Housing, Urban Development and Zoning - Regular Meeting

All right. Good morning everyone. Uh my name is Evan Winkler, hearing officer um for this conditional use hearing uh for the city of St. Louis on this 19th day of March, 2026. Um for today's scheduled hearing on applications for a conditional use permit, I am joined by the zoning administrator, uh Mary Hart Burton, and plan examiner Sandra Long. In addition, we have uh Deborah Mackmore here with us acting as the secretary. Um we will be recording this hearing for a permanent record. When the address is called by the hearing secretary, I will ask that the applicant or appointed representative indicate you are present. I will then ask you to state your name and your address or place where you can receive mail for the record. After a time of questions with the applicant, I will call for testimony. First, we will hear from persons who are in favor of this application, and then we will hear from uh testimony of those who are opposed. At the appropriate time, please use the raised hand icon at the bottom of your screen if you wish to testify. That way, we can recognize you to speak. If you are unable to use the raised hand icon, please place your name in the chat um pertaining to the application. When called upon, folks who are joining by Zoom will use the unmute icon at the bottom of your screen, whereas folks who are calling by phone will press star six to mute and unmute yourself. We ask that you remain on mute if you are not giving testimony. If multiple people are sharing a screen, uh we ask that only one person speak at a time as we will hear testimony one by one. Therefore, please restrain from any side conversations during individual testimony. These requests are made so we can accurately keep record of the information and hear from those who are giving testimony. Additionally, there

are many people here today and we want to give everyone an opportunity to speak. Uh therefore, testimony will be limited to 2 minutes per person. Uh we will set an alarm to notify you that time is up. After giving testimony, um you are welcome to leave or stay on the call and listen. However, there will be no determination made here today. Uh what will take place is that following today's hearing, the zoning section will make a recommendation to the board of public service which is composed of the department's president as well as directors from the following city departments. The department of public safety, the commissioner of streets, the department of public utilities and water commissioner, the department of human services, and the department of park, recreation, and forestry. The board of public service will be voting on whether or not to issue the conditional use permit and will notify the applicant by mail regarding their findings. Their meetings are posted on the city's website and uploaded to the city's YouTube channel. Um the final comment I want to make before we get started is that um conditional use requests from application AOP13283-26 uh located at 6001 West Florison Avenue for a convenience store and gas station with cooking and full liquor. This application will not be heard today as they have requested to withdraw their application for occupancy. Uh there will be no testimony pertaining to this request and it will not be rescheduled. Uh therefore, if you were here to testify pertaining to that particular case, uh you are free to leave or you're able to stay on and listen to the rest of the agenda. Deborah, will you please read the remaining case? 3728-45 market straight and 3854-58 market straight AB 589-087-26

and AB58909 0-26 zone K unrestricted district ward 11 is there anyone here representing this application Is the applicant here to represent this applicant? Yes, David is developer. I'm one of the applicants. All right. Thank you. Can you state your name and address? Will you be the primary person speaking for your team? Hi.

Uh Cecilia. Sicily will be will be speaking primarily for Okay, great. Then we will just Are we on 3728? Apologies. We are. Yes. Apologies. Yep. All right. Great. Just to let you know, the chat is disabled. You said to uh comment in the chat, but that is disabled. All right. Um it's not disabled. Um but, uh we're going to move on. Um so, all right. Cecilia, can you please It is disabled. Uh, can you please state your name and address for the record?

Yes. Um, Cecilia D'vorak. Um, and located in, uh, Georgetown, Texas at the moment. And, um, I will be representing the developer. If it's okay with you, I would also like to introduce a few others. Yes, please go ahead and introduce them. Great. Um, David Danish, would you introduce yourself and your role and your location? Oh, you're on mute. David, uh, developer and I'm currently in Las Vegas. Great. Rod Thomas, would you do the same?

Certainly. Rod Thomas, uh, I'm a resident of St. Louis County. Uh, my mailing address is 12647 Olive 63141 and I am a co-developer of the project along with David Thank you, Rod. David Lambiaso.

Morning. Just joining. Sorry. Uh Sicily, were you asking a question? Yes, if you could please give your name, your location, and your role, please. Sure. Yeah. David Lambo, uh Prince William County, Virginia, and I'm working on the development team. Thank you, David. Good morning. Nick Hartzler. I'm a senior project manager with Deadp City helping the development team. I'm a city resident living in Ward One. Thank you. That that is um the team who can answer the questions that you all will likely have. All right. Great. Thank you. All right. Will you please uh start by giving a brief explanation of the proposal?

