Milwaukee’s City Plan Commission has removed two items related to a proposed Midtown data center from its upcoming meeting agenda.
The two items, which were previously scheduled for the commission’s Monday, May 18, meeting at 1:30 p.m., were tied to the redevelopment of the former Walmart at 5825 W. Hope Ave. in the city’s Midtown Center on the northwest side.
The first file is a resolution seeking approval to deviate from zoning standards established by the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone Overlay. If approved, it would allow for an indoor self-storage facility and a data processing facility to be built.
The plans for the self-storage facility were previously rejected by the city in 2023, but were revised ahead of the upcoming meeting.
The second file is a resolution seeking a broader approval to make physical changes to the former Walmart property.
The redevelopment proposal also includes plans to relocate the Capitol Branch Library.
The Department of City Development could not be reached for comment on the reason for removing the items from the commission’s Monday agenda in time for publication.
The proposed computer processing facility is planned to be 19,000 square feet, a much smaller data center than the traditional hyperscale data centers currently being constructed in places like Port Washington.
According to IBM, small data centers typically require between 5,000 and 20,000 square feet of space and use one to five megawatts of energy to host between 500 and 2,000 servers.
“I don’t care what the size of it is. It could be the size of my shoebox – I would still oppose it,” said Samantha Doucas, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
News of a proposed data center at the former Midtown Walmart site spread rapidly in early May, with organizations such as the Party for Socialist Liberation and the Sherman Park Community Association calling for community action.
The Sherman Park Community Association posted an emergency notice about the May 18 meeting to its website, which read, “Show up in person or online! Give your testimony! Let the City know how our community feels about a data center in our midst.”
According Doucas, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s social media posts about the proposed data center gained over 10,000 views overnight.
While the items related to the proposed data center won’t be discussed by the commission on Monday, residents can share their concerns about the proposal at a community meeting next Wednesday, May 20, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Milwaukee Liberation Center at 1920 W. North Ave.
April Quevedo covers Metcalfe Park for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: aquevedo@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Midtown data center pulled from Milwaukee City Plan Commission agenda
Reporting by April Quevedo, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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