Data center foes to submit petition but is it too late?

A citizens group opposed to the proposed Vantage Data Centers’ Lighthouse Campus on Port Washington’s north side said Tuesday it has enough signatures on a petition to require a referendum on the tax incremental financing district needed for the project.

The group, Great Lakes Neighbors United, said more than 1,000 city residents signed its petition, which they say would require the city to enact an ordinance requiring voter approval for large-scale TIF districts or place the measure on the spring election ballot.

Organizers said they will submit the petition to city officials Thursday, Nov. 13 — five days before the Joint Review Board meetings to consider the TIF district. Approval by the board is the last step needed to create the district.

But whether the petition will actually impact the Vantage project is a question that’s still unanswered.

Port Mayor Ted Neitzke said last week that he doesn’t believe it will, noting the Common Council approved formation of the district last week.

Any petition submitted, he said, would follow state timelines, which include a 15-day review of the petition before it would be submitted to the Common Council, which has 30 days to act on it.

“The timeline doesn’t synch up with our actions,” he said.

City Clerk Susan Westerbeke said last week she has not seen the actual petition and until she does she cannot comment.

“We’ll have to see what they turn in,” Westerbeke said.

Chris Smith of von Breisen & Roper, the city’s attorney for the data center, would not comment on the Great Lakes Neighbors United petition.

But generally speaking, he said, petitions for so-called direct legislation only apply “prospectively, not retroactively. It cannot undo past actions.”

The Great Lakes Neighbors United petition seeks more than just a referendum on the TIF district for the data center. It asks that any TIF  district with a base value or project costs exceeding $10 million be put to referendum.

“This isn’t just about one project, this is about the future of how our city makes decisions that affect every taxpayer,” the group said in a press release. “When we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in public financing, residents deserve a voice. Democracy works best when people have a say in decisions that directly impact their community and their wallets.”

The group, which said it collected 1,000 signatures on its petition in a week, said that shows residents want a change.

“They are fed up with the Common Council’s recent lack of transparency and clearly opposed to the data center project.

“Whether this petition succeeds expediently enough to affect the proposed Vantage data center or not, we’re sending a clear message. Port Washington residents ... expect their voices to matter in major decisions about their city’s future.”

The group’s announcement comes as State Sen. Jody Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, is promoting legislation she says will hold data centers, large energy users and technology companies accountable to workers, taxpayers and the environment.

She said she decided to craft the bill after hearing the many concerns expressed by people about the Port data center proposal.

“It very much put it front and center for me many months ago,” Habush Sinykin said, adding she worked with a coalition of environmental organizations, labor unions and other stakeholders to create state guidelines for data centers and other large companies. “What I hear loud and clear is people want to hold big tech accountable.”

Acknowledging that local communities have jurisdiction over data centers, Habush Sinykin said the state has a role to play to guide these developments.

“We have nothing now,” she said. “I believe Wisconsin having certainty and a framework is better than having a void or a vacuum.” 

Her bill, she said, applies to large scale data centers, defined as those of 25,000 square feet or larger that would cost at least $250 million to build, equip or refurbish in any 60-month period.

The Port data center, which Habush Sinykin said is the only data center in her district, is a $15 billion project.

In order for these large-scale data centers to receive the state exemption from sales and use taxes, at least 70% of the energy used by the facility must come from renewable sources and construction workers must be paid the prevailing wage.

Data centers must attain certification as a green building or sustainable design, according to the bill.

If the data center uses 25% or more of the total capacity of a water utility, its use must be reported annually, the bill states, and the Wisconsin Public Service Commission must implement a “very large user rate” to ensure these facilities pay the total cost of providing electricity for their campus.

The bill, Habush Sinykin said, is “very much a first step.”

She said she’s in the process of circulating the bill and seeking co-sponsors — Rep. Angela Stroud, D-Ashland, is already signed on — and said she hopes there will be bipartisan support for it.

In the meantime, Port Washington officials have continued working on the data center proposal.

On Tuesday, the Design Review Board recommended approval of an amendment to the building, site and operations plan for the data center.

The new plan shows in detail three facilities not shown in detail on the initial plan — a 40,000-square-foot operations center off Lake Drive on the north end of the campus, a roughly 45-acre utility substation, portions of which would be owned by American Transmission Co. and portions by Vantage, and a 50,000-square-foot warehouse on the south end of the campus.

The board recommended only minor changes to the plan, which will be reviewed by the Plan Commission when it meets Thursday, Nov. 20.