Yes, absolutely. Um I would love to just take a second to walk through this project in a few different parts. Um where we started, what we heard, how we responded, why it works, and why it matters. Um so where we started the project began as an effort to really bring modern digital infrastructure to the city of St. Louis, something that's increasingly critical to how our economy and institutions and daily life really function. And so the parent before proposal before you today is for um a 525,000 square foot redevelopment project consisting a com of a combination of partial demolition um new construction and adaptive reuse. The end user would be uh a data center operator which is part of a rapidly growing uh sector that supports everything from healthare systems and research institutions to financial services and public infrastructure. So, this effort really started at a different location um just a couple of parcels down at 500 Prospect Avenue um east of uh the Armory building itself. And uh at that time, the project was proposed to be a groundup construction project. Um and from that starting point, we really began to get feedback about this project. Um and the development team openly listened and engaged and shared the concept. Um, we gathered feedback and we really just opened the door to the conversation. We answered as many questions as we could. Um, but what matters more than what we started is is is what we heard. So, we engaged broadly. Um, we heard from residents, neighborhood representatives, institutions, and stakeholders across the city and beyond, not just adjacent to the site, but really across the region. Across two town halls, we hosted a total of 399 attendees both virtual and in person. And the team shared details of the

project at that time where we were and we received feedback and brought experts to the discussion to answer as many questions as we could during the evening meeting. Um at those meetings we had uh you 45 unique speakers. About half of those people provided us with their zip codes or ward. And of those that provided their location, 17 zip codes were represented. Um, six of those entire 45 were from 63108. And while many perspectives and feedback um were varied, the feedback really consisted uh was consistently centered around a few key themes. We heard about environmental concerns, particularly issues of water conservation, energy usage, and noise. We heard um about concerns on scale and intensity, just making sure that the project really fits appropriately within its context. Um we heard about long-term um highest and best use concerns that the construction, you know, the the site uh on the parking lot next to the Metro Link stop wouldn't be the best location uh because of it being a low traffic and a low job generator. We heard um concerns or questions around really true community benefits um understanding what the benefits of the project would be to the city and the residents and really trying to understand that um where there were a lot of concerns about resident utility impacts and how the project would impact already rising electricity bills and then clarity and transparency. there's a there was a clear desire to understand um the user and how it would really be uh operated responsibly. And those are all incredibly thoughtful and valid concerns. And so we really approached those um points and those uh conversations as um not as barriers but

as guidance. and uh the development team really took that back to the drawing board and re looked at all of those different pieces and and really tried to put together a proposal that would respond to what we heard. So, um I'll go through all of the changes and kind of what you see before you today and how it applies. Uh but the location was changed, the project was refined, and clear commitments were um were made. So for from a site selection perspective, we relocated the project to a site um that's really more appropriate for this type of use, one that better aligns with the surrounding infrastructure and land use patterns, particularly if not directly adjacent to the Metro Link station. Um and then have the long-term planning considerations. The current parcel that we are um proposing this at is is zoned K unrestricted, which leaves the 500 prospect site um for H area commercial to be a higher and bettered use um for the area. And that was a direct response from what we heard. Um once we kind of had our new location, we really focused on the project refinement. Uh we took a hard look at the project components and operational needs and we adjusted aspects of the proposals to really better address the environmental concerns um that we heard and we are prepared to commit to a closed loop water system and recognize that that could be a condition applied through this process if the the zoning team um deems it so. um designing the project to a 1.35 power usage effectiveness rating. Um which is essentially ensuring that the energy used to cool the equipment inside the data center is um no more than 35% energy uh usage for uh the computing power. So it it isn't just going to cool the towers, it's actually effectively powering the um the equipment itself. Um that means less waste and more efficiency. And

additionally, um, we've added sound attenuation to the plans that would not increase the noise that's already existing on the site from the elevated 64 interstate and the active plus one rail. Um, and we've placed all the generators on the north side of the build, I'm sorry, on the north side of the building inside the building itself that um, essentially will protect the view um, along the 64 corridor uh, from visual clutter and mitigate um, those noise concerns. Um, so to further those commitments, any new construction project as well would be uh leadcertified. And additionally, while I recognize that we're here to um focus on the data center use, the zoning application um for a project at the Armory building just to the uh east of the site was submitted at the exact same time as this proposal. Um and that would be for an office component that would really be uh constructed and developed at the same time as the data center and and come online in parallel. We anticipate um that together these projects represent a more comprehensive and re um uh comprehensive redevelopment bringing a higher density of jobs and activity to the area that really would otherwise occur. Um and then we also provided uh clear commitments in in this proposal. Um benefits uh that are tied to the project directly. We did a a very clear analysis on the direct and indirect economic impact on the project. Um and I will uh kick it over to Nick Hartzler to share a little bit more detail on that uh toward the end of this piece. Um but but before we get there, we also provided a commitment um to not using development incentives like tax abatement really so that the community can leverage the full resources to the city and St. Louis public schools.

