Hermantown Approves Google Data Center After Midnight Vote

A midnight vote after four hours of public comment

The Hermantown City Council approved the Google data center agreements just before midnight Friday, after a meeting that had already been postponed twice.

The council voted unanimously on six measures, including a development agreement for the 1.7 million-square-foot facility, a special use permit and a plan to decommission the site if the project is abandoned. The meeting followed four hours of public comment and about an hour of discussion, according to MPR News.

The vote had originally been scheduled for Monday but was canceled after two hours of chanting and protests outside the council chambers. It was moved to Tuesday, then again to Friday. The city capped attendance at 85 people and closed an overflow room that had been used for past meetings, offering a virtual viewing option instead. That decision drew anger from opponents, who said it shut residents out of a decision that affects their own neighborhood.

“Limiting attendance to 85 people, restricting sign-up times, and forcing residents to stand outside in the cold, in the elements. Two and a half hours for me. How is that fair?” Hermantown resident Brian Bergeron asked during his three minutes of public comment. “How is that representative government?”

Google Hermantown data center: size, power and tax details

What Google gave up to get the deal through

In the weeks before the vote, Google made several concessions that changed the shape of the project.

The company dropped a request for up to $80 million in property tax breaks. The project will instead provide an estimated $3 million annually in property tax revenue to Hermantown. Google also agreed to monitor private wells near the development, reduced the scale from four buildings to three and capped building height at 33 feet. Each building would still be larger than six football fields.

Supporters pointed to the $210 million decommissioning agreement as a sign Google is serious about being a long-term neighbor. “This agreement demonstrates to me personally that Google wants to be a responsible and good neighbor and related investments and jobs are here for the long term,” said Hermantown resident Eric Palmer.

Opponents were not moved. “You've changed as little as possible to legally say that you listened,” said Richard Hilton of Hermantown. “We are angry that our local city council is representing a corporation instead of the citizens that they are supposed to.”

The lawsuits and the 500 MW power question

The Friday approvals are the last major local hurdle, but the project is not out of the woods.

Three lawsuits are pending, challenging the environmental review, the city process for changing zoning laws to allow the data center and the ownership status of the land. Hermantown city attorney Christopher Virta told the council the litigation does not prevent it from moving forward with Friday's agenda.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission still needs to approve an electric service agreement between Google and Minnesota Power. The facility is expected to need 500 megawatts, roughly equal to the combined electricity demand of all homes in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and Rochester, according to the Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota.

Google is also planning a large data center outside Pine Island, near Rochester, which must now undergo a more thorough environmental review overseen by the state following a settlement over a lawsuit.

Data centers are becoming a local election issue

The Hermantown fight is part of a broader pattern: data centers have become an explosive political issue across the country.

Polls show both Democrats and Republicans oppose having them built in their communities, and the backlash is pushing residents into local politics. In Hermantown, three first-time candidates are running for two open city council seats, spurred largely by the data center issue.

That dynamic is not unique to Minnesota. From Oregon to Finland, communities are pushing back on the land, water and power demands of AI infrastructure, and local officials are finding that a unanimous vote is not the same as a settled question.

What it means for you

For US readers, Hermantown is a case study in how local governments are handling the AI data center boom. If you live near a proposed facility, the details that matter are the same ones that dominated this meeting: tax revenue versus tax breaks, water and well monitoring, building size and the long-term power contract.

The project is not built yet. Three lawsuits and a state utilities commission review stand in the way, and the 500 MW power agreement has not been approved. Google has not announced a construction timeline.

Hermantown's late-night vote clears the local path for Google, but the project's future now rests with courts and state regulators. For residents who spent hours outside council chambers, the fight is moving to a different room.