Alderman Mark Chambers is trying to walk a fine line.
As concerns about data centers proliferate, he is co-sponsoring a zoning ordinance that would define data centers and strictly limit them within Milwaukee.
At the same time, Chambers is insisting a proposed “computational research facility” – as he and the developer call it – at a site in his district isn’t a data center, even though its plan closely fits the ordinance.
To be clear, this isn’t a legal issue.
The proposed ordinance wouldn’t apply to the redevelopment plan at the vacant Walmart in Midtown Center because the project application had already been submitted.
It’s a perception issue.
Chambers looks like he is co-sponsoring an ordinance that limits developing a highly controversial facility while backing the same thing in his district, and just giving it a different name.
When asked on June 18 about the relationship between the Walmart redevelopment plan and the proposed zoning ordinance, Chambers said he “actually just found out” about the definition of a data center in the zoning ordinance.
Chambers has been listed as a co-sponsor since May 19.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to review it because I’ve been dealing with this,” he said at his second open house at the Walmart redevelopment site.
“I’m still going to review it. Again, that still can change, just like any ordinance has changed, the definition could possibly change as well,” Chambers told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The proposed zoning ordinance, which passed the Zoning Code Technical Committee on June 15 and is scheduled for a Plan Commission review on June 29, needs Common Council approval.
It defines a data center as “a facility, other than a transmission tower, used primarily to operate, maintain, or provide access to computer and network facilities for the transmission of voice, data, text, internet, sound, or full-motion-picture video between network termination points.”
A data center includes accessory facilities like “offices, air handlers, power generators, generator fuel storage, water cooling and storage facilities, and utility infrastructure that supports sustained operation of the data center,” the proposal says.
The space at the former Midtown Walmart that city officials and developers are calling a “computational research facility” would support “advanced computational modeling, data processing, and research applications,” according to its updated zoning deviation request.
It would also hire data technicians and feature facilities like air handling equipment, a backup generator, and cooling systems, the plan says.
Critics say the proposed facility checks all the boxes for a data center.
Rule’s target is large AI data centers, Chambers says
The proposed computing facility at Midtown Center wouldn’t qualify as a data center because “it’s generally more geared towards research and development,” Chambers said.
If any building with servers, energy generators, and cooling systems qualified as a data center, he said, that definition would include banks and grocery stores.
“Then that means every business that runs on power can technically be used as a data center,” Chambers said, adding that the definition in the zoning ordinance is “very broad.”
The proposed ordinance does specify that a data center would be “used primarily to operate, maintain, or provide access to computer and network facilities” for transmission between networks.
Chambers opposes “large AI data centers,” he said, and not small data facilities such as the one proposed for Midtown.
“I do think that Milwaukee does not need to have large AI data centers in here. I think it’s detrimental to the community,” he said. “I don’t think this is one of them.”
The proposed “computational research facility,” at 19,000 square feet, would be significantly smaller than hyperscale data centers such as OpenAI and Oracle’s 29 million-square-foot facility under construction in Port Washington.
The Midtown center would conduct research for one tenant, a medical company, according to city officials and developers.
In addition to that space, the proposed redevelopment of the former Walmart is to include a library branch and self-storage facility, as well as an affordable apartment development in the former Walmart parking lot.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Do former Walmart plans include a data center? Depends whom you ask
Reporting by Jaeha Jang, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jaeha Jang, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