Um signing and enacting a project labor agreement was also a big commitment uh that the development team took very seriously with the labor unions so that those construction jobs and workforce development jobs um do go to the local residents. Additionally, since our last proposal, um this was really out of our hands, but but worked well, I think, to to make sure that from the regulatory standpoint, um that we are in in Missouri, um the the developer was being held accountable for the costs associated with this project. The Missouri Public Utility Commission has passed a very rigorous um commitment uh to ensure that large load users not only pay more than a typical energy user but provide long-term guarantees and monies upfront keeping um other projects keeping this and other projects of this scale accountable to the generation and infrastructure costs that are associated. So the project can and will also connect with the de district energy um steam loop project that the city has been working on. Um and then even with the adjustments to the location, we we do remain more than 300 feet from sensitive uses like residential parks and schools. Um so those those commitments I think really provide a lot more clarity on what this brings and does for the community. Um, but I am going to ping it over just for a moment to Nick Hartzley who can um discuss more specifically the economic benefits of the project. Nick, do you mind taking it for from here for a second?

Sure thing. Thank you, Cecilia. Uh, yeah. So, what what makes this project great and uh beneficial for the city is the potential its ability to drive incredible property tax revenues um for the city and the St. public schools. Uh within year one of operation, based on this proposal, uh the city of St. Louis would receive about 28.2 million personal property tax, a little bit of earnings tax, the and utility gross receipts tax. The city of St. holds a uh 10% utility gross receipts tax on on uh the purchase of electricity as well as the kind of the onetime building permit fee that would apply for this project. So all of those numbers kind of add up to about $78.5 million in total tax payments. Um St. Louis public schools will see about $35.9 million and then the remaining remainder of that number 14.4 4 million goes to um the add other taxing jurisdictions. That's the the zoo museum district, the St. Louis Community College, um the community mental health fund, uh the St. Public Library, MSD. Um so that's kind of how those numbers flow. Um over a 10-year period, the those numbers jump to $484.8 million in total tax payments. Again, that's reflective of real estate tax, personal property tax being the two main drivers of that, as well as a little bit of earnings tax, utility tax, and and that leads to 147.7 million to the city of St. Louis and $232.7 million to St. Louis public schools. How we got to those numbers was we, you know, this is a $1 billion building that that that's getting

constructed. So, that's a significant amount of assessed value for the real estate tax component. Our model, how we, you know, reflected this over a 10-year period, we showed a modest 2% appreciation every two years. So that's about one point a little over 1% per year of appreciation. Um, so we we didn't we didn't do that was a a overly uh um egregious amount to increase the building by. Additionally, you know, this project as it's current proposed is is showing a potential for$ two billion dollars of personal property investment to get for the its initial u operation. Um, in talking with the with the development team, that $2 billion number is really also viewed as a conservative number. Depending on the operator that could come in, that number could grossly exceed that $2 billion, which would lead to excess, you know, even more personal personal property tax revenues going towards the city and St. Louis public schools. Within our model, we did reflect depreciation. Um, I know that was a a comment that was was heard in the fall. Um and this model does reflect the depreciation of that personal property uh according to um kind of the set depreciation schedule which are typically a five to sevenyear schedule. Um and then within that we even we did reflect a very modest replacement schedule that starts to be phased in around year six or seven but it is not a viewed as a 100% personal replacement schedule which again is viewed as very modest um to to try to not over overly inflate these numbers. Um recently we we heard a question over um what revenues could be generated from um the consumption of and usage of water by by serve being a a rate payer to the city

of St. Louis water division. Um and looking at a a an early prediction schedule again this project uses a closed loop water system. Um, so relative to some other water systems that might be in older data centers which are much much higher users of water, this one is more more reasonable and and more conscious of of trying to conserve water. Um, it generally would pay in between the the water rates um and the the the gross receipts tax that applies to the purchase of that water. it would pay between $120,000 and $150,000 over the the first 10 years. So that that relative to the the water department's total budget, which is about projected at 80 about $81 million, it's it's not a it wouldn't be a huge revenue generator for the water division that it would be another rateayer. Um again, we don't don't believe that the water capacity is there at this site. It would not stress the water system. As Cecilia mentioned at the very tail end of her her notes, um this project is not seeking um local tax incentives. That means it is not seeking tax increment financing and it is not seeking any form of tax abatement. Um it is planning on using the state's uh data center sales tax exemption program. That sales tax exemption allows for um the exemption on u building materials uh utility purchases for the sales tax portion only does not that the exemption does not apply to the gross receipts tax and then on the purchase of of of equipment for the facility that the server racks. So these numbers do not reflect the these tax estimates numbers do not reflect sales tax because of that assumption that the the state program will be used. Um, again, just wanting wanting to be open about that as far as a you know, that's the big a big driver for this is is tax revenue. But it shouldn't be overlooked that there are

