Camdenton Board of Aldermen puts pause on data centers
CAMDENTON, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Camdenton Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a one-year moratorium on the approval of data centers within its city limits.
Aldermen met on Tuesday to consider the pause on the permits, approval and construction. Columbia is also considering a similar one-year ban.
Meeting documents say the city’s code of ordinances “does not adequately address the unique land use, infrastructure, and utility demands associated with data centers” and brings up concerns around electricity and water usage.
“Data centers are high-intensity users of electricity and water resources and may significantly impact municipal infrastructure, including electric systems, water supply, wastewater systems, land use compatibility, and emergency services,” meeting documents say.
Only 70 people were allowed within the council chambers for fire safety and occupancy reasons, but residents were unified in their support against data centers in the community.
The building and inclusion of data centers have been highly contested around the country, including in Mid-Missouri.
"I have heard a lot of negative things about data centers and have yet to hear very much positive about them," Camdenton Mayor John McNabb said. "I'm very concerned about that because it's, it's our community.
Amazon has sought to build a data center in Montgomery County and saw intense pushback from its residents at several public meetings, which culminated in a lawsuit to attempt to block it from happening. Critics of data centers typically point to excess water usage and increased use of electricity.
Tuesday's meeting documents say there are concerns about “infrastructure capacity” and say data centers require “extraordinary utility demand.”
“The City’s water and wastewater systems and the electric system for the area are designed for typical residential, commercial, and light industrial uses and have not been evaluated for high-density, continuous-load facilities such as data centers,” the moratorium reads.
Earlier in the meeting, the board also unanimously passed a resolution that rescinds its support for the MO Lake Development project.
The Board of Aldermen has been in talks with the developers of the land in question since the summer of 2021. McNabb said that the plans for this development have changed at least six times since 2022. The developers do not own the property.
