Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay, thank you, Chair Bloomingdale. Today's City Plan Commission meeting will be carried out in a hybrid format, which means we are accepting public testimony both in person at City Hall on 200 East Wells and online on GoToWebinar. If you are joining via GoToWebinar, please keep yourself on mute until you are called. If you would like to provide testimony during any of the public hearings, please click the raise hand function. You can see that on the screen right now. During your agenda item of interest, click the raise hand function and our staff assistant Chris Lee will call on you during the public testimony portion of the item. If anyone is watching on channel 25 and would like to participate in the hearing, you will need to log in to GoToWebinar. to do so you can do this by going to milwaukee.gov cpc again that's milwaukee.gov cpc from this webpage you can log in to go to webinar and provide testimony during any of the public comment items whether you are providing testimony in person today or remotely please state your name address and affiliation with the item for your testimony thank you for your participation

Okay, thank you very much. The first thing that I'm going to do is to read the role of the commissioners. Commissioner Allison Nemec. Present. Commissioner Rennell Washington.

Present.

Commissioner Katrina Crane. Present. Commissioner Tariq Moody. Present. Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez. Present. And Commissioner Willie Smith.

Present.

The broadcast is now starting. All attendees are in listen-only mode. Okay, thank you very much. All right, we will move into the first item of business, which is to review the minutes from the previous meeting. And if you have had an opportunity to do that, I would accept a motion at this time.

Commissioner Washington, our motion to approve the meeting minutes from June 8th City Plan Commission meeting.

Okay, there's been a motion. Is there a second? There's a second. Any discussion? Seeing none. I will have to do the roll since we have someone online. If you are in favor of this motion, please say aye. Commissioner Allison Nemec. Aye. Commissioner Rennell Washington.

Aye.

Commissioner Katrina Crane. Aye. Commissioner Tariq Moody. Aye. Aye. Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez. Aye. And Commissioner Willie Smith. Aye. Okay, motion carries. Thank you very much. All right, item number two. Ms. Fonseca, would you like to introduce the file?

Item number two is file number 260046, a substitute ordinance relating to the change in zoning from Industrial Light, IL-1, to Industrial Office, IO-1, for the Western District. 50 feet of 1215 West Layton Avenue, located on the south side of West Layton Avenue, east of South 13th Street in the 13th Aldermanic District.

Kristen Connelly, DCD Planning. The subject site, sorry, I don't have the control. Sorry about that. Subject site at 1215 West Layton Avenue, as well as the adjacent site to the west, which is 1233 West Layton Avenue, are both owned by the applicant, R&F Oil LLC. Representatives are here today. 1215 West Layton Avenue is zoned Industrial Light, or IL1, and currently is used as a restaurant. And 1233 West Layton Avenue, just to the west, is zoned Industrial Office, IO1, and operates as Mayans Clark Gas Station and Convenience Store. The applicant is seeking to expand the gas station by one pump, and as part of that, extend the gas station canopy over it. And to accommodate this, they wish to shift that 50 feet from the adjacent subject site onto the gas station site. And since both sites have differing zoning, a zoning change is necessary for that 50 feet so that you can combine the land. There's also a pending certified survey map in process that would create that new property line between the two to administratively clean that up. And then the expansion of the gas station would also need Board of Zoning Appeals approval, which they already applied for. There will be substantial parking, approximately 47 spaces remaining on that restaurant site. So it's not really removing many spaces and still has quite a few spaces. The sites within the southeast side area plan, which was adopted in 2008 and amended several times, including with the Aerotropolis plan in 2017. The proposed rezoning of the west 50 feet of the subject site is not inconsistent with the plan recommendations. Principally, the Aerotropolis plan calls for mixed use and commercial uses along Layton Avenue. This zoning change supports the expansion and continuing operation of existing commercial uses, which are consistent with the Aerotropolis Plan's vision for Layton Avenue. Additionally, the Southeast Side Plan calls for parking lots to be located on the side or rear of buildings, sharing parking resources where possible, and the proposal maintains the site layout, which is consistent with the plan recommendations. One thing we just want to add, currently there's a decorative fence with landscaping that's located between the parcels, and incorporating aesthetic elements into the redevelopment of the site is important to meet the Southeast Side Plan's recommendations. which recommends using masonry walls or metal fencing and generous plantings to buffer parking lots and service areas that occur along shopping streets. And this is also within the Garden District. Staff requests that these elements are included in the project if possible as part of that board zoning appeals process. And I know that we'll have recommendations regarding the landscaping plan for that process. The site's within the 13th Alderman and District, and Alderman Spiker is supportive of the file, and staff does recommend approval. And as I said, the applicants are here to answer any questions that you might have.

Okay, thank you, Ms. Connolly. So the applicants are here. Would you like to please introduce yourself and go right ahead?

My first name is Reyes. Last name is Mia, M-I-A-N, 1235 West Layton Avenue.

Okay safe me on 1235 Wesleyan Avenue, and we are the applicants for the property Okay, do you want to tell us a little bit about the project sure so right now? We own both properties 1235 the gas station as well as the 1215 and I used to be Martino's Back in the days now. It's a different restaurant there We plan to add just one more pump on top of the 1235 where the existing gas station is so there's nothing that we're adding on to the adjacent property but since we're adding on to the canopy it has to be it's going over a little bit onto the other one so we were just because we own both properties we said we can use maybe about 50 feet from the adjacent property into the gas station so that's only the change we're asking there's no really any parking we're losing for the uh restaurant or something there's almost 47 to 50 uh different parking spots already for the uh both restaurants and for the gas station itself is there as well so and what did you say the restaurant is again right now it's called uh top shawarma

Top shawarma.

Top shawarma. They're the ones that leased out from us, yes.

Okay. I've heard about that.

Yes, they were all over the news. All right. They're cooking good food, so do try it. Yes, yes. Wonderful.

Okay. Commissioners, do you have any other questions or comments for... I'm sorry, Madam Chair.

So should we be conditioning this approval based on meeting the landscape recommendations of the Garden District plan, or is that something BOZA handles independent of us?

Yeah, BOZA does. Thank you for the question. BOZA does handle that independent of us. Since this is a base zoning change, specific plans aren't part of that file, but they've already applied to the Board of Zoning Appeals, and when I passed along the note to our colleagues, they were already actually right on the same page as us. So we're willing to work with the applicant on the landscape. Correct.

We know it is the Garden District, obviously. Elderman Spiker wants more than just anywhere else, so we are willing to work with them into whatever they need and to change us to do all of that, so that won't be an issue. We'll make sure it looks nice at the end.

Okay, thank you. Commissioners, any other comments, questions? I have no one else that wishes to speak on the item, so at this time I will entertain a motion.

I would make a motion to approve item 260046.

Okay, there's been a motion, is there a second? A second. A motion, a second. Any further discussion, commissions? If not, then we will go to the roll. If you're in favor, please say aye. Commissioner Allison Nemec. Aye. Commissioner Rennell Washington.

Aye.

Commissioner Katrina Crane. Aye. Commissioner Tariq Moody. Aye. Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez. Aye. And Commissioner Willie Smith. Aye. Okay, the ayes have it. Best of luck to you in your project and your landscaping. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, next item, item number three. Ms. Fonseca, would you like to introduce the file, please?

Item number three is file 250157, a resolution to vacate the east-west alley north of West Cherry Street between North 12th Street and North 12th Lane in the 15th Aldermanic District.

Thank you, Chair Taylor Jones, Associate Planner with DCD Planning. Item three is a request to vacate in East West Alley bounded by West Cherry Street, West Walnut Street, North 12th Street, and North 13th Street in the 15th Aldermanic District. This proposed vacation would accommodate the new view development shown here, which is a mixed use development by the New Life Community Development Group. The applicant is also here to answer questions you may have about the development. The applicant has submitted payment of $25,324 for costs associated with the vacation to the Department of Public Works. And the vacation will not restrict access to private property nor reduce the city's ability to provide services to residents. So staff finds the proposed vacation would not be detrimental to the city and recommends approval.

Okay. Hi, I'm Jody Rhodes, Executive Director at New Life Community Development, and NewView is our project.

Okay. Would you like to tell us more about this project?

Sure. It's an awesome project on 12th and Cherry, a mixed-use development with housing for young adults 18 to 24 and youth development programmatic space expansion and a gym and special event spaces and also office spaces for community partners. This alley that will be the vacation, well, there's actually two alley vacations, yeah. One of the alleys will be turned into a green space, bioswale. That's why we want the alley, to help with stormwater management and just to have some green space between us and the building next to us. So it's for a green usage.

Okay. Commissioners, any questions for the athletes?

Madam Chair, I do have a question of staff. I thought this was a companion file with number four. Are we taking these items independently?

Yes, we would take them independently.

Okie dokie. So this alley vacation will be used for... Additional parking?

Nope.

The development itself?

The development itself, yes. Not additional parking.

Okay.

I just wanted to know more about the group where when you mentioned that this is like an apartment community or is it an organization that's specifically for this 18 to 24 age group? I just want to learn more about it.

So New Life, we're a nonprofit organization that does youth development in Milwaukee. We're 26 years old. And this development is so we can expand services to all the youth we serve. We're expanding our culinary program. We're expanding our media arts program. We're putting in a music recording studio. And we're also, we identified housing as a major issue for our young adults that work for us and youth workers ages 18 to 24. So the housing units will be aimed for that population that work for New Life and also work for other programs like Public Allies, Teach for America, AmeriCorps.

Sounds good. So tell us a little bit more about the project. Tell us about the housing, about some of the details. How many units?

What do they look like? 36 units, studio, one bedroom, and two bedrooms. We're on 12th and Cherry, so close to MATC where a lot of our young adults attend school while working for nonprofits or working for programs. The programmatic space will be great to expand. We already serve almost 3,000 youth a year. We'll be able to serve even more. Special event spaces, which will be great for other entities and nonprofits who want to host events and meetings. That's always a need. that are set at a lower cost than using hotels and whatnot. A gym, we've never had a gym, so a gym is really great and it's a multi-use space. There's a fourth floor rooftop garden, because as part of the culinary program, we grow food, so that will be important. And then the very top level on the sixth floor is, we'll be outfitted for a rooftop restaurant when we find the right rooftop restaurant partner or special event space. That's for the future use of the top floor.

So the people that are working for you or for these other nonprofit organizations will have the opportunity to also live here?

Yes.

And is that at a reduced cost or an affordable cost?

Yep, affordable costs for sure because they're 18 to 24, navigating young adulthood, working and maybe going to school and whatnot. So affordable housing for that age bracket in which we employ quite a few in that age bracket. That's where the need came from to start this project in general.

Okay. Very good. Commissioners, any other questions or comments?

I do have another question for staff. I mean, is it typical to vacate an alley without a site plan as part of the file?

They usually, when the alley is vacated, Public Works will submit Exhibit A, which there's a screenshot of, and then it also shows where it's reverted to. So a site plan isn't always necessary.

I mean, it seems like a great development, and I want to know more. And it just seems odd to me that we're going forward with an alley vacation without... Because it sounds like it's all figured out, and I'm just wondering why it's not part of the file.

Yeah, they are going for permits with the Department of Neighborhood Services, so we could provide site plans along with the file if you are interested.

I believe we already got foundation and footing permits already for the project.

I think it would be helpful just going forward to see the overall development instead of sort of talkitecturing it. It's easier for me to actually see what you're talking about.

Thank you.

But can you just go over what you're going to do with these alleys verbally, please?

So the alley to the north is going to be the green space. BioSwell, collect the storm water, rainwater, and recycle that and use it within the building because we have radiant floor heating. So we need lots of water to heat the floors. So that's going to be used to help with that for energy efficiency and plus just to have a little green space instead of so much pavement that's over there right now. The other alley to the west, we actually share with the new COGS building. And so that actually, it's just more of a formality with the lines. There's nothing changing there. They use that alley for parking and that's not going to change at all for the wheelchair vans and disabled. So nothing changes with that alley to the west at all. It's just like a formality for the survey. Okay. And what about the parking? Where do people park on this? So we do have underground parking for our building. Underground parking, one level totally underground and one level that's half of the first floor. And then of course street parking. But we do have underground parking and we are way exceed the amount required for the housing. You do. We do. You exceed the amount. We exceed the amount, amazingly, right?

And underground, which we like to see. Yes. We'd rather have underground than surface parking.

Definitely. It was a must. We had to do underground.

Okay, commissions, any other questions? Comments? If not, I will entertain a motion.

Commissioner Gonzalez, I'll make a motion to approve item number 250157. Okay, there's been a motion. Is there a second?

Commissioner Washington, I'll second.

Okay, any further discussion? Seeing none, I will call your name and please say aye if you are in support of the item. Commissioner Allison Nemec. Aye. Commissioner Rennell Washington.

Aye.

Commissioner Katrina Crane. Aye. Commissioner Tariq Moody. Aye. Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez. Aye. And Commissioner Willie Smith. Aye. Okay, the ayes have it. Good luck on the project. Sounds pretty fantastic. So we'll want to make sure we come and take a look.

Chair, I do apologize. We have a second file that we have to vote on separately.

Go ahead and introduce the file then.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Item number four is 260170, a resolution to vacate the eastern portion of 12th Lane between West Cherry Street and the Northern Alley in the 15th Aldermanic District.

Thank you, Chair and Commissioners. This item is also for the new view development. Item four is a request to vacate the eastern 4.98 feet of 12th Lane between West Cherry Street and the Northern Alley to correct historical recording inaccuracies which were found by the surveyor when submitting their certified survey map. associated with this development so the applicant will be submitting their side petition and the $500 for costs associated with the vacation to the Department of Public Works if this item moves on before this item can be considered at the Public Works Committee the vacation will not restrict access to private property as it's just Correcting historical inaccuracies and it will not reduce the city's ability to provide services to residents So staff finds the proposed vacation would not be detrimental to the city and recommends approval Okay commissioners any comments questions If not, I'll entertain a motion on this item Commissioner crane I approve item two six zero one seven zero as stated I

Okay. Second, Commissioner Smith. Okay. And that includes the condition on there?

Yes.

And so there's been a motion, there's been a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, if you're in favor, please say aye. Commissioner Allison Nemec. Aye. Commissioner Rennell Washington. Aye. Commissioner Katrina Crane. Aye. Commissioner Tariq Moody. Aye. Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez. Aye. Commissioner Willie Smith. Aye.

Aye.

The ayes have it. Thank you very much. And great. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Good luck to you. All right.

Item number five. Ms. Fonseca. Item number five is file number 260144, an ordinance updating the climate and equity plan and amending the citywide policy plan as part of the city's overall comprehensive plan and directing its implementation.

Good afternoon. I'm Eric Schambarger. I'm the environmental sustainability director for the city of Milwaukee. I work in the environmental collaboration office, which is in charge of overseeing the city's climate and equity plan. Climate and equity plan was adopted by the mayor in 2023. we are making two very minor updates to the plan the first is the common council had changed the name of the office of equity and inclusion to the new department of compliance and engagement and they are mentioned throughout the plan as supporting its implementation so we updated the name the other thing is we worked with our city attorney's office to just clarify some language i would point you to there's a footnote that was added that kind of clarifies some of the other minor changes that were made Which I'll just read nothing in this plan is intended to establish hiring quotas set asides or preferences based on race color or national origin. The city of Milwaukee is an equal opportunity employer. And all programs and initiatives undertaken to this plan shall be implemented in a manner consistent with federal applicable laws, including. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. So, in short, we're just making sure that all of the strategies are targeted to support people in disadvantaged communities rather than, you know, having it be unclear that we're targeting people of color. However, I would say that the historical analysis of disparities in our community is still all in there. This does not change any of that historical analysis nor the intent and spirit of the plan to help those who are most in need of support.

Okay. Thank you. Commissioners, any other discussion, questions, comments?

No substance of changes or updates?

No, the changes that are included are in the chapter related to green jobs acceleration. And so, like I said, right now it has stated that recruitment would be targeted to people of color, and now it says recruitment will be targeted to people who live in economically disadvantaged communities. Correct.

Okay, any further discussion? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

Commissioner Moody moves to approve item 260144.

Okay, there's been a motion. Is there a second? Second. A second. Any discussion? Seeing none. If you're in favor, please say aye. Commissioner Allison Nemec. Aye. Commissioner Rennell Washington. Aye. Commissioner Katrina Crane. Aye. Commissioner Tariq Moody. Aye. Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez. Aye. And Commissioner Willie Smith. Aye. Okay. The ayes have it. Item five has been passed. Thank you very much.

Thanks for your work.

Okay. Item number six, which is the public hearing. Yeah. So, Ms. Fonseca, would you like to introduce the file?

Yes, we have two items that I'll read into the record just so we have them there. And the public hearing can start sooner than 2 p.m. and we're just a little before that. So item number six is file number 260029, a resolution approving the request for a deviation from the performance standards established by the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone, or DIS overlay. to allow an indoor self-storage facility and a data processing commuter services and computational research facility as permitted uses within a portion of the former Walmart building at 5825 West Hope Avenue, located on the east side of North 60th Street, north of West Capitol Drive, and in the 2nd Aldermanic District. And item number seven is file number 260030, a resolution approving changes to the site and existing building previously occupied by Walmart, located at 5825 West Hope Avenue, on the east side of North 60th Street, north of West Capitol Drive, relative to the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone, or Diz Overlay, established by section 295-91.2.

0044 of the former milwaukee code and the second automatic district okay before we are three two and a half minutes before the official time of two o'clock to open the hearing so you know i suppose we can just do something else for two minutes quietly or noisily however you like But there are people that are online and are tuning in at 2 o'clock, so we'll wait for the two minutes.

There you go.

All right. And overflow has been used. Good. I'm glad we have it. I'm glad it worked out that we could use this room, too. All right.

Thank you.

He's supposed to speak after Trent presents.

Thank you.

Is this... We've got to get going now.

I said, yeah, we'll have to get going. I didn't intend to get here before 2. He knows the 2 show time, so I'm assuming he's on a fight. Thank you. I've got a question for you. I've got a question for you.

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay. All right. So I thought we would like just, well, first of all, it's 2 o'clock, so we're going to open the public hearing. And I would like to say that I see that there's a lot of people with a lot of interest in this subject. And we want to be able to, I want to, as the chairperson here, I would like to be able to get through and make sure that everybody's heard. So if we can, I mean, you have your signs, that's great. But, sir, if we can not, like, do the chanting or the...

It was around the quiet time.

What'd you say?

It was during a quiet time.

Was that quiet now? Come on. No, I know. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. But I'm just saying let's try to work together so we can get through it. Can we have an agreement on that? Is that good? Okay. All right. So we're going to open the public hearing, and we are going to have Ms. Fonseca, if you could introduce the file, please.

All right, file number 260029, a resolution approving the request for a deviation from the performance standards established by the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone, or DIS overlay, to allow an indoor self-storage facility and a data processing, computer services, and computational research facility as permitted uses within the portion of the former Walmart building at 5825 West Hope Avenue. located on the east side of North 60th Street, north of West Capitol Drive in the 2nd Aldermatic District. And file number 7 is 260030, a resolution approving the changes to the site and existing building previously occupied by Walmart, located at 5825 West Hope Avenue on the east side of North 60th Street. 60th Street, north of West Capitol Drive, relative to the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone, or Diz Overlay, established by Section 295-91.0044 of the former Milwaukee Code in the 2nd Aldermatic District.

Okay. Commissioner Crump, would you like to begin?

Sure. Thank you so much, Chair Bloomingdale. Good afternoon, Chair, Commissioners, and all those watching and planning to participate, both in person as well as virtually. I'm Lafayette Crump. I am Commissioner of the Department of City Development as well as Executive Secretary for the City Planning Commission. Before turning things over in a bit to City Planning Director Tanya Fonseca, I do want to provide some overall context to the Midtown Center's ongoing development and the Department of City Development's review of the proposal that is before us today. Now, since the conversion of the former Capitol Court Mall into the modern Midtown Center in the early 2000s, we've witnessed a range of successes at the site. There are a variety of food and retail options. There's a full-service grocery store at the site, Children's Hospital, Planet Fitness, and others. I would note, on a personal note, I live about six minutes south of there. I use the Planet Fitness and the Pick and Save regularly. I practice law and I train small businesses right around the corner on 61st and Capitol. I shopped at the former Walmart. I know the area well. And yet, despite the successes at Midtown, there have also been significant challenges posed by vacancies there, particularly the decade of vacancy, 10 years of vacancy at that former Walmart facility, which is the subject of today's hearing. The initial goals of the Midtown Center redevelopment were to bring a vibrant town center-like facility to Milwaukee's north side. Those goals remain in place today, and they're enshrined within the Midtown zoning overlay standards as well as the west side plan. Subsequent community planning and community input in the years since the opening of Midtown have demonstrated that these goals remain relevant, as well as the goal of contributing to the overall vibrancy of Midtown through additional uses, including housing and various civic options. This is a trend that we see occurring in other town centers around the country and the region amidst the changing face of the retail industry and the impacts of online shopping, which we all know are not insignificant. Now, when a previous proposal for a standalone self-storage facility came in front of this commission, Three years ago, our department, Alderman Chambers, and this commission all concluded that that proposal did not align with the goals for the redevelopment of the center, particularly because that proposal did not have an identified plan to activate the frontage of the former Walmart or the large parking area that served the former store. So that proposal was denied. And I want to underscore that. There was a previous proposal. We didn't feel it brought enough to the area. And we and this commission did not allow it to move forward. And that was the right decision at that time. Three years have passed. The building and the land remain vacant. And the area has not realized its potential. And we have an opportunity to make the right decision for this time. We now have an updated proposal that is unquestionably better, that addresses the critical issues identified by the Alder, DCD, and the Commission in your review of the earlier proposal, and that is the result of significant negotiation, compromise, and demands for public amenities and protection of community interests. Namely, the oversized five-acre parking lot that served the former Walmart would be redeveloped with 200 units of new affordable housing and green space, bringing new high-quality housing options to the neighborhood and new residents who would have access to the shopping and amenities at Midtown, increasing the viability and the staying power of the shopping center. The proposal would also activate the entire commercial frontage of the former Walmart, utilizing about 50,000 square feet with civic and community uses, including a proposed future new Milwaukee Public Library branch, a permanent early voting site, and other civic and community uses. The proposal in front of the commission today is whether to approve two additional uses. self-service storage and a data processing and computational research facility for the rear of the former Walmart building that would facilitate this comprehensive redevelopment of the entire site. So DCD has carried out a technical review of that proposal to determine whether or not it meets the standards spelled out in the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances that CPC should consider in evaluating this request for deviation. Now as the commission knows and the public should be aware, seeking a deviation or seeking a special use permit or a variance are quite normal aspects of the entitlement process. And quite literally, why there is this opportunity today for the public to be heard and for public bodies to evaluate proposals. Without the deviation, without special use or variance processes, one of two things would occur. Every project would move forward without any public discourse whatsoever or nothing unique or additive that had not been previously contemplated or approved would ever get built. Ultimately, allowing self-service storage in the computational research facility in the rear of the former Walmart will advance the goals of the Midtown Zoning Overlay by facilitating the activation of the front 50,000 square feet. with neighborhood amenities, community spaces, and spurring the redevelopment of the parking lot with, again, the 200 affordable housing units. On balance, this new mix of uses advances the goals of reactivating the site through the addition of a variety of complementary new uses while limiting the less active uses to the rear of the former big box. I've talked about the positive aspects of this proposal and why we are recommending approval. I do think it's important, however, that we do take a moment to acknowledge the significant public commentary on this project, which represents understandable concerns about the environment, energy, water utilization, noise, and equity, particularly the development of this project in an area largely populated by black Milwaukeeans. I've been at all three informational sessions now. I've read the emails and letters. We know there are many. I've viewed an unhealthy amount of social media. I've talked directly with countless residents. And of course, I feel the energy in this room and the overflow room here today. This level of civic engagement is welcome. And I personally think it's important if we are to be a community that puts its people first and not faceless corporate entities or amorphous cloud-based technology. Yet I also think it's important that facts are not pushed to the wayside because they are strong feelings at play. The fact is, Capitol Heights, Deneen Park, Grassland Manor, Lincoln Creek, Roosevelt Grove, Sunset Heights, none of them deserve to have this site remain vacant and blighted for another 10 years. The fact is, this is not an AI data center. The fact is this proposal does not call for millions or even thousands of gallons of water. The fact is that this computational research facility, which will cover floor space of only about 100 feet by 200 feet, will help facilitate the development of a new library, an early voting site, and new housing for hundreds of Milwaukee residents. 100 feet by 200 feet. That's what we're talking about. By comparison, the Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant, it's 1.2 million square feet. The one in Port Washington, 2.5 million square feet. It's 130 times bigger than what is proposed here today. So the fact is... Data centers that rightfully concern all of us are massively different than the size of what's being proposed here. And the fact is that the aldermen and the administration have worked hard to ensure that the amenities that will be developed at the site there are additional conditions for use of the site, some of which are the direct result of community feedback. City Planning Director Fonseca will walk through staff's technical review of the proposal and the overlay criteria in more detail in a moment, as well as some of those conditions of approval that we're recommending that this commission consider should this proposal be approved. These conditions have been carefully crafted to ensure that the proposed research facility will not have some of the negative impacts on the broader neighborhood, I should say, that we are aware may be associated with some of those larger, hyperscale data center-type facilities, as well as some of the concerns, as I've noted, that have been raised directly by members of the public in review of this proposal. Both the size and the use of this proposed facility and our recommended conditions would ensure that the appropriate controls are in place to minimize any potential for air quality or noise impacts to the neighborhood, limit water and energy usage, and ensure appropriate landscaping and screening from public view, and limit the computational use to no more than the 19,000 square feet within the facility, which is only about 3% of the total area of the site. And finally, it would ensure that the self-service storage and the data processing facility would not move forward until the housing and the civic and the community uses are proceeding. This plan will represent a positive step forward for the Midtown Center by facilitating the reuse of this building that's set vacant for more than 10 years, brings new affordable housing to a formerly oversized parking lot, new community amenities. Again, I've said all of this. It's going to bring new foot traffic as well, which will support the vitality of the Midtown Center. And I just want to thank Alderman Chambers for his leadership in setting out goals for this site that would push forward the comprehensive redevelopment plan that we have before us today that achieves them. and thank you commissioners of course for your consideration and i want to turn it over now to tanya who will summarize the details of the proposal our staff analysis and our staff recommendations again including recommended conditions to ensure protection of community interests thank you okay thank you commissioner thank you

Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Tanya Fonseca, and I serve as City Planning Director for the City of Milwaukee and the Department of City Development. Before I present our technical review of this proposal, I would like to recognize some city staff that have worked on the review of this proposal, including significant technical review of the proposed uses and the technical equipment associated with this use. Thank you, Kristen Connelly, Johnny Latsko, Sam Leikling, John Cunningham, Dave Miske, and Mike Feinblatt. This thoughtful research and review of best practices and standards has informed the conditions we are recommending should the proposal be approved. We also have representatives from the Department of City Development, Department of Neighborhood Services, the Environmental Collaboration Office, and a third party sound consultant are available for questions later in the agenda item. And now I will begin our technical review of the proposal and share our recommended conditions. The property at 5825 West Hope Avenue consists of a currently vacant building previously occupied by Walmart on the south side of West Hope Avenue and a surface parking lot to the north of West Hope Avenue. This site is within Midtown Center, which previously was occupied by the Capital Court Regional Shopping Center. In 2000, the Milwaukee Common Council approved tax increment district number 42, known as Capitol Court Midtown Center. And the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone, or DIS overlay, in 2000 was established as a means to support the redevelopment of the former mall. The DISA overlay regulates uses and design standards for new construction and alterations within the boundary as a means to guide development in a manner that fosters an active and engaging retail center. The review of changes within the DISA overlay are overseen by this body, the Milwaukee City Planning Commission. The subject property has been vacant since Walmart exited the site in January of 2016. AFS Milwaukee LLC purchased the site in June of 2022 and previously requested a deviation from the Diz overlay use list to permit self-service storage within the vacant Walmart building. That request was denied by the City Plan Commission because it was determined that the deviation criteria set forth by the zoning code were not met for reasons, including that the only non-speculative use proposed for the site at the time was for self-service storage. Since then, the owner has partnered with several entities to compile a multi-component redevelopment plan for the entire site. An affordable residential development within the former Walmart parking lot on the north side of West Hope Avenue was approved by City Plan Commission on April 21st. 7th, 2026 as file number 252155 and is one of the key components of this site's redevelopment. The subject files before us today relate to the land located on the south side of West Hope Avenue and entail a deviation from the DIS overlay use list for two uses and the overall project approval for this portion of the site. The property owner intends to repurpose the vacant building, including reserving approximately 51,000 square feet within the north or front portion of the building for community-serving uses and allowing a self-service storage facility and data processing, computer service, and computational research facility at the south approximately 108,000 square feet portion. While specific tenants for the community serving spaces are not yet fully secured, the uses are anticipated to be allowed per the DIS overlay, including a proposed future Milwaukee Public Library branch, a permanent early voting site, and other civic and community uses. The two uses proposed for the south or rear portion of the building require deviations from the DIS overlay use that was established in 2000. Alterations are proposed to the building and adjacent land within the site, which are subject to the DIS overlay design standards. Once tenants are secured for the community serving uses within the north portion of the building and the facade and site modifications for those tenants are known, a future file will be submitted for DIS overlay design standard review for consideration by the City Plan Commission. It is anticipated that the West Hope Avenue elevation of the former Walmart will be modified to interact positively with the public realm with items such as additional glazing and patron entrances, as well as outdoor gathering spaces and seating areas. Pedestrian connections across West Hope Avenue between the proposed residential development to these uses will be coordinated as well. Minor building and site changes are needed for the two uses that are the subject of this deviation request and include a new entrance on the west side of the self-service storage office and potential additional overhead doors along the rear south building facade as well as screening on the south side of the building. Site changes including enhancing the landscaping along North 60th Street frontage and the existing landscape islands within the parking area to the west of the building. And as part of the future file relating to the facade and site modifications for the community serving uses, the currently vacant land on the east side of the building may become a parking lot to serve those uses. DCD staff have evaluated the applicant's proposal alongside the design standards established for this DIS overlay. Future modifications to the building and the site for the community serving spaces will be submitted, as mentioned, and minimal building and site changes are needed for the two uses that are subject to today's proposed deviation request. Those components as well as anticipated future modifications as outlined in the official exhibits entered into LEGISTAR and in this report are consistent with the DIS overlay design standards. Indoor self-storage is a prohibited use in Midtown Center DIS as well as the base zoning district which is Regional Business or RB2. Additionally, the data processing computer service and computational research facility, which is a type of indoor substation distribution equipment as defined by the city's zoning code, requires a deviation from the DIS overlay use list. And so that's why we're here today. Both the self-service storage, which is proposed to occupy... The majority of the South 108,000 square feet portion of the building and the data processing computational research facility that would occupy up to 19,000 square feet of that 108,000 square feet are considered to be secondary uses. to the other allowable uses, the housing, the public play area, the community serving uses, including a proposed Milwaukee Public Library, as well as the improvements within the overall site redevelopment. Because the standalone self-service storage use would not meet the performance standards of the DIS overlay or be consistent with the comprehensive plan, any approved occupancy and operation of the self-storage use and the data processing and computational research facility within up to 19,000 square feet of the space is contingent on the implementation of two other project components as mentioned previously. 200 housing units, open space, a public play area on the north portion of the former Walmart parking lot, and the community serving uses within the north section of the existing building along Hope Avenue. As such, commercial alterations and occupancy permits for the self-service storage facility use and the data processing and computational research facility use will not be issued by the Department of Neighborhood Services until the following items occur. The portion of the site where the housing development is proposed has been conveyed to the ownership group that will construct the City Plan Commission approved housing development And construction permits have been applied for by Gorman and Company to the City of Milwaukee for residential construction. And there is a binding lease or lease option for the approximately 51,000 square feet of leaseable space facing West Hope Avenue for community serving uses with the City of Milwaukee or other community serving entities. that will activate the front facing portion of the property or in the event that the community serving entities are no longer interested in leasing the space with retail functions that align with the Midtown Center performance standards. Also written into the exhibit is a statement that the approval of the deviation for the self-service storage use and the data processing and computational research facility use within the 19,000 square feet of the space and resulting occupancy approvals shall be null and void and require re-approval by the City Plan Commission if the applicant does not implement the project as described In this application or proposes a substantial change to the plan of operation uses or building designs approved within this application. The applicant will present the proposal in more detail, but I'll touch on two uses subject to the deviation request briefly. The self-service storage will have an office on the west side of the building, a new entrance and pedestrian walkway leading to it that will be added under the existing canopy, a new storefront glass and a person door will be added. Vehicle entrances for interior loading and unloading are adjacent to the office and will utilize existing overhead doors that had previously been used by the Walmart as the automotive care center area. Vehicles will not be allowed within the general storage areas. Customer parking will be within the existing parking lot on the west side of the building adjacent to the self-service storage use. And employee parking will be on the south side of the building beside an existing entrance. No outdoor storage will be permitted. Tenant storage access will be limited to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days per week. and will be staffed by the on-site management office during that time and high definition cameras will be utilized to monitor the site and tenant specific access codes will be used for all of the entrances the data processing and computational research facility a type of indoor substation as mentioned previously will occupy up to nineteen thousand square feet and will support advanced computational modeling, data processing, and research applications serving industries such as healthcare, engineering, scientific modeling, and computational research activities. The application narrative indicates this facility will use servers and high performance computing equipment to process large amounts of data, run simulations, train or test models, and support research that would otherwise take significant time. Research areas could include healthcare modeling and medical research support, imaging analysis, engineering simulations, financial modeling, or university and institutional research workloads. The research is computational in nature, meaning the activity is performed through computers, software, and data processing. The use does not involve manufacturing processes, hazardous chemical handling, industrial emissions, or material processing activities. The proposed facility would operate with an approximate seven megawatt information technology load with a total maximum project utility capacity of 10 megawatts. The facility would utilize a full closed loop system with dry coolers, resulting in a daily water consumption of five gallons or less under normal operations. The system does not discharge water into municipal sewer systems. Dry coolers relating to the closed loop cooling system will be located on the outside of the south facade of the building and will be enclosed by an engineered acoustic screening system. All noise relating to this use is subject to the City of Milwaukee's Code of Ordinances and specifically Chapter 80-64 relating to the noise levels at the property lines. Generators to provide emergency backup power in the event of power outages will be located within the building on the far south side. Critical grade silencers will be utilized within the generators which will be tested once per month. The facility will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with approximately 15 technical and support positions, and that's two to three employees per shift, including computational researchers, data technicians, network specialists, system engineers, facility operators, and maintenance personnel. Per the applicant, typical activity levels are expected to consist primarily of employee vehicle traffic, equipment monitoring, and routine facility operations. The zoning code outlines four criteria that the applicant must demonstrate are met when requesting a deviation from an overlay's performance standards. And those four criteria are that the purpose of the overlay zone has been met, Second, that the deviation improves the aesthetics of the site. Third, that the deviation addresses one or more unique site factors that make the application of the standard impractical. And fourth, that the deviation is consistent with the comprehensive plan. The applicant responses to these criteria are outlined in their zoning exhibit, and they will touch on these during their presentation. Staff review the applicant responses alongside the plans. For the review that the purpose of the overlay zone has been met, our staff analysis is as follows. The purpose of the overlay zone is to guide development, use, and design standards in a way that fosters an active and engaging shopping center. Collectively, the applicant team's multi-component site redevelopment plan inclusive of the housing, the community serving uses, and the two uses that are the subject of the deviation request are secondary to the housing and community serving uses meet this goal. All active uses are oriented towards West Hope Avenue with the more passive uses subject to the deviation request located at the rear of the site and away from the public realm. The two uses proposed via the deviation for the rear of the former Walmart facility would facilitate the redevelopment of the large former surface parking lot with new housing, a public play area, and new open space and activate the frontage of the former big box building with new uses, both of which advance the purpose of the overlay. Staff find this criterion met. For the review that the deviation improves the aesthetics of the site, our staff analysis is as follows. Collectively, the multi-component site redevelopment plan improves the aesthetics of the subject site. The previously approved affordable housing development on the north side of West Hope Avenue entails two buildings fronting the street with a generously sized play space that will be available to the community. This oversized surface parking lot was made available for conversion to more active housing uses via the proposed redevelopment plan, which will not require the large surface parking lot associated with the former Walmart use. On the south side of West Hope Avenue, it is anticipated that the north facade of the building will be significantly enhanced within the community serving uses and outdoor gathering and seating areas that are possible between the building and the public sidewalk, creating a vibrant and engaging presence along West Hope Avenue and as part of Midtown Center. Minimal exterior changes are required for the two uses that are subject to this deviation, given that they are in the rear of the former Walmart building. Staff find this criterion met. For the review that the deviation addresses one or more unique factors that make the application of the standard impractical. If applicable, our staff analysis is as follows. Staff acknowledges that repurposing a former big box building with a single tenant is challenging in our shifting retail climate. And the successful reuse of a building of this size typically includes multiple occupants and reallocation of interior spaces and external parking areas, or a conversion to less active uses that may not align with the Midtown Overlay Zone goals. Under the current proposal, the frontage of the building is the most impactful space within the building as it connects to the public realm and overall Midtown Center activity and is reserved for community uses that will provide the neighborhood and larger community with access to active and engaging uses that will complement the remainder of Midtown Center. The proposed use of the rear of the building by more passive uses that are subject to the deviation request are situated away from the public realm and will allow this multi-component site redevelopment plan to be viable, including allowing the former oversized parking lot to be repurposed for housing, a public play area, and significant open green space. Staff find this criterion met. For the review that the deviation is consistent with the comprehensive plan, our staff analysis is as follows. The property is located in the west side area plan boundaries, which was adopted in December of 2009 after extensive public input. The plan establishes policies for commercial land uses and recommendations for the Midtown Center District and establishes recommendations for catalytic projects, including the Midtown Gateway area and redevelopment opportunities for Midtown Center. At the time of the plan's adoption, the property was actively used by Walmart, so future uses for this particular property were not contemplated at that time. The plan directs that further development and redevelopment at Midtown Center is a balanced mix of uses including retail, office, institutional, and residential. And the plan directs infill and other redevelopment opportunities that they be compatible with and contribute to the existing retail mix. Further, a minor modification amendment to the plan was approved by the Common Council in 2018 that reinforced that the Midtown Center District should continue to emphasize a mix of retail, office, and residential uses. The applicant's multi-component redevelopment plans for self-service storage and the data processing and computational research facility, as well as community serving uses and the previously approved multi-family housing, are consistent with the Westside Area Plan. Specifically, specific to the Midtown Center District, the relevant policies and recommendations in the plan include to continue to implement a balanced mix with both regional and local market appeal, encourage the integration of office, institutional, and residential uses, Extend Midtown Center's town center approach to unifying all businesses on the triangle, and add pedestrian connections and infill buildings wherever possible. Over time, make the entire Midtown Center District a walkable retail village, and continue to recruit businesses for infill and other redevelopment opportunities that contribute to the existing mix. add amenities and public art that enhance the district, and install enhanced landscaping and streetscaping along the rights-of-way of all corridors surrounding and intersecting Midtown Center. Furthermore, the plan sets this overall commercial land use strategy as it relates to grayfield uses as in former big box stores and shopping centers. To encourage similar or compatible uses to go into these vacant spaces where the market will no longer support a retail use or similar use cannot be reinstated. Consider office or business services that support the commercial focus of the district or commercial corridor. If the principal use is converted to office or business services, retain street level storefronts open and transparent and not shuttered. Standalone self-service storage on its own would not complement the mix of retail and commercial uses in Midtown. However, the applicant is proposing to reuse the rear of the building for self-service storage and the data processing and computational research facility. with plans to create active community serving uses at the front of the building. This mix of uses furthers the recommendations of the west side area plan to create a vibrant and walkable town square. And the community serving uses along Hope Avenue and the multi-family infill development will bring more people to Midtown, activating the spaces and strengthening the shopping district. The applicant is also improving the landscaping along the west side of the building. DCD is currently updating the West Side Area Plan and the planning process kicked off in late 2024 and is anticipated to be adopted later this year. Public engagement is an integral component of updating an area plan and developing its draft recommendations. To date, DCD has gathered public input through two community-wide public meetings, in person and virtually, and convened three community advisory committee meetings, attended numerous community events, and conducted online surveys. At the last community meeting in March of 2026, DCD staff presented draft recommendations, including recommendations for Midtown Shopping Center, and a final community meeting is anticipated before adoption. During the area planning process, Midtown Center has been identified as a catalytic site for Milwaukee, meaning that the future redevelopment can have a transformative effect on the larger neighborhood and the plan area. The draft concept for Midtown Center identifies opportunities for infill development, adaptive reuse, and commercial rehabilitation. A key draft recommendation is to encourage a wider range of uses, particularly residential, community serving, and civic uses to enliven the Midtown Shopping Center and support the existing commercial uses. Additionally, draft recommendations identify additional site improvements such as community gathering spaces and improved pedestrian connections. In conclusion, due to the comprehensive multi-component set of uses in this redevelopment plan, the applicant's proposed deviation is consistent with the policies and recommendations in the Westside Area Plan, and staff find this criterion met. These files were previously scheduled for consideration at the May 18th, 2026 city plan commission meeting. And after receiving a large number of questions and letters of concerns related to this proposal, the hearing on the item was removed from the agenda to allow for additional community meetings and for the applicant to present additional information. Subsequently, Alderman Mark Chambers has scheduled three community meetings. Two were in person in the former Walmart building and one was online as a virtual meeting. DCD staff are present at all three of these meetings. Additionally, in terms of engagement, we have received approximately 300 emails submitted from the public regarding the files that we're hearing today. Approximately 16 were requests to provide testimony and 15 were from duplicate senders. 290 of the 300 emails were received prior to the first public meeting that was hosted by Alderman Chambers. The most commonly cited concerns within the proposal include energy needs for the facility and potential strain on the power grid, water usage at the facility, noise and air quality impacts, limited number of jobs associated with the proposed uses, compatibility with surrounding uses and neighborhoods, and other desired uses being more impactful for the community. This pending proposal would facilitate a multi-use comprehensive development of a former big box retail facility and add housing and community uses that would contribute to the vitality and activation of the Midtown Center consistent with the goals of the Midtown Diz. Community input and letters received to date have raised a number of concerns with the proposal and potential for negative neighborhood impacts, which are mitigated through the overall plan and the proposed conditions of approval that we'll present today. Before I move into our staff recommendations, I would like to reiterate the following. There is existing power infrastructure in place and available to serve the 10 megawatt max utility load of this proposed facility. The facility would utilize a closed loop cooling system resulting in water use estimated to be five gallons or less per day. The proposed conditions of approval are designed to strictly control any noise or air quality impacts associated with the use as described in more detail. The backup generators would be inside the building in the rear of it, and the dry coolers would be installed outside at the rear of the existing facility within the former truck dock bay and the larger service area on the west end of the Midtown Center. This area would include an engineered acoustic screening system to limit noise for compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances. And this dry cooler area is approximately 485 feet from residents on the west side of North 60th Street and approximately 450 feet from the new housing development located in the former Walmart parking lot area. Many of the letters of opposition to the proposal referenced a goal of bringing housing opportunities and community serving civic uses to the neighborhood, which are both significant components of this redevelopment proposal and would be facilitated by this pending proposal. and this is a breakdown of the use of the entire former walmart site the housing public play area open space and parking for the housing are forty one percent of the entire site the surrounding site that includes the commercial use parking circulation and landscape areas are thirty five percent of the site the proposed self-service storage use would be fourteen percent of the site The proposed community serving space would be 5% of the site, and the proposed Milwaukee Public Library would be 3% of the site. And finally, the proposed data processing and computational research facility would be 3% of the site. With that, I will now present our staff recommendations. For file number 260029, staff review of this proposal to deviate from the DIS use list for the two uses outlined in this report, indoor self-service storage and data processing, computer services, and computational research facility use. indicates that the four criteria have been met based on the fact that this request is part of the multi-component site redevelopment plan and conditions are placed on both uses that are subject to the deviation request with respect to limiting permit issuance for the self-service storage and data processing and computational research facility as outlined in the deviation request section. to ensure that these uses are secondary to the allowable uses that meet the intent of the DIS overlay and limiting the size of the data processing and computational research facility within the rear of the building. Our staff recommends conditional approval of the applicant's request to deviate from the performance standards of the Midtown Center Diz Overlay to permit an indoor self-service storage facility and data processing computer services and computational research facility as described in the official exhibits of this report. The proposed conditions for approval are as follows. One, the commercial alteration and occupancy permits for the self-service storage and data processing computer services and computational research facility uses will not be issued by the Department of Neighborhood Services until the following items occur. The portion of the site where the housing development is proposed has been conveyed to the ownership group that will construct the City Plan Commission approved housing development and construction permits have been applied for by Gorman and Company to the City of Milwaukee for residential construction. and that there is a binding lease or lease option for the approximately 51,000 square feet of leasable space facing West Hope Avenue for community serving uses with the City of Milwaukee or other community serving entities that will activate the front facing portion of the property or in the event that the community serving entities are no longer interested in leasing the space with retail functions that align with the Midtown Center performance standards. Two, that the use is developed consistent with the plans in Exhibit A in the legislature file. Specifically, the data processing, computer services, and computer research use shall occupy no greater floor space than 19,000 square feet. Three, that the proposed data processing use shall not exceed 10 megawatts of power during peak demand measured over any 15 minute interval. Four, that generator equipment shall not be used for primary power generation or non-emergency operation, including non-emergency continuous or discretionary operations. Generators shall only be used during electrical outages, legally required emergency response situations and routine maintenance and testing. Condition 5, that is scheduled for routine maintenance and testing of generators and made available to the public upon request. Routine maintenance and testing of generators shall be limited to weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. except in the case of emergencies or where otherwise required by law or applicable safety standards. Condition number six, that prior to the issuance of permits, the applicant shall provide an acoustical report demonstrating compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances chapter eight, subchapter two for noise control. The submittal shall include the following. An acoustical report prepared and sealed by Wisconsin licensed professional engineer demonstrating compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances, including any other relevant assumptions, sound data, measurement methodology, and mitigation measures as well as any related drawing specifications and calculations said report shall include any and all impulse noises continuous noise and low frequency noise as well as an assessment of noise levels during the usage of generators A list of proposed significant facility sound sources, including sound sources to be located both inside and outside of the building. A schedule of operations for each proposed significant sound source, indicating the days of week, times of day, and durations proposed. A site plan layout, which identifies the location of all proposed significant sound sources and any proposed noise mitigation measures. Manufacture design specifications of all proposed significant facility sound sources detailing the design sound power levels and octave band sound levels from each sound source. Manufacture design specifications of all noise mitigation measures being proposed. and the results of an ambient pre-construction sound survey conducted at the facility property line locations in each direction, showing the existing sound levels at these locations during both daytime and nighttime periods. and that the results of computer noise modeling conducted to demonstrate the predicted sound levels during a worst-case facility operating scenario will comply with the applicable noise limitations contained in Chapter 80 at the property line of all adjacent properties during both daytime and nighttime periods. Condition 7, that the applicant shall conduct a post-construction sound survey within 90 days of facility startup at the same locations and times used for the pre-construction sound survey to demonstrate compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances Chapter 80, Subchapter 2. If the survey demonstrates non-compliance, the applicant shall implement corrective measures and submit a revised survey demonstrating compliance within a timeframe approved by the Commissioner of Neighborhood Services. Condition eight, that prior to issuance of any permits, if a natural gas or diesel generator is proposed, documentation proposed and sealed prepared, excuse me, and sealed by Wisconsin licensed professional engineer shall be submitted to the Department of Neighborhood Services Development Center demonstrating compliance with EPA's Tier 4 technical specifications found in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 1039. Condition nine, that the proposed new HVAC, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system, equipment, generators, and other mechanical equipment shall be located only within the approved area shown in exhibit A, unless it is demonstrated that relocation is necessary to achieve compliance with noise controls in the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances. As evidenced in the report required by condition five, and reviewed and approved by the Commissioner of Neighborhood Services. An increase in size of the generator shall not be permitted. Condition 10, that the use shall comply with the applicable energy benchmarking standards and reporting requirements of section 200-62-2 of the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances. Condition 11, that the cooling system serving the data processing use shall not use evaporative cooling. And finally, condition number 12, that a contact name and phone number be provided to the Department of City Development prior to occupancy. The contact name and phone number must also be available to all interested parties, including but not limited to the aldermen of the district and the Department of Neighborhood Services. The phone number must be available 24 hours a day. For file number... two six zero zero three zero the proposed modifications to the building and the site to support the two uses that are subject to the deviation request comply with the design requirements of the dis overlay it is anticipated that future modifications to the balance of the building and site will also be compliant and will significantly improve the public realm facing West Hope Avenue. Therefore, staff recommends approval of the request to make site and building modifications at 5825 West Hope Avenue. Thank you.

With the conditions that you put forward.

Yes.

Okay, I know there's going to be a lot of questions, but we want to get through the presentations. We have the applicant, if you would like to speak next. And then we would have Alderman Chambers come up briefly in the beginning and then also at the end. That would be great. All right, go ahead. Introduce yourself and state your name, please.

Yeah, Trent Overhugh, and I'm the primary developer of this site. So I appreciate your time, and Tanya, thanks for going through all that. I know that was a mouthful, but I want to stress kind of the importance of not only what uses i'm proposing today but some of the impacts that this particular development could have to midtown i i do view this as a catalyst project i think when you look at the uses as a whole there's some good uses and some uses that have uh created a lot of controversy and i'm here today to hopefully clear some of that up I also want to stress all these, the self-storage and the computational research facility are facilities that I own. And so these are businesses that I do have and have done this successfully elsewhere. And when you ask why not look at something else or what, this is what I do. And this is gonna be a project that I know will be sustainable for Midtown and hopefully bring a big impact to that area. I do understand that the jobs are not as high as a lot of people would hope for. But when you look at the, I guess, utilizing the front space for some of the the city related uses a lot of those ancillary uses that go behind these facilities are generally not high high high job creators but when you go in and start looking at some of the impacts that could have to midtown you can see new tenants as far as retail tenants start to go there, you'll have a higher degree of tenant quality. I think you'll see a much greater impact both on the job creation of the impact of this development, as well as create a tremendous amount of new sales tax that would filter into that area. Let me dive in a little bit about, I'll start with the self-storage and why we targeted this property originally. So this area, has a huge need for that product.

There's a lot of misconception that it...

There's a lot of misconception that it's not a need-based product. So our tenants come within three miles of that facility. This particular facility... location is the lowest storage density i've seen out of thousands of facilities i've looked at so what's that mean that means there's not enough product for the people at that time when they go to go utilize that product so that either means they pay more for it or they have to travel out for it so square footage you're at two square feet per capita the national average is closer to seven and a half. So that's saying statistically there's three X or three and a half X more of that product in that general area. And so that's one reason why we had originally targeted this particular site. There was some also use cases of favorable zoning across the street with some warehousing. And so it made sense at that time to move forward with the acquisition. Fast forward four or five years, we have tried anything and everything to try to go back and re-tenant this building. So we've had it on the market, we've tried to be flexible as we possibly could, and after a long, exhaustive search, it is very difficult to find at least in these big box stores tenants that want to go back into 100 to 160 000 square feet to compound onto that you have a large retail center that's already there that does have vacancies and so it makes it virtually impossible to not to go back into a traditional retail setting. And so that's where these flexible uses I do think make a lot of sense in this particular aspect. They're very low impact. The self-storage side, I mean, you're going to have 20 to 30 vehicles in and out of there a day. It is not a high-trafficked area. And then the research facility, it's our staff that come and go. So they are manned, at least in the research facility, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And so we'll always have somebody there. for both, one, the operations and then two, security. Let me get into a little bit about the research facility. And I do want to point out too, in the overlay, research is an approved use. And so we're going through to do an extra measure that we can do research utilizing computers. And what does that mean? we do a lot of stuff with biomedical pharmacies university level research we take large data banks process that it could be accelerated treatments for cancer research it could be tumors and through generally through these edge sites there's hipaa requirements that require that information to stay on one single platform and that's where these edge sites become really helpful in the the medical arena and so there is other uses that they're ethical what our target is on this site is going to be medical it gets into logistics banking a host of different type of uses that need to process large amounts of data to formulate conclusions. Some of the misconceptions, and there are a lot of them, are around water usage, noise, environmental impacts from discharge, and I'll address all those. The water usage, our designs, there's a lot of new technology out there and we do designs based on the least amount of water consumption as we possibly can. And so in layman's terms, Our systems are kind of like a radiator of a car. We have fluids that circulate through fins and fans, and that's what dissipates the heat. So as in a vehicle, you very, very rarely have to top off fluids in a radiator, and that is a very similar system to what we're using. the cooling system there's the drag coolers they don't have any any coolant they are just pumps and fans and so as far as a a risk mitigation we don't add chemicals to the water we use very little to no water we don't discharge the water we do treat and condition it to make sure that it can be maintained for a very very long time that water will stay in there for years and years and years. And if we do dispose of it, we have processes, we don't just flush it down the drain. It gets extracted, treated, and then refilled. Around noise, That is another big misconception. These facilities are not naturally noisy. A lot of the old data centers of the past were all air cooled and those are noisy. These are liquid cooled systems and so the noise is consistent of like a commercial HVAC unit. And this similar style cooling is used in many, many other buildings that are around the Milwaukee area. So it's not like it's a new type of cooling system. A closed-loop system is used quite all over. To address the noise, the dry coolers would go outside, so we've been taking measures with acoustical fencing. and then strategic location of where that equipment would be to make sure that we can mitigate any kind of impact. In this particular facility, we are blessed that we have 160,000 square feet and so we can go behind the building. The area that there's a loading dock will be a prime area just because it does have two walls on that end and we can screen or put sound fencing around the rest of it. and really mitigate any noise impact that would come out of there. Everything else, including the generators, will be kept inside. Generators, we originally had proposed outside, and after talking with city staff, it made a lot of sense to bring those in to mitigate any future noise issues. Those generators will be up to a tier four emission standard. That's as high as it comes as far as any kind of, I guess, emissions. And then, what else do I got on my list? I think, just to stress the importance, to close at least, or at least open it up for questions, is it's not just about this use, it's about the entire project. So, naturally I can't go through do a housing project and donate stuff to the city and all that if I don't have a use that helps on the economics to make sure that this project is sustainable. And so these are my businesses, and so I wish to have your support and happy to answer any questions that you guys might have.