jobs created from this program and from this development. The the project is utilizing and and has an in place project labor agreement. Uh, their contractor ARCO has this in place. So, the 1,50 construction jobs that are coming to this to get this thing built are going to be, you know, high quality skilled uh union jobs from from from the area. Um, so that way we we know that we're this project is using the best that's out there to to get this built as well as, you know, helping make sure that there's a local labor force applied to here. The project with 1,50 construction jobs is just over 2 million labor hours um of construction. As far as operations go, the data center itself would see a full-time employment of 50 uh full-time jobs. That that reflects um the uh th those who are, you know, that the engineers on site that are operating the equipment, making sure that all all of the um computers and and equipment are functioning properly. It also includes the security personnel to keep the site, you know, secure. Um, so that that's what that 50 number reflects and that comes out to a total payroll of about $8.2 million per year in direct payroll. Additionally, there would be another 176 additional local jobs uh supported across the local economy. Those local jobs are not employed by the the the operator, but they are th you know the the the plumbers and pipe fitters who are coming in to make sure that the closed water system is is secured and functioning properly. It's the communications workers who are coming in to make sure that the the fiber cables that are connected to the to the equipment are functioning properly. It's the electricians who are coming in to to make sure that the um all of the power equipment and power you know supplies are are functioning as needed and efficiently. Um so that's what that 176 additional lo local jobs

reflects. um within the I I understand this this proposals for the the um the data center but it be remiss to not you mentioned that the the armory space next door is being built to suit to support 150 uh uh professional office jobs you know targeted really towards the tech industry. So there would be an additional 150 uh full-time employees uh that would be ultimately placed into that uh building. It's viewed how we have it mapped out in our model is that um the those jobs would have more of a ramp up period. It would start about 50 but then be maxed out at 150 by within year three or four. Um so I I'm happy to address any any further questions um that uh Evan you may have down the road. But thank you.

Thank you, Nick. I'm going to finish up the the tail end of this conversation or the presentation here and then um I think it sounds like you'll have more questions in um but you know I think the point that we're trying to make with Nick is um that these are not abstract benefits they're real they're measurable and particularly due to the conditional use pro process that we're in um the city is able to ensure that these conditions are maintained uh upon submission of building permit for the zoning use. So um this is not the same project that was originally introduced. it is a better project truly because of what we heard. Um and the question just now becomes does this project work? And the answer is yes. Um even under the planning commission's current draft regulations, the project aligns. Uh one additional adjustment those came out after the submission uh for this application was made. Um but one additional adjustment that the project can um adjust if placed as a condition of the conditional use permit is the maximum square footage that was identified by the staff. Um when we moved the generators uh inside the building on the north side, uh we exceeded the maximum square footage that the staff had identified at 500,000. Um but the the project team is willing to to bring that down to ensure that we're within those parameters um if that's something that is is really important to the the staff and the city. Um I do want to also briefly address one important point related to utilities energy that came up with the planning commission and I know that those really are in draft form. Um but in Missouri uh the regulated utility environment which is great because it provides protections for uh utility users. the individual projects don't control the generation mix or or procurement structure of electricity. Uh and so those are determined by at the utility level. Um so while there's a strong and important desire to see renewable energy integration, the mechanisms to achieve that aren't really within the control of the the developer and user themselves.

So um I as I understand it, the planning staff is considering all of the feedback that they heard um and will have additional drop regulations. Um, so all other areas though and within those constraints that I mentioned, the project really is aligned with what the city even identified in their draft regulation. Um, and importantly, it it does so while delivering this meaningful value that we're talking about. So, this is where I'm going to close. Um, this is really a win for the city. You know, develop this developer is is really interested in in in listening and responding and providing value. Um, and it's a win for the schools and a win for the future of St. Louis and the resources that are provided on a regular basis uh to the community. Um, it brings investment, it strengthens infrastructure, and it position positions St. Louis to compete in a digital economy that is really only going to keep growing. Um, it's a win for school because it delivers those real resources and supports to students and educators in a meaningful way without drawing on them as a resource. Um, and it's a win for the future because it demonstrates that St. Louis can evolve. it can adapt and it can fostfully accommodate new forms of investment while still listening to the community and being responsive. Um, so I will leave it at that. We started with a concept, we listen to the community and we're now prepared to deliver a better project. Um, and we respectfully asked for um the support to to do so. So um, Evan, I'm sure you have additional questions that we can go through.

