Apple Valley Planning Committee Holds Public Meeting on Proposed Technology Park Development
Provided by the City of Apple Valley, MN - February 5th, 2025 Planning Committee meeting.
APPLE VALLEY, MINNESOTA— Apple Valley city officials are reviewing a major land use application to develop a proposed Technology Park within a portion of the Fischer Aggregate sand and gravel mining operation. The proposed project, led by Oppidan Investment Company in partnership with property owner Rockport, LLC, aims to construct a seven-building technology campus, including five large data centers. The public meeting was held on Wednesday, February 5th, 2025. Below, we cover what was discussed during the meeting and the concerns voiced by the community and committee members. We also cover the information presented by city officials and project representatives.
Project Overview
The proposed Technology Park will span approximately 134 acres, with an estimated total building area of 1,050,000 square feet. Five buildings will be data center structures, varying in size, and the total building footprint will be approximately 860,160 square feet. Two of the buildings will be two-story structures. Ancillary buildings, including lift stations and fiber rooms, are also planned. They would also create two ponds with city trails around them on the south end of the campus, and on the northwest corner of the property, there would be a 5-acre commercial lot. This project reportedly would have no public subsidies or tax abatement requests and is said to align with an updated Alternative Urban Areawide Review (AUAR) evaluating environmental impacts.
For consideration is a land use application from Oppidan Investment Company and Rockport, LLC, for rezoning a 134-acre parcel from "SG" Sand and Gravel to "MUBC" Mixed Use Business Campus, subdividing the parcel into four lots and two out lots, and seeking a Site Plan/Building Permit Authorization.
Included in the subdivision is the dedication of right-of-way (ROW) for the extension of Johnny Cake Ridge Road and 155th St. W., enhancing infrastructure in the area.
When comparing this project to the Meta Hyperscale Data Center currently being built in Rosemount, representatives with Oppidan noted that this data center wouldn’t be an AI Training data center, so it will not be that big. They said this would be more cloud computing and a regular corporate data center.
The proposed site for the Technology Park.
Minnesota’s Market Appeal
Oppidan representatives say many Data Center companies choose the State of Minnesota for projects like this because it is an underserved market. The state provides tax incentives for data centers and is less competitive than neighboring states. These facilities are choosing Minnesota because of the 2040 Carbon Free Plan, where these facilities don’t have to build generation assets themselves, and the state mandates that the utilities take care of their renewable energy goals. According to representatives with Dakota Electric, they are currently about 44% carbon-free. They need to be 80% carbon-free by 2030, 90% carbon-free by 2035, and 100% carbon-free by 2040, according to state regulations.
Regarding a question by one of the Planning Committee members on how this project will benefit the community, the Dakota Electric representative, Jonathan Beyer - Vice President of Energy and Member Services, mentions that with projects like this, Dakota Electric demands all infrastructure, that being both transmission and distribution, needs to be paid by the client. This leads to more upgraded and robust infrastructure for the local community without the consumer worrying about rate increases to pay for upgrades for a more extended period.
Environmental and Economic Impact
Water Usage Analysis
According to representatives with Oppidan, Apple Valley receives 3 billion gallons of water appropriations annually and used 2.32 billion gallons in 2023. Rockport’s mining operation has an allocation of 375 million gallons but used only 55 million gallons in 2023. The data center’s projected peak water usage is 4 million gallons per day but is estimated to use less than 8 million gallons annually due to Minnesota’s climate, which is significantly lower than prior industrial operations at the site.
Noise Considerations
Oppidan representatives provided a sound study that analyzed noise levels from the current mine and nearby roadways, reporting daytime levels of 44-72 dBA and nighttime levels of 39-69 dBA. State limits are 60 dBA for daytime and 50 dBA for nighttime. During normal operations, their study found that noise from the data center would not exceed the minimum nighttime threshold of 50 dBA outside the Tech Park. During generator maintenance, limited to 20-25 hours annually and only done during day operations, their study showed that sound levels would not exceed the minimum nighttime levels outside the Tech Park. In rare blackout scenarios where all generators run simultaneously at full capacity, noise levels may reach 53 dBA, slightly above nighttime limits. Oppidan representatives said they were working through that data to find a solution to mitigate this impact.