Okay, and I'm sure we will have a lot of questions, and we have a lot of people here that would like to speak, and there might be other questions as well. I just want to start off, just ask a couple questions and comments, because we have other people even that need to present on this issue.

so Shareable video forgive me. Did you want to take comments from the alderman first before you got any questions? Or did you want to get ready?

Well, I want to make my question so And then I'll have the alderman speak. And then I just hope that we're able to have a good hearing here so that everybody can hear. When you come up, you can give your opinions or your questions. But so... We've gone through a lot of this, clearly spent a lot of time on this. We're going to hear from Alderman Chambers again. Come on, guys. Help me out here. What did you say? So, we've spent a lot of time on this, you've spent a lot of time on this, everyone has. We have a situation, which hopefully Alderman Chambers can speak to this as well, of a really bad situation of Walmart up and leaving. And leaving us with this massive land that has to be somehow dealt with. But we are going to have the aldermen speak, and we will have other presenters speak, and then we will take people one by one coming up. Now, just so I understand, because I want to make sure that I'm understanding this correctly, so... Mr. Overhew, you own the land and you also own the businesses of the storage and the computational facilities. That's correct. And you own these in other parts of the country or in the state?

I don't have any left in Milwaukee or in Wisconsin. Okay. So I had one facility in Cudahy, but we haven't sold that one.

Okay. And so you have experiences. This isn't the first computational data or computational facility or storage facility. That's correct. So tell us, one thing I did miss when you were talking is who's going to operate this computational center and for what use?

Yeah, so it will be my staff and I, and as far as the operators of that. And the way that it works, we have certain contracts with medical companies that will house their equipment with our infrastructure, and they utilize that for their research platforms. So our job is to keep everything up and online. We do the general maintenance. As far as the specific uses, this one will most likely target the biomedical research industry.

Okay, so is there a name of the company?

Unfortunately, I can't give that out just due to India.

This is my turn to ask the question. Who is this? We have to do this together. I'm just asking. I thought I missed it.

No.

Okay.

Very rarely are we able to give out a name of the company that we work with.

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. So what we can do is we'll just try to speak into the mic a little bit louder if we can. Okay. All right. But you and your company will be operating these two?

That's correct.

These two operations? Yep. Okay. All right. Okay. Let's have Alderman Chambers come to the table and present. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, Madam Commissioners, fellow commissioners. I'm going to keep my comments brief because I'm going to speak at the end. We are... here at our compromise honestly um as you as you know tanya already brought up he purchased this building june of 2022 before i was elected and presented uh a project that i deem or we all deemed because it was rejected not suitable for the area however at that same meeting we also had a conversation let him know that this wasn't the end let's come back to the table and find out what can be the compromise he may not get everything he wants we may not get everything we want but we feel that the residents deserve a strong opportunity to revitalize a blighted area i think we are here but i'm going to save my prepared remarks for later on because i got something to speak more in detail so i'll leave it at that

Okay, but can you just tell us about the importance of the other projects that you have, the housing and the library?

Well, absolutely. That wasn't part of my prepared remarks. But honestly, the Midtown area is home of the highest early voting site in the whole Midwest. with the and it has moved in the past five years four times um you know we need something more permanent over there the capital library was deemed to be the first library actually to be repurposed and redefined back in 2012 and it has since been leapfrogged five times by the new libraries that have been there including the fail rfp in 2018 so you know this is a opportunity to repurpose something into something positive and also the community space that is slated potentially to be there will be something that the community has been yearning for for quite some time in regards to that. But again, we have to get to a point in order to get there in order to get there. I think it's highly important that we pay attention to the facts and look at what the data, look at everything that's in front of us, and make a sound decision, and I know that you will. Again, I have prepared remarks that I will preserve, and toward the end, that will go a little bit more into detail about everything that you need.

Okay, yeah, you can take as much time as you need now and then.

I'll wait. I'll wait. Thank you. All right.

Thank you. What is the point of order in this right now? What is the point of order? Yeah. Please explain. Is he coming in now or are you letting him stay for later?

Here's the point of order, okay? We have a lot of people that want to speak here. And... every most people in here are understand that that they have a democracy like this means that people come to hearings and speak but if we take a lot of time you know different things in between it is going to take longer so i would just ask everyone if we can work together to all uh... come to the table and and give your opinion give your questions and all of that and that's the point of order so this was alderman chambers this is his district i wanted him to speak in the beginning and then he will have an opportunity to answer any questions at the end of this hearing So that's how we're going to proceed. And I'm going to, are there any other, is there anyone else that needs to speak from applicants or can we move into the public hearing? Ms. Fonseca.

We can move to the public hearing if the applicant team would like to.

If we have questions on the presentations, you wanted me to save them to the end?

It's up to you. If you want to ask questions now, we can do that. We can ask questions of the applicant.

So one thing that I just want to clarify, you said that you sold your data centers to new purveyors.

That was a storage facility.

That was a storage facility? Yeah. Well, my question for the city is if he sells a portion of this to another entity, what the provisions are for carrying the requirements forward?

tanya i think you're best suited to yeah it's a it's a great question so the approval is for the site and the uses so i believe that would carry to the the purchaser but they they would have to follow what the approval would be should it be approved and the conditions contained within okay and then um i just want a little bit more data on the

excuse the pun, for where we are with the library and the city leasing the space to the north on Hope Avenue.

Sure, I can speak to that. So the agreement both for the housing, the 200 units of affordable housing, as well as the portion that would be available to the city, that is part of the conditional agreement for the remaining uses to go forward. One dollar would be the conveyance for the housing and one dollar for the city use. So the city will have access to 50,000 square feet within that facility just for one dollar, presuming that everything moves forward. So we are in the process of negotiating what the contract would be like. The library has already started its process of sort of evaluating what a library could look like there. They have an architect that they're working with to sort of try to start planning some of that out. But no one wants to move too far until we know that we're moving forward.

Okay. And then the backup is that there could be retail if those two uses do not go forward, and that would still be a precursor for both of these other two uses, correct?

Right. To be clear, regardless of what happens with the city space or if there were to be more shopping, or if they were to remain vacant, there will not be more than the approved utilization for the storage area, for the computer processing area. That would only get approved today, potentially, at up to the $19,000, and nothing more would be allowed there in the future, even if, as Tanya noted, it changes hands. Saying that potentially there could be shopping there, that just recognizes that We continue to be a political body, and if something were to happen where for some reason down the road, let's say the city ultimately did not have the funds to do a library there, that would not revert back to the property owner. It would either need to be a civic use or something that is already zoned for the area, i.e. the shopping.

Thank you. Okay, commissioners, any other initial questions for... Commissioner Moody...

This item was supposed to come earlier to the board and the zoning. Before that, what's the process? Did the constituents of that district knew about this process before it came to the first time to this body?

Do you mean years ago or most recently?

Most recently, like not just, but the first time I was supposed to come here was the constituents talk to about this project.

So I am the person who hosts the most town halls and amongst my colleagues throughout the city, I've hosted over 30. Since I've been elected in 2022, I've held many of them, at least nine that's in this area. And every single time for the residents that came to this area, to my town halls at Marshall, Blessed Savior, Capitol Library, Mount Lebanon Church and everything, this project has always been discussed. Not the entirety as far as the involved, but activity is actually happening in the midtown. So for my residents of the second district, may not be people that's here, but they have been noticed of what's going on. Now as far as the change of the computer research facility, that all came late. That all came late prior to after we testified as far as the housing thing. And that's what the reason why I made a decision to place it on, to hold it from the May thing and have community input in regards to that. So to answer your question, yes, I've been talking about this like a canary, and I also have the second Walmart that is closed on Timberman Plaza as well in Silver Spring that is working towards repurposing that as well. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, Commissioners, any other initial questions? You'll have opportunity later. Thank you. Okay, thank you. All right. You guys can take your seats, and we will start with people that have filled out forms. So hopefully I'm not going to get these two out of order, but we're going to do our best. First person, Nathan Q.

We have Nathan Q.

So here's how we're going to do it. I'm going to call the name. If they're not there, then I'm just going to move to the next one. Does that make sense for everybody? Okay. Next is Cardell Macon. Hi, and if you could just state your name and then, you know, give us your remarks and just try to keep it, you know, tight and just not too long so we have for everybody, but make sure that you say all that you want to say.

All right. My name is Cordell Mackey. My name is Cordell Macon. I stay in the Capital Heights area on 71st Street. You just speak slower. Do you need me to speak louder? That's perfect. Okay. Sorry. My name is Cordell Macon. I stay up in the Capital Heights streets on 71st Street. um so the questions and stuff i had in the remarks is first it says attract regional he mentioned attracting regional and local market appeal like what does that mean who is the who the market who is the attraction that he's trying to get and through what markets they also keep mentioning a retail space what retail space obviously we just heard that this is last this is thrown in at the last minute and it wasn't something that had been planned along with the library and also the apartments from the beginning. This is something that he threw in at the last minute. He also mentioned that he owns other storage facilities outside of this one, and he saw the one in Cudahy. But we also know he owns one also in Misery, and is it Wabash Misery? They also use language that's very confusing. Using language that minimize the impact and the size of the data center, saying that they're going to use 100, about 300 feet usage. But we keep hearing that they're going to use up to 19,000 feet, or they're approved to use up to 19,000 feet for this space. not only that um they're using triple the amount of what walmart used which is about three kilowatts but they're using 10. so i'm trying to figure out how much of an impact this will have not only on the electrical grid and system because even on the online meeting he stated that they were trying to use a 80 output and they would get it to 99.9 at times what does that look like for the residents operating on their own personal grid and the power that we run through he also keep mentioning that They're going to use certain fluids to cool and everything. Where are these fluids going? How would these fluids evaporate out of the system if they're using fans? Where would the fans blow this cooling air out? And they're also saying they're using five gallons of water per generator. None of this makes sense because these numbers don't add up to me. As he said, where's the status? Also, they're also deciding to move forward with it before approval. And I've listed data construction manager safety jobs. They have multiple data center jobs posted already on Indeed and other job sites before approval. So that's one of the other issues I have too, because it seems more like they're saying we're going to do this instead of we need approval. They have not been verbal about what the data center will be, what it will be used for, only the people that they're contracting with. There's a lot of information that they are not putting on the table and we do not like it as a community. We are also saying we don't want the storage facility or the data center because they're only bringing 10 to 15 jobs. This is not acceptable in any way, shape, or form. The amount they're paying too is unknown, not only that. He just stated that the facility of the AI Center would be used by him and his colleagues, so they don't plan on hiring people outside of them to run that. That's another problem I have with that. Paying attention to everything he put up there, he's not listing where or how they're going to treat this water, where they're getting the water from, and how much of it they're going to use on a daily basis. They're not listing a time frame that they will do the testing and how much noise will be allowed during what time frames. He put up a statistic, but they haven't given us analytics or statistics on how much noise it affects the current noise volume and how much that will change. We know that this area generally houses the majority from ages 30 to 70. And there's also a school several blocks up, Marshall High School. How will this affect not only their water usage, their electricity usage, while having these type of facilities there?

Okay.

All right. Well, thank you very much. Okay. Yasmeen Davis.

Hi, everybody.

Please state your name, and then you can go ahead.

Hello, my name is Yasmeen Davis. Can you guys hear me okay?

Bring it close to you.

So, sorry if I sound a little anxious up here, but my main problem is that they've contradicted themselves several times throughout them talking. That they said, this is not AI data center. But then literally like 10 minutes later, she's going to say, this data center will be trained to use models. So what are we doing here then? Also, it just feels like they're playing in our faces and they just think that we're playing stupid.

They told us.

Because I also felt like they were kind of just talking in circles. It felt like they weren't saying much. And I hate the fact that it seems like they're just lying to us to just try and get you guys to approve the center. And I'm one of the people, many people in this room that are personally affected by them putting a data center in the midtown. Midtown is going through enough already. There's so much pollution there that people are just straight up refusing to clean up. Y'all could easily get people out there to clean it. Also, there are so many potholes. Also, the thing of people stealing and stuff, it feels like there's no care put into Midtown. Also, I really hate the fact that they're trying to make it seem like it's eco-friendly, but with the stats that we have right now, it's proven that data centers in general aren't eco-friendly at all. And, like, the man that came up here before me said, like, they were just kind of running around with the numbers. There were no, like, clear numbers or stats. And I just felt like that's very, very weird. Sorry, that's all I've got to say for right now. Thank you very much.

Danielle Benitez Rivera. Danielle Benitez Rivera. Oh, sorry.

What am I supposed to say my name in?

Your name. State your name and then state what you'd like to come here to speak about.

My name is Daniel Benita Rivera. I'm opposed to the Midtown project for a plethora of reasons, primarily them holding hostage public works and development like the library or any other public goods and contingent with having built this center. I believe it's a fallacy that they will provide jobs when the majority of the 53216 area code, or zip code, less than 20% of those people have bachelor's degrees, about 11%, and 6% have master's. And the gentleman running this operation, he said that basically everything is run in-house. And if it's already research, they can't really hire people when they're already working or developing whatever research they are working on. He mentioned biomedical research. Well, we already have the Medical College of Wisconsin, and they do a very good job of being very transparent whenever they do research in the area. And it was also very ambiguous just saying, oh, we're going to do biomedical research or financial stuff. So basically, they're just plugging things into computers that they're just collecting. And then also, I feel like initially they may follow these rules that have been proposed here and stating that it's going to be a small-sized facility. But I believe that it's more of a cudgel that they'll use to eventually develop and have a bigger data center. And I feel like these companies tend to, they tend to, use more water than they initially proposed or they tend to lower uh... the tolerances that they say they're gonna maintain whether it's electricity or water and then eventually the development says oh well we needed more water or we need more electricity because of x y and z So for that aspect, I'm also against it. And aside from the logistical aspects, they're not transparent with the type of data that's going to be stored there or collected. But just in general, this information that's being collected from personal information from all of us here locally, statewide, or across the country for their benefit and clearly no one else's because it is a private company.

Right.

And this just seems like he's an opportunistic outsider, and that's all I have to say about the matter.

Steve O'Connor.

Steve O'Connell. I'm at 3810 North 56th Street. I'm directly across the street. There's three things that come to mind. We in that neighborhood on the other side of Capitol, you don't have enough fingers on your hands to count how many times we've been flooded since this whole thing started. I've been at those original meetings with Robert, whatever his damn name was. We complained. We asked, are you going to fix the infrastructure of that area? Anybody? It has not been fixed. And we continue to be flooded. FEMA has given up on us. They're not buying us out anymore. They've booked on us. Now we're at the mercy of the city. The last three years, there's been a committee of us, up to 15 individuals meeting monthly. We finally, in August, are going to fix 40 houses 40 houses get flooded every time you spit on the damn sidewalk. Every time something happens over there, across the street, it comes across Capitol. Pick and Save was set on the second of the largest of those springs. If you go there for any rain event and you stand by the pick and save, that water just continues to come across 56th Street, where I live, continues to come into our neighborhood and those poor neighbors. The anxiety level in our neighborhood is dramatic. There are people over there that are afraid to go to sleep at night if they hear it's going to rain. It's a dramatic mess. The second thing I want to point out is, yes, we've had meetings, not in the 7th district, not those of us who live on the other side of Capitol Drive, You don't want to see how many petitions have been dropped on my doorstep. You don't want to take the amount of calls I've had from the neighbors. They are as angry as you get when they hear something like this being proposed. When we as the neighbors on the other side of Capitol haven't even been asked. We have not had a public meeting. We've not had a chance to say our piece, but we continue to look at flood waters. We continue to look at the messes that come across Capitol Drive. The third thing, I was the chair of the Reckless Driving Committee. I gave up. It is damn dangerous to try to cross Capitol Drive. Every one of my neighbors, where do they shop? 124th Street. How do they get to 124th Street? Burleigh. Exactly. Center. You try to go to that little old... Pharmacy on the corner of 51st and Fond du Lac and Capitol. We average two crashes a day, multiple crashes a week. I have stood over there at Meineke Ace Hardware on the corner. Damn. It is so dangerous. And it's so hair raising the way folks drive in our neighborhood. And poor Capitol Court, now Midtown, suffers because people are so afraid to go across that street, that highway. How many times we have been before the state highway bunch, we get nowhere. We have picketed, we've had a committee, we've had numerous, numerous meetings with MPD. We have gotten nowhere. And now along comes this proposal. And the neighbors are up in arms. They do not see how this is going to benefit our community. They do not see how this concept is going to impact us, except negatively. And so I'm here just to let you know, and I don't know how many more petitions are going to be handed to me, and how many more people are concerned that they're not being listened to.

Yeah.

And so my suggestion to you is to come to our community and sit at Albright United Methodist Church and listen to these neighbors. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right. Next up, we have Mark Larson. I just have a sheep that says you would like to speak so you don't want to speak okay I have Nathan Cole in the in the room I missed you before, so we're calling you out.

I apologize. Nathan Coe, 3873 North Sherman Boulevard. State your name one more time, please. Nathan Coe, C-O-E, 3873 North Sherman Boulevard, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I've been a resident of the area since 1983. I've watched it evolve, de-evolve and return to where it is now. There seems to be a significant amount of missed opportunities to properly plan this area. I have to be careful how I word this because I have future employment opportunities as an urban planner and a political scientist. These plans that have been made for this area seem rather short-sighted and economically, excuse me, physically encouraged rather than what the original purpose of the area is. This is a deviation and I would encourage this board to stick to its original standard of being somewhere that is helpful to the people who live in that neighborhood rather than an economic thoroughfare. It needs to be developed. It hasn't been developed, and I understand the want to develop it now, but this seems to be rather short-sighted and lacks the professional acumen I know that the city of Milwaukee can bring to a project. Being an employee of the city, I've had an opportunity to be exposed to many of the people who are over my shoulder now, and I truly believe that they are capable of more than this. And I think it would be a great opportunity for this commission to ask for them to go back to the drawing board and come back with some more favorable aspects for our community.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, Samantha Dobias.

Can I use the standing mic?

This right here at the table, please. All right. And if you wouldn't mind just saying your name one more time for the record.

Samantha Doukas, D-O-U-K-A-S. Sorry, my handwriting might not have been super great. Let me get my speech up. So, my name's Samantha Dukas, I live at 1129 North Marshall Street. I'm speaking in opposition to this project and I'm a member of PSL Milwaukee. And I'll be clear right from the start, as you've all heard, the community residents already speak, as you've all heard our frustration throughout the meeting, the community does not want this project. Although Alderman Chambers says none of his residents are here, it's clear that there are residents of his here. And he can ignore them all he wants, but his continued ignoring of them is just testament to how little he wants to hear the actual opposition to this from his city. And that was true of both open houses that he held at this site. Residents were equally as frustrated and equally equally decried this use of self-storage and a data center. And no matter what you want to term it, if you call it a data center or a data research facility, if it has server racks, if it has wiring, if it has outputs, if it uses 7 to 10 megawatts, it's a data center. You can call it whatever you want. It's still a data center. So, Capitol Heights does not want or need a data center, now that we're all on the same page. Lincoln Creek does not want a self-storage facility. And after an entire week of canvassing up 58th, 60th, and 61st, talking to everyone who would stop and talk to us, it's become clear the only people who actually bothered to proactively ask neighbors, friends, and other Milwaukeeans about this were us, not the alder. He had the open houses. The community was informed about the open houses by us from Instagram, not from the alder. And everybody who came rejected the proposal. So, Milwaukeeans know that data centers, as you've already heard, are not job providers, self-storage facilities are not built for community improvement, and making the construction of a library, a voting station, and other community resources contingent on building the data center, because they'll try to put the cart before the horse and tell you that the data center is what is enabling the, they'll tell you the data center's enabling uh... that housing and uh... uh... and the library but they're putting the cart before the horse it's a little clever and around in reality building the city services is contingent on building the data center and the self storage the approval process Couldn't matter less, unless you get the data center and the self-storage, you aren't getting those city services. You can't hold residents hostage for that stuff just because you want to use it for your preferred use, which you own 15, at least 15 other facilities across the country for, and because that is what you do for a living, You won't let the community actually have what it needs. So the suggestion that there was any other intended use for this project or that any other tenant was looked for is ridiculous. This man, this developer, AFS Milwaukee, builds storage facilities and data centers. They didn't try to improve the facility to search for another tenant or use or retail or anything else. So we can tell that this is not community-centered development. People can see through the bait and switch and they can see through the mirrors. This project is actually about profits for an out-of-state developer by building his preferred uses. He already owns 15 other self-storage centers across the Midwest. That was as of 2020. That's five years, six years ago data. And we're supposed to believe that he considered otherwise. It's ludicrous. And we see... the city already backing AFS Milwaukee and Trent, rather than putting the well-being and long-term interests of residents first. And instead, it's up to the community itself to organize and come here and tell you what they want. So here we are. The developer's asking for a variance from the site's existing zoning, all so he can make money in a low overhead, high profit margin industry, trying to bait and switch this with things, trying to bait and switch it with things the community actually needs. That's money first and profit first city planning, not community development. Yes. For shame. Shame. Selling out residents to guarantee profits for out-of-state developers is exactly how a war on black Milwaukee, a war on Milwaukee gets rolling. There's a red carpet for a storage center, but not a second of thought for medical services or community-centered use or anything else. The Plan Commission, all of you, should reject this out of hand. It's an insult to Capitol Heights, it's an insult to the North Side, and it's an insult to Milwaukee.

So I'm going to ask you to just, because we've got a lot of other people. Yeah, I'll be quick. Can you just wrap up your statements that are on the point?

Yeah. We all say we don't want a data center, we don't need self-storage, and you should have asked what the people wanted first. Build a library, build the city services without the data center and self-storage facility, and we'll be totally behind it. We'll put the people first. We'll get what we need. We won't sell out. And eventually, you know, I'm a member of the Socialist Party. We'll have socialism in Milwaukee. We will have real community-centered development right up in here.

Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, next up, Joshua Taylor.

I think I speak, well, I'd like to say good afternoon to the commission first, but I think I speak for everyone when I- Excuse me, could you please state your name? Okay, go ahead. Joshua Taylor, lifelong Milwaukee resident, member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, big party. I think I speak for everyone when I say I really wish our so-called public servants would be as dogged in representing our views as these two were for representing Trent Overhugh's will for profit. They're trying to sell us, and I'd like to really speak to you, commissioners. They're trying to sell us a bad deal. They kind of package it as, the benefits are going to trickle down. It's going to be a trickle down deal. But basically what that is, is them pissing on us and telling us it's raining. Trent Overhugh is all about profits here. This is not going to benefit the community. A self-storage facility is not going to benefit the community. And I'm going to rip through the euphemism. The data center is not going to benefit the community. I don't care whatever slippery language, euphemisms that they use. It's a data center. It uses 7 to 10 megawatts, which can power around 10,000 houses. These uses do not... do not help the communities around midtown. It definitely does not help the black working class community around midtown. It helps fatten the pockets of Trenton Overview. And speaking about who gets paid to come here, the only one who's getting paid to come here is Mr. Overview. This deal we've seen like from all the comments that you've had from the community here and it's beautiful to see we have people directly from the community black white brown young old men women who are all against this deal it's really it's really it's really beautiful to see that solidarity the community again this this is a bad deal you guys are in a position to stop the mistake that they're doing. Trust me, it is a mistake. If you let it go through, and we're not going to let it go through because we want to continue to organize, but if you let it go through, I guarantee you a couple years down the line, oh, this is a bad deal. This is a shit deal. This is what happens and this is what ruins the reputation of our city. So you guys are in a unique position to be able to stop that. And like we even questioned a couple years ago how a storage facility would not help the area. So... The community, and it shows here with the ideas, and like even with the add-ons they're trying to put on, making it contingent, you know, these deals with the devil, Faustian deals, that all, our housing, libraries, all these publics, a playground, are going to be contingent on if this man gets to profit. And that's not the case. It's a reality that they try to construct. We do not need... to sell out to out-of-state developers who are only looking to make money. It doesn't matter what kind of, all the gifts and all the bill of goods that he tried to put here and say that, you know, I guess, you know, he might as well picture himself as a savior of Milwaukee. It's not. It's about profit. The community knows what it needs and can tell you and make a better use of the area than Mr. Overhue and then also the public servants who are seeming to serve him. The community knows what it needs, and let them decide what goes in there. Again, this will not, a self-storage facility and data center will not benefit the community. So let it know, however it goes, we will continue to organize. The organizing will continue.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Blue Pelican. Okay, Warren Estron. Blue Pelican? Yes.

Okay. Sorry. Why don't you just take the middle one?

Thank you. State your name, please. Of course.

