St. Louis County reopens zoning rules amid data center, junk-vehicle concerns

St. Louis County’s latest zoning rewrite was pushed back to the Planning Commission after a packed hearing at the Loon Lake Community Center in White Township exposed a sharp clash between economic development and rural quality of life. The County Board voted 6-1 on April 14 to return the proposed changes for further review, leaving property owners, investors and local officials without a clear timeline for what comes next.

The fight centered on two parts of Zoning Ordinance 62: rules for storing six or more inoperable vehicles and the way the county classifies data centers. Planning staff said the vehicle language was meant to loosen regulations, not tighten them, but many residents said they saw a threat to rural property rights. The ordinance itself was first adopted in 2015 and has already been amended in 2016, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2025, with county planners saying the current update was intended to reduce ambiguity and make the rules more consistent.

Opposition to the proposal was broad and highly organized. Residents presented petitions they said carried more than 2,600 signatures, and dozens spoke against the changes during the hearing. The turnout filled the gymnasium at the Loon Lake Community Center, underscoring how deeply the debate has spread beyond planning jargon into questions about what neighbors can store on their land and what kinds of projects the county is prepared to host.

The ordinance review has become tangled with the proposed Hermantown-area data center project that was publicly identified as Google’s on March 3. Google said the project would be a 1.8 million-square-foot campus on more than 200 acres, supported by an agreement with Minnesota Power. The company said it would back 300 megawatts of wind energy and 400 megawatts of batteries in the region, and would contribute $5 million to Minnesota Power for efficiency and affordability programs.

That project has drawn concerns about secrecy, water use and power demand, and it also triggered criticism of county commissioners who signed nondisclosure agreements tied to the proposal, including Board Chair Annie Harala and commissioners Keith Musolf and Keith Nelson. Keith Nelson cast the lone vote against sending the ordinance back. For now, St. Louis County has reopened a debate that could determine how far it is willing to go to accommodate new industry while still protecting the character of the places residents say they are trying to preserve.