Great. Thank you. Um, I do want to address some logistics things. We do have city staff working on uh expanding the meeting room. We realize that other people are trying to get in, but it's been capped. Um so that should hopefully be alleviated. Um the other option is people we um we do accept written testimony. So if people you know have been trying to get in but they have jobs or aren't able to get in, uh they can write uh to the zoning email and we accept letters until the end of the meeting. It's zoning atst lewis-enmo.gov. All right. Um, with that, yeah, we do have some additional questions, Cecilia. Um, I guess our first question is, can you describe the process by your team in determining an appropriate location for this data center? Um, were other places within the city considered?

Yeah, I'm going to let Rod Thomas answer that question. Rod, can you chime in? Okay. Yes, I'd be happy to, Cecilia. Yeah. Can you see my uh picture, my my video? Uh, we don't screen share, so um you'll have to describe. That's not what I mean. Uh I I just wonder am I visible on screen? Oh, yeah.

Okay. All right. Good. Uh so, well, we started with a a pretty wide net and we narrowed it down by a few factors. We wanted to be close to the universities and the medical school because we don't really know who our tenant is going to be. Uh it could be and and this is a big enough data center. It could accommodate a couple different tenants. Uh so it's possible that it could be, you know, partially AI processing. It's also possible that it could be a colo uh data center which means that various users could use it uh including the medical schools which you know for robotic surgery and that sort of thing they need extremely low latency. So it really helps if the data processing facility is in close proximity. uh that's important for other things too uh but you know that's the one that's most relevant here because of the medical schools. So then it's infrastructure. So for a data center you need you need water. Uh you it requires electricity you know quite a bit of electricity. Um, and I mean those are the and it also requires extremely good fiber and this area happens to be blessed with all three of those. And I think the reason for that is, you know, the the utility systems in the city of St. Louis were built for peak capacity. So what we have now is a situation where there's really excess utility capacity

in the city and uh you know we measured the water that's available at this site. Uh there's 2 million gallons a day available at this site and we use a small fraction of that. Um and it creates revenue for the water department. Uh so then on the electrical side uh this site has readily available electricity uh you know that no one else is using and uh it uh and it and as I mentioned it has good fiber. So that's the reason from an infrastructure point of view that this combination of available utility capacity really creates an opportunity for the city to have this facility there. Uh you can't find that every place. I mean it's a it's a great opportunity. And then the most important thing is we didn't want to be in anybody's backyard. Okay, that's not going to fly. So we we were we had to find a place where we could put it and it would not only not bother anybody else but would in fact, you know, improve help improve the neighborhood. So on the improvement side, we always had our eye on the armory, repurposing the armory as office at some stage of this thing. It it's just a magnificent building. is sitting there vacant and um so you know we looked around and this seems like it is the perfect area because it's

surrounded by you know it it's it's a central location but this exact location is a cut off little pocket of the city. it. On one side you have an elevated interstate highway. On another side you have a big electrical substation. On another side you have two railroad tracks. And on the for side you have the remnants of a vacant building that just burned down. So it's an area that's in need of some uh tender loving care. So uh and importantly the the building as designed that would house the data center that would be next to the armory office building it is it's architecturally designed to be in harmony with the armory. So it's actually visually beautiful. So, uh, and there is going to be a bridge that's going to be built under Highway 64 and connect to the foundry.

And what's great about that is it it allows a way for our office users to get over to the foundry and supply business to the foundry. and and also the data center is open 24 hours a day and it's well lit. Uh I mean not obnoxiously so but it's well lit and it has you know security and I just think that's good for bolstering the the traffic and the and the security in this neighborhood because it is close to you know fairly close to a metro link substation. So I think that could only be good because right now it's a little spooky down there at night.

Oh my god. So those were sir, you're muted.

Oh, did you hear anything? We don't need to hear anymore anyway. Uh, please don't interrupt or speak out of turn. Um, uh, Rod, no, we heard most of it. It was just muted for the last sentence. Um, okay. I I just said that's what that's some of the that's some of the you know site selection criteria we use and I and I'd be happy to answer any questions. All right, great. Um so we do have a series of questions that were part of the executive order and we would like to get those on the record. Um and so some of them you honestly kind of answered but we are going to go through them. Uh that way we can have enough time for public testimony. Um

let's see. Um, all right. So, I'm going to address these to Cecilia, but obviously your team as they need to can jump in. Uh, what is the distance from the proposed site to residential properties? The nearest residential building if one foundry way uh is roughly 450 ft from the currently proposed building as the crow flies and it's um separated by the elevated 64 and depressed 64 uh uh route 40. Um, what is the distance from schools, parks, greenways, and the metro stations?