My name is Blue Pelican. I am an organizer throughout the city, predominantly with the Milwaukee DSA. I am incredibly grateful to my PSL comrades here for kind of taking the forefront on this. So... No matter what you want to call this research computational facility, at its core, what it is doing is processing data for research firms. It's not actually doing anything, any research of its own on any of the documentation that is publicly available. It is simply processing data and other projects for research groups throughout the country. If all it's doing is processing data, it's not a research facility, it's a data center. It may be processing research data, but it is a data center. It's a small data center, but it is still a data center. As far as where it is and how it's going to be approved. This cannot be approved yet. There's already data center regulation legislation in the works from Alderwoman Marina Dimitrievich as well as several others. This decision at the bare minimum needs to be put on hold until that point. In relation to that legislation, that legislation would restrict any AI data center development to just IH1 and IH2 zoning codes. Yes, research is allowed use in this facility. However, the amounts of pollution, electrical usage, and water usage are all at industrial levels. This is not a facility that belongs less than a block away from somebody's home. I don't know if you've had the opportunity to go visit any of the major data center projects here in Wisconsin. I have. Port Washington's data center. the noise is ridiculous even just half a mile away you can still hear the drone and the buzz and the hum of their cooling pans and their and their equipment obviously this project would be a lot smaller so you might not see as much of it but the suggested sound dampening effects with the the sound fences those While a great idea, don't prevent any noise from going up. And I don't know if you know the physics of sound waves. I forgive you if you don't. It's kind of weird. But those fences will only be effective for about 50 feet, roughly. Any other noise is going to come out the top from where those coolers are and then dissipate from there. They will hit the homes right across the street. I don't live in the neighborhood, but I have experience looking into these projects and doing research on these projects via our Power of the People project and several other projects that I've been involved in. This is a data center. I need to make sure that is clear. While it is allowed in certain use cases, it does contain industrial levels of pollution, noise sound pollution, and electrical usage, which I'm going to get to one more point on that in a second. and it does have industrial levels of air pollution and water pollution. It does not belong in a retail or residentially zoned area in any shape or form.

Okay, thank you so much. One last point real quick. One last point, yes.

The 10 megawatt approximate draw that the facility is requesting is approximately 10 times the average electrical draw of the average American home. Approximately that amount of usage will constrain our, uh, our electrical grid and the amount and the variation in electrical draw from an AI data center or similar facility is not stable is. inherently unstable given the use of the equipment, which means it can destabilize the surrounding electrical grid based on the substation. There has to be regulations and requirements on electrical stability equipment at the bare minimum for something like this.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Okay, Warren Estrom.

Hello, my name is Warren Enstrom. I live on the 3700 block of North 54th Boulevard, five blocks from the proposed site. I kind of want to open it up just by talking about this West Side Plan update, because as you mentioned earlier, it was solicited for new feedback, looking at it again, taking another update to it in 2024. Part of that included an interactive map of the West Side Plan area, which includes the Midtown area. Citizens, people who live in the city, young, old, black, white, elderly, everybody has an opportunity to remark on this map. And on the map, people wanted community spaces, they wanted affordable housing, they wanted walkability and traffic improvements, they want transit access, and they want redevelopment that supports the community. Nobody said they want a data center. Nobody said they want self-storage. Obviously, you have to have some sort of compromise, collaboration, whatever, what have you. But if you're going to solicit the public for feedback and then throw it away, why bother talking to us in the first place? Why would you implement such a large change to the west side before the new plans are finalized? It's hurtful as a community member to be asked what our feedback is and then to have you turn around and say, whatever, that's fine. People are tired of being condescended to and lied to by the people we've been working with. And I don't mean the board here. I mean the people who have come to the meetings and I don't mean the city staff who are paid and work very hard. I mean the political representatives and I mean the people who are developing this project. It is insulting to have my community members and neighbors be called paid activists by the developer. I took a day off of work today so I could come talk to you about this because I work for a living just like many of the people in the city. Most of the people in the city don't make our money from rent seeking like the developer does. We go to work.

Just remember, we weren't at that meeting, so we don't know what was said there.

It's okay. I know I'm getting angry, but how can you not be angry when these things are said about your neighbors?

Just keep it on the...

My point is this. We already have a computer research facility in the city. It's located at 1025 North Milwaukee Street. It's Dierks Hall at MSOE. They have a server farm. They also have classroom spaces, students, teachers, educational spaces, common spaces, kitchenettes, microwaves, bathrooms. That's not what this... facilities proposed to have, right? Like, there's clear differences here. The reason why we feel condescended to, why we feel lied to, is because we can see it plain as day, and we're asking you to see it as well. It's not being represented properly in order to get this approved. In the remarks earlier, saying, oh, we're gonna aim for a biomedical usage, previously at open houses, it was mentioned that defense is also a valid contractor for this company. think about that on the north side of the city far far north you know the city is working around the proposed ice facility and here we are possibly considering a contractor who openly says i work with defense for my data processing facilities he didn't say it here because he wants to get approved but you know that is something that came up at an open house the self-storage use was already rejected the data center usage should be rejected at the open house when we were looking at the affordable housing proposal we were looking at the map that little green space in the middle beneath the three parking lots that's where the kids can play that's what that's what we were told that little strip of grass between three parking lots is the play space for the children does that improve walkability for our city and even if it does are you going to walk down across the street all the way along the strip mall as you're going to pick and save We had to put in two humongous speed bumps there, and I say we, I think it might have been a private developer who had to do that, because people tear through there so quickly. Hope Avenue people drive on incredibly quickly. How does it improve walkability to just throw pedestrians on that road? It doesn't. We need actual infrastructure that will keep people safe. My next point is that you are going to rent space for a library and an early voting site from a private company? That's expensive, especially in the long term. Obviously, the city is not swimming in cash, and it's not like we can just put up our own public building, although we did manage to build a new public health facility near the Marcia P. Coggs building recently. Why is it the case that all of our libraries have to be renting out space from developers? Why can't we have our own buildings anymore? What's that about? The last thing I want to return to is how disrespectful this process has been. The first open house, not today, I'm sorry, let me be clear again. Commissioners, city staff, I appreciate you all. The first open house was held on site on an incredibly humid and hot day with no seating and no air conditioning. There were elderly people there. We were standing around for easily two hours, two and a half hours. that is not a safe condition to have a place where you could have a meeting. And to have it presented as a meeting was inappropriate because it was an open house a la like a road redesign where they say, here's the plan for what we're going to do to your community. There wasn't even an alternative. It was just kind of like, here's the idea. How do you feel? Luckily, the second one appeared to have seating. The third one, of course, was canceled to go to an online only version. It feels like the people who are proposing this feel like we're stupid, that we can't read or we don't read, that everything that we're taking in, we just don't understand, and we need it explained to us from a professional who knows what they're doing. But we do understand, and we want to be heard, and we want to be listened to. And whatever the process that led up to today happened, that wasn't it. And I would really, obviously, maybe this is more of a statement for the alderman or other elected officials. If this is how it looks, you need to have another look at how this process works, because it's not working. People are mad. It's not okay. No self-storage, no data center, and if you don't like that, sell the property.

Alderman Mergelis has asked to speak at this time.

Thank you. I really just have a question.

You don't want to sit in the middle?

No. No, I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking the time to allow me to... You just want to introduce yourself. My name is Alderman Peter Bergelis. I represent the 11th District on the southwest side of Milwaukee. I'm also a co-sponsor of Alderman Marina Dmitrievich's ordinance modifying and providing restrictions on data centers in the city of Milwaukee that's working its way through the legislative process. This is a very... important topic for residents. I hear it almost on a daily basis and what we know is that data centers are a reality, that data centers have been around for a long time and technology continues to improve. My question for the Department of City Development is what happens if the terms of the agreement with the developer are not followed? What recourses does the city have? Is there a $10 fine, like driving on a sidewalk, or is it something more substantial? What are the consequences?

That's a great question. So I may have Department of Neighborhood Services come up to speak about enforcement, but I think on day one, if this were to be approved with the conditions I outlined earlier and any others that may come forth. Permitting, right? Department of Neighborhood Services reviews everything in full when they come in for permits and for occupancy. So that is check one, right? If they were to proceed, they would have to produce a lot more in terms of the alterations and everything that they are proposing to do, and that is reviewed very carefully by the permit center staff to ensure that they are adhering to the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances. If they are not, they would not be issued their permits or their occupancy permits. So that's step one.

So what happens if you don't have an occupancy permit?

Then they would not be able to proceed with the development.

And if they do, what's the fine?

Well, that's a great question. So I'll bring enforcement staff up who could speak more to that process, should that be necessary for a proposal like this or other uses.

And then the second follow-up question for that. When the sound study next year fails and the developer, the operator, fails to perform and improve the property within specs, What happens? Is there a daily fine? Do they lose their occupancy? I'm sorry, I can't. Is there a daily fine? Do they lose their occupancy? Do they have to vacate the premises? What happens? What are the consequences? How quickly is the city able to react and enforce the agreement that's pending before us?

Those are excellent questions. We do have responses, but I would need to call staff who work more in our enforcement area to speak to that.

I'm going to ask that you, whoever wants to come, what's the person's name? Mike Mazmanian or John Cunningham would come. Okay, great. Thank you, John. Point of order, are we jumping from questions from the comments from the residents or to go back to this? Yes, we're gonna hear from, we're going back to the comments section. You got it. All right, thank you.

All right, hi, John Cunningham. I'm the Permit Development Center Manager. so uh our enforcement uh the the person that deals largely with enforcement isn't here uh he was here for quite a while but had to leave so they do the best to answer the questions that i can and i can certainly follow up with anything else so yeah generally as we talk about occupancy and kind of getting into the building we you know Our role here is to, in the Department of Neighborhood Services, is to check plans for compliance with the building code, zoning code, all of those types of things. That gets moved to the inspection team who will do that inspections for compliance there and then they will move towards an occupancy. So generally you can proceed during the plan review process. You can get permits, you can start construction, but you cannot get occupancy in the City of Milwaukee until a certificate of occupancy has been issued. So we do have some regulations in the code about what happens if that occupancy is falsified. We're able to remove that. Somebody does something that's in conflict with the approval conditions with any of our local ordinances. We do have enforcement in place that would be able to go out there and take a look at it, write orders against the property. And that's all spelled out in the ordinances of what that is. what those steps would be. But essentially, we do have a court section, you know, or court liaisons within the Department of Neighborhood Services, so we'd be able to kind of move things through that process if things did ultimately fall apart and were not in compliance with the code, the zoning, and their conditions of approval, so.

Okay. So from the date of the first verification that the operator's noncompliant until a court revokes occupancy, What's that timeframe look like? Is this a 30-day process? Is this a 90-day process? Is this a nine-month process?

Yeah, that's information I don't have. It's not my area of expertise within the Department of Neighborhood Services.

Well, I will ask the department to be ready at the next commission or committee meeting whenever this item comes up before us again to be ready because consequences are important. There's absolutely no sense in putting guidelines and rules in place in a development agreement if we're not ready to enforce, if we don't even know what the timelines are for enforcement. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Erin?

Tread.

Tread. Thank you.

You're good.

Good afternoon. Welcome. Can you hear me? No?

What about now?

What about now?

All right. So I have- Just state your name. My name is Erin Trad and I live on Hadley, so not necessarily directly part of the neighborhood, but I do travel along Capitol for my commute. Also, my family stays along Capitol, so this includes me as well. Okay. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, and I love it. I love my city, and I think that two things are very apparent this afternoon. I feel like some people thought that our city would not show up for certain communities, and that's not the case at all, because we're all here. We've all told you how we feel about this, that we don't want the data center. And you can dress it up any way you want to, it doesn't matter. It's still a data center. And it's unwanted and harmful. It's insidious to say housing and a library are the most important parts when we all know that Tristan or Trevor making money is the most important part. You have to also, please, please, I know we're using a lot of fun language, lots of real $10 words up here, and that's great. But what you need to think about is the man got up here and said, storage builds community. What community are you from, sir? Okay, now hold on. Hold on, hold on. I'm just saying.

Hold on. I do want to just state something just so that we know. Just your remarks, if you can just make them to the committee. Oh, not to Trevor?

You can't like turn around and say this. Okay. Thank you. Then I'm saying. Thank you. With all common sense intact. What kind of community does a storage facility or a data center manned by the same 10 people that work for a developer have to do with our city, with this neighborhood? Because to me, it sounds like the gentleman said before, an opportunistic outsider. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Next up, Stacy Smiter.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Stacy Smiter. I am the president of the Greater Milwaukee Board of Realtors. We are the African American Real Estate Association for the state of Wisconsin who fights on behalf of Excuse me who fights on behalf of underserved communities as well as we represent all facets of the real estate industry. That's our African Americans from developers to appraisals to home inspector to actual real estate agents. So I think my opinion here today has a little bit of a value as well. So good afternoon Madam Chair and fellow commissioners. I would like to begin with, especially speaking on file 260029 as well as file 260030, which was included adding some beautiful graphics. The graphics, for one, are deceiving. The way that it has been presenting that 108,000 square feet is a small fraction of the chart and that 58% of that has been housing, which is on a parking lot. That's not actually a part of the 160,000 square foot square feet of the building. I am a firm believer in development. I'm a firm believer in. the idea of having something new in midtown but what i've been hearing from the elected official mark chambers oh it's not the residents that lives in my district it isn't about just the residents that live in the district because i grew up in district two but i happen to live on 81st and capitol i shop at midtown pick and save i am a member of the same very planet's fitness that our chairman or the director of the Lafayette Crum stated that he's a part of, so my tax dollars is spent just as well in midtown like him. So I'm a shareholder as well. In 2023, Chairwoman Ms. Crane stated as well that she didn't believe that it was a good idea to have self-storage in there, and neither did Artem and Mark Chambers at that time. The only difference now in this new file that they created And presented before you as a deviation for the same self storage, but now they're including a computer data center. 19,000 square feet is not small. 108,000 square feet is not small for storage space or for a data center. That is not the best use of the property. Are one of our very commissioners, and I would like to thank you back in 2023. I was here at that meeting for when y'all unanimously denied the fact that about the storage facility and at the time as well, they mentioned about adding affordable housing for some reason they think by telling us in the. Northwest side of Milwaukee, which is predominantly African American neighborhood that, hey, we just slap affordable housing in there. that we'll get what we want. But in reality, they're not producing any documentation that support that it is good to have this data center. This is the same information he is feeding to y'all, that this hearing is the same information he is feeding to the individuals in Missouri, where he's a partner in the very same kind of style data center. The very statements that he's saying that these are a small facility, it's not true. It's a data center. It stores facility. The question is, is this the best use? In 2023, y'all said that it did not meet all four of the criterias. The only difference now is that he's adding affordable housing, which was already approved on a separate bill. So that really doesn't have too much bearing on it, except that they tied this in as well as with the library. If you look at the data that was just presented by Urban Milwaukee, libraries has declined post COVID and after COVID. So having a new library is not something that, oh, it's the end of the world that we would like to see. We want the best use of that property. And in 2023, the very same criteria that you use now all of a sudden to be able to determine that it meets those criteria, I understand that city employees have to do their job and do what they're being told, but it's the same exact data. It's the same exact presentation. Now all he did was slap the capital library in there. Instead of building a brand new library, you should just be refurbishing the one that's already there. It costs more money to build a new library compared to refurbishing the library that everyone already have access to and it's already there so to just smack that is all together and saying that now all of a sudden it meets all of the criteria is preposterous because it's the same proposal you just wrapped a data center in there and now affordable housing one bedroom for twelve hundred dollars a month it's not affordable And if you actually did his homework, did you know that in that area the average household is two and a half, one people? Meaning it is not even for the area of the residents who live there. He states that storage facility max is needed. People don't even have nowhere to live, so why would they be focused on a storage facility? I'm a firm believer in allowing for him to develop there, just not a storage facility and a data center. We should not be subjected to getting a community hub, a library, and housing at the subject of, if I don't get my data center and my storage facility, It's not there. It's in the documents he has presented to y'all that his feasibility study is relying on y'all approving the deviation. Anytime you have to deviate from something, that means it's not meant for it. Y'all created this for a reason. This zone was created for improvements. FOR RESIDENTIAL WALKS. I LIVE IN THAT AREA. I SHOP IN THAT AREA. SO I'M INSULTED WHEN I KEEP HEARING, MY RESIDENTS DON'T LIVE HERE. IT'S NOT ABOUT JUST DISTRICT 2 RESIDENTS. IT'S ABOUT THE WHOLE CITY OF MILWAUKEE RESIDENTS WHO ARE TAXPAYERS. HE'S USING TAX CREDITS. THAT IS YOUR DOLLARS. THAT IS YOURS, MADAM COMMISSIONER CRANE, WHO SPECIFICALLY LIVE IN THAT AREA. HE'S USING YOUR TAX DOLLARS IN TELLING YOU THAT YOU WANT A STORES FACILITY AND A DATA CENTER. That is not the best use of that property. I want y'all to base it on what is the best use. Because 10 years from now, we're not going to get this chance again. We waited 10 years. What's another 10 years? I yield my time.

Thank you. Brian Dean. Brian Dean.

Good afternoon. My name is Brian Dean, AICP. It stands for American Institute of Certified Planters. Is that better?

Go ahead.

Okay. I live at 3940 North 58th Street, directly across from Midtown Center. One of the things that caught my ear and eye was that they said that this was going to help to really... beautify and take care of the, what was the word that was used? All the problems, the blight that was going on in the area. I find that amusing because at least once a week, the amount of garbage that comes from the areas in Midtown Center, specifically the restaurants and whatnot, like the subways and all those others, comes and gets caught in most of my lawn and all the plants that we've been trying to plant in order to beautify our area of 58th Street. I would encourage the city of Milwaukee to actually try and do more to clean up the litter and remove all the tree stumps that have now been left behind in that area. And I'm also a little bit nervous about the idea of community development being connected to private development, because the last time that something of this magnitude took place, it was with the streetcar and the couture. Now, the couture, I think, is actually a very, very beautiful-looking building, and the fact that they had the streetcar go under and through it is actually quite a novel concept. But then the streetcar stopped. And that was probably the greatest fallacy that I've seen in the city of Milwaukee since I moved in here in 2018. Now, the question I have about the development incentive zone is, Why the deviation? Because there are several other DIZs around the city, and if this is allowed to take place in Midtown, my fear is that it would be a slippery slope for the rest of them. Now, I know that Tanya Fonseca and Kristen and Johnny, who are part of the staff, they are some of the most highly educated people that I had the pleasure of working with when I was with the city of Milwaukee. And I know that they are trying to do things with as little emotion as possible because they're planners. They're land use planners. They're not real estate agents. They're not police officers. They're not going to be community leaders. They could if they wanted to, I'm sure. But that's not the point. But what we also need to ask in other staff analyses, and I know that's probably of reach, do we need this? And if so, why not in some place such as General Mitchell International Airport where there's still some vacant properties that are left? And someone brought up the data center in Port Washington, which is obviously not the same size as this one. It's orders of magnitude larger. But the problem is that there are already promises being broken for the deals that were signed there. And that is why I'm worried about this proposal as well. I'm sure that the property owner does have his best interests at heart, and he doesn't wish to try and break any promises that the city has written. In fact, I have to say the conditions that were laid out, I'm impressed that those are those are actually some very, very well thought out conditions. The problem is. How are you going to enforce them and how are you going to prevent people from breaking them? And from what I've seen when I was with the Department of Neighborhood Services. Yes, there are enforcement of rules. But not equally. And that I think is something that needs to be taken into account. And that is about all that I need to say.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, Jeremy Moore.

Hello, my name is Jeremy Moore. Can you guys hear me okay? My name is Jeremy Moore. I'm not a developer, I'm not an engineer, I'm not a politician. What I am is a product of this community. I grew up here. This neighborhood was home to me for many years. Today I'm a small black business owner and a law enforcement professional with state, international, federal experience. But before all those titles, I was just a kid that just grew up in this neighborhood. I remember the days of Capitol Court when my family and I would take holiday pictures with Santa. I remember walking door to door as a teenager offering lawn care services to earn money to treat my friends to snacks at Buddy Squirrels. I remember JL Marcus. I remember flagging down police officers simply to ask them for a baseball card. Those memories shaped me. I also remember the excitement when Applebee's, Lowe's, Walmart, Starbucks, and other retailers invested in our community. It felt like people believed in us. It felt like progress. My father, who was a contractor and worked on countless homes throughout this community, probably many of your homes, especially appreciated having Lowe's nearby as it helped us serve his customers better. After leaving for college, I eventually came home. When I returned home, it was heartbreaking. Walmart was gone, the property had become a place plagued by homelessness, drug activity in neglect, Applebee's had closed, Starbucks was gone. Many of the stories I grew up with had disappeared completely. Walking through what was once a thriving shopping destination, I recognized almost nothing but a footlocker. It didn't feel like the neighborhood I remember. Even after moving away, I remember connecting to this community because this community helped me make me the man that I am today. That is why I'm encouraged to see so many residents come together with a voice and ask their questions and genuinely care about the future of this neighborhood. What touched me most was seeing long time residents who have invested 20, 30, and 50 years of their lives into this community and show up here to see what's worth fighting for. I simply encourage everyone to please do your own research. Don't allow your opinion to be shaped by misunderstandings or by a small piece of an overall vision. Based on everything that's been publicly available, I believe this project has potential to be transformational for this community. More importantly, it has the opportunity to show other investors that this community is worth believing in again. Successful investments attracts more investments. It creates jobs, resources, opportunities, and momentum. Sometimes all a neighborhood needs is one catalyst to begin a change in its future. I understand that change can feel uncomfortable, and progress can often look unfamiliar. It's natural to have questions and concerns, but what I do know is this. This project has potential to completely transform the appearance, the energy, and the perception of this neighborhood, and we deserve that. My mother still lives here. She refuses to leave this neighborhood. It breaks my heart to see so many familiar places, businesses, and resources disappear. As difficult as it must be, we must ask ourselves the honest question, why? Why did major retailers like Walmart, Walgreens, and Lowe's and other decide to leave?

Racism.

Today, I serve as safety consultant and my company provides protective services for this abandoned property. I see its reality every single day. I've personally administered Narcan from people that are suffering overdoses on this property. We've responded to countless incidents involving drug use, mental health crisis, vandalism, trespassing, illegal dumping, and inappropriate activity parked in vehicles. We are routinely removing people from this property just to keep the remaining community safe. None of that reflects the true character and the potential of this community. It reflects what happens when investment leaves, when opportunities disappear, and when abandoned spaces become magnets for crime and despair. Environment matters. When we improve the environment, we begin changing behavior, perception, investment, and ultimately lives. This project represents an opportunity to reserve that trend. Will it solve every problem overnight? Absolutely not. Will it include every single thing that residents want? Probably not. But it's a beginning, and it's a fresh start. And after watching this neighborhood decline for so many years, I believe a fresh start is exactly what we need. I also encourage people to look at some of the Gorman's property developments and see some of the craftsmanship, some of the thoughtful designs and long term investments that simply don't just build buildings. They create places where people want to live, work, and gather. For decades, we've talked about what this neighborhood has lost. Perhaps it's finally time to focus on what it can become. I absolutely love this community because it gave me my start. It gave me memories that I can carry with me for the rest of my life. I want future generations to have those same memories, to grow up proud of where they're from, to see businesses invested in their neighborhood, and believe that great things can happen here. This just isn't about a building. It's about restoring hope. It's about restoring pride. And it's about showing our children that this community is still worth investing in. I believe we deserve this opportunity. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Reagan. Yeah, Reagan Flakema. Reagan. Reagan Flakema. Well, I'm a bad reader, but I'm not that bad. This is Flakeema. Reagan. R-A-E-G-A-N. Maybe different. Okay. Benjamin.

Hi, everyone. Hello. How y'all doing?

You brought props.

All right.

Now, how do we say your last name?

My name is Reagan Flickama. I live at 7838 West Lion Mar Court. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Commissioners, as well as my fellow community members. It's disappointing but unsurprising to me that we're here today to stand against a data center proposal. After all, these corporations are doing everything possible to make AI relevant, desirable, and entrenched in our daily life. I can wait.

Sorry.

That's okay.

Go ahead.

despite the fact that most people don't want AI. I, like the commissioner, live close to the proposed data center. I also work out of that Planet Fitness. Shout out to my guy. I don't know where he at. Suggesting that a data center be built in Capitol Heights is inherently inequitable. Would we build one in Shorewood or Bayview? I doubt it. The data center will add noise pollution, light pollution, and cause many other issues. It's not hypothetical. You are right, Commissioner, our area does need investment. I think we all agree about that. But if anyone here thinks that a data center will improve Capitol Heights, I fear they're sadly mistaken. On another note, I love our capital library. It's where I go. Does it need TLC? It definitely does. But like the gentleman earlier, I agree we should invest in our library that already exists and is already serving the neighborhood. I've been wondering how our local librarians would like to work next to a data center. It would certainly be ironic for our public stewards of knowledge to be tied to a field that's actively stealing knowledge. Furthermore, it's shocking how out of touch it is to suggest that yet another data center be built in a city located on the Great Lakes. I'm a proud MPS teacher, so I'm going to do a little educating right now. This is the ancestral lands of the Ho-Chunk, the Potawatomi, and the Menominee peoples. Water is sacred to these tribes and should be more sacred to all of us, especially in an area in a time of climate change. Data centers are dangerous for many reasons, one being the loss of fresh water and danger to local ecosystems. The corporations will tell you it's a closed-loop system, but that's not exactly true. In fact, it's kind of an insidious lie. The impact is massive due to the consumption levels of these centers, which are ramping up. And in a city that is still struggling to address the lead pipes that haunt our city and PFAs that are in our water, It seems to me that it's more important to get fresh water to all our residents instead of building a data center, which will steal more water. So I am asking you to listen to your constituents today. I think by and large, you've heard many people don't want this. We want the housing. We want the jobs. We want the library. We don't want the data center. So we're calling for a data center moratorium for no strings attached investment into these predominantly black Milwaukee communities. Please value people over profit. Protect our water. Protect our city. Thank you for your time.

Okay. Benjamin Dufresne.