Job Creation and Economic Impact
Oppidan representatives say this data center will bring around 200 blue-collar, full-time jobs to the community. Additionally, they provided the following information to the Planning Committee about the potential impacts the construction of the facilities would bring over three years. Their estimates were based on an MN DEED study of the Meta hyperscale data center being built in Rosemount, Minnesota. They estimate the Apple Valley Tech Park development would add $1.08 billion to Dakota County’s GDP, $869.2 million in labor income, and create 11,982 job years from 2026-2028. The expected job roles and salaries include:
Account Director ($150,000/year)
Critical Facilities Manager ($125,000/year)
Operation Coordinator ($80,000/year)
Critical Facilities Technician ($65,000-$80,000/year)
Data Center Security Manager ($65,000/year)
Security Guard ($22-$28/hour)
Planning Committee and Resident Concerns
City of Apple Valley’s Planning Committee members and citizens of the City of Apple Valley voiced several concerns and questions regarding this project—some of the main questions highlighted below. In bold are some of the answers representatives and officials connected to the project were able to provide. Still, some questions could not be answered at the time as city officials needed additional time to answer those questions more thoroughly. They will be answered at a later date.
Confirming the building height, length, and the number of stories they are.
The city sets the maximum building height at 75 feet, with potential increases up to 100 feet in certain areas.
The tallest building in Apple Valley is the Wings Financial building, sitting at around 87 feet for comparison.
Sightline studies are being conducted to evaluate how building elevations impact visibility from major roadways.
The two buildings in the complex's northeast corner would be up to two stories.
Water usage and drought concerns.
Representatives are looking into possibly bringing in additional onsite water tanks to try and offset how much water might be used in Summer Peak usage, which could have impacts during periods of drought.
Reducing parking areas to add more green space.
It is a closed-circuit cooling system; water is recycled and reused.
How is that water further cooled? Can’t keep recycling warm water through the system.
Are we going to run into issues with water if both Rosemount and Farmington also have proposals and are getting data centers? Would all data centers be taken from the same aquifers?
Are we going to run into issues with water if both Rosemount and Farmington also have proposals and are getting data centers? Would all data centers be taken from the same aquifers?
Did they take runoff from the facility into consideration?
Did they consider using the ponds for irrigation instead of potable water to reduce water usage?
A community member said that DNR has never said no to anything. Yes, they tell us how much water Apple Valley is allotted. Still, there isn’t a state government entity overlooking the control or regulating from a yes or no standpoint on the amount of water or projects impacting our aquafers and the impacts to those.
City representatives will provide a formal answer about this at a later time.
DNR is concerned about the number of data centers coming to Dakota County and how much water they will use. About nine that they know of are in the approval process, and another three are rumored to be considered in the county, according to a resident.
Pollution, e-waste, power usage, infrastructure, light pollution
Dakota Electric representative Beyer: A substation on the northwest corner of the property is proposed to be expanded from the two acres it currently is to 5 acres. A 115,000-volt transmission line already runs on the north side of County Road 42 into this substation and would feed right into the Data Center. According to Dakota Electric, nothing is being fed by this substation now. Still, if this project were to occur, they would expand that substation to serve this Data Center and could also serve anything that gets developed to the west side of Johnny Cake if that road were to get extended in this project. According to Dakota Electric, Minnesota currently has about 18,000 megawatts of demand. This project would be 1% of that. Dakota Electric was asked to study and design a 300-megawatt facility for a system impact study. They found they could serve this data center but are working to complete the final study to see what upgrades might need to be done in the area and at the substation to serve the needs of this proposed project.
Another community member mentioned any impacts from an ambient heat island from the facility and what impacts this will have on the water as this is a drinking water supply management area? Could we have a better breakdown of job potential?
Will this facility's development be 24/7, or will they have a night curfew?
Longevity of the data center?
Are sound impacts compounded?
Will there be any impacts to aviation from any electromagnetic frequencies on the low approaches into MSP or surrounding airports?
Fire Related Questions
Does the fire department have the training and skills to handle data center incidents?
Are there fire suppression systems, and what chemicals do they use?
Hazardous materials from that runoff from the suppression systems and the facilities run into the ponds.
What kind of response capabilities does Apple Valley have for some chemical spill that could come from this type of facility and the size of such a facility?
You can watch the entire meeting about this project below!
Next Steps and Public Involvement
The City of Apple Valley must approve or deny the application within 120 days of receipt, with a final decision due by April 29, 2025. The following planning commission meetings are February 19th and March 5th. The public comment period remains open. We will contact City officials to see when that might close and provide an update once we know more.
Residents can participate in the public hearing process, submit comments via email to commdev@applevalleymn.gov, or mail feedback to:
City of Apple Valley
Community Development
7100 147th Street West
Apple Valley, MN 55124
For further information, residents can contact the Apple Valley Community Development Department at (952) 953-2575 during business hours.
The city continues to evaluate the potential impact of the proposed Technology Park, balancing economic benefits with environmental and infrastructure concerns as the project moves forward. We will provide updates and more information once they are made available.
Written by: Will Wight