Uh, the grade school, the closest grade school is North Side Community Charter Middle School at Grand Center, which is roughly 6 point, I'm sorry, 65 miles away. Uh, and the nearest city park is Tiffany Park, roughly 86 miles away. Uh, the nearest existing greenway is 0.2 2 miles away at the rail just uh north of South Sarah and uh Clayton Avenue. The Brickline Greenway though uh uh the Cortex Metro Link station to Sarah, that's the nearest future greenway uh and is planned to traverse along the eastern side of the project.

Right. Thanks. Um how do you see this design fitting in with the character of adjoining areas? Uh so the proposed facility has been designed really with careful design consideration for the adjacent historic uh armory building that we heard a lot about being really important to the community. Um and so the you know the new construction portion and the and the existing would be wrapped in a similar clad as the armory and and really complement the material there with particular attention to the facade composition, the height, the masking and the orientation. So the data center building um would be generally two to three stories in height uh with a roof elevation of about 50 to 62 feet and uh additional screen mechanism that would bring it up to 74. Um and really just you know looking at the scale uh ensuring that the armory still remains the main focal point of the community. Um there's a lot of architectural features that we uh were very careful about with regard to, you know, making sure that it fit within the the masonry detailing complementing the historic architecture of the armory. Um the regular the regularized window patterns that that people love about that building. Um having, you know, architecturally high quality metal screening for the roof line so that the uh that there's not a visual clutter to the equipment. Um and then orienting the building so that again it's not um creating a a barrier to the visual that the armory brings to the area.

Um how will you be handling noise mitigation?

Uh so large mechanical equipment uh with the facility is anticipated to be located along the north and south and western edges of the building. Um anything that's on the rooftop would be screened as previously mentioned. Um, we actually put the equipment on the north side like I previously mentioned inside the building. Um, again to uh reduce the noise impact and the visual clutter and then the rest would be in uh sound attenuated containers. Um, so they would be uh basically contained to ensure that they don't um that they're not contributing to the noise levels that are already existing in the area which are pretty loud with the highway and the the rail as well. Um, at this point in the project, um, have you guys considered or have a plan for natural disaster mitigation such as tornadoes, floods, earthquakes?

Um, yeah, just from the question of the executive order that it's not in a 100 or 500 year flood plane. Um, so we're not terribly concerned about that being an issue, but should, you know, it be required that we really look at it from a tornado or a seismic event, um, the facility could turn on and use the backup generators. Uh, that would only be in an emergency situation, um, or for monthly functionality checks. Um, that's really the backup plan, but obviously if if something were to happen, then they could um, you know, shut it off and make sure that it isn't going to be a a further nuisance. Um, and what is the total square footage again of this facility?

Yeah, it's currently proposed at 525,000 square feet, but again, as previously mentioned, we are comfortable bringing that down um below the the threshold established by the planning commission if that's an important factor here. All right, so the next questions are about uh infrastructure and utility impact. Um how much power will be needed to operate this facility and will any of it be from renewable resources?

Yeah, the proposed facility is being planned with a maximum design uh capacity of about 120 megawws um consistent with large scale data center facilities. The actual power usage would be phased and incremental uh occurring over time as facility is built out and then um as an end user is is secured and announced. Um initial operations would require significantly less power than the maximum design capacity. Um and then loads would increase gradually based on the tenant needs and deployment schedules. So power service would be provided through existing system capacity with an additional developer funded um infrastructure plan to enhance redundancy uh and resiliency for the community as well as the facility. Uh all power requirements and any supporting infrastructure would be coordinated with Amaran and implemented in accordance with the applicable tariffs that recently have been in place um and engineering standards and regulatory approvals. but it had not been fully engineered.

Um, will the existing local utility grid be able to support the proposed facility? Yeah, the proposed facility would draw its energy from the existing Amron substation. Um, and while the site does not really have room to provide its own energy through renewables resources, um, the developer is committed to to working with Amron on the renewable energy program. Uh, and I'm realizing that I answered that question off uh off your order. All right. Uh, does the proposed facility or will the proposed facility have a power usage effectiveness rating?

Yeah, the PUE is influenced by the final equipment selection. So, it hasn't been fully engineered. Um but the tenant configuration uh and operational conditions uh we are expecting to commit to a design that hits a PU of 1.35 or better. Um which is consistent with current best practices for energy efficiency data. Um and you'd mentioned that they'll be using current uh substation but will there need to be an additional substation at this location uh for the needed facility?

