City Council allows 4-unit data center site expansion plan

 


More computer data centers will soon be operating in the Kottmeyer Business Park.

Monday evening members of the Superior City Council voted unanimously to allow the operation of four of the data centers in the business park.

One is currently operating, two are awaiting start up and a fourth is expected to arrive in Superior later this month.

If all goes as planned, the developer, Lannin Zoltenko, envisions having as many as 30 of the centers along with service and office facilities located in the business park.

However, there are obstacles in his way.

Some residents of the Oak Ridge Development oppose the development and claim it will lower their property values and create objectionable noise. And there is the question of sufficient electrical power. The data centers consume large amounts of electrical energy. The development of such centers in Texas is expected to require more electricity than does the entire city of Houston. The envisioned center for Superior would make it the community’s largest electrical energy consumer.

Currently, the City of Superior can supply only four Kottmeyer Business Park data centers. If more of the centers are located here, an additional substation will need to be constructed.

The development has been discussed for several months and has been reviewed by the city’s planning commission and economic development council.

Speaking at a public hearing held Monday night, Kim Young, chairman of the Superior Planning Commission, said commission members had discussed and considered the proposal for several months before voting 5-2 on Thursday to approve the project with restrictions.

Zoltenko told the council he wanted to be a good neighbor and would contribute $15,000 for a public project in Oak Ridge. It was suggested the money be used to add trees along the south line of the subdivision to serve as a sound barrier.

He also discussed his sound containment plans. A security fence will surround the property and sound damping panels will be affixed to the fence. In addition fast growing trees will be planted along the property line. Modifications were being made to the data center modules with the goal of reducing the sound below the level first associated with the present operating module.

In a related matter, the council agreed to sell two additional Kottmeyer Business Park lots to Zoltenko for $19,500. But the lot sale does not automatically grant permission to add data centers. Before additional data centers are located in the business park, the council will evaluate the noise produced by the first four, the effect they are having adjoining property and the attempts at noise containment. The noise is produced by the fans used to cool the computer equipment which operates around the clock.

In more routine business, the council approved a park board request to hire Seth Going as swimming pool manager. He has served as the pool’s assistant manager in recent years. The retiring manager, Bev Czirr, will serve as an advisor this year. The city anticipates hiring two assistant managers.

Gayle Schotts was reinstated as a part-time parks and cemetery employee and Levi Smidt was hired as a street department employee.

The bid of $376,079.54 for sidewalk improvements along Eighth Street and Central Avenue was awarded to ATO Builders.

It was reported the rake shaft on the west primary clairifer at the waste water treatment plant had failed. It had been in use since the plant opened in 1959.

This issue of The Express contains an advertisement seeking bids for the replacement of the shaft and other work related to the clarifier. It is expected the work can be done in the fall. The repair is expected to cost more than $80,000.

The council agreed to work with JEO Engineering to design a sewer slip lining project for 2023.

Representatives of Olsson & Associates reviewed the steps necessary to consider either the replacement or remodelling of the present Public Safety Building.

Members of the fire department have said the present building, constructed about 50 years ago, no longer meets the department’s needs.

Olsson representatives said if planning begins this year, they did not expect construction could begin before 2024.

 

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