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A group of rural landowners near a proposed data centre near Regina said they are not trying to stop the project, but want to ensure it is done properly.
Doug McKell, a farmer and longtime landowner, said he was speaking on behalf of seven families who live near the proposed site in the RM of Sherwood. He said the group first learned about the project on Jan. 19, when they were told agricultural land was being considered for rezoning.
“We were given a day and a half to respond to it,” McKell told The Evan Bray Show.
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“At that point, I mean, I couldn’t have told you I’m an old guy, I couldn’t have told you what a data centre was.”
McKell said the families quickly started researching what similar developments have meant in other areas and began raising concerns with the rural municipality and the developer.
He said the group submitted five different packages of questions and suggestions over seven weeks, focusing on issues such as noise, lighting, stormwater, aquifer protection, drainage and road infrastructure.
“We needed to get our concerns and our suggestions registered with the RM,” he said.
Listen to Doug McKell on The Evan Bray Show
At a public meeting on April 20, McKell said the group presented 42 questions. He said 40 of them had already been answered to the group’s satisfaction, with two more clarified during the meeting.
One of the major outstanding concerns was noise.
McKell said the original development agreement referred to existing RM noise bylaws, but those rules are about 10 years old and do not specifically address data centres.
“Their noise limits weren’t addressing the low tonal frequency noise,” he said.
McKell said the group asked for baseline assessments to include those lower-frequency measurements. He said that the request was accepted.
The other major concern involved local wells.
“All seven of us in the area tap into the aquifer,” McKell said. “Anything that affects one well is going to affect everyone’s.”
He said the proposed agreement originally included baseline testing for wells within a 1.6-kilometre radius, but that left out two wells, including his own. McKell said the developer agreed to include all of the nearby wells.
McKell said the group has been satisfied with how the new RM council and developer Bell have responded.
“We got them to listen to us,” he said. “The developer was good, too.”
Still, McKell said the real test will come as work moves ahead. He pointed to heavy truck traffic the morning after the meeting, when residents raised concerns about dust and vibrations.
“These are the kind of things we’re going to be dealing with over the next couple of years,” he said.
McKell said the group is not broadly opposed to a data centre, but wants the development properly monitored.
“We realized that we’re not going to stop it,” he said. “If it’s going to be there, we have to put forward our suggestions and our concerns so that they can be addressed properly.”
McKell said the families now plan to monitor closely to ensure the agreement is enforced.
“We do have the binding agreement in place,” he said. “We’re going to be watching what’s going on.”
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