County to prepare report on AI data centres

Essex County Civic Centre

Essex County council has directed its administration to do a review and report on whether or not a full study should be undertaken in regard to land use policies for Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centres.

Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kim DeYong’s notice of motion to have the study done was accepted as part of the Aug. 5 meeting of county council. DeYong had put forth the notice of motion at the previous county council meeting with the report to include the scope of work that a study may need, the proposed plan to consult with the public and Indigenous communities, information on the current regulatory framework for AI data centres from all levels of government and information from the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator and electrical utility service providers that operate in Essex County on potential costs and impact on electrical infrastructure.

Rebecca Belanger, the county’s manager of planning services, is expected to  bring that forward at the next meeting Sept. 2.

“I recognize this is the first step and that we know each municipality is going to have to implement it’s own policies,” said DeYong.

Harrow’s Tyler Reh spoke on data centres, providing multiple facts including cumulative environmental, safety and zoning risks. He also presented a 64-page petition to county council.

“The negative impacts to the region outweigh the perceived financial benefits,” said Rey and engineer and programmer.

Rey said that a 200 megawatt facility would cost up to $8 billion to build and take up as much as 6,000 acres of farmland. Reh said that the seven local municipalities all have specific issues that would prevent a data centre. For instance, he explained that Amherstburg has a noise by-law which would address the low frequency hum coming from massive cooling fans.

“We cannot manage a 21^st century technological boom with outdated and disjointed municipal bylaws. I urge the county council to mandate and synchronized region-wide regulatory framework that will protect our water, our power grid and safety of the Essex County residents first,” said Rey.

Although the county has not received any applications to build an AI data centre and there currently are none in Canada, county council members agreed that being proactive in the possibility of an applicant coming into the region, is the best way to proceed at this time.

“Ever since I put out the notice of motion, I’ve been getting messages from residents and some of them are informed and they’ve done a lot of research. I forwarded these messages to administration and I hope this work will begin,” said DeYong.

While there was mention of the county placing a moratorium on data centres, Belanger explained that while individual municipalities can do that, in the form of a one-year control bylaw, the county cannot.

“This reminds me of the moratorium many of us put on the wind turbines and we affectively kept them out of our municipality. It can be done. The province didn’t make us do that,” said Warden Hilda MacDonald.

LaSalle Deputy Mayor Michael Akpata added Michigan municipalities like Sterling Heights have stopped data centres. He said “there is certain things he wants” such as water and asked to reach out to other municipalities in the Detroit area that have adopted moratoriums.

The Town of Amherstburg sent a letter to the county which was a motion made by Councillor Diane Pouget requesting the county do a study.

“It’s obvious from the e-mails and messages we’ve received that this is an important concern for the residents of Essex County. I think it’s very appropriate for us to deal with this at the county level,” said Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb. 

Gibb added using industrial land for something that doesn’t create good paying job affects all county residents. He said the county should be in a position “to fight back” and the issue should be dealt with at a regional level.

“I think it’s important we are prepared,” said Gibb.

Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue told county councillors that decisions on data centres are multi-jurisdictional as water is controlled by the federal and provincial governments and electricity by the province. Prue added there are already tight restrictions on using farmland.

Prue said the United States and China are the two biggest nations pushing AI data centres and “Canada will have to make that choice if they want to go down this route and if they do, it will be very difficult.”

“I do want to remind staff that when they are preparing this that this is a worldwide phenomenon,” said Prue, adding he wants to see where the county fits into a multi-jurisdictional issue.

County to prepare report on AI data centres

By Fred Groves