My name is Benjamin Dufresne. I'm a proud resident in Milwaukee. And I just want to ask why this data center is necessary. The council and Trent both listed the upsides to this project as being the library, the housing, the early voting location, and they specifically excluded the data center from that list. I just want to know why can't this location be fully for civic use? Over 300 people emailed before the first meeting to say that they don't want this data center. The data center was added last minute, and I want to know why. Is the data center necessary for the library to be built financially? It's going to create almost no jobs. We've already gone over the environmental impact, but water use and pollution, electricity use, the strain on infrastructure, the increase in utility costs for residents, air pollution, heat from the equipment raising the air temperature of the surrounding area, noise pollution, and stealing intellectual property, as AI does, are all concerns that I have about this. And I also want to ask, how does it make sense to put a thing known for noise pollution in the back of a library, a place intended for quiet reading and learning? Data center generators have been measured to output noise levels up to 105 decibels, and no amount of sound treatment is going to be able to reduce that volume by that amount. Most treatment is going to reduce your ambient sound levels by about 3 to 10 decibels, which still leaves you with a volume that's going to be equivalent to a stage at Summerfest in people's backyards. The whole premise of this data center is sketchy. Trent refused to even say earlier the name of the company or organization that's going to be using the computing infrastructure that he plans to build. That concerns me. Just in general, no matter whether the council finds this project to meet their guidelines on paper, I have yet to hear any way in which this data center will be anything but detrimental to the community. So I just want to ask, why is this necessary? Thank you.

Thank you. Vice Chair Allison Nimick, and I'll be calling the next speaker. Benjamin Dufence.

Oh, that was Ben. Sorry.

Patricia Sumnick. Patricia Sumnick. Give her a minute. On deck, Dijon Johnson.

That's me.

We'll come back to Patricia if she comes in. Just say your name for the record.

Dujon Johnson. My family has been members of Milwaukee community since the late 1960s. I grew up on North 40th Street my entire life. Hop, skip, and throw away from the Midtown Data Center. Well, to kick a dead horse along with all the rest of my other community members who have come up here handshaking, voice trembling. We are asking you guys to please listen to us. We understand that we are not a rich city. We understand that we are not a hot spot, but the community, Milwaukee's, we love our city. And we are beginning to question if our representatives ever did. We want development that pours back into community. We want community center. We want a learning annex. We want green spaces, community gardens, community greenhouses, things that will allow the community to thrive. And we see that that is not the priority with our city. With potholes, a $2.1 billion highway project that's going to take eight years, disrupting people's commutes, bus routes being cut, people not being able to get to their jobs, or taking two, three hours to get to their jobs, the community is hurting. And we understand that you guys have the major task of having to make these very difficult decisions. But we do not need this. Like everyone said, it's a data center, small or not, it does not benefit us. And we want a moratorium and we want to kick out these out of state developers like Trent Overhue who do not see the community members as actual people but paid agitators. That was a deep cut for the community and referring to us as a blighted area. We love our area. As you can see, the entire community came out, the long passion speeches that has been given out. We just want the opportunity to make the city what we want it to be, these data center developers are trying to do. And to add on to what, I forgot her name, but the wonderful lady said about this very specific area being the only major fresh water source. We know that there are billionaires who are salivating over being able to come here, prioritize our water, make data centers, and starve out the community. We do not want that. And we are willing to put our full weight behind showing you guys that we do not want that. And this is not an act of aggression, but just to show you guys how passionate the community truly is about wanting to make the community ours. And that's all I have to say.

Last call for Patricia Sumnick. Okay, Aria Chin, A-R-R-I-A. Mabel Lam. Just say your name again for the record, please.

I will do that. My name is Mabel Lamb. I serve as the Executive Director of the Sherman Park Community Association. And additionally, I live in Sherman Park. I have lived there for the last 26 years. The first thing I wanted to say is this. When the narrative was written for this proposal, It was very carefully written for uses as a data processing, computer services, computer research, rather than a data center. That distinction is likely intentional for zoning permitting political sensitivity, utility scrutiny, neighborhood concerns, or the DIZ overlay compliance. The proposal repeatedly emphasized research, office work, areas, engineers, technicians, commercial office environment, minimal noise, not industrial, and not manufacturing. Those are common strategies used in zoning narratives to position a computing facility as an office research use instead of industrial infrastructure. However, functionally, the described operation still fits within the broader category of a data center because it includes centralized computing equipment, server infrastructure, dedicated cooling, backup power, and continuous data processing capabilities. So I wanted to mention those things because When our organization first posted this information on our website, there was a lot of questions about is this a data center. I have gotten calls from the universities, from professors, from community members, people who are in technology, and they also confirmed that this was a data center. Additionally, news media outlets have been calling it a data center. So if it's not a data center, at what point in time will somebody make the correction? But they're not gonna make the correction because it's a data center. So I'm gonna say that. I do wanna thank you all for hosting this meeting. I would suggest that the, I think his name is Trent. I'm sorry if I messed your name up. But at any time, if you are thinking about purchasing property, I would say do a comprehensive market analysis prior to your purchase. So that way you know what is going to work in that facility. i'm very concerned about the environmental impacts i do believe that this proposal should have an environmental impact statement completed so that we know what any problems which will come out of this uh... we also really want to know who is running the data center i did attend the second meeting and when that question came up we were told that We can't tell you who's running a data center. So those in the room who heard that can confirm that. Additionally, I would also ask that you all support amending the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances to enact a 24-month moratorium on any of the data centers. And reason being, because right now the city of Milwaukee does not have any ordinance, regulation, or anything that is going to keep people in compliance. And additionally, the state of Wisconsin does not either. So my suggestion would be to truly, truly, truly, before making any decisions on this, is let us get our compliance in order, our regulations in order, so that we know what is going to happen if people are not following the regulations. Thank you. They're not complying. So that is all I have to say, but thank you for your time. I did also send the aldermen, please check your email. I sent you all a draft of an ordinance that came from Manitowoc because they did enact an 18-month moratorium on data centers. Thank you.

Fiona McKenna.

Hi there, my name is Fiona McKenna and although I used to live in the community, I used to live on 70th and Hampton with my father for several years and before that I lived on Lovers Lane and Silver Spring. Although I reside in West Dallas now, I still have so much love for this community and traveling to see my friends who live in this part of the community and the fact that it has not gotten the love that its residents deserve and just the care overall makes me very sad. But when it comes to the development of this data center, I wanted to talk about a psychological phenomenon known as the foot in the door theory. It's talking about the fact of when you approve a small request, a bigger request can be made down the line, hence the foot in the door. I believe that the approval of this data center and the approval of this plan would be that foot in the door and that down the line it would not only signal to additional developers that Milwaukee is for sale, which it is not. I also think that it would eventually lead to the expansion of this data center in some way, shape, or form that would just be more of a burden on the communities than it is help. And I would like to call a spade a spade in the sense that this data center is not being proposed in Wauwatosa. It's not being proposed in St. Francis or Bayview or West Allis. It's being proposed on the north side of Milwaukee, which is inherently environmental racism. And that is what has been happening with most of the data centers around this country is that they have been placed in either predominantly low income or black and brown communities and they have been paying the price. for these data centers out of their own pocket because these are residents and people who are working class. They're not people who can afford the increase in electricity costs or the lack of water. Somebody earlier had mentioned lead pipes in Milwaukee. That's still a huge problem here and now we're talking about something that would actively be taking away water from communities and their access to that. I don't believe, as much as it's great that having affordable housing and having a public library added to capital and added to the community as a whole would be a great thing, I don't think that making a deal with the devil is something that should be contingent on those things happening. These things should happen because The city genuinely cares about the neighborhood and the community and the people, and they want to give it to them and not be like, well, let's allow this small thing. It's a little bit of evil, but it's a necessary evil. It's not a necessary evil. The reality is that artificial intelligence and our acceptance of that is a choice. The only people who are actually pushing this forward are the corporations who are trying to sell this and peddle this. It is choice whether we decide whether we want this in our community whether this is something that we want to impose in our lives that is a constant choice residents will be picking up the water and electricity costs like I had been saying before and they're not inevitable it is a choice we that's the reason why we're here we're asking for public comment and we're asking whether people want this and they're saying a resounding no and And I feel like it's the jobs of not only the city, but also here, the commission as well, to respect that in the sense that the residents are saying this is something that they don't want. So let that be what it is. It's not happening. And the last thing that I wanted to say is that I believe the vacancy doesn't bother residents. It bothers those who see its potential for financial gain for themselves. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Yes. Okay, what is your name? Aria, please come forward.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Aria Chin. Before I start, I want to preface my speech with this. The fact that facilities that will benefit our community, such as housing, early voting sites, and libraries cannot be built without the contingency of lining the pockets of already rich people is not only disappointing, but preposterous. It ails me to know that this hearing may be just that, a hearing. Are you listening? Will you take action based on what we are saying or let it fall on deaf ears? Following the development of such data centers, residents are usually stuck with high electricity bills, higher water bills, increased rates of getting cancers and other serious illnesses, and an extensive amount of noise pollution, causing people to not be able to sleep or go about their daily lives in peace. Today you claim it costs us five gallons, and tomorrow the next data center you force upon us and build a few blocks away will cost us 500. The numbers and information you give us are unclear. The jobs will be few, and it has been made plain that you will not create jobs, but rather deploy your own workers to run the area. It is no secret that the north side of Milwaukee has room for improvement in many areas. Plopping a loud, resource-sucking data center in the middle of it seemingly does nothing to decrease crime rates, increase literacy rates in the children who live there, or employ a significant amount of residents. Those are the things we need to be focusing on. Based on the review, there are many things seemingly put in place to avoid loud noise and water usage, but that's how most data center proposals start, not how they continue. It is not a coincidence that these centers find themselves in marginalized communities that also happen to be predominantly populated by black and brown people. It is up to leaders like you to be our voice and stand up for what is right. Milwaukee does not want to be the next Memphis, Joliet, or any other city that is upholding what's best for the developer's pockets rather than their citizens. When looking at the few details I could find about the proposal, they mentioned the data center will be using high performance computing, quite literally the foundation for powering generative AI. The AI event flyers, logos, and work photos on Facebook are not worth putting any size data center in our city. We simply do not want it here. AI is being integrated into everything we do and nobody asked for this but the rich people who are in over their heads investing in this environmental villain and want to see a quick return on investment. Most of us graduated high school and beyond to learn how to think for ourselves and conduct our own research. Therefore, we don't need AI telling us what time a store opens, answering questions that we can find the answers to on our own, and we certainly don't need those things in exchange for our environmental well-being. And for the record, generative AI supporting or not, it is still a data center and the answer is still no. I implore you to reconsider the proposal of a data center in its entirety and replace that 3% of space with something beneficial to everyday Milwaukee residents, not big corporations. We do not need or want a data center, but you clearly have already disregarded our desires by approving things pertaining to this project behind our backs. We need resources for the youth, funding for projects that directly improve the quality of life for citizens and a plethora of other things. We are counting on you to do what is right for this city and its people. We've said no once before and we will continue to say it. Do not insult our intelligence by assuming we do not understand because we've heard you loud and clear. It is our turn to be heard. No means no in every context and we the people of Milwaukee are saying no to this data center. Thank you.

Sarah Grzynski.

Hi, I'm Sarah Grzynski. Can you hear me? Okay. Okay. Like every other Milwaukeean who has spoken here so far, I'm vehemently opposed to this data processing, computational services, computational research, whatever it's called, but allegedly not AI center. As Samantha and others have said, so many others, no matter what it's called, sorry, I gotta take a breath. It is functionally no different in its use from any other data center. It doesn't matter what size it is compared to the colossal ones brought up. It's still as, I forget, she just spoke, it's a tiny piece of evil. We don't want any evil here. We're opposed. We are speaking so clearly, this is not what the people want. What services will this data center offer to the people here? Will it help alleviate any of the direct issues faced by the residents? Will it lower utility bills? The answers are no, from us and about the project. The most specific Trent Overhugh can be about what sort of research might be done at his exploitative cash cow is it will look into tumors, whatever that means. At his incredibly unprofessional open house at the abandoned Walmart a few weeks ago, Trent mentioned many other uses of this center, as was mentioned earlier, including defense. And we know why he didn't say that today. Now, today, he says it's likely biomedical research. It all sounds incredibly nebulous to me. And that's by intention, by design. If he can't give us concrete names of companies or even the topics for research, what trust has he garnered with the people who will be directly affected by this development project? None. Everything about that open house was disrespectful. I can wait if it's... Yeah. As soon as we walked into the building, I saw members of his team packing up the poster board as if we weren't worth their time, the minute of the time. They gave us the wrong address. We walked around the whole building in the rain. And like people mentioned, there were elderly folks there coming in with canes, wondering, where are the chairs? Like, we've come today. We've sat for hours. We've listened to other projects. Oh, sorry. I got to stick to my script. The way Trent and his team spoke to this community about the supposed blight that he was somehow coming in to fix with an empty storage facility and a soulless data center was abhorrent. They evaded our questions with obfuscations and exhibited far fewer organizational abilities than folks I met that day who had only just heard from us, not them, about the project. We know our lived experiences and we care about our quality of life. That is what we're speaking on and that should matter to you, my fellow humans, right? Unsurprisingly, Mr. Trent Overhugh was met with equally righteous pushback against similar projects in his own state of Missouri, as has been mentioned. Why should we let him come in and exploit our land and resources and people here in Milwaukee when he doesn't even care about what his own community needs? Trent claims storage is a need in this community. Let's call this what it is, as was said at the open house, blatant exploitation. He's profiting off of this. What this community needs is to be listened to, point blank, period. A new expensive library that, yes, we need the libraries we have and attend be refurbished, put money there. Affordable, not affordable at all, as has been mentioned. Housing. These metaphorical carrots are being dangled in front of a community that, yes, needs tangible support from its governing body. But this is not the way. A data center will not solve a damn thing. Excuse my language. Why are these supports not offered without making Trent richer? Or people like him, right? We're not here to serve his financial interests. You are here to serve the community, and I say that with respect. So please, listen to us, all of us. We want our needs to be met. We are calling for a moratorium. We're so clear about this on data centers. We are not alone in this, as has been mentioned. Many other communities are asking for this protection to join us and the world of people who care in opposing projects like this before the AI bubble pops. It's heading there. Have some respect for the people of Milwaukee and consider our words. Thank you. Thank you.

So let's ask who's next up online.

Okay, at this time, there's a call for virtual testimony. Anyone who is present online who wishes to offer testimony, please press the raise hand button. And at this time, I will call upon individuals. First person is Landon Zimmerman.

Yes, hello. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay, wonderful. Thank you. My name is Landon Zimmerman. I'm with Healthy Climate Wisconsin, and I'm here today to also oppose the data center proposal and the current just proposals going on today. I want to reiterate a lot of what the amazing things that the other community members have said so far, particularly the need for safeguards i think that as was already mentioned like a lot of these laws and regulations and consequences haven't been codified and we just need the community itself needs time to breathe and to process and to make sure that these things if they are going to be done are going to be done in this safe way with the community at heart and communities across wisconsin have made sure to make sure this happens with many of them passing data center moratoriums themselves, including Superior, Wrightstown, Dane County, Manitowoc County, Madison, and Cassville. And I think Milwaukee should join on that. And then again, the pollution is also a concern, whether that be lights, whether whether that be sound, whether that be the water, even though it is a closed system that still has been shown by investigations to cause pollution, whether that be the diesel generators, which are shown to cause increases in things like asthma In a county where the air pollution and the air quality is already at such a minimum, adding more sources of it is never going to be helpful for the community. And another thing that has been touched on by many folks is the NDAs that are causing that lack of transparency and information about these projects. We can't even know the companies that are involved because these NDAs have been signed and there's just no transparency and then none of the information that communities needs to make proper decisions is coming out and I would like to oppose that. And again, I think one of the first folks said it best themselves, it feels like the things that the community needs are being held hostage to these profit motive incentives and that the things that the community needs are only going to be allowed if some evils let in, and I do not stand for that.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Connie Solacek?

yes i'm outside unfortunately can you guys hear me yes okay so i first want to say that um my name is connie solacek and it's k-h-a-n-i i would also like to say that i'm in full agreement with all the people that spoke defending milwaukee we are milwaukee we are milwaukee and we trust in milwaukee and so we want our people that are working for us to continue to trust in us and when we say no We mean no. And when I say we are Milwaukee, I'm the inner city of Milwaukee. I've been here 56 years. I've been at 53210 all my life. And I used to walk the Capitol Court. I enjoyed Midtown when they opened up. And I just don't agree with things that aren't going to be a benefit to the community and the people that put it into the community, put the work into the community. It makes no sense that we're allowing somebody private to come into our city to do something, first of all. And it makes no sense that he gets to be so private with the information when we are a trusting community. So if he has some good to be done, he would be able to tell us this information and we could trust in it. We can't trust in that. so we don't need that we don't need our community to be torn down by something like that and we don't want the repercussion from the community haven't you guys had enough of you not listening to the community and what they do as a repercussion don't you want to hear us out while we're performing in the right way and doing it in a diligent way in a way that you would prefer for us to do it and you said if we say no you'll listen to us Or do you want what they will do? There are people here in Milwaukee that really want things to work. And when they don't, we can't control the other people. We try our best. But when you guys make them mad, you know exactly what happens. That center won't last if you give it the okay. And that's coming straight from Milwaukee. Thank you very much.

Rachel Stiles?

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, I'm Rachel Stiles. I am speaking as a concerned Milwaukee resident. I live at 777 North Van Buren and I am opposed to the motion which would allow AFS Milwaukee LLC to deviate from the Midtown development standards and allow warehouse usage for a high performance computing data center and self storage facility. I had a lot of thoughts prepared, but for the interest of time, many, many people here have spoken today, and so I don't want to reiterate a lot of the same thoughts and arguments. But I will say two things. One is the most pressing issue with AI currently is that the hardware, aka the high performance computing facilities that are proposed, has not caught up to the software in terms of technological advancement in remaining sustainable. And without usage regulations in place, putting in this kind of supercomputing processor that accommodates AI usage will result in draining the surrounding area of resort resources and electricity. The reality no matter how you package it, is that regardless of how much space is allotted, the use of this data center by companies choosing AI usage outpaces the energy supplied by current data center technology, and communities are the ones that suffer. Even with a closed-loop cooling system, the energy drawn in to power it has to come from somewhere. And the result will be energy bills in the surrounding grid going up. And because part of the proposed use is a Milwaukee Public Library branch, the city will end up footing part of the bill and the affordable housing units that are also proposed will also foot the remainder of the energy bill within that grid. So unless the research being conducted in the proposed research facility is researching ways to make AI more ethical and more sustainable, please, please reject this modified proposal. It might not say AI outright, but if the hardware is available for use, the software will follow. And then finally, I want to add that because many comparisons have been made to the Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant, I just want to remind the commissioners that the only reason Microsoft was able to green light that land for a data center so quickly is because of the horrendous deal that Foxconn made with the state. They came in and made promises of economic progress and development for that area that later all fell through and kept shrinking more and more and more. And the residents said it would happen and they weren't listened to and so that land went, sat vacant. And now everyone hates that data center, but it could have been prevented and this can too. So please listen to the residents when they tell you that the proposal will fail and pave the way to something worse, the way that Mount Pleasant and Scott Walker did not.

Thanks. I see six more. Next person is Daniel Cross. Danelle Cross.

I'm sorry, I didn't see the mute button. We can hear you now. Okay, great. My name is Danelle Cross. I'm a resident of Sherman Park. I work in Metcalfe Park as the Executive Director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges. I know it's a concern that people Some people that are speaking are not from that community, but I'm here to speak for the fact that if this data center is approved, it can negatively impact surrounding communities like Metcalf Park. Metcalf Park is close, but we have also a lot of big box stores that are vacant in our community. And I believe that if this is approved, then it opens the door for other developers that want to develop data centers to just swarm our communities that are at risk. I also wanted to point out that Harvard Magazine has done a study and called Metcalfe Park a sacrifice zone. And the reason that they did that is because of all of the filthy factories that were in our commercial corridor. Factories with toxic spills and harm to our community's health. Our community is very high in cancer. And so what I'm asking our committee to think about is are we gonna continue to allow black and brown communities to be sacrificed for profit? And I also wanted to make a statement that I've listened to the people mostly affected and I hope everybody did. And they have said no. And if they say no, we say no. I also listened to the young lady that was really passionate about how this could trigger folks in a negative way. Well, what I would say is that it would trigger us in a way that we would mobilize, we would organize, we would educate. And I would hope that other surrounding communities would do the same because we all have to be in defense of each other. That's my statement, thank you.

Next person is Ivory Canion. Ivory Canion. You're on, Ivory Canion. Otherwise, next person is Melody McCurtis.

I'm here in a row. That's how long I was on the poll.

Okay. Okay.

All right. Let me exit off here.

How y'all doing? It's good to see y'all again. I know y'all seen me a lot last year. I'm back. I wish it was for good reason.

Dang, okay.

So I'm Melody McCurtis. I live in Metcalfe Park in the 15th District, which is about under two miles from the proposed site. I also work at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges. I am here first to address some of the questions that y'all asked that I feel like was not, the responses were not true in the beginning of this meeting. When you asked were there engagement, there was not engagement. It shouldn't have never made it to the CPC before it made it to community. So that first meeting was not canceled. Because Chamber's like, I'm going to cancel it. It got canceled because the community, hundreds of thousands of people online making calls, making emails said, not on our watch. So one of the things that I want to lift up is that the community, white, black, brown, north, east, south, west, in Milwaukee, has been throwing down around this issue and they've been saying no. And we gonna bring them in the room because this room is filled because of community power. And it's filled because they have not been getting what they have been asking for. It's transparency. I also went to that first rapid engagement meeting. Now that it hit the fan, there was no chairs. We had elders walk out. It was as hot as it is in that building that it is right now. There was not a town hall the first hour and a half. There was no direct questions Q&A. There was more spread across. This is the most information we got and it still ain't sufficient. I am disappointed. in DCD because we went through two years of going back and forth about engagement. So I would have thought that DCD would have went to the alders and said, we not finna get that smoke no more. That's on y'all. I'm disappointed that they thought they could just bring y'all something without bringing it to the community. Now, Chambers did do some engagement around this plan that did not have a data center attached to it, and it did not have a storage facility attached to it. So for it to be switched at the last minute, thinking it's gonna slide is disrespectful and diabolical. Because that is the reason why Milwaukee is in the condition that it's in. There's tons of ideas. about what this space could be utilized for, Trent Overhugh, Research Over Me Search, your partners, and you just had an AI data convention center last week. Your own community don't want you building there, but you're going to come and build in Milwaukee on the north side? So a lot of that could have been brought today when you asked, where have you built these facilities? What have you done in those facilities? It was very unclear, but it's research out there. It's quick to find who you're working with. You and your partners teach AI infrastructure to churches. It's out there. It's a quick search. DCD, y'all got some of the phenomenal researchers, but then y'all only present certain things. As far as these Clinics and hospitals, these secret folks that y'all working with to house their data, we have so many hospitals that are not even using 100% of their buildings. Ascension, aka St. Joe's for example, they only use 40% of their building. They could use 60% to create that infrastructure. So again, we back here two years later after the zoning fight, The CPC is a people's body that is supposed to hear the pros, the cons. The pro over the opposite of people before it make it to them, it's supposed to make it to the community and it did not. So before we even get to that, y'all should be feeling like this is a slap in the face because it didn't go through the proper channels before it got to y'all. And they have a standard protocol of engagement. And DCD, I want y'all to notice, the orders, the mayor, they are hired by the people. They are voted in by the people. Y'all operating like they y'all boss. We are they boss. So if y'all keep moving like this, the north, east, west, and south side is organizing. Y'all going to keep seeing this many people here. Y'all going to keep seeing the overflow. They going to keep coming up when it's something that impact. If it impact one of us, it impact all of us. We got corporations leaving us every day. We got to stop investing in them every day. And when it comes to a public good like a library, it ain't just your district chambers. Everybody going to visit that library. So this is a decision that expands more to your district. And there's been community members canvassing, and they didn't even know about the first hearing. So say thank you to PSL because they got them there. We drove people there. They didn't know about it. So to answer your question, there was no engagement. Anybody can go on Facebook or Instagram right now and see even the people that's not here, how caught on guard that they are. They have so many ideas of what this space could be. Why are we always taking a hit, black communities? They wouldn't do this in Shorewood. You couldn't even whisper this in West Allis. You couldn't whisper it. You couldn't even think about it. The people got to come first. When the people don't come first, then you have Walmarts that leave. If you do community-led development, things last. And another thing about this housing. Gorman is not a Wisconsin-based developer. We have a whole acre program with small developers here in Milwaukee that if they got the tax support, the TID support to develop, they could be developing housing that actually is not prisons that lock people into forever rentals. When we just building apartments, apartments, apartments, that's locking the whole community into forever rental districts. And Gorman is building it for 90% free with all the tax credits that's coming from us. So let's speak on it. And that went through. And we got all this talent here. That could be designing housing for what folks actually need. Because we don't, if you build it for one bedroom for people, you build it for people to grow this city. I understand we got to grow. I understand we got to grow our tax base. But we got to repair the harm and we got to repair the folks who already live here first before we grow. We got to repair to grow. And I'm going to yield my time, but I'm fed up coming down here. I don't even feel good today. I wasn't even going to come down here. Why don't we got to, I keep, I talk to all of y'all separately. I reached out to y'all. I talked to y'all. I heard everybody's side. I did my research. I reached out to institutions. It's a data center. How dare y'all tell people it ain't? We are at a point where it's 2026. I don't care what data center was built 10 years ago. 2026, it ain't going down. People is woke, they aware, they can research, they are building across communities. The way that we are moving in community, I need all of our elected officials to move like that collectively. We showing y'all how to do it. Come to us, ask us what we need. And maybe we gonna keep going around circles, having to rebuild, unbuild, rebuild again because y'all keep building things that's not gonna last. Like a Walmart, who's coming when the market is hot? Like a pick and save, that pick and save in the closing midtown. Like a pick and save that says, oh, snap is getting cut? Let me pull out. Y'all should be looking at the markets and making plans on what's going to go down. I'm tired of coming down here.

Thank you.