Yeah, so there isn't a need to add an additional substation. Um we have looked at uh and this is a little bit different from what we initially submitted uh in the proposal but um at this point it's not needed to add that additional substation. So there is consideration for um foregoing that the the the existing infrastructure uh can support it. Um but whatever would be added would be uh funded entirely by the developer consistent with the the tariffs of the state of Missouri. All right. Um can you describe the backup power system proposed for this facility and uh with what regularity will it be tested?

Um so the facility will be equipped with backup generators um that really would only be in an unlikely event uh of a utility outage. So given the existing redundancy of Amron's infrastructure, we don't anticipate using it um more than just testing on a monthly basis. And we are comfortable with limiting those hours um again that are proposed in the planning commission draft. I believe that they're 9 to5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Um and they would only be turned on one at a time. Uh so they would be tested, turned off, tested, turned off um in a series as opposed to turning them all on at one.

All right. Um, have you finalized the HVAC systems or cooling um, aisle containment systems yet? They have not. Um, the final system would really need to be designed around um, the user and their needs. Uh, and since that hasn't been identified yet, that would go through engineering once the user is identified.

All right. Um, how will you ensure adequate ventilation for the facility? Uh so detailed uh ventilation design similarly would go through engineering once we get to that point um prior to the building permit submission. So all of that would be provided in the building permit submission. But um we definitely would ensure that it meets reliable air flow and maintains appropriate air quality not just within the building but on the exterior of the building. All right. Um and you've answered this next one but I'm going to ask it anyhow. uh what network providers will be using the facility.

Uh so specific network providers associated with the facility haven't really been finalized. Um but there are a significant number of um network providers that already connect directly adjacent to the site as uh Rod has mentioned. So um we expect to be able to leverage um the the fiber connectivity for instance that's on the site. Right. Um what kind of security uh will the facility utilize or what kind of security plan is in place?

Um so the facility is being designed with multiple redundant cyber pathways to ensure reliable connectivity and then security measures for that would include secure entry points, restricted access to network rooms uh and compliance with industry best practices for physical and cyber protection. All right. Uh how much water does the proposed facility plan to use?

Um yeah, again this would really be more concrete at the engineering and design phase, but given that we heard a lot of concern about water conservation and ensuring that it's not a a negative detriment major water user. Um we have committed uh and are willing to commit to a closed loop water system which essentially would be um an initial fillup period and then an ongoing um sort of top off uh I believe the estimates are about 100,000 uh gallons per month per day.

All right. Um and we do ask folks uh if you make comments in the chat there's no need to repeat them. So uh please don't do that. All right. The next questions are about community and economic impact. Um how many projected jobs will be uh created by this facility?

Yeah. So um again until we have a user it's estimates but at this point we're anticipating it would be roughly 50 positions during the presence um of day and and night. And then I know it's not necessarily associated with this application, but um anticipating that pairing that with the Armory office uh would would have an additional 150 positions. And then from a interim uh construction period estimating just over a thousand construction jobs across 2.2 million labor hours.

All right. And you guys talked about tax revenue, but can you again quickly describe how much tax revenue is projected as a result of this project? Yeah. Um over the first 10 years of operation, the proposed facility is estimated to generate approximately $4.847 million in total taxes and fees. Um that includes 1.47 million to the city of St. Louis, 232.7 million to SLPs, and um 104.3 million to all of the other local taxing jurisdictions. Um so in the first year of operation alone the project is estimated to generate more than 75 million in total taxes and fees including over 35 million to FL. So um no local tax abatements uh or local development incentives are being requested. Uh but we we also did assume with those numbers the participation of the Missouri data center sales tax exemption program that's statuto. Um will the facility be expanding any broadband or utility services?

Uh um it is we do anticipate that the that the existing broadband utility services would be able to serve the site um that run along it. So um that is is part of the selling point of the site itself. But it would be um consistently maintained and ensure that it is uh you know running along with the evolution of technology and and consistently maintained.

All right. And can you describe your approach to public outreach? Yeah, public outreach and community engagement uh for the facility has included really ongoing coordination with uh city agencies. Um you know, we took a ton of feedback from the community as I previously said across two massive town halls u one virtual and one in person and um we we took that back uh to the drawing board to bring you the proposal that you see today. All right. Um the next questions are about consumer impact. Uh what are the anticipated effects on water and energy bills of the citizens of the city of St. Louis? Um how do you see your role in that if any?

