4. 26-426 Public Hearing for Consideration of a Text Amendment Revising the Setback Requirement for Data Processing Facilities from Existing or Planned Parks, Trails, and Other Recreational Features
I highly encourage the Planning Commission to not make amendments or changes to policy regarding the current set back of 3950 feet. A data center is not the kind of industry needed in Northfield as it would rob the city of resources of water, electricity, light pollution and noise pollution. As a city that promotes its parks, main street and green spaces, a data center is counter to these values. Simply NO to a data center.
Allowing the construction of data centers closer to Northfields incredible nature would be a wild disservice to our reputation as a town, a healthy and beautiful place to grow up and live. The nearby colleges, Carleton especially, rely on the arboretum and the natural, unique ecosystem for field study and research. Even considering the allowance of building a loud, ugly data center is a ‘screw you’ to college students who strive to learn from Northfields beautiful natural environment that is untainted by pollution.
We should make no amendments, policy changes, or exceptions to allow data center development in Northfield. This is not the type of light industry that Northfield should encourage. The impact on our quality of life, the cost of infrastructure changes and the degradation of our water supply are not worth any short term benefit from the data center construction. Long term, there would be few jobs and our property values will decline. In addition, this particular amendment would have us recreating right next to a noisy, unattractive, hulk of a building. We have worked too hard to make Northfield's parks thrive. The cost of the project is borne by the public sector while the profits are reaped by the private sector. Do not approve this amendment nor any other that would open the way for data center development. Thank you.
I urge that this amendment not be passed. Reducing it from 3,950 to 200 feet is ridiculous, and should not be considered in the first place. Data centers are a bad deal for any community, and making it within 300 feet will be detrimental to our health, utilities, and cost of living. There is very little economic development that plays out on the local level when it comes to data centers, so this amendment doesn't benefit us in anyway. We should not even be considering data centers at all in Northfield. What happens to our water supply, farmlands, electricity cost, and the health of the people living here! This is an absolute no!
I strongly urge that the members of the council and this committee do not pass this amendment. This proposal directly permits data centers to be built closer to Northfields precious parks, trails, and waters. Things that in this day and age need to be protected at all costs. A 200 foot set back from these locations would not appropriately do so. Not only that but this reduced set back would allow for data centers to more easily poison our land and waters. Northfield is already struggling with a declining enrollment and decline in new young families; a data center would not help this. In fact, it would only push away those families that the town and district so desperately needs. A data center being closer to natural parks, trails, and water would not benefit Northfield. It would not benefit you.
I strongly object to this amendment, for all the same reasons that Sonja brought up in her comment. The proposal does not explain any substantial benefit to reducing the setback distance, whereas there are a number of downsides to doing so.
I urge you not to pass this amendment. The current 3950-foot distance is appropriate. The proposed reduction to 200 feet--less than a football field--imperils the quality of life in Northfield.
As many small towns have learned, data centers cause residential electricity bills to skyrocket, damage the water supply, and make life next to them unbearable due to their ugliness and noise. They do not create jobs; they, and the AI technologies they power, erase jobs. Why make it easier to build them in our town? Who wants this?
I highly encourage the Planning Commission to not make amendments or changes to policy regarding the current set back of 3950 feet. A data center is not the kind of industry needed in Northfield as it would rob the city of resources of water, electricity, light pollution and noise pollution. As a city that promotes its parks, main street and green spaces, a data center is counter to these values. Simply NO to a data center.
Allowing the construction of data centers closer to Northfields incredible nature would be a wild disservice to our reputation as a town, a healthy and beautiful place to grow up and live. The nearby colleges, Carleton especially, rely on the arboretum and the natural, unique ecosystem for field study and research. Even considering the allowance of building a loud, ugly data center is a ‘screw you’ to college students who strive to learn from Northfields beautiful natural environment that is untainted by pollution.
We should make no amendments, policy changes, or exceptions to allow data center development in Northfield. This is not the type of light industry that Northfield should encourage. The impact on our quality of life, the cost of infrastructure changes and the degradation of our water supply are not worth any short term benefit from the data center construction. Long term, there would be few jobs and our property values will decline. In addition, this particular amendment would have us recreating right next to a noisy, unattractive, hulk of a building. We have worked too hard to make Northfield's parks thrive. The cost of the project is borne by the public sector while the profits are reaped by the private sector. Do not approve this amendment nor any other that would open the way for data center development. Thank you.
I urge that this amendment not be passed. Reducing it from 3,950 to 200 feet is ridiculous, and should not be considered in the first place. Data centers are a bad deal for any community, and making it within 300 feet will be detrimental to our health, utilities, and cost of living. There is very little economic development that plays out on the local level when it comes to data centers, so this amendment doesn't benefit us in anyway. We should not even be considering data centers at all in Northfield. What happens to our water supply, farmlands, electricity cost, and the health of the people living here! This is an absolute no!
I strongly urge that the members of the council and this committee do not pass this amendment. This proposal directly permits data centers to be built closer to Northfields precious parks, trails, and waters. Things that in this day and age need to be protected at all costs. A 200 foot set back from these locations would not appropriately do so. Not only that but this reduced set back would allow for data centers to more easily poison our land and waters. Northfield is already struggling with a declining enrollment and decline in new young families; a data center would not help this. In fact, it would only push away those families that the town and district so desperately needs. A data center being closer to natural parks, trails, and water would not benefit Northfield. It would not benefit you.
I strongly object to this amendment, for all the same reasons that Sonja brought up in her comment. The proposal does not explain any substantial benefit to reducing the setback distance, whereas there are a number of downsides to doing so.
I urge you not to pass this amendment. The current 3950-foot distance is appropriate. The proposed reduction to 200 feet--less than a football field--imperils the quality of life in Northfield.
As many small towns have learned, data centers cause residential electricity bills to skyrocket, damage the water supply, and make life next to them unbearable due to their ugliness and noise. They do not create jobs; they, and the AI technologies they power, erase jobs. Why make it easier to build them in our town? Who wants this?