The City of Farmington in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been sued over the construction of a data center in the city.
As reported by 5 Eyewitness News, councilors had approved a data center belonging to Grant van Rooyen’s Tract, by a vote of 4-1.
The data center is now facing a lawsuit from the Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development, a group comprising community members living in the Farmington and Castle Rock Townships.
Plans for the development were first announced in September this year. The data centers could total more than 2.53 million sq ft (235,000 sqm).
The lawsuit claims Tract has a “proven history of preying on unsuspecting small municipalities in states that have no regulation on the data center building industry,” adding that data center growth in these cities is placing constraints on water and electricity, incurring increased costs for local residents.
According to the coalition, the city has breached a contract with neighboring Castle Rock Township, and did not provide sufficient notice nor complete environmental studies.
It is now requested that the court issue a temporary injunction so that the project can be better evaluated.
The City of Farmington declined to comment to the publication.
Update: In a comment to DCD, Graham Williams, chief investment officer at Tract, said: "We are engaged in projects across the country that aim to responsibly develop data center infrastructure in a way that creates overwhelmingly positive impacts for host communities, which involve public processes where all community voices are heard. In Farmington, there were multiple public hearings and favorable votes at both the Planning Board and City Council, where all the interests of Farmington citizens were considered.
"Tract directly engages in these public processes because public feedback makes our plans more responsive to local preferences so that the broader community can take advantage of the positive impacts of this sort of investment."
Colorado-based Tract was founded by former Cologix CEO Grant van Rooyen and describes itself as a company that acquires, zones, entitles, and develops ‘master-planned’ data center parks. In October 2023, the company announced plans to develop a site in Nevada, acquiring further parcels of land in June.
Tract’s site in Nevada is also embroiled in legal action, as Switch is attempting to block Tract’s development near its campus in Nevada. Tract has filed a counterclaim.
Tract is also looking to develop a data center park in Texas and has large landholdings in Richmond, Virginia; Phoenix, Arizona; and Eagle Mountain, Utah.