David Ashley.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, my name is David Ashley. I'm a longtime citizen of Milwaukee. Family has a lot of public service. I am an IT professional. However, the IT portion of the data center has been beaten to death. I'm not here to ask you about that. My concerns and what I would like the council to consider before they go and vote on this is a few things. Trent Overhugh and his business plan is not engaging as much as he would like to say. This Saturday, I was at the virtual open house and only like two of us got to ask questions. I was one of them. I only got to ask two things before making a suggestion and I got cut off, but that's another conversation. But the thing I want to bring up in front of the council and what for them to consider, nowhere in this plan, it even shows a big blind spot for me, which is How are they going to do security on this data center? You have several millions, maybe even 100, maybe $100 million worth of equipment that's going to be sitting there. And the research, whether it is for AI reasons or whether it is for medical studies, data is worth money. They sell our data. They do all that stuff. It's a business. It is what it is. As an IT professional, though, I wonder what is his security plans? He probably won't be able to mention that. But depending on what kind of security apparatus he wants to put in there, if he's using anything involving Ring, Clock, any of those outsiders that will come in and do that security, that concerns me because of the abuse, the lack of oversight on who gets to manage that security data. Data is a very important thing in our world today and giving someone access to our neighborhoods on the north side and letting them get that type of data, regardless of what the purpose is on a millions and millions of dollar facility, regardless of the size, that concerns me. Another thing I wanted to bring to note for the council to really consider Trent Overview, when I asked him the question of why would a self-storage location be good in this area when not only there's already one in that zip code, but there's also two others not too far. There's one on 76th Street. There's one on 35th Street. If I stretch out the map even further, you can find more. He claimed that this location in the country, this Saturday in the open house is recorded. He claimed that this is one of the most needed areas in the country that needs self storage. I just unfortunately do not believe his statement there. And the fact that you would make such a claim, lets me know that he just can't be trusted and whatever his partners that he cannot disclose whether they are family like he said this saturday or if there are other disclosed people that he cannot bring mention and i understand with business contracts you can't always make those things public but regardless of what the situation is with whatever type of business he wants to do with that data center it's just the fact that when you look at it, you see it, you smell it, you feel it, it just doesn't pass the test and it's not going to serve Milwaukee. And as an IT professional, and I've been doing IT professional things for almost 20 years, I just do not see a purpose of letting this through. And like others have said with that slippery slope, you let one in, then there's 10, then there's 100, there's a million, and then there's no more water. There's no more electricity. There's no more resources. And as a Black IT professional and as a Black member of this city, I just do not see why in this Black neighborhood with one of the highest unemployment zip codes in this city, and creating a zone where you're only bringing in a total of maybe 15 to 20 jobs and using our tax dollars, it just doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense.

So I'm gonna leave it at that.

Thank you very much. Have a wonderful evening.

Thank you.

Amy Donahue.

Amy Donahue, if you could unmute yourself.

Otherwise, we'll come back to you. Isadora Persic. Isadora Persic.

Hello. I'm Isadora Persic, or Porsche. I'm calling in to oppose the data center.

because what good does it make for the community we need to listen to black and brown neighborhoods and we have to check our privilege you you crackers listen to them you've got to listen is there anything more next person

Ivory, or try again, Ivory Canyon. Final, Ivory Canyon. And Amy Donahue. Perhaps there might be technical difficulties on your end.

Okay, so we'll just move on and then you can tell me, Mr. Lee. Sarah Grzynski. I'm sorry?

I think that's it.

Well, thank you. Okay. Julia Alberth. Arthur. Oops, there's Julia. Okay.

Good afternoon. My name is Julia Elberth, and I'm here to speak on behalf of Healthy Climate Wisconsin, where I work as the Health Equity Coordinator. We are a statewide nonprofit of 14,000 health professionals, including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, community health workers, and public health, all coming together to advocate for climate action, because we recognize that climate change is a public health emergency that will have long-lasting impacts on patients and communities that we serve. There are still too many unanswered questions regarding what safeguards are in place to protect Milwaukee communities from the impacts of a data center proposal. What safeguards have been considered regarding water use, water quality monitoring and testing, wastewater treatment and processing, heat island impacts, air pollution from diesel generators, rising energy demand and costs, and requiring the use of clean energy. The public deserves safeguards from pollution and transparency on how much energy this will use, as well as commitments for the consequences if safeguards are broken. It is irresponsible for the city to be entertaining a zoning exemption for a data center proposal before we have the health guardrails in place. Milwaukee needs to slow down. provide transparency with the public, and allow for meaningful public participation before making long-term decisions. The city should pause consideration of new data center proposals until thoughtful, well-researched regulations are developed and adopted. We need to adopt a moratorium as other Wisconsin cities have done. Additionally, we urge you to uphold the standards and vision that were originally adopted in the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone. When the Diz was adopted in 2000, it established a vision for a vibrant Milwaukee community that promotes economic development and neighborhood revitalization. Affordable housing and community centers fit the plan, but neither indoor self-storage nor a hyperscale data center advanced these goals by creating the kind of economic activity or neighborhood investment the DIS was designed to encourage. Midtown is home to predominantly black community. Granting an exemption to the Diz to allow a data center would continue a long pattern of placing undesirable land uses in a neighborhood that has historically shouldered disproportionate share of environmental and economic burdens. We ask that you listen to community members about the serious nature of this data center proposal and prioritize public health in your decision making. I also brought copies of 15 comments from Milwaukee residents who opposed the Midtown proposal. They just learned about the project this weekend and were not able to attend the hearing today, but their voices deserve to be heard on the project, on a project of this scale, which will directly impact them. And these were also emailed to each of you.

Thank you. Thank you. We'll go to the next person. Arthur Ninehues. Mr. Lee, do you want to call on whoever's next on line?

Just bear with me.

Sure.

Sonarda Wilborn. Sonarda Wilborn.

yes um hello everyone my name is shannara wilborn um i grew up in milwaukee sorry you guys i am outside but i've been i grew up in milwaukee all my life and um i pretty much agree with everyone else who opposed for this data center um there haven't been much information on the data center and i feel like you guys need to listen to the community the community um at this time We live here. We know what's going on in this community. And for someone to just come out of nowhere and want to smack a data center in our community, which will do more damage than good, I feel like at this point you guys need to listen to us. This is where we live at. This is where we pay our tax dollars. And that's all I just want to say.

Mr. Lee, do you have anyone else?

That is all that I see for now.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Brianna? Stelling? Redona Williams? Okay. Would you like to?

Okay. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Will Coleman? Grace Scherer? Deborah Ford Lewis? Keontae Shields?

uh... blessings to you all uh... to the commissioners uh... thank you guys for allowing us this time has been going on for a long time uh... my name is kiante shields i live at twenty four thirty nine north forty six street i am um... sherman park neighborhood district number four chair i've been living in the sherman park neighborhood i'm gonna say thirty five forty years combined since high school And although I'm not immediately near this project, but close enough to be directly impacted, I'm a homeowner, increased water, electric, and perhaps property taxes. With new development of any type, it normally directly impacts property taxes. Even though they don't speak on it, their property value, which automatically increases our property value, so we're paying more property taxes, especially for a project that we are opposing. I am opposed to this project. To me, it's just complete deceit. Deceit has been going on since the beginning, and it continues to go on. And that starts at our legislation, because allowing for NDAs to even be okay, we built a culture of deceit. So why wouldn't an outsider come in and take advantage of that deceitful opportunity? It's not cool at all. And with that, how do any of you expect us, my community, your community, our community to even trust what you say or you put forth when you guys allow for this NDA to continue to go on? We're operating off of legislation that's been on the books over 100 years at this point. And to put something over there like that is completely ludicrous. It's not. And you guys should really consider and listen to what we are saying. We don't want it. I'm okay with development of some type, but not this. Go back to the drawing board. So what has been sitting for over 10 years? What's another 10? What's another two? We would like you to postpone this, come back with clear plans, and it's very self-seeking interest here. Whatever the energy cost may come with this data center, and mincing words like we're not intelligent to understand it, it's the same thing. Whatever energy cost that comes with the data center should be on the tenant, not the community. It shouldn't affect us, our way of living, our budgets at all. The jobs should be supplied outside of your team that you have already, Mr. Trent. What safeguards, again, is going to be in place? If what they're saying the water uses may be now, what if that goes up? What's the safeguard to prevent that? What is going to be the consequence to that? I do think that there needs to be a clear plan. Like they have their plan is clear, but we don't have a clear understanding. And it seems like this is being so rushed. Why is it being rushed? What's the big deal? We just want understanding. We know that that's what it is, but that ain't our money. It ain't for us. We're going to be paying more than receiving more out of this project. Just a clear understanding what this really is. And please stop mincing words and talking to us like we're illiterate because we're not. Please consider what we are saying, not what looks good or to the benefit of the city. And what I heard is, I don't know for real, but what I heard is we energies right now is speaking about a gas plan because of the pollution that the data centers are producing around the state. So they're devising a plan on pollution. How could this not affect this community immediately with pollution and all the series of pollutions that come along with that? Uh, yeah, I believe that's it.

We say no.

Thank you.

All right. Hayden Harwood.

Hi there, my name is Hayden Trouble Harwood. I live in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, which is where another data center was built, much against what the community wanted. I used to live in Milwaukee, but because DNS can't hold flumlords in the cities accountable, I was forced to move. So that just, you know, just to touch on this whole holding the company accountable thing, sounds like a total joke. Now, I know Mr. Alderman went on the radio recently whining about people not from Milwaukee coming to the meeting, but considering I'm living near a data center, I think that maybe you can make an exception to my attendance. I volunteer with the PSL, which is the Party for Socialism and Liberation. And during my time volunteering, we organize, we agitate, and we educate against these data centers across the state. This isn't because of emotion, again, like Mr. Alderman said. This is about the facts. And the facts are this data center is being pushed by a man named Trent Overhew, an out-of-state developer from Ohio looking to make money off of yet another underserved community. also it's funny that the city is fine with bending the rules when there's someone waving money money under your nose but you know can't get a grocery store in here another fact is that these data centers are completely unhealthy for any living thing the environmental impact from the noise water dust and electricity will affect residents health and their wallets the companies building these will lie through their teeth to convince you otherwise because they're not going to be living next to it we are Then there's what they're going to do with this center. There's a lot of buzzwords being thrown around. But the bottom line is this. AI is being used to surveil you. AI is being used to take over your job. It is being used against you by people who are trying to convince you that we need it, that don't want you to use your brain. The community has shown up and overwhelmingly opposes the not data center. We need dignified housing, we need access to grocery stores, we need good jobs, and we need lead-free water. The only way we will ever get that is if we organize and fight back like we have today. So I want to urge people, the people in attendance, to continue fighting after today, regardless of whatever happens with this vote, because a better world is possible, but it's only possible when we fight back together and put people over profit. Thank you.

Okay, we do have... We do have additional people online who wishes to speak. We have Gloria Gonzalez.

Hello.

Yes.

Hi, this is Gloria. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I've lived in the Midtown neighborhood for over seven years. After so many years of vacancy, our community deserves a fresh start. Supporting this plan means choosing growth, safety, and hope for everyone who calls this area home. The new plan offers a chance to bring life back to that space. Instead of weeds and broken pavement, the area could become a place families enjoy, businesses grow, and neighbors gather. Thank you.

Wait a minute.

No, I'm telling them that. Okay. So I couldn't hear what they were saying. Tina. Tina.

Yes, it's Tina.

And I live in Midtown, the Midtown area, and I want everyone here to know I'm not against my neighbors. I am my neighbors. I feel the fear, I feel the frustration, and I feel the exhaustion of watching that building sit empty for 10 long years. We lived with the blight, the darkness, the uncertainty. It's personal for us. This plan finally gives us a chance to heal that corner, a library, clean storage. Computer Resource Center. That's basically a small server room. No water, no heavy electricity, no trucks, no noise. I'm supporting this because I want our neighborhood to stop hurting. I want Midtown to feel safe, bright, and cared for again. I'm standing with my community by standing for a solution. Thank you.

Thank you.

Shana Howard. Okay, let's try again, Shana Howard.

Hello, can you hear me? Yes, I am for this. I've been in this community for over 10 years, and I think that it's about time that our community has something valuable that we are able to be a part of. The community deserves this. We just need another shot. I feel like there's been so many instances where there's been... failed attempts and failed attempts one after another. And I think this data center allows the opportunity for those within our community to be able to have something not just tangible, but something of value, value that means something. And it gives us all an opportunity to be able to be a part of something great. So I would say that I am for this and I, my hope is that it will be successful. Thank you.

And Amy Donahue.

So I'm speaking in opposition. Apologies if I missed the time. Is that still okay? Go ahead. Thank you. So, yep, I'm Amy Donahue. I am a librarian. I have a master's in library and information science. And I'm now a clinical healthcare worker. I live in Milwaukee. And my testimony, thank you all for listening to all of us. I appreciate the time that this has taken. But I have I continue to hear nothing in the presentations that speak to the specific usages for the Computing Research Center or the Data Center. I know other people have raised the questions of what is it actually being used for and who does it benefit? And that there really doesn't seem to be any significant actual experience that AFS has in operating each of these components, let alone in overseeing a project that includes all of them. And I'm concerned about what happens if AFS goes under, has to file bankruptcy, becomes involved in lawsuits in other states, just given what I'm seeing and reading about what they're doing elsewhere and the people who are standing up against those data centers as well. Or if they sell this development to somebody else. Or if the substation research facility doesn't make the money they want. So the questions about that backup plan, I think other people spoke to having an impact statement and things like that as well. But my concerns with the research facility itself are around how they do not help our community regardless of the technical definitions and justifications for the deviations. Like other folks here, I was at that first town hall where Trent Overhugh essentially laughed when a community member asked if the data processing center would hire from the community. but then caught himself and noted that the small number of jobs are highly technical, implying that people nearby would not be qualified. And when I asked for more information myself about who would be using the computational center, who would be doing the research as a healthcare worker and librarian, Trent answered much more flippantly than he did here. You're not going to like this, I can't tell you that. He also said, as others have mentioned, that defense projects are also on the list of users. And we have no guarantees that the list of generic uses in the narrative are the only uses for the center. So I'm a librarian and I looked up standard uses for high performance computing centers such as this. And there are common uses in advanced medical imaging and things like weather modeling that are beneficial for humanity, but there's no guarantee here for what percentage will be that type of work. And I'm not going to take that general claim that we're focusing on biomedical as any kind of enforceable promise. And I ask that you also do not take that claim on any actual face value. In reality, our health care systems and big pharma, some of the users also operate with profit in mind and not people's lives. There's plenty of examples, including in our own backyard of medical institutions who have investments in gun manufacturers and oil companies, even though they also have amazing providers and researchers working on gun violence and environmental health. And there's also harmful uses that these data centers are often used for. Computations that help banks and insurance companies increase their profits. Presumably, I would assume at the expense of people who are trying to buy a home or get insurance to protect their families. And that's in Milwaukee and also on much larger scales. So we could potentially be enabling those kinds of things. And of course, the fact that these centers are used by the Department of Defense and some of the uses I found are modeling weapon use. Are there any guarantees also that facial recognition or license plate readers technology providers would not have access to this computing power? How are those uses being considered within the request for deviation? And I'm just connecting the dots as I'm hearing from my community about the ramp up of ICE activity in the Milwaukee area. Everything's connected. We need to help keep each other safe and healthy and not help rich outside capitalists with lake houses get more profit. So I'm asking that you please vote no on this resolution. Thank you again for your time.

Thank you. Dr. Deborah Pasha.

Well, good evening to my community. My name is Dr. Deborah Pasha. I have been a resident of the city of Milwaukee for 39 years and have lived on North 61st Street in the Alameda section of Andrus since 1993, where I raised my children and worked with my neighbors to try to keep this a better part of Milwaukee. It's about two and a half miles from Midtown. That is part of my neighborhood and we have frequented it over the years. I served as a public health nurse for the city and for the state for a total of more than 26 years during this time. My doctoral degree is multidisciplinary, focused on environmental impacts on public health, specifically the built environmental impacts on our health. Recently, I served as part of the West Side Plan Committee during 2025. The northwest and central city of Milwaukee are still recovering from the historic industrial and chemical degradation and loss of jobs in this corridor, which have caused worse health and social outcomes as compared with adjacent areas and in some areas worse than even third world countries. On an ongoing basis, our community has asked for healthier environments and the return of jobs to sustain the residents. neither of which will be provided by the proposed use of this property for a data center and storage facility at Midtown. It may even introduce more of the same harm and pollution to this already struggling population and be a burden to the greater community. I am opposed both to the siting of this scale of a data center and storage facility in this mostly residential area and to rezoning the area to accommodate heavier industrial operations than have been previously permitted. I'm opposed to both. This proposal is not transparent and in fact contains inconsistencies that warrant investigation. For example, the assertion that one side does not face the public is not possible as all sides face the community. The generator plan as described does not sound safe. The pollutants created in discharge from closed loop water systems have not been clarified. And besides lesbian talked about, we haven't mentioned PFAS that would have to be cleaned up. One wonders who will profit from this business, a corporation who has not been named and likely is not local. Additionally, this proposal was not reviewed throughout the 2025 West Side Plan meetings. If at all, I was told on Saturday in the virtual meeting that it may have been brought up in March of 2025. I joined the committee after that time, so I've been trying to confirm with other committee members And the planners and I have not gotten a confirmation that it was ever presented. I know that it was not discussed during our meetings last year. It was not in the final plan documents that we were asked to review. This is not transparent. And to the point of it being discussed in District 2, well, that may be, but this is going to impact all of Milwaukee. It impacts the people across the street, two miles down the road, and to our borders. Environmental concerns are significant with the size of a data center and include heat, light, noise, energy, and water use and pollutants. We need to begin by completely researching and understanding the environmental impacts of such a proposal and always to ensuring that accountability for utility use and environmental pollution is completely assumed by the corporation. We should expect any property owner or business operating in the city actually contributes positively to benefit and protect our community. These must be regulated by the city. We need you to do that for us. I ask that the city approve a moratorium barring approval of data centers and storage units while the true facts and economic and environmental impacts of this and similar proposals can be thoroughly discovered and vetted with the community. You know, we have so much potential together in this community. And I do know we can do better together. Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Good afternoon all. Boy, it's been a long day and I appreciate all your time. And boy, when Milwaukee shows up, Milwaukee shows up. People telling us that we don't live near this. I live about two miles away. I've been going here to Midtown for 55 years probably. Marty Wall, lifetime citizen of Milwaukee. Transparency. I don't know where to start. I've got about nine different things and a lot said that I won't repeat, but with regard to the health, and it's very timely, I just heard that there are farms around the country that are experiencing no live births, no live births near these data centers. They're just animals, but maybe that should be a concern of the people that are going to be 450 feet away from this. Different size, but I understand we don't know we don't have the environmental impact study I think one and I appreciate Alderman burghouts showing up. It's really appreciative when a when an alderman shows up at City Hall Doesn't happen very often we come here with five and a half hours of the Fire and Police Commission five hours here and You know, we're trying. We're trying to do our part. But I think it would be appropriate if we had the Milwaukee Medical College of Wisconsin give a report on this.

Okay.

Health department's not here. But I'll leave that to the health experts. I'm not a health expert. I got a little background in numbers, and I'm just wondering, Mr. Crump, Very good speaker. Duke graduates, you know, it's hard to compete. But I'd like to know where the $3.3 million development fund that we put into Midtown in 2013, where is that $3.3 million right now? $5.2 million was taken out of Midtown. This is a struggling district. No trees, no landscaping. We had weeds last year. I hope some of you went by Midtown, saw the four or five foot weeds in this guy's parking lot. This is the type of landlord we have. And if that wasn't his responsibility, I apologize. We have to ask the Department of City Development, how did Lowe's become a storage unit? That is not allowed by the development agreement. And I just want to say, I'm worried about these storage units. If you go to 60th and Good Hope, there's been a storage unit on the corner there for 30 years. Painted orange, gaudy orange. Who knows what color this building is going to be painted? But what happens when you have a storage unit with advertising, gaudy orange advertising, that tells everybody what kind of neighborhood this is. And there has not been one iota of development on that intersection in 30 years. I wouldn't want to be next to that. I'm surprised the gas station's still there.

Okay, is there anything else that you want to add to that?

No, I'll just finish with, again, the numbers. Mr. Crump used a specific word, terminology. This is kind of legalese. Conveyance for $1, and the young lady said the same thing. Conveyance for $1 is going to be one of the restrictions. What does conveyance of $1 mean? Who are you conveying it to? Are you conveying it from Mr. Gorman, Gorman Company, to another outfit owned by Gorman? Is that what you mean? So that the Gorman Company is going to become the landlord and the owner of $40 million of housing? That's where we're at. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Okay, I have three more individuals on virtual. Janice West.

Hello?

Yes.

Hi, I am calling in support of the

Development over in that area, I think it would be nice to have a library over there and low-income housing. Something needs to be put over there.

Hold on one second.

Okay. Now, I just really want to ask. I know it's long. We've been here a long time. But we can't hear the person testifying if we're all talking at the same time. So if we can just hold that. If you want to have a conversation, you can go in the hallway. But let's continue. Janice, continue, please.

Thank you, I agree, I'm in support of it being put over there, that's all, thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Next we have Babette Jones.

Hi there, hi, Babette Jones, how are you?

Good, go ahead.

I am very in support of the library and the housing there. So I actually live in the neighborhood and I attended the church that's across the street. So we really miss having action and people. more people in the neighborhood. It was just a nice thing as a child coming from the capital court area over to church. It was just made it more, it became part of our community. So yes, I'm in very much support of the library and the housing. I think it's a great idea.

Thank you. Dr. Cass Bowers.

Hello. I am Dr. Cassandra Bowers. I live in Sherman Park neighborhood. I grew up in Midtown area. I actually went to John Marshall High School.

Dr. Cassandra, could you please speak up and start again and then go ahead, please.

Okay. Can you hear me?

Yes.

All right, I'll talk louder. So Dr. Cassandra Bowers, I live in the Sherman Park neighborhood, grew up in the Sherman Park neighborhood, went to John Marshall High School. I can walk to Midtown from my home. And I want to be clear on the money grab that this is. The return on investments of a data center is upwards, it could be upwards of 60%. The reason why a data center would come to this location is because they can make money. And the questions I want to have answered is, of the 126,000 people that live below the poverty line in Milwaukee, will this data center help them? Of the 30% of children that are below the poverty rate in Milwaukee, will it help them? Are we really trying to help folks in this neighborhood or are we just trying to put something in a place because it looks bad right now? Let's be real about what we're doing here. This is a money grab and it's going to be harmful for the people that live in that neighborhood. People like me who can walk to Midtown, who can walk to Pick and Save over there, who can walk to Planet Fitness, who can walk all the way over there to the car wash, all the places. So really we need to consider what are we going to be doing to our people? Are we helping the citizens of Milwaukee as a whole? Because the data center doesn't just affect Midtown, it affects the whole city and eventually the entire state. So we need to really consider that. This is a 40 to 60% upwards of that money grab, and that's the return on investment for a data center in this area. And 20 jobs is not enough to account for the 40% of Milwaukeeans that get paid less than $15 an hour. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, Dr. Melita Tyler. I did. Melita Tyler? Oh, sorry.

All right, so first I just want to say thank you for everybody for being here and making this possible. This is something that we were begging for at one of those first meetings because we really wanted to be heard. Also, thank you to everybody who's still here because I know it takes a long time to, or a lot to stay here through all of this. And, you know, it's a weird time, of course, during the day when most people are working. So I hope that you also appreciate how hard it is for everybody who's come up here to speak. And I'll try to keep, I already feel myself going a little raspy, so just please bear with me, okay? I'll start with a little bit of humor. With all of these things, with the federal government, with the wars, with the government playing with my student loan forgiveness, finally somebody has done something for me because all I've ever wanted was cell storage. Except... Except that's not true. So Dr. Melita Pate Tyler, that is who I am, I am here tonight to urge this board to deny the requested zoning deviation. I have been in Milwaukee for my entire life, so has my family. I used to live on 35th and State, but since I was four, I was just a couple blocks from where the Midtown area is. My mom also lives in the same duplex that I do and know that she does have asthma, know that my nephew has asthma, know that my brother has asthma, and a lot of people that I know. I also want to say, I mean, walking around to different people in the neighborhood that included District 7 and District 2, a number of people did come out with oxygen masks that were on their face. So I just want you to think about the population where we are thinking about putting this. Zoning laws exist to protect residents from predatory land use. The Development Incentive Zone, the DIZ, for this property explicitly prohibits data centers and self-storage units. It was intentionally designed to foster community-facing commercial and residential growth, and it's incredibly concerning. that an out-of-state developer, Trent Overhugh, purchased a property knowing its zoning blocked the exact business model that he had, seemingly counting on this board to bend the rules for him. So when he bought this, he already knew, no self-storage, no data centers. Why would you do that? Unless you're assuming that you can change people. Unless you're assuming if you shake the right hands and if you have enough money that we can make something different happen for him, right? The developer claims, so I did go to some of these meetings, that he tried so hard to get other places in here. And now he's suffering by holding on to this vacant Walmart property. But let's be clear, a wealthy developer with a vast real estate portfolio does not hurt from a vacant building. To him, this empty building is a financial tool. He can use it equally as collateral to secure bank loans for his projects elsewhere. He uses its maintenance costs and paper depreciation to shield his other profits from taxes. He's holding our neighborhood hostage, and he is dangling the library relocation. So let's not say it's a brand new library, it's a relocation. And having easily 600 people living on top of each other as a carrot. But when we really look at that, right, it seems like, or it sounded like, the library that we have over there, right, has been kind of left. There's been a lot of things happening with a lot of libraries, and our one in Capital has kind of been left. But I heard that people in their district were actually getting things together to get that place upgraded. But then that stopped because of this. So again, and then let's also be clear, right, with all those things that I said about the developer and having, like, this is actually not hard for him. In that same vein, right, we all say, oh man, this building has been empty for so long. That's because of Trent. He's left it there. He's left it empty to wear us out so that we say, oh my God, this place has been so empty and so degraded. Please do something. We don't care what you do with it, but we care. We still care, okay? So the other thing is with that in terms of things that he said, he also said in those meetings again that he tried so hard to get people in there. Has a committee and can we ask the developer to produce official commercial listening history? The dates the property was marketed to retail makes use tenants and the actual asking rent per square foot since 2022, right? Because if he's asking for more than what people usually pay over there, you're essentially keeping them out. And again, keeping it empty. So keeping this empty protects his phantom valuation on his balance sheet while he waits to force zoning change. And he isn't losing, but he is leveraging us. So variation of this project was already voted down in 2023. Holding onto this property to sneak it back through in 2026 is bait and switch that severely erodes public trust, which is important. And furthermore, I do want to say I would like you to please pass this around. Oh, you're passing this around to us? And it's not locked, so if it goes out, please, you can just switch it back on. So I did go to that meeting, and I brought her with me. So that is my three-year-old daughter. And I want you to not think of Trent. Instead of think of that three-and-a-half-age little girl. She came to the meetings as well. And I do want to say, and I will try to be as respectful as possible, that I feel like Mark Chambers was failing at his fundamental duty. He was elected to represent the ward, collective interests, and to maintain open communication. But instead, at that meeting that I went to, thank you very much, I appreciate it. At that meeting, at that recent meeting at Midtown, I, residents, my three-year-old daughter, were left waiting in a hot building with no chairs, I know you've heard, no water, no microphone, no fans, no organization, no real opportunity for documented public comment. And I do appreciate you for asking about public comment. And I did hear his answer, and it was not real. I was there. People from his ward were there. I spoke to them as well. They were very upset. Their questions were not answered. They were getting a lot of the same stuff parroted to them that you keep hearing that does not actually answer any of our questions. To be honest with you, he sounds like a spokesperson. And I don't, again, not meaning to be rude, but I really want to be very clear with how I felt, and this has brought me to you. I also expressed there how disappointed I was that he was telling everybody they needed to respect him and Trent, while me and my three-year-old were sitting in a hot room for hours and not being listened to. I also told him that I didn't appreciate the format, because if you're telling us that you want public feedback, That is not the way to get it. And I will also be honest with you and say when he's talking about his engagement that I have been on his Facebook. And I have seen some of the posts that he put about Midtown, right? And some of them were saying I want public input, but it didn't give meeting dates and times. So I went in the comments and gave people meeting dates and times. And they DMed me back and said thank you for telling me because I didn't know. I only heard about this because of the Sherman Park Association, right? They're the ones who have been on the ground that have been talking to people and getting them to come. I will keep going. Thank you. The other thing is that, again, this is a- If there's anything more that you want- There is. Thank you.

