Protestors Packed Hermantown Council Meeting Amid Zoning Vote for Proposed Data Center

HERMANTOWN, Minn. — As the process of preparing Hermantown for a potential data center has begun, tensions are running hot between city councilors and locals.

Residents of the city and surrounding areas held a protest before the council meeting, where officials were looking to amend a zoning map to begin clearing the way for the proposed data center to move in. As for the locals, many residents are felt blindsided by a process that they say, was deliberately hid from them.

“I think everybody feels pretty back door’d with the simple fact that this has obviously been in the works, you know, secretly, for a couple years now, and we just heard about it last month,” Nicole Kearney, attendee. “That’s pretty upsetting to many northern Minnesotans, and honestly, I think if a lot of people still don’t really even know about it or understand.”

The location for the proposed center will be between Solway Road and Sandberg Road, and could feature up to 4 buildings, each of which would be roughly 300-thousand square feet.

As of 9:30 p.m. Monday, the council had not made a vote on the land zoning.  FOX 21 will follow up on this story on Oct. 21.