The Perryville board of aldermen passed its latest revisions to the data center ordinance that was first passed in February. More updates are said to still be on the way as the board continues to research the issue. Throughout this process, the members of the board have maintained that there are no currently interested parties, and they are just being proactive should they be approached by one.
The newest revisions were first read in August, and expanded upon at the public meeting at the Robinson Event Center.
The newest revisions that were passed include requiring a lighting plan, storm water pollution and prevention plan, environmental impact assessment, a written letter of support from Perry County School District 32 School Board, sewage treatment, fire protection, and the requirement to be at least 500 feet from any residential structure, childcare, or work centers for developmentally disabled (in addition to being only located in the industrial park).
Public push back to the idea of a data center eventually coming to the city continued at the meeting during the public comment section.
Public comments suggested the board impose a 12-month or longer moratorium in order to make it official that no prospective data center approaches the board while they are still in the process of updating the ordinance, and give them time to be more thorough in their amendments and explore the option of banning data centers altogether.
It was also suggested to the board that they put out a survey for both city and county residents to see how many people in the county would support a data center with the restrictions imposed, and how many people support an outright ban on data centers in the city.
Mayor Larry Riney spoke at the end of the public comment section, and while he thanked the citizens who commented for expressing their concerns, he did not give an official answer regarding a possible moratorium or county wide survey.
Later in the meeting, alderman Clint Rice proposed adding a height restriction to the next version of the ordinance to keep any potential data centers from building up as a loophole to the size restrictions currently in place. It was found that there is already a city wide height limit for any new buildings regardless of what they will be used for, because of the height that city fire trucks can reach.
During the open session, in which most of the public who made comments were not present, having left at the end of the public comment section, the board members discussed the public push back, admitting that there is still a lot to learn and more amendments to be made to the ordinance before they could seriously consider moving forward with a company that wants to build in Perryville.
“I’d also just like to say that I think we’ve obviously seen a lot of push back from the community, so, not that we’ve had anything come across my desk yet, but I don’t think I could personally support anything right this moment,” ward one alderman Seth Amschler said. “You know, I think that we’re still learning a lot. … There’s going to be loopholes. There’s going to be things they’re gonna find.”
No official decision on a moratorium was made, the board discussed the pros and cons of imposing one, reaching the consensus that imposing a moratorium might not make much of a difference, since the ordinance as it is currently written already gives them full discretion to deny a request at any point in the process should a data center manufacturer approach them with a plan.