Put in there?

I do. So the other thing is that we know that this is a data center from all the parts that are on that blueprint that they have, and then a facility dedicated to data storage, processing, service, hosting, or research, regardless of whether you market it or you classify it differently, like as a tech campus or research facility or high-density computing operation, it's still a data center, as we know. We do read, we research, and we do care about our community. We all know if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck. So Trent was quoted in articles saying that it will be a medical research and a computational research facility, but he also did say defense. And I will say when somebody said it earlier, saw him shaking his head, I heard it as well. He did say that that was a possibility. And I don't understand why the city is okay to make deals that involve nondisclosure agreements. When I need something from the city, I give all of my information, even a vial of blood. But a community, but a company can say, hey, I want this, here's some money, and we don't ask questions. I don't think that's right. And we are counting on you to make sure that that is not okay. The developer claims that we should accept this. He said this also in the meeting, because there are other neighborhoods like ours that have the same thing. So in that vein, I guess if somebody else jumps off the roof, I should too. And I think that we deserve better than that. Data centers do not generate community wealth or local jobs. They employ a handful of high-tech workers who rarely live in that community. Worse, thanks to the 2025-27 state budget, certified data centers receive massive... massive sales tax exemptions on equipment, construction, materials, and electricity. The sales and use tax exemption 2023 Act 19, they are exempt from the 5% sales tax, county, city tax, all of that. The elimination of personal tax is a 2023 Act 12. While our local taxes go up when we can hardly survive, this out-of-state developer benefits from state tax loopholes. Watchdogs warn that Wisconsin taxpayers could be losing over 2 billion in lost revenue because of these kinds of loopholes. We bear all the burdens and they take all the profit. The health risks to our neighborhood are severe. There's air pollution, on-site diesel generators which emit particulate matter. that triggers asthma attacks, cardiovascular stress, and COPD. I read a study that our north side neighbors are the highest ones that have these lung problems in the whole county. So we are taking a very vulnerable community and we're putting them in harm's way. And then we are looking at environmental hazards, closed loop cooling systems, which we talk about a lot, right? So no, it's not using as much water, but guess what? It's using a lot of chemicals. So you see things like glycol, toxic biocide, and corrosion inhibitors like nitrates, nitrites, and heavy metals. But we don't know exactly what's in there, right? Because that's also something that's being held from us. If the pipe cracks, if a veil fails, if a joint ruptures due to high pressure, thousands of gallons of this chemically toxic non-potable water can flash flood the facility. It can spill into the local environment, contaminating local soil. storm sewers like somebody already said before we already have those issues people have stuff coming backing up in their houses every day every time it rains right but then we're also going to put people and live have them live right on top of it so they can also live with that and just suck it in melita i just ask if there's a couple more i do i just have a couple more points i know you got I will be very quickly. No, I don't. I have one paragraph, and I will finish. I appreciate. And we've all been sitting here and giving time, and I appreciate being out. I've been here for a long time, and I left my three-year-old because I was going to come here with her. There's also biological hazards called dead legs. So you think about when there are minor leaks, it introduces microscopic organisms. This is when you get things like Legionnaires disease. So that's kind of that piece. Microbiology-influenced corrosion, when we have anaerobic bacteria that builds up inside of those, and they're making pinholes inside the pipes by the time you know that there's a problem it's already erupted so that's not anything that they would know about right away so there is that corrosion there's thermal expansion expansion and explosive pressure we won't even go into that the seven to ten megawatts of continuous power is enough to run ten thousand homes residential homes and simultaneously, right, it's dropping a small town into the middle of Milwaukee. It's adding fossil fuels that need to be burned, adding to the pollution. So we lose, we have a bunch of blackouts when it rains and all of that, right? So our system is already overloaded. So what's gonna happen now when this is already there? We're gonna have blackouts, their backup generator's gonna come on, and we get to breathe that in, and their company still goes. And we also have the heat islands, right? We are already a heat island. And they say that adding a data center will give you another 10 degrees. So we are already somewhere that's 10 degrees hotter than surrounding areas, so now we can be 20 degrees hotter than the surrounding areas. I also want to say my degree is in, I have a doctorate in educational leadership for the advancement of learning and service. Okay, and one of the things that you learn there is that when you're a leader, you are in service to those that you work for. You also know that when there's problems, you don't just give them something and say, this is going to make it better. Because the way that you actually solve problems is you find out what that community needs. You actually ask those questions. You actually listen when they come to you. So I really do hope that you guys are hearing everybody who is here. And I also have to say, a note from listening, I thought it was an insult to say that the front is the most impactful piece of this project and that the back is very passive. When the back is the part that has such health impact, such health ramifications. And I also think, again, trying to be respectful, that it's asinine to say we want to do this with no regulations. And then with the regulations that are being put forth, they have nothing to do with this. So those regulations they're working on are for data centers that are 20,000 feet and larger, and this is 19. So even though it looks like we're doing something, we're still not addressing this issue at Midtown. Okay, and I do live there. I want you to think about my daughter, because she lives there. She breathes that air. So does all of my family members that have health problems already, and the people that I spoke with who came to the door with oxygen masks. I also want to give you all the opportunity to sign my petition. because we don't want a data center. So if you would like to add your name to that, I also allow you to do that. And I do want to thank everybody. Thank you for listening to me. I am begging you to not grant this deviation. It does signal to outside developers that Milwaukee is for sale and that the people do not matter. But we matter. Our health matters. My beautiful three-year-old matters. And I urge this board to uphold the integrity of the DIZ zoning. Vote no for this deviation. Trent does not care about our community. He has held it there on purpose. But I expect and implore that each of you do. So thank you for listening, and not only listening, but hearing. all of those things each and every one of you thank you very much for actually hearing and taking it into consideration and it's not just being something where you can say we gave him a chance to talk because again with all those other hearings when we said we gave him a chance to talk we weren't being listened to so thank you thank you

Jamila Mitchell?

My name is Jamila Mitchell. I live like five minutes from that property driving. So I want to address two things, and I want to talk about the human capital of everything. Someone brought up the reason why we have this issue. What's going to happen if this doesn't pass? It's going to stay blinded. The reason for that blight is because of racism in the first place. Systemic racism that we all have been suffering in the city of Milwaukee. That's killing us, elders, children. I have lost eight. eight transistors in Milwaukee because of the racism in this city that's not been addressed. And I have to continue, we all have to continue to deal with the racism, which looks like a city governance or elected officials that are collaborating for the interests of two rich white men. That is what racism is. We talk in these general terms, but this is what's real. It's a diverse community in Sherman Park, in Metcalf Park, the Old North neighborhoods that I live in, that I work in. I'm at Planet Fitness, the grocery store's there, my partner and their family are there. The community is very loud. The majority of us don't want it there. We don't want data centers there. And honestly, a couple of times they've mentioned a fresh start. Someone mentioned a fresh start on the phone, and someone else spoke about a fresh start and this investment being a fresh start. A storage facility doesn't build community, and it's not a fresh start. The same thing, the gentleman who runs the security company that will be paid to provide the security for that property mentioned, again, they have a financial interest in your support, might I add. They mentioned that if that property stays undeveloped on with this storage and data center, that the crimes and all the social issues you mentioned, All the inappropriate behavior, as he said, that happens there. A storage facility and a data center are not going to fix that. The exact same social issues we deal with, this property, even affordable housing. I'm a fan of affordable housing because that's the least we can get right now. But affordable housing does not end generations of systemic racism that drove us to poverty in the first place. So if we want a fresh start, and again, we all want a fresh start, no one here, no one watching, No one is against a fresh start. No one is against the words of development. But we need to focus on the human capital here. The human capital is if we continue to let rich white men who run a corporation headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, get what they want at the detriment of black and brown communities that continue to suffer every day. That is not a fresh start. A fresh start is changing how we make decisions, which are public hearings, but also elected officials who consult the community that elected them to build that solution in the first place. That's a solution that will solve the issues, but also why we do that, and that's based off of human capital. We talk about money, we talk about numbers. All together, but there's a human capital to all of this. And I think we also need to remember that because whether they are going to make money anywhere, they are across the Midwest, they're going to make their money regardless. We will have to struggle whether it stays blighted or not, we still continue, we're going to struggle with those results. Thank you. So again, I ask that you vote no on data centers in the city of Milwaukee, as well as this development. Thank you.

I have a few people more. Maybe this person already came up. Melody.

I can come up again.

So I think you put it. Oh, you know what? You were there and there. I think I remember your testimony. So I think we don't have to come up again. Carly Mortar. Okay. Shalai Wilson.

Shalia.

Shalia.

All right, so I'm going to try to make this quick. I know you've been saying that, but I'm Shalia Wilson, and I'm a long-term walk resident. Hey, Ronell, how you doing? All right, so let's be honest. AI data centers are a tool of oppression, period. And oppression is the number one reason to have depression. It's the number one reason to be down. It's why our community is not prospering. It is why we are not okay right now. And for y'all to stand here in front of us, sit here and be our council elected officials, you're failing us. And I know nobody said that to you all day, but that's what this is. It's an egregious, gross oversight. It is a failure. Because your commitment is to the people. I am the people. These are the people. You are the people, your families are going to have to deal with this unless y'all all live in the suburbs so they're not putting these data centers. And even then, the air travels. How many times have we heard about fires coming from Canada or from California? And we have heat advisories here. We have weather advisories and air advisories because it travels. These effects are traveling, period. And when the heat increases, violence increases. Y'all know that? I don't know if y'all knew that. We have less trees on the north side in majority black neighborhoods. And we have less shade, which means we have more heat, which means people are more likely to be upset and stressed out. And there's creating more violence. Y'all say y'all don't want the violence anymore. You're about to put something that's literally about to increase the temperature in our neighborhood and make people more violent, make drivers more reckless, make neighbors less likely to get along with one another. This is factual. And like I said, the internet is free, dude. You can look this up. And nobody said this today, but I'm going to say it. This is eco-terrorism. Data centers, AI data centers is eco-terrorism. And it's eco-colonization and gentrification by allowing some outsider, a white multimillionaire who sleeps just fine at night and does not have to go to an AI data center or be near one to raise his children, his family, to do anything he wants to do. It's gentrification and it's terrorism because he's not dealing with these effects. This is not happening to him. So it doesn't matter. How many more times do black and brown bodies have to be cannon fodder for white ideals, for the concept of manifest destiny? It's 2026. And this idea of y'all railroading us and not concluding us from the jump on this, it's very indicative of this administration. Like, why are we allowing white supremacy to prevail? This is supposed to be an American dream that was reformed and created with all of us in mind. This does not include all of us. I am requesting a moratorium. I am denying this. I do not want an AI data center. This is not okay. And also, Milwaukee has been repeatedly ranked as the most segregated place, one of the most segregated places in the top five for a very long time, and also repeatedly ranked for one of the worst places for African Americans to live, black folks. And we have to be here. A lot of us cannot leave. I've left and I'll come back because I love my city. I think it's so beautiful and there's so many great things here. And if you feel that way, this is not something that we should be doing. It's ridiculous. Like, where is this money going? I keep hearing people talking about allocation of funds, and our funds are literally going other places instead of going to our people. The fact is that I was told growing up, get out of Milwaukee, get out of Milwaukee. It's not good for us. It's not good for us. Why is it not good for us? Because our money is not going to us. And I know y'all tired and y'all hungry. I'm tired and I'm hungry too. Very tired, very hungry. I could be asleep right now. But this is what it means to listen to your constituents. So make sure y'all pay attention. And the thing about the AI data center is I do not want to be fed if that means I've got to watch you spit in my food first. Everybody's talking about, oh, this is going to help us because this is going to bring libraries and these things. I do not want these things if they are tied to an AI data center, if they are tied to a white supremacist pocket. Because I don't care what you think you are. This is exactly what you are. Everybody's talking about Trent. He, he, he. He right there. You.

I understand. I understand.

I'm focused. I'm focusing it. Please don't cut me off. I didn't cut you off. Anyway.

No, no, no. I'm not cutting you off. What I'm saying is that when you're making your comments, just make them to you.

Yes, make them to you. I understand. I'm here. I've been here for hours. I've been here since 140. And I know that everybody says our property value is technically going to increase. It's going to decrease in value to the people. Nobody wants to live by an AI data center, period. And my last points are very simple. Where's the money going? Because we know it's not going to us. Where's the money going? We did not consent to this. This is a violation of our human rights. We did not consent to this. We do not consent to this. On the whole, Milwaukee County does not want AI data centers, especially in low-income brown and black neighborhoods. Period. This is a violation of our rights. This is exploitation. And if you refuse to listen to this and you don't see the value in this, step down. You are not supposed to be our leaders. You are people in sheep's clothing pretending to be leaders. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay.

Jessica DeWard.

Did she maybe speak already? Jessica? Jessica DeWard? Jenica? Jenica?

That's fine.

Okay. Can you guys hear me?

Yes.

Okay, cool. Can you guys hear me? Can you hear me now? All right, cool. Cool. So my name is Jenica DeWade. I am not a resident of Midtown. I live in Glendale, and I am a UWM student. So I do drive through, and I do shop the Midtown area frequently. This is my first meeting of this kind here. I actually drove five hours from a family trip straight here for this. And I'm frankly unimpressed. I have been here for over three hours and I have repeatedly heard the concerns of the people here dismissed, minimized, if not leaning full-throatedly into straight-up deception. I have spent the better part of an hour hearing what amounted to straight-up filibustering on behalf of a for-profit leech and outsider con man who's attempting to add this location to his personal array of data center storage facilities. And calling them that is not an insult. That is truth. That infographic that he showed, that's something we would show freshmen in a statistics class at university as a research warning. Okay, in my philosophy classes that is what we call bullshit. Frequently the information presented has been inconsistent, exaggerated, full of errors as other speakers have shared, or in some cases even a straight up refusal to share the numbers or statistics that we need in order to make an educated and informed decision. let alone not being straightforward about who will use these facilities. What do you mean you can only tell me it may most likely be used by a medical research institution? That sounds like a purposefully vague language in order to escape accountability via technicality later, a.k.a. a premeditated lie by omission. Data centers, regardless of size, by the way, I'm sick of hearing about other data centers that are bigger, other data centers that take up more space or pollute more. This is not a goddamn pissing contest. I'm talking about this data center in Midtown right now. These are pollutants in every aspect, by water, electricity, heat, sound, dust, disrupting both citizens and ecosystems alike and should not be near residential areas, let alone near a school. They steal and scalp data, data that belongs to the people and yet is used for big companies' profit without our permission. And I was just hearing that potentially used for defense. Like, what are we doing? And probably going straight to the police as well. Let's be real. And to be doing this on native land is despicable. If you're not going to give the land back, then you are at least accountable for it being responsible and how you use it. This chud is a house flipping landlord on steroids. He's a serial store flipper, happy to extort our hard earned tax money in exchange for community resources that should already be ours. He never looked for other business opportunities in order to avoid a data center or storage. He owns over 10 other facilities all over the country. He even said this place was a target earlier today, what he calls carving out his niche in other interviews I found online. A center and storage facility he plans to run in-house and that apparently already has job offers up on Indeed. Who are filling up these jobs? Who's living in these expensive one-bedroom apartment homes? And to have the gall to insist I'm a paid protester? Babe, I'm a student at UWM. We are famously unpaid protesters. Sorting out what to do with this empty warehouse has taken a decade. Already people have opposed making this a storage facility and somehow we think adding a data center will make this better. This is a community that is asking you to invest into it. fixing potholes, cleaning garbage, sorting out infrastructural issues, making spaces that invite community growth and exchange, investing in the community spaces that already exist. It doesn't escape me that we would never hear about this in Brookfield or Whitefish Bay. That this is happening in a historic black neighborhood of all places, in a city that has a history of using the guise of development to break up historic black neighborhoods like Bronzeville, for example.

Stop it.

trying to hold uh trying again like trying to hold community resources hostage for trickle-down data centers i mean really like reaganomics in the big 2026 really the people here don't want you they don't want this and this is frankly disrespectful to even propose we want a moratorium which is which the rest of wisconsin is in line with and have already started instituting in other counties keep midtown data center Just do not do that. And listen to the people who live here. Instead of making choices that line the pockets of a leeching landlord-developer invested in second-hand thinking over human rights.

Okay, thank you. All right, so what I'm going to do now is ask, is there anybody else online that wants to speak? Is there anyone else here that I skipped over? If not... Is there anyone else that I missed? Okay, Alderman Chambers.

I would defer to Commissioner Crump first, and then I'll go. Okay.

Thank you, Chair Bloomingdale. I will be brief. I know it's been a long afternoon, long evening. First of all, I want to congratulate Planet Fitness on all of the free advertising they've gotten here this afternoon. But beyond that, I just want to speak briefly to a few issues. I want to talk about calling this a data center. I want to talk about the clients of the company, and I want to talk about enforcement, which I think was a big issue that came up. For the size issue, the main reason I want to bring up the size is because there's been a lot of debate about whether or not this is a data center. Frankly, I don't think it matters what you call it. People have expressed- their concerns about the usage. We know data center is a term that bothers people. I've never thought that fighting on that issue is going to get us anywhere. The concern should be on the use and the size of this and on the impact. The size of this is... extremely small, again, compared to the kind of data centers that are causing the kinds of problems that people are concerned about. I also want to talk about some of the things that have been mentioned, dust, pollutants. There was a Lowe's here. There was a lumber yard here. There's a firestone nearby. We need to be honest about evaluating uses in this area. Now I want to talk about the clients. If this were a law firm, if this were a shoe store, if this were a medical provider, we would not know who their clients are.

I want to appeal to our, just like we're, you know, let's... Maybe I'm just highly distractible, but I can't listen if I've got a lot of people talking at the same time. So please, you have the floor.

What we are looking to regulate here, what I believe, and I won't speak for you, what you're looking to regulate is the usage of this property. Whether or not the usage is acceptable for the various reasons that are contemplated here today. You may find that it's not. But as it relates to the clients, who is going to be the client of the facility, the data computational facility? We don't ask that of businesses. We don't demand businesses tell us who your clients are. And it is regulating the usage that is appropriate rather than telling someone that they can't have specific clients. Finally, I want to talk about enforcement. I have been in contact with Commissioner of DNS, Commissioner of Royal Vegas. She's dealing with some family matters. But I was able to communicate with her. And essentially, as it relates to enforcement, whether it's the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances or the specific regulations that we put in place for usage of this facility, our recourse is the courts. We can put fines in place. We can put fees. If those aren't paid, if they are not adhering, to what is required, then we can enforce it in the courts. And eventually there is a mechanism for ceasing the operations altogether. So I just want that to be clear when you're evaluating whether or not this can move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I'm going to start by saying that we've heard a lot of testimony. We heard a lot of individuals talking, and I would ask that those side comments be at a minimum, because we gave them the same respect without talking about why there was testimony, and that's their civic duty, and we ask for the same respect. As some comments that was mentioned earlier about the lack of canvassing the neighborhood, the Capitol Heights neighborhood, I will gently push back on that because I have receipts about me canvassing between 60th and 66th between Capitol and Congress and also residents of the Capitol Heights neighborhood having my direct phone number to reach out including some of those people who signed a petition yesterday saying that someone came to their door and said that this was an AI data center and upon receiving the actually doing their research they find out it was not um they reach out to my office they reach out to my phone and say we are supporting i think you have a lot of those people that are registered in support but they didn't want to speak we had a lot of people we had a lot of people that were afraid to come into person to speak after you know the first um The first is their thing and some of them did attend the virtual option. But also they did not want to come down here and want to go to a meeting and stay too long and couldn't wait. And that's just the nature of the business. So I want to thank you for the opportunity of speaking today regarding the proposed redevelopment of Midtown Center. As the Alderman representing this area and as someone who lived in this community my entire life, I take seriously the concerns that have been raised by residents, have attended meetings, spoken to neighbors, and responded to emails and listened to people on all sides of this issue. Before I do go further, I want to acknowledge the development team that have been working with the city following this redevelopment for approximately four years. That level of sustained engagement and coordination is not significant and reflects a long-term commitment to bringing this project forward. Let me begin by saying that I understand why some of the residents are frustrated. And I also want to be candid that I did not appreciate the late addition to the computer research facility component to this proposal. However, after reviewing the proposal, meeting with the development team, asking questions, and listening to several stakeholders, I do not believe this computer research facility is as detrimental as it has been portrayed in public discourse. Much of the conversation has shifted away from the facts of this project and towards speculation and fear. Residents deserve better than that. They deserve an honest discussion about what is actually being proposed. What remains true and what cannot be ignored is that this redevelopment is not simply an opportunity, it's a necessity. For nearly a decade, this property has stood as a visible reminder of disinvestment. It has generated little economic activity, provided no meaningful service to residents, and contributed nothing to the vitality of this corridor. Leaving it as is is not a neutral choice. It's a decision to accept stagnation, to forgo investment, and to allow a key piece of our community to continue to underperform. There was a question that was posed about where was the $3.6 million that was added from the TIF. Residents that lives in Grassland Manor, Capitol Heights, and also near Congress have received road repayments in 2023 and 2024 with that same $3.6 million. This project directly addressed those challenges. It brings new housing at a time when demand continues to outpace supply. It provides a permanent home for the Capitol Library, which is consistently flooded and there was not additional plans that were created and this stopped it. That's a farce. Expand access to educational resources and community programming. It introduced a public amenity with the permanent early voting site and activated a site that has long been dormant. It has represented substantial private investment in an area that has struggled to attract it. It is important to remember that redevelopment and displacement are not the same things. This project is not demolishing occupied homes, it is repurposing an existing commercial site that has largely remained vacant. The question before us is not whether change will occur, but whether we will guide that change in a way that benefits the resident who lives here today and allow continued inaction to define the future of this site. I also want to announce that no organization, elected officials, or advocacy groups speak for every resident in this community. Some residents support this proposal, others oppose it. Others simply wants more information. All those voices deserve respect. My responsibility as alderman is not to make decisions based on the loudest voices in the room. It is to evaluate the facts, weigh the long term interests of the district, and ensure that the community receive tangible benefits from any development that moves forward. I welcome continued dialogue and scrutiny and accountability. Those things make projects better. But that does not fall solely on the residents, it also falls squarely on myself, the development to continue to communicate and earn the community's trust. We must be careful though, not to allow misinformation to replace facts or fear to replace thoughtful analysis. At the end of the day, residents deserve housing, they deserve access to library services, they deserve safe, active, and productive use of land that has sat idle for too long. They deserve the investment that strengthens, not weakens, the fabric of this community. And they deserve a discussion grounded in reality rather than rhetoric, or as some individuals call it, drivel. For those reasons, while I share the concerns of certain elements of this proposal were communicated, I expect the development team to do better moving forward. I believe this redevelopment not only worthy of consideration, but is necessary for the long-term health and vitality of this district. Okay.

Thank you. Commissioners, do you have any questions or comments?

It's 300 opposition letters online.

I have a lot, but I...

I may... So, I think this one's for staff, so Tanya can probably handle this one. I think it's been clear what happens if it doesn't pass the engineering report doesn't pass. water usage, power, et cetera. Has there been or an environmental impact analysis and what triggers an environmental impact analysis on a project such as this?

A project such as this, the city does not have regulations that would require an environmental impact analysis directly as coined as such, but that is why we have the conditions drafted, right? We are familiar with the equipment that is required for uses like this. and we know how to regulate it, and that is why we have the conditions proposed. So for the power, we are limiting it to the power usage, and the applicant can perhaps speak to that later on. In terms of the power, my understanding is that there are not any substation upgrades required for the power it would just be additional service to the building which the applicant would be paying directly for there would be no impacts on neighborhood residents and in regards to the power given that in terms of water usage they have stated that they will be using five gallons of water per day for the closed loop system we have not asked them to provide proof of that but given that it would be water purchased from milwaukee waterworks certainly through water meters and other things that's something that could certainly be asked for just back on the energy really quick we do have benchmarking standards for properties that are 50 000 square feet or larger that eco requires that businesses report. And so any use that is a high power user, we are requesting participate in the program. And so that is also one of the conditions for that reason. In terms of air quality and other matters, that is why we have the conditions around the generators. They are proposing to use natural gas, but we've included conditions that if they were to use another fuel source, they would have to meet the highest EPA standards for that equipment. And again, that equipment is only utilized in emergency situations, and we have conditions to ensure that, and the conditions that testing only happen at certain points. They've also included the generators indoors, just given some of those concerns for that use. And then in terms of sound, I don't think you asked that one, but just in terms of concerns around sound impacts, they are proposing that acoustic wall and of course, based on existing sound and the sound that would be emitted from the new equipment, they would need to meet the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances in order to proceed with the development. So if they were not able to meet that, they'd have to, re-engineer things to do so or otherwise they wouldn't be able to get occupancy. So we take those concerns very seriously and we're able to regulate the equipment needed for a use like this as such.

My understanding is that this data center is too small to be regulated under the proposed ordinance. Is that...

