Some Salix, Iowa, residents asked their city council to place a moratorium on any large-scale data centers being placed on city land, and after a long meeting the council voted 3-2 in support of a concept of such a one-year pause.
During the Wednesday evening Salix City Council meeting attended by more than 100 people, local data center opponents submitted a petition with 70 signatures supporting that moratorium. City Councilman Gene Monk made the motion in support of a moratorium.
“I say we put a pause on it...It takes the heat off the whole process,” Monk said.
To make a moratorium fully actionable, it will be voted on in the Salix Council next meeting in August, Mayor Kevin Nelson explained.
Therefore, there could potentially be a second moratorium in the area of Salix in Woodbury County. The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors last month voted to create a one-year moratorium on data centers located on unincorporated county land. The supervisors are discussing ways of carrying that out, including some public meetings to vet the pros and cons of data centers.
It was the latest large meeting in Salix on the contentious issue in a town with a population that dipped below 300 in the 2020 census. Nelson said some city officials have received death threats.
On June 15, more than 100 people gathered at the Salix Community Park to speak against data centers.
Earlier this spring, the council approved the annexation of about 950 acres of agricultural land on the city’s northeast side into Salix.
In a June 10 Salix City Council meeting, a MidAmerican Energy representative confirmed the company is involved with a proposed development of a data center. On Wednesday, that MidAmerican official, Adam Jablonski, gave an update, saying, "We are making progress on selecting a customer, but we have not selected one yet... There is no customer, there is no development plan."
During the Wednesday council meeting, more than 120 people packed Salix City Hall. The meeting was more than 2.5 hours, and the public forum portion alone covered 70 minutes during which 20 people spoke.
There were two categories of speakers who supported a data center, with people who work in construction trades saying the construction would be a big boost, and those who described Salix needing a boost. The second group, such as Leo Jochum, lamented the death of Salix businesses over the last 60 years and said a data center would improve the business climate and reduce taxes.
"There is a lot of support for this project....if a data center comes here," Jochum said.
Some union members of trades said that data centers in Council Bluffs and the Des Moines metro have been big economic boons.
On the flip side, people who opposed the project said a center would ruin a quaint rural lifestyle.
The two people who spoke about the petition with 70 signatures were Lisa Petersen and Ashley Wolfe.
“The people have spoken. Are you listening?” Wolfe said. “.... I refuse to let my family be guinea pigs for a 900-acre data center.”
Tony Wortmann, traveled from Stanton, Nebraska, to speak against the data Center. He cited the downsides of having a large-scale crypto mine Bitcoin facility come to that area.
"Our houses rattled. You guys are gonna suffer, you are gonna suffer tough," Wortmann said.
A Woodbury County Board memo said there “are concerns about their substantial energy and water concerns, noise, and potential incompatibility with rural land uses.”
Also at the meeting, Winnebago Tribal official Coly Brown noted that sovereign nation is located four miles from Salix, and has concerns that a large development would negatively impact an important nearby water aquifer.
Brown said the tribal government opposes a data center, but wishes to have a government-to-government consultation with the Salix City Council.
