The Maryville City Council, at its meeting Monday, unanimously passed a six-month moratorium on large-scale developments. This applies to all commercial or industrial developments that are 6o acres or more. This will give them time to study the impact that such facilities would have on the city and the area.
While the ordinance does not directly apply to the $6 billion proposed data center that would be located south of Maryville along Route 71, the City of Maryville has control over the estimated 600,000 to 650,000 gallons of wastewater that the data center would use daily should the plan involve the closed-loop system that would involve the facility buying the wastewater from Maryville, piping it in to their facility, and piping it back to Maryville, which would treat it at their plant and discharge it into the 102 River, subject to Missouri DNR and EPA rules.
The city says the moratorium is intended to provide the city with adequate time to evaluate the long-term impacts of large-scale growth and ensure that future development occurs in a manner that is consistent with the community’s infrastructure capacity, planning objectives, and overall public welfare.
The ordinance was pass in response to increased interest in large-scale development activity within Nodaway County and the recognition that projects of this magnitude can place substantial demands on public infrastructure, utilities, transportation networks, emergency services, stormwater management systems, and municipal operations.
During the moratorium period, the city will review existing land use policies, zoning regulations, subdivision standards, infrastructure and utility capacity, and development review procedures.
The ordinance applies to development projects proposed on properties larger than 60 contiguous acres and includes activities such as permitted use projects, rezonings, subdivision plats, planned unit development, site plan approvals, building permits, grading permits, and related activity.
There have been calls for the Nodaway County Commission to take a similar step. However, unlike Maryville, Nodaway County does not have zoning. At Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners talked with Attorney Travis Elliott about the feasibility of such a step. Mr. Elliott said that like everyone else, he was still trying to get answers on data centers, noting there was not a lot of case law regarding moratoriums and data centers. He said that the worst step that the county could do from a legal standpoint was to use a moratorium as a means to keep such facilities out completely. The next worst option would be for the county to declare a moratorium and hope that the problem goes away. He said that if they were going to pass such a moratorium, the most defensible way to do it would be to pass a 6-12 month moratorium and use the period to gather information about the positives and negatives as well as what the county can and can’t do.
The county took no action Tuesday on a moratorium. They are in the process of teaming with the Rural Water District and the City of Maryville to hire a lawyer who specializes in data centers and learn what they can and can’t do.
Earlier this year, Camden County (MO) passed a full-blown ordinance designed to regulate data centers. It gives the county authority to issue, manage, and revoke all permits related to data centers. The question is whether such an ordinance would stand up in court. The Missouri Legislature has passed legislation stating that county health ordinances cannot be more stringent than DNR regulations.
Recent Nodaway County Commission meetings have been characterized by opponents of the project attending the meetings to speak out. They want the commission to halt the project, citing environmental, health, noise, and light concerns along with the potential negative effect on property values. There were 39 people at the April 29th meeting, 30 more at the May 5th, five at Thursday’s meeting, and three at Tuesday’s meeting to speak out. Opponents have organized their own meeting, which will be held on May 21st at 6:00 pm at Salem Church, located near Pumpkin Center, to learn more about data centers and what local governments can and can’t do. A GoFundMe effort by opponents to retain a lawyer in an effort to halt the project raised $1,475 in its first day as of Tuesday morning.
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