Data centers are not coming to South County — at least, not yet.
It has been confirmed by the county that there are no current proposed data centers anywhere in St. Louis County, let alone in the South County area. Despite this, Sixth District County Councilman Mike Archer (R-Oakville) has heard rumors from multiple constituents regarding the controversial topic. Jacob Trimble, the Director of the Department of Planning for St. Louis County, has also received an increase in written public comments on the matter, prompting him to clarify the situation.
“False information is currently circulating online claiming that a data center is actively being proposed in South County — specifically referencing Baumgartner Road, the Ameren plant and the Lake of the Woods subdivision,” Trimble said to Archer. “Please be assured that no such application has been submitted to the County, nor are we aware of any budding proposals.”
Though the original source of the rumor has not been singled out, it likely stems from the St. Louis County Planning Commission’s Aug. 10 public hearing in which an overview of proposed data center policy recommendations was discussed. Presented was a draft of the staff recommendation, meaning nothing is yet set in stone; a map and table showing the existing applicable zoning districts were released, and multiple marked areas were in South County. These marked areas do not necessarily indicate that a data center will go in, rather that the existing zoning — areas already zoned C-6 office and research service, C-7 general extensive commercial and the M-1 and M-2 industrial districts — is in line with the proposed zoning of future data centers as those districts are zoned for higher intensity commercial and industrial uses.
“The smaller (data centers, dubbed ‘micro’ and ‘small,’ would) be permitted based on the anticipated impact. Standard and large data centers (would) only be permitted in the industrial districts, the M-1 and M-2, and only via issuance of a conditional use permit. Say that this was all adopted as written today, someone couldn’t apply for a building permit to put a data center in one of those districts. They’d have to go to the planning commission still and ask for the specific land use right tied to their development,” Melissa Wilson, the Deputy Director of the Department of Planning for St. Louis County, said.
The county is still accepting written public comment on its proposed plan for data centers through Aug. 31; those interested can email datacentercomments@stlouiscountymo.gov.
“I totally understand from the resident perspective seeing it like that, especially if you see it next to where you live, you would, of course, be curious. But nothing is proposed,” Wilson said.
