler’s Way asked city officials on Tuesday to visit a hyperscale data center to see firsthand what the impact will be on the community.
But Terry Wisinski of Lilac Lane told aldermen that would be difficult.
“Mount Pleasant (where Microsoft is building a data center) isn’t even close (to the scope of the proposed Port project),” she said. “I think there are a lot of considerations that need to take place before you sign this over.”
Town Chairman Mike Didier said that the town has little power over the proposed data center, noting the city has said that if an agreement can’t be reached to end the border agreement early it will wait until it expires on Dec. 31.
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