Arran-Elderslie has submitted comments to the province about data centres.
The municipality is responding to an intake period for comments on the Ford government’s data centre playbook.
The Province says on its website, “With the expansion of artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing, Ontario is experiencing rapid growth in data centre development.”
Arran-Elderslie staff say their comments are consistent with Bruce County’s comments.
They want the province to engage in meaningful consultation and consideration of municipal input, preserve municipal planning authority and public consultation requirements, protect prime agricultural lands, ensure full municipal cost recovery, including staff time and various assessment and review costs, and establish a transparent and standardized framework for community benefits.
They also want the Province to allow municipalities to reconsider their position on a project as further technical information and project details become available.
Staff say, they want the province to recognize the limited capacity of municipalities to independently assess complex infrastructure and technology proposals.
Arran-Elderslie staff say they faced a similar challenge when examining the possibility of a Battery Energy Storage System, where significant staff resources were required to assess complex technical information and they also had to use outside experts.
They say it highlights the importance of ensuring municipalities have the authority and resources needed to participate.
The province has three main principles in its proposed playbook: data centres must invest substantially in Ontario and communities, they must pay the full cost of electricity and Ontario will only offer non-financial support to attract data centre investments.
The playbook also says data centres should minimize environmental impacts, for example, through closed-loop cooling to limit water use.