Farmington residents sue city over proposed data center

Residents opposed to plans to build a hyperscale data center are suing the city of Farmington.

The lawsuit was filed Nov. 29 in Dakota County District Court by the Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development. The group is against a plan by Tract, a Colorado-based development company, to build a campus of 12 data centers on about 340 acres, a former golf course. 

The Farmington City Council voted earlier this month to approve a contract with Tract. The coalition is asking a judge for an order stopping the city and Tract from moving forward with the project until their concerns are addressed.

The coalition’s members have attended city council and planning commission meetings, written letters to city officials and spoken at every opportunity to no avail, said Cathy Johnson, one of the plaintiffs.

“We’re being steamrolled over, and that’s why we are going with an attorney,” she said.

The lawsuit cites concerns with the project’s impacts on the environment, water and electricity use and property values. It also accuses the city of breaching an orderly annexation agreement with neighboring Castle Rock Township.

Drea Doffing, another coalition member, said the data center should be built in an industrial area, not residential.

“We’re asking that it shouldn’t be here,” she said. “It shouldn’t be located between our homes.”

Data centers are large buildings that house computer servers and equipment used to process and store data. Their explosive growth across the U.S. is being driven by the rise of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, digital devices and streaming services. 

Minnesota is an attractive location for data centers because of its cooler climate, geographic location and tax incentives. The Farmington project is one of several large centers under construction or planned for Minnesota. 

Johnson said she also wrote a letter to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, asking for more state oversight over data centers.

“It’s not just this site,” she said. “These are coming into the state at lightning speed. And the state needs to get ahead of it with some guardrails as to where they can be sited, how they can be regulated.”

Farmington Mayor Joshua Hoyt and City Administrator Lynn Gorski declined to comment, citing the lawsuit. City and Tract officials have cited the project’s potential economic impacts, including jobs and expanded tax base.