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I went to Friday's meeting of the Pachyderm Club and enjoyed myself thoroughy! Beyond the fun of writing these articles, this data center analysis has given me the opportunity to meet some very interesting folks and have great conversations about topics that have not been part of my life before. And I appreciate that tremendously!
I do not have to agree with others to find value in conversations, and I often learn the most from those with whom I agree the least. That's not a comment on the Pachyderms, as I agreed with many of their concerns about data centers (and many of their supporting points, as well). But I particularly appreciated the exchange of ideas, whether we agreed or not.
What I most appreciated was that they are actively involved in local politics. Local politics can be full of frustration, but unless people participate, everything falls apart.
As with any useful community activity, there will be moments of agreement and disagreement. But if you are not involved, then you have already given up your voice and your power.
And that is the topic for this column: showing up! I want to strongly encourage every person in Marshalltown to show up for both the City Council meeting on Monday as well as Thursday's "Data Center Community Roundtable" hosted by the Planning and Zoning Commission. That's Monday, August 24, and Thursday, August 27.
The City Council meeting on Monday will begin at 5:30 at 10 W. State Street, second floor.
The agenda is available at marshalltownia.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2069/files/agenda/10587. (And with less typing, on the home page of getyourdatahere.org.)
It will be a busy meeting, with sixteen items before the Council gets to the data center moratorium, Ordinance 15123. This is the second reading of the ordinance, with one to go unless the Council waives it. Once the Ordinance is passed and published, it will be local law.
The moratorium will be temporary, intended to give the Planning & Zoning office (and the Planning & Zoning Commission) time to create new regulations for data center development in Marshalltown. As it is, data centers could be built anywhere in any area zoned "Industrial" after receiving Special Permits from the Board of Adjustment. That would make it a free-for-all, so the moratorium is very important.
Three other items on the City Council agenda should also be noted by the people: a presentation and two "closed sessions" convened for discussion with no members of the public in the room. There can be good reasons for closed sessions, but they do not add to the transparency of City Council decisions and actions.
The purpose of this meeting's first closed session is to discuss strategy for dealing with a legal case that is likely to happen soon. Perhaps it has nothing at all to do with data centers, but it is also possible that it stems from the closed session at the last Council meeting.
There has been a flurry of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with city employees, notes from meetings with the data center developer, and other documents on similar topics. This closed session might have absolutely nothing to do with any of that, but we won't know.
And after that first closed session on Monday night, there will be a second.
This Monday night's second closed session is almost certainly related to the closed session at the City Council's meeting on August 10. That closed session was called to discuss the purchase or sale of real estate, which was rumored to be a sale connected to the development of a data center in the Edgewood Extension.
This second closed session on Monday might be for the same reason.
But this time, the developer of that data center will be at the City Council meeting. The agenda only says "Edgewood Industrial Park Proposal". It should be safe to assume that he will not be attending the closed session, if citizens can't.
His company, Swarm Systems, has been involved in data center development issues in Marshfield, MO, as well, and an online search will provide more information. The company's data centers are heavily automated, meaning that they will not bring many jobs to town once the construction has ended.
The agenda notes that an open session might follow the second closed session. It will be worth hanging around to find out, as that open session could be extremely important.
It will be a full evening of data center discussion, both the moratorium and the proposed Swarm data center (and maybe more). Please be there. But don't stop there!
On Thursday, August 27, please attend the Planning & Zoning Commission's "Data Center Community Roundtable" event on the 2nd floor of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 20 W. State St., 5:30-7 p.m. The doors will open at 5, so come early and get your seat.
If you recall, the Zoning Administrator (Clayton Ender) makes recommendations to the Planning & Zoning Commission, which then directs the Zoning Administrator's actions and makes recommendations to City Council.
The Commission is the central hub of the regulations which are being created during the moratorium. Their task is vital to the future of Marshalltown's development.
And it is crucial that the citizens of Marshalltown use this opportunity to help shape their own future by being active partipants in this process.
The University of Iowa has created an excellent tool for Iowans to use to shape their future: the Iowa Data Center Decision Tool. It is available for free to read or download on the internet from the U of I at heli.law.uiowa.edu/projects/datacentersiniowa.
(There is also a link to it on getyourdatahere.org, as well as a wonderfully detailed and informative graphic from Dubuque County about the process they are following during their moratorium. Both can be found on the Planning for Communities link.)
The Data Center Decision Tool includes topics such as water, energy, economic development, planning and zoning, construction, and many other community considerations. Please take time to at least read through it. You will come to the meeting with more questions, more information, and a better understanding of what is at stake.
Come prepared for discussion and debate, please. If the people of Marshalltown come to the meeting with lots of emotion and little information, little will be accomplished. Emotion has a place, but these meetings are the time for thoughtful conversation, creative problem-solving, and a focus on the future of the city and its people. And if you don't come at all, you will have no voice.
The planning part of P&Z is "How should Marshalltown grow?" The zoning part is "What rules do we need to do that in an orderly way?" And Zoning is what the data center moratorium is about.
But the P&Z Commission is charged with both aspects of planning and zoning, and they need to hear from the citizens of Marshalltown about what's important and how the city should grow. With useful community input, the Commission will be prepared to make good decisions.
What a week it will be for local politics! City Council at 5:30 on Monday at 10 W. State St. and the "Data Center Community Roundtable" at the Coliseum on Thursday, 5:30-7. I do hope to see you there!
Annie Grieshop has lived in rural Marshall County for nearly 20 years. Having spent decades working as an historian of technology as well as for multiple technology companies (including 7 years in platform security at Microsoft), her involvement with many parts of technology and public policy is wide-ranging.