Quinte West Council has voted against implementing a moratorium on new data centre developments in the community.
Council made the decision during their Wednesday meeting, after lengthy discussions that included nine deputations and about two dozen residents providing public input.
Members of the community packed council chambers during the meeting, in what was one of the most-attended meetings in municipal history.
The original motion was to implement a pause of up to one year on data centres, using an Interim Control By-Law.
Had it been passed, the by-law would have prohibited the approval or establishment of data centres to allow for comprehensive studies on the impacts the facilities have on the surrounding communities.
Of the deputations heard by council, all nine were advocating for council not to move forward with the pause.
One of those deputations was from Vincent Paquet, a co-founder of First Block, who is working on establishing a data centre in Quinte West, at the former Sonoco Paper Mill.
He asked for an exemption to the proposed by-law, offering a compromise to reduce potential impacts of the centre.
“We’re ready to publicly and legally commit to our six commitments,” said Paquet. “No city water for cooling, Ontario noise limits at all times, heat for our neighbours, generators fully regulated, no cost to rate payers, in alignment with the Ontario data centre playbook.“
The data centre slated for this location has submitted a site plan for approval, but that process has not yet been completed.
Proposed plans for the site include a vertical farm and greenhouse, which would utilize the waste heat from the data centre.
Another deputation was by Greg Stanley, Chief Technology Officer with True North Sustainable Infrastructure, the company behind the proposed data centre at the former Saputo site at 7 Riverside Drive, just north of Hwy 401.
He addressed common concerns that are being put forward.
During his explanation he said that data centres constructed in Canada use a closed-loop system that does not need to be constantly consuming large quantities of fresh water, preventing excess consumption.
He described the cooling system as a hula-hoop filled with water, with the hot computers at one side and the coolers on the other.
The cooled water circulates from the coolers to the computers to cool them, warming in the process, before it is returned back to the coolers to be chilled again.
“Some of the misinformation, again coming from the U.S. is data centres use a huge amount of water,” said Stanley. “You just cannot do that in Canada. That is not something that occurs. You can’t design to it. No engineer would sign off on it. It is just simply not done.”
He also said 7 Riverside would adhere to strict noise laws, preventing them from making excessively loud humming noises.
Those regulations maintain noise levels below 45db in urban areas, and 40 in rural areas.
After the deputations were heard, there was also a lengthy public comment section where residents voiced concerns with the data centre projects that had already begun in the community.
Collectively, they brought up many concerns with allowing large data centres to be built in Quinte West, including potential noise and water pollution, extreme energy draw, and taxpayers being saddled with infrastructure costs.
James Regan is a Quinte West resident who spoke at the meeting. He said that other communities have been made to foot the bill for the electricity that data centres require. “Some of their five megawatt facilities are now up to 20 megawatts, and now they’re looking at spending up to $100 million in infrastructure upgrades for Lower Kamloops at the cost of the taxpayer, instead of being footed by the data centre.”
After hearing from all the deputations and public comments, council moved to vote on the moratorium.
That vote failed 8-5 on a recorded vote.
Mayor Harrison along with councillors Don Kuntze, Shelly Stedall, Zach Card, and Egerton Boyce voted in favour of the pause.
By defeating the motion, no new restrictions on data centres are being put in place, but they still have to complete the existing site plan process.
The project at 7 Riverside Drive will move to an upcoming meeting of the Planning Committee for recommendation once the new council is elected later this month.
It will likely take a few months before it is revisited.
The former Sonoco Paper Mill project will continue in the planning phases with staff, but only the 18-megawatt data centre project.
The proposed vertical farm and greenhouse for that site have not officially been submitted to the municipality, but are expected in the coming months.
