City of Superior passes data center moratorium

8:53 PM June 16th UPDATE: Superior’s City Council has approved a one-year moratorium on data centers in the city.

There is no current proposal to build a data center in the city.

Councilor Garner Moffat proposed the moratorium, saying that since the issue has become so controversial nationally, it makes sense to review the idea before any company files an application.

The council approved the moratorium Tuesday night.

SUPERIOR, Wis. (Northern News Now) - Data centers are making headlines across the country—bringing big money and big questions. Now, a Superior city councilor is proposing a big conversation to decide how—or if—these projects should fit in the city.

Data centers have become a hot-button issue in communities nationwide—sparking debate over potential jobs and tax revenue, but also concerns about health, environmental impacts, and strain on infrastructure, and now a council member is pushing for a moratorium.

City Councilor Garner Moffat said, “they can become really controversial, and so I think the responsible thing to do is to review it prior to having an application on the table.”

The city is rewriting its planning and zoning code, and right now data centers aren’t a permitted use—leaving no clear way to review an application if one comes in.

“Our zones don’t allow data centers and so we don’t really have a mechanism, to determine if it fits or not,” said Moffat.

Councilor Moffat is proposing a moratorium—a temporary pause, not a permanent “no”— backed by Mayor Jim Paine after months of statewide data center controversy.

“The Midwest has been a target for a lot of these hyperscale data center projects, and what happens is they tend to be discussed in darkness with no public or press input whatsoever,” said Mayor Paine.

And Mayor Paine says even Google’s proposed data center in Hermantown, was once considering making its home in Superior.

“They intended to build the data center in Superior before they approached Hermantown. That’s my understanding. Representatives of Minnesota power called city officials and asked us to come to a meeting about a potential data center in Superior, Wisconsin. I said, no, we were not interested in that,” said Mayor Paine.

However, Minnesota Power provided Northern News Now the following statement:

“We’ve always viewed Superior as an important partner who deserves to be considered for economic development projects. Often developers representing various industries will approach utilities and ask for introductions to communities who may have an interest in growing their economy, whether through new opportunities or who may want to replace lost industry. However, the suggestion that Superior had been selected for any data center project is news to us.”

Meanwhile, Councilor Moffat says his moratorium proposition is simply a precaution not because of any proposals currently on the table.

“I’m not aware of any applications in our city for a data center or in the county for that matter,” said Moffat.

City leaders say the review would go beyond planning and zoning to the finance committee as they finish the zoning rewrite and study other communities.

“This is about the neighborhood that those folks live in and it’s going to change dramatically if that happens. They ought to decide whether or not their neighborhood is going to undergo that level of change that quickly,” said Mayor Paine.

If the council approves the moratorium, they say the public will have multiple chances to weigh in over the next six months to a year—before any decisions are made.

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