Google Wins Approval for Massive Minnesota AI Data Center After Protests Pause City Meetings

The Hermantown City Council voted unanimously on October 30 to approve key steps for Google’s proposed data center. The project covers more than 200 acres in a quiet, rural residential area just outside Duluth.

To clear the way, the council approved a development agreement, a special-use permit, and a decommissioning plan. The project calls for three massive buildings covering roughly 1.66 to 1.7 million square feet. Each building will be larger than six football fields.

Local residents pushed back hard against the project, forcing the city council to postpone votes twice. When the council finally met on October 30, officials limited in-person attendance to 8 5 people while also offering a virtual viewing option. That meeting lasted for hours with public comments and ended shortly before midnight. Residents spoke out against the huge size of the facility, high noise levels, heavy water use, general environmental harm, and possible drops in property values.

Faced with this heavy community pressure, Google scaled back its plans. The company cut the project from four buildings down to three, limited building heights to 33 feet, and promised to keep watch on private wells near the site. Google also dropped its request for up to $80 million in property tax breaks. With those changes, the project is expected to bring in about $3 million every year in property taxes for Hermantown. The city also secured a separate decommissioning agreement valued at about $210 million to protect the town if construction stops or the site eventually closes.

After the vote, council member John Geissler explained that the decision focused strictly on local land use. He told the public that the vote was not about artificial intelligence, big tech companies, or software, but rather about a local land application and its rules.

Even with this local victory, Google cannot start building yet because several legal and regulatory hurdles stand in the way. Three active lawsuits challenge the environmental review, the city's zoning process, and the ownership of about 80 acres inside the proposed site. Google also needs a green light from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for its power supply contract with Minnesota Power, which is a state review completely separate from Hermantown.

The facility is expected to use up to 500 megawatts of electricity. According to the Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota, that massive power demand is roughly equal to the combined home electricity use of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, and Rochester.

Summary

Hermantown approved Google's massive data center after the company reduced its size and dropped tax breaks, but the project still faces lawsuits and a major state review over its extreme energy demands.