So the proposed ordinance for data center specifically proposes a number of things and that, as you know, was removed from today's agenda by request of the lead sponsor. And so while there is something filled in the file to review, there could be some potential changes too. So I will speak to what is in the file to date. and that is that a data center up to 20,000 square feet meeting particular limited use standards, which is some of these that we're talking about because there is common equipment utilized. would be able to get permits if they meet those standards. Anything between the 20,000 square feet and 60,000 square feet would need to be reviewed by the Board of Zoning Appeals and again, meet specific standards. That process is equivalent to what we're doing here today. A special use is equivalent to our review as a city plan commission of a project and it is overlay. So if that legislation were adopted yesterday and in place before this proposal was put in place, we would still be here today doing this exact same review because it is in the Midtown Diz Overlay. This body does that review. And any deviation from that DIS overlay is reviewed by this body. And that is equivalent to that review of a special use permit by the Board of Zoning Appeals as well. So even if this were a proposal for a data center, this body would be reviewing it. And so we would be still reviewing it, yeah.

The Midtown Diz, I think it came up, and I just want to make sure that this is a true statement, has a particular, you know, no way on no self-storage and no data centers, or is that a special use?

So the Diz overlay, and I'm happy to share this in case that's a help to the team or to the commissioners. The Diz overlay, and this is common of some of our others, has a list of specific uses that were formed in 2000 around the vision for the Midtown Shopping Center. The process, if there is a use proposal that is not on the list is for a deviation request. And so that is what we're doing here today. I will say that, you know, it's not uncommon for a use list to not be perfectly consistent with the zoning code over time because we are updating our zoning code over time. This is locked in place in 2000, this list.

So is it not on the list? I'm getting lost in our explanation.

um okay so she's answering the question of the commissioner so um if she needs to you know maybe just pull the wasn't on the original list it is not on the original list no the list in 2000 had a number of other uses um it is not explicitly written that is prohibited but it is not on the list of uses permitted in regional shopping

Thank you.

And I do want to specify that a deviation requirement does not change the zoning code or the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone use list. It is specific to this site and this proposal. So if say this were to be approved, this does not mean a use like this would be allowed elsewhere in Midtown or elsewhere in the city without the proper review and approvals. Yep.

All right. You have follow-up questions? That is fine. I have some questions potentially for the development team, but I want to make sure everybody has... Well, whatever you want to do. I'm sure other people have questions as well after...

I have a question. There's three, in the notes that we have, three other data centers that are near the downtown area. And many of, like one is in a residential neighborhood, the other two are not. What's the difference between those and this particular one?

Yeah, that's a great question. And the applicant may be able to share more because that information is provided by him. So he may have researched them more than what I'm familiar with. But this is what I do know is these three that have been elevated in regards to the applicant's materials are in areas not unlike this and that there are a mix of uses in that area. And they vary in size, right? We do have computing uses in the community that are smaller than this and larger. One of them, for instance, the Highland Boulevard use, I believe is over 40,000 square feet. Okay. Yes. The one up the street on Broadway, I don't recall the exact square footage, but the applicant may know that. But that is in a very dense urban space near MSOE, 70 feet from apartments and a variety of other uses. And that is in a standard downtown-based zoning district. And then finally, there is one included here on Wisconsin Avenue, also in downtown, near a mix of uses.

I can speak on those. So those are traditionally like the older style that are largely air-cooled equipment. And so that's where you get a lot of the more noisier uses. We're strictly liquid-cooled.

Those are noisier uses? Correct.

And that was kind of the point of that, that they do coexist in urban areas quite well. So there's a long history of these going into the city. This particular location being in the rear of the building, the ancillary impact is going to be negligible.

Okay.

The chemicals that are being used.

Okay, commissioners, this is your opportunity, our opportunity to ask questions or make comments, however you like.

Commissioner, I don't know if this is a good question or not, but the proposals that the other aldermen are doing, if that gets approved, does it affect this project or not?

It would not affect this project for a couple of reasons. One, we would still have to do this process that we're doing today. And secondly, at the time of application, you are reviewed amongst the rules. But again, we would be doing this process regardless today, so.

So we have to have this discussion. So the commissioner asked a question. She answered the question. Do you have a follow-up on this? Commissioners?

Where's the conditions list again?

Yeah, so the conditions list... is the final page of the staff report beginning on page 18. And I would also like to add that the conditions here are very thorough and restrictive. More so are in kind of parallel to what is proposed. So if this did meet the 20,000 within what is the proposed legislation, this is actually far more restrictive. We are putting very high conditions on this given the community concerns that have been shared and because this body has the ability to do that as part of our review.

And certainly when the file was first presented, these conditions you've worked to make these how many conditions are there there are 12 12 these 12 conditions and can you just so so these are very restrictive around this project can you just remind us of the of how the how it works with the I don't know if you want to call them phases or the housing and the library and how that... Sure, yes. Can you review that with us?

Yes. The commercial alteration and occupancy permits for the self-service storage and the data processing computer services and computational research facility use will not be issued by the Department of Neighborhood Services until the portion of the site for the housing development is conveyed to the ownership group that will construct the housing that's been approved by this body. So they need to own that land and have construction permits applied for. Secondly, we need a binding lease or lease option for the approximately 51,000 square feet of leasable space facing West Hope Avenue for the community serving uses. So without both of those in place, those other uses cannot move forward. in addition to the technical conditions around the equipment.

This is Commissioner Washington. For the applicant, Mr. Overhue, you've done this project similarly across different municipalities. I'm just curious how the reception has been for both uses in those municipalities. If you can speak to that.

Great question. So traditionally, it's similar to what we've listened to today. There's a lot of disinformation out there about exactly what we're doing. So There's large hyperscaler data centers that are very intrusive. What we're doing is a small edge site. We deal with single tenants, and it's very confined to a single area. Another bit of information, I know we had talked about power. We look for areas that have pockets or... infrastructure in place that's able to support a project like this that does not need upgrades that we can plug into and from a utility company it actually stabilizes the grid it does not adversely affect it because we have a very stable load and if you look at like the economics they get more revenue basically on the power consumed and so it helps the utility. And so generally we have utility companies coming to us looking for help on some of the existing infrastructure that they do have. And that's the case in this one.

and then the follow-up question um so first and foremost i definitely want to thank everybody for hanging out here as long as y'all all have um my follow-up to that is how have you worked with the community members after the approvals in these other cities so we've not we've not gotten here yet But I would love to hear how you work with them after the concerns and questions. And I'm sure there's similar process happening there. So how have you worked with them after?

Oh, great question. So, I mean, just on the job side, we try to hire everything locally. And so I don't know about the Indeed post and everything else that they're doing. We are actively looking to employ, just not here at the moment. So we will go out to the community, look for engagement there. Follow along. We look to be a part of it. I mean, these are businesses that we run in these communities, and so we do look to have community engagement. That was part of the big... push on why we're willing to work with the city on the frontage of that space. And so I think that was a huge component to connecting the community by offering essentially a storefront location right in the core of Midtown, which I do think will be a catalyst to kind of retie this project or Midtown back together. So to answer your question, we do look to be an active member in the community.

Can I ask a follow-up question to the earlier one? There was much discussion about the destabilization of the grid, and you talked about that and how it actually could potentially stabilize the grid. The data center that I'm most familiar with has a supplemental source of solar panels. Was that considered?

Not on this particular project. I don't know if I have a reason why. So generally, I mean, with WE Energy, they have to buy or have certain amounts of renewable energy within their energy grid. But solar is not something that we traditionally target just because of the efficiency of the product itself.

It just seems like a big, fat, flat roof on a Walmart. Right?

Yeah. I'm not opposed. If it made financial sense, we would definitely consider it.

Financial sense. Aren't you a multimillionaire?

So people over-profit.

Thank you.

Go ahead. Go ahead, Commissioner. Is the water treated again? How is it being treated?

So we have filtration in essentially a pump house, and so we treat our water so it stays in that system, condition the water for years. I mean, north of five years. And then we work with companies like Clean Harbor that come in, remove water. And so the amount of water that people continue to say goes into the septic system is zero. And so these are self-contained systems. We don't have ruptures. We don't get leaks. That would be a catastrophic failure that just doesn't happen in this industry.

So the water is not contained?

At the end of the day, it is just water. We're not adding chemicals. We're not adding.

Yes, if you want to, we have to continue this conversation.

So I'm just going to ask commissioners to go ahead and jump in.

Sure, thank you. So in the testimony it was stated that there is some public benefit to this. I don't know if this is a Tanya question or other DCD staff or if you know Mr. Overhue. The affordable housing will use low-income housing tax credits, but I'm curious what other potential public benefit dollars will go towards any other parts of this project, if at all, if somebody can answer that question for me.

So on my particular aspect, I'm not looking for any public funding or anything else. So I mean, we're fronting those costs and naturally I would say donating the parking lot and the frontage of the building for community engagement.

Okay, so hold on, y'all. I'm going to ask the follow-up questions. I just want to make sure I'm following what's being stated. The housing will use tax credits. Conveyance, like the gentleman stated before, is a real estate term, and that will be given to the city. So therefore, the community use for agreed upon $1.00 The developers buying the property from the land for $1. The land for the housing. Correct. That intersection of the building. I understand that part. For the community benefit piece, that is being conveyed for a price. It was stated a dollar. I just want to make sure I'm following. And then there's also a price for the developer to buy the land for their housing component, which will use low-income housing tax credits.

Correct.

And that is the only...

public benefit is the low income housing tax credits just so we're following how it was stated it'll work i think you you're on the right track so the uh agreement with the city would be a long-term lease okay ground lease yeah okay well i don't know if it'd be a ground lease it would be at least just conveyance of the the building itself so okay okay

There also is a tax increment financing district for the housing specifically. So there would be city financial support in addition to the low-income housing tax credits, which is... And to be clear, that would be a deal strictly with the housing developer, not with AFS.

Yep.

Okay. Got it. Thank you.

Anything else?

There seemed to be a lot of concern about transparency. So I'm just curious, like, you know, what access does the public have in regards to the reporting when you're, you know, testing the water? If there is issues with the sound levels, just curious about what does the public have access to?

Yeah, so as Tanya had just described, I have no problem reporting my water usage just because I'm very confident. It's a very minimal amount. We do have to have proper reporting on the power. Outside of that, you have EPA standards that you have to be held to. And so that's where we go through and we get, they call it NEPA 4 generators, which are the most economical, the most environmentally friendly generation that you can have. And those come at a pretty substantial cost to get those compared to, like, Tier 2 generators. Outside of that... I mean, they're pretty straightforward uses. There's been a ton of misconception about these edge sites that we develop compared to a lot of these others. And it's easy to get them construed from one to the next. But at the end of the day, we use a very, it's considered a lot of power in residential terms. But in that world, it's a very small amount. And it's very non-intrusive. So it sits in the back of a building. We're not noisy. We don't have any kind of light pollution. no chemicals that we discharge, and that's why nobody's really came forward with a whole lot of facts. There's a lot of misunderstanding in the media and everything else, but when you actually see facts, they're very minimal about the negative impact, at least on these sites. Big hyperscaler sites, I actually am on the other side of the equation. I do think there's some impacts there on the environment naturally when you build Two, three million square feet. There's impacts that do come with that.

Okay, so commissioners, any more follow-ups? Um...

I mean, my whole thing really is about this. It just seemed it's neither here or there to happen. It's like this engagement. I'm not here to try to blame who, but it seems like this engagement issue was not taken seriously. And I want to know, I think I asked it before and another, it seems like there's no standardized process to make sure that we don't go through this again. And is there or not? Or is there thoughts of learning from this to prevent this? Because I don't know what happened. It just seems there's – my feed is full of this. You say this. It's just I want to make sure that we don't – we have a process, a better process for engaging with citizens to be more transparent. Whether it's a data center or whether it's apartments, it just feels like it seems to happen a lot in this country. So I just want to understand that process, if there's a process.

I just want to make a statement with that. Because to me, as a resident too, and I've complained about this before, is that there's only so many square feet from a development that gets connected. And when you have a space like Midtown and how big that is, Like there's been people who have complained saying that they didn't know about it, but they live quite a distance away, but we're still very much connected. So to me, that's one of the bigger pieces and why this keeps happening is that even myself was saying, I didn't hear this and I didn't hear that. But it was because of the, when you look at that, like if we could, that square footage is a big thing. So I'll just think of that.

So to Commissioner Crane's point, while I have a responsibility for the entire city of Milwaukee, I have a direct responsibility to the residents of the second district. So that's why I focused on my district. So that's why you hear folks from Sherman Park or Grassland Matter or anything like that. We have to use what we have. And I think we sent it out to a 250 feet radius or something like that. For licenses, I go higher than that at times when I actually know that costs money. And that's why we use social media and other organizations to go out and do canvassing. Unless myself, I like canvassing. So to answer that question, so when you hear residents, when you hear people saying that.

Okay, I'm going to request, again, I don't know how many times I can make this plea, but we can't hear what people are saying if we have people yelling in the room.

It may be.

And so what I'm trying to do is just get us all to agree. Let's have one conversation at a time.

Thank you. So again, to answer your direct question, so I've reached out and, you know, talked to my residents. You know, I use my social media sites as far as to get the message across, just like I do for my town halls, just like I do everything. I can't control who people want to come as far as doing that. Yes, I am very appreciative of those individuals who came here to come speak about this project, good, bad, or indifferent, and took their time out. I really appreciate that because this is democracy at its best. But what I don't want to be constrained or misconstrued is, and for those people who keep on saying being paid, campaign finance reports and ethics reports are public records, so you can go and check that. Um, as I was saying, yeah, as I was saying, far as that, um, we can make it better. And I've set out, you know, budget amendments to expand the radius to a two mile radius for mailing. I did that in 24 and 25 myself for Boza licensing and everything of that nature. So, um, conversations have been had and we see that. Um, so, you know, I just don't want it. I want the facts to be portrayed as, um,

saying that to say that people wasn't made aware of it like direct neighbors have been made aware of that just simply not true and i'll just speak briefly from the city standpoint um you know melody was up here earlier from metcalf and um you know we had a lot of interactions back growing mke to the housing element and we have learned from those interactions um and uh i will speak to that and i appreciate her passion And we have increased the amount of outreach that we do when it's strictly a city project, when there are projects that we control that we are bringing before you. This is not a project we are bringing before you. I can assure you that the conversations that we have with developers, we are constantly talking about outreach and the importance of doing so. not just because of how the city council or this commission or residents will feel, but because it's the right thing to do. And so we are adamant about the need for it. It's going to be different on different projects unless, as Alderman Chambers said, there become some additional rules for these things, for city projects to move forward. But you may continue to see a fluctuation and difference between a project that is proposed externally versus what the city is doing.

For example, the Granville you have these design shreds.

That's a city With yeah with with partners, but yes Yeah Okay commissioners any further discussion I

This is Commissioner Smith. I have a question in regards to the jobs for those who would be hired to work at this facility if it were to move forward. Given, I want to say it was 15 to 20, I think. I want to say 15 is sticking out in my head for whatever reason. How many of the employees will be our existing employees and how many of those employees would actually be hired from this community?

That's a great question.

So traditionally we look to hire everyone locally and then we'll bring people in to help train on our operations.

Thank you.

Commissioner Smith, did you have any follow-up questions on your question?

No, I do actually have a completely different question. In regards to the, what is my question now? Are there other facilities that you would argue are pretty similar to this in size and overall scope? I mean, or are the other facilities that you have larger or smaller? I'm just curious if this is something different than what you're currently doing.

They're all pretty much right at that same size scale and scope. So the last one I just did was 10 megawatts, and that's exactly what the size of this facility is.

Okay, and as it relates to some of the concerns, I mean, there were some concerns about the water use, the noise pollution, or concerns about that and just the overall environmental impact of the facilities. What can you say about those existing facilities in comparison to what this facility would become if it were to move forward?

So as far as, I mean, I will say the state a remarkable job on the conditions but to be quite honest are those conditions would be something that we had already would have have met so we do design with environmentally friendly practices and so with the the the type of cooling systems we do target it is for those voices that we continue to hear is that they do use large amounts of water and so we choose They cost a lot more, honestly, to put in, but it is for those reasons that we try to mitigate any kind of adverse impact to the surrounding community. Outside of that, I mean, you're filling systems with water. I will say in Milwaukee, the dry coolers will be more than sufficient because it's a mild climate. And there is a misconception on chilled water. Our water loops are at 90 degrees coming into the equipment, and they come out about 110. So we naturally don't have to take off a whole lot of... temperature off our water loops just because the equipment is designed for a higher temperature. i guess i'm i want to read it like people brought the question up of like are there chemicals in this loop that helps it to keep it cool and just i'll say it again that there is not we add water and we condition the water so outside of that we do not add chemicals we do not excuse me i think you have to explain what that means you say you're conditioning it what say more what that means i think that's an ongoing question so so naturally Through that water usage, your water gets stagnant. So you have certain filtrations to remove any kind of empiricals out of that water to keep it as pure and as clean as you possibly can. So very traditional to any type of filtration that you see into any restaurants, any type of factories that need clean, sterile water.

And you said you have a similar facility in Wisconsin as well, right? Not in Wisconsin, no.

Not in Wisconsin, okay. You're first in Wisconsin. Correct. It's just by virtue that I do own the building. So there's nothing special about the location. It works in these areas. They're very non-intrusive uses. So this is my, like I said, this is a business that I do run. And so I'm asking the commission to hopefully we can move forward with a business and turn this Midtown Center around.

Since many of the conditions you stated that you would meet because of how things are, the environmental impact study, is that something that we could, in order to make sure that we're pleasing the community, add that to this as a condition? Because it wouldn't be like much more, it seems, but it would be something that would make sure that we all are understanding of the conditions of what this facility is like.

I do know there was a concern with noise. So we did go out and get it. We've already done a noise study. And so that was finished. I got that report on Friday. So we'll have a baseline of what the current noise level is and what the future noise would be to be able to compare like start to finish.

I do want to know, our conditions do have a few parameters around having to hire professionals to do that independent analysis and it be put forward by a Wisconsin registered engineer that the Department of Neighborhood Services So while it's not called an environmental impact study, these are very careful reviews of the equipment and any of the potential impacts of it to evaluate whether or not that would be the case. So in essence, that is, I think, I think kind of what we're asking, but if you have other thoughts in that regard. Again, just trying to mitigate this, because again, I'm a resident too.

So yeah, you're hearing that, but then how does it get out so that others know? I mean, of course, if they read it, but that's not how things always go. And again, everybody doesn't have access to all things. So how do we put that information out so others know as this is, Because that's important.

So can we make that a condition and make it a report that goes out?

a report of what was submitted in order to get permits and occupancy? No.

The environmental study or that, I'm okay with even what you've already stated because it's the same thing, but it's putting it in a report that we can see.

I think if the applicant would be willing to make that public, you can confirm that.

I don't have a problem. I'm a very open book when it comes to these type of uses just because of the public sensitivity. And so if it makes everybody feel comfortable, we do an environmental impact study, that's fine.

I have another suggestion in regards to that. There's also been a lot of concerns about the amount of water that would be used at this facility, as we've heard multiple times. I'm curious if there could be some type of confirmation of the water usage at the site on a going basis if that could be somehow i don't know exactly what that would look like as a condition but i'm wondering if there could be something done to confirm the actual water usage at the facility on a going basis so that wasn't part of condition six

I thought it was.

So condition six is focused on sound.

Okay. Can we add water to condition six? So let's see here.

I think we could potentially add water to condition 10. 10 is the energy benchmarking, so we could add water. It makes more sense reporting within that and then we can work with the applicant to determine what that would be if this should be approved.

And I think given given the sensitivity of this, um. This proposal, this effort, we must overdo it. I feel like, I mean, there are a lot of misconceptions about things. I heard a lot of the comments that were stated by residents who were really concerned about things. Some of it. I knew. weren't necessarily facts just based on what I've read so far and what I know a little bit about this space, but there's so much out there. You hear data center, it's really a hot, hot, hot button item right now, so I just feel like we need to truly address the issues that were raised, and a lot of them were very similar. you know, amongst those who spoke against this item. So I just feel like if we're able to somehow, you know, prove these things are not true or prove that they are true in the event that, you know, the resident or whomever disagree with the facts that are being stated, by the applicant here, I just felt like if we're able to address a lot of those issues, I think we get closer to finding out if this is something that could happen. Because at no point, I mean, I heard a lot of comments where individuals did not want the data center because they wanted to see something else. And I appreciate that, but I also see the benefits of having the housing. I see the benefit of having the library there. And I see the opportunity of some of those community amenities catalyzing other potential development and other potential opportunities within the community. So that's the angle that I'm coming at with the suggestions. So I just feel like if we're able to address a lot of those issues that are so concerning of residents, And I definitely get it, I understand. I think that we can figure out what's real. Because at the end of the day, if it's not true, the resident thinks this, that, or the other, and it's not true, if we can prove that, then maybe we get past that obstacle and we get to move to the core of the major issues that exist. And we find ourselves going through the process of elimination, I guess we call it, to figure out if there's a way to move this thing forward. I just feel like it would be a missed opportunity to not take advantage of some of the other benefits here. I mean, yeah, there are some concerns here, but there are also some benefits on the flip side. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one who would say that, you know, that housing and a library should cause us to just forget about all these other things. But I think it's worth us investigating to figure out if there's a common ground or some positive resolution that we could come up with here.

So did that door free develop? So we're still in the process of going through the process. So nothing is too late, just like the commissioner stated. So we have, I mean, there is a process for public engagement. Just what's happening is some items require more time than others. That's just the world we live in. And from what the city has said, they've met all of the requirements. The requirements and the alderman has had three, I think, three public hearings. We had this up, I think, two months ago. Two months ago, it was held over. We had the public meetings. So there was three public meetings or two public meetings plus one online. And we have spent time today going through this as well. And there's still quite a bit of concerns, quite a bit of questions, quite a bit of opinions. And We have some differing opinions. We do now know that there are some similar type of facilities in other places, and it would be good to know what does it sound like outside of those places. And... So this process has been arduous but important. This is important that people have their opinion on very new things. This is newer technology that we're dealing with. And so Commissioner Smith, I don't know what your pleasure is or what your idea is at this point. Because anything that we do going forward is important that the community is a part of this decision and feels positive about what's happening. And clearly, we had a presentation about the housing, which is very good. We have a presentation about the library, also about the permanent voting site. All these things are very important. And then we had...

you know some some different meetings um throughout the time so i'm really looking for for guidance from our commissioner me okay i wasn't sure if you meant some of the other commissioners um one thing i would note and uh i can already hear the groans starting behind me um that if the project is not move forward and then the housing is not able to break ground by july thirty first and as we know the housing is contingent on all of the rest of this that they would lose those tax credits uh... likely and then therefore not be able to move forward with the uh... the project so that is one uh... piece that i would ask the commissioners to consider the other piece that i would note is as tanya said we can tighten up some of those conditions you can make um you know you can say that this can only move forward if there are more strengthened conditions we can add the water to the benchmarking we can make the uh the environmental study public um we can certainly make this stronger i think one of the things you heard uh from afs here is that they the conditions that we've put in place are conditions that they expect to meet regardless. And so one, I'm sorry. Yeah, one thing I would note there, there are two ways to look at that, right? I would imagine if I were Back there, rather than up here, I might think, well, maybe the city wasn't tough enough on them, right? But what I think it indicates is that the reason that Alderman Chambers, the reason that the administration was comfortable bringing this project forward is because we have looked at what are the demands of this project, what are the potential negative ramifications, and they are minimal. the use of water the use of energy the sound output all of those things we feel are you know sufficiently low particularly in the face of all of the Bennett's that come benefits that come forward with this the library the housing the early voting site the additional community space that will be here as well as the signal that it sends to continue investing in the Midtown area so we would ask that this project be approved and we will work to ensure that the conditions are tight enough to be protective of the community and you know another idea

If this is the way that the commissioners would like to go, I would like to see a... I would like to hear from the people that live next to your existing sites that are dead center and dead similar. Not something that's... 5,000 square foot. That's something that's cooled differently or done differently. But I'd like to hear from the people that live. block away two blocks away you know you know in the neighborhood I'd like to hear from them on you know we've heard a lot from people today and what what people are concerned about they're concerned about noise they're concerned about we didn't hear too much about light but light is another one noise light dust dust water usage content you know anything about the electrical grid so I would like to know what do the people that live next to one of these other sites what do they feel and is there a way to do like not like some kind of independent study that's not that's not from the company right not their handpicked people but something more So that's just an idea. I don't know. All right.

Commissioner Moody, what's the closest facility that you plan to build out there now? Similar to this one you want to do. What's the closest one? How far away is it?

It'd be by Springfield, Missouri. Or do you mean the closest one in Milwaukee?

No, he doesn't own none of Milwaukee.

The reason I ask is... Other data centers in Milwaukee.

Yeah, like what he's doing exactly.

There's several here locally that are good use cases.

No, he's asking what I'm asking. Got it, yeah.

Like the one I'm asking, like, I want to go the Iran route and have inspectors. You know what I mean? Like, has anybody, like, get a bus together, if you want, like, let them see it for themselves. You know, I mean, that'd be fine.

So that's just an idea, but there's a number of different avenues that can be pursued, but there's been a lot of items that have been brought up today that need to be

UNDERSTOOD. SO COMMISSIONERS, COMMISSIONERS, DO YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY NOW, I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU WANT TO EXPLORE TO MAKE SURE THAT NOBODY IS GETTING RUSHED? I'm sorry, Commissioner Smith?

Yes, I have one question. Given Commissioner Moody's comment about, I mean, he basically continued in the direction I was heading when I asked the question about are there other like facilities? And, you know, based on the concerns that the constituency has had here, I mean, what is the difference? I mean, how do they compare? What are the residents of those communities saying about the facility and what are the impacts of the facility on the community, environmental and otherwise? So my question is, Has there been anything like that done with any other item brought before the committee to where we wanted to see a bit more about what's happening within another market of a light facility or something of the sort to at least gauge the true impact? Because I mean, even with regards to, I understand that there was something to, some kind of study done on the noise pollution. And, you know, you might say to me that, okay, you know, it was determined that, you know, it's X number of decibels at some certain distance. I mean, that sounds good, but what exactly does that sound like? How loud is that really? And it might be approved by the city based on whatever studies are being done, but at the same time, how does it affect a neighbor who lives directly across the street from the facility? So my question is, is there a way for us to do something like that? And if so, what does it look like? If we were to want to investigate another facility that's like this facility, what exactly would that be like? Is this something that has ever been done? Or are there any thoughts in regards to how we might move something like that forward?

The study comes back that the project's done. But put it on as a condition when you make your delivery.

If they're asking the council that question, I mean, no, no, no, I'm sorry.