Um yeah I am trying to find that. Um so the proposed facility would not increase water or energy bills for city rateayers including residents, small businesses and St. Louis public schools. Um, per the new tariff that was passed, large energy users are required to enter into long-term utility service agreements and and provide hefty financial guarantees that really ensure that all the costs associated with serving the facility are fully recovered um and not shifted to other customers. So any infrastructure that would be required for the project like electrical equipment connections, substations, anything would be paid for entirely by the developer in accordance with those Missouri utility uh rules. With uh respect to the water, the facility uh would be designed to operate within the existing site capacity and again is anticipated to use closed loop and air cooled systems so that um we are being conscious of uh water usage and um minimizing the amount of water drop. All right. Thank you. Um, at this point, do you know the owner or the companies associated with this facility? You you answered this, too, but do you mind just reiterating it?

Um, we the current owner uh is selling the the project and the site. Um, so the new developer who you met, uh, Rod Thomas and David, um, Danish groups, they would be taking over ownership of the property, um, you know, upon closing. Uh, and we do not know who the user is at this point. All right. Um, let's see. The next questions are about environmental impact. Uh how will the facility handle water pollution mitigation or negative impact on water quality uh of the nearby residents?

Uh yeah, the Rod previously mentioned that the site currently has approximately 2 million gallons a day of available water capacity which really exceeds the needs especially with the closed loop water system. Um so final water usage system uh systems while they haven't been designed would be very minimal um because of the way that uh we've planned the um the water usage uh and then the the facility wouldn't involve really a significant amount of discharge beyond what would be a typical like say offers user or something like that. Okay. Um for the generators that will be used, do you know if they will be using diesel fuel or some type like natural gas or an alternative source?

Yeah, backup power for the proposed facility is expected to use diesel fuel generators um consistent with standard of design practices uh and final u type would be confirmed through engineering. We have also explored um dual feed generators um but would need to go through the engineering to um finalize that. Okay. Is there a mitigation approach to pollution from diesel generators?

Emissions from backup generators wouldn't would be limited um through the controlled operations. The physical enclosure that same sound attenuation um that would provide protections from the sound uh would also provide a barrier for air quality uh and we would ensure that we were within the air quality regulations um that are are already in place. All right. um how will you be handling any electronic waste such as outdated servers etc.

Uh so that would be really uh handled and disposed by the the user themselves. Um typically that is done as a de sort of decommissioning on a schedule and would be um you know based on their practices. So since we don't have a user identified we don't have those procedures fully um vetted at this point. Okay. Um, do you have expected noise levels and and like decibb that might be generated from uh

uh so we can't determine it until we decide what equipment we're going to have. Um, but we do um know that the existing um noise on the the site would far exceed the noise levels of the the equipment. All right. So it wouldn't be negatively impacted. Um I know you're in the design phase, but uh do you know what type of lighting might be used here at the facility? Um and can you ensure it won't be shining on nearby residences?

Yeah, absolutely. Happy to, you know, once we go through the the lighting and planning phase, um you know, make a commitment to ensuring that there's no light glare spill off, especially on public rideways along the highway and things like that. Um, if the project were approved, uh, is there a construction time frame? Uh, it would be somewhere between 18 and 24 months,

right? Uh, I assume the facility plans to have signage. Um, if you have outdoor signage, um, this is just a note that it must be approved by, um, the building division, the department of zoning. Um, have you reached out yet to a neighborhood association or the alder person uh pertaining to this project?

Yeah, we we've um definitely kept ongoing conversations with the elder woman. I believe she is here today to um provide testimony as well. So, she can speak for herself. Um there is not a neighborhood association that specifically covers the site, but we did work closely with the adjacent stakeholders including um the redevelopment corporation who we had previously worked with on the 500 prospects project um and they have been supportive um and I and I believe they're also here to provide testimony.

Okay. All right. These last two questions are uh standard questions we ask all uh conditional use applicants. Um the first question is will the proposed land use be detrimental to the public health, safety, morals or general welfare? No. And the next question is will the use cause serious injury uh to the neighboring properties uh by hindering its use or reducing or impairing their property values? No. All right. Uh with that, is there anything else as the applicant you'd like to add?

I don't think so. I I really appreciate the the time and space um to go through this and look forward to hearing um the rest of the testimony.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Um now we will move into the testimony portion of the hearing. Um we always start with those who are in favor of approving the conditional use. Um, so I just want to let everybody know if you currently have your hand raised, uh, it assumes or at least tells us that you are in favor of this application. Um, we will after those in favor, we will move to those opposed. Um, so please right now if you plan to speak in favor of the application, uh, please keep your hand raised. Otherwise, please lower it. Um, let's see. I'd like to start with the alderwoman um of this ward. Uh can we get you to unmute? Uh state your name and address for the record and then tell us what you'd like to say.

Good morning and thank you. So my name is Alderwoman Laura Keys. I am in the elevated 11th ward. Um the address is 1200 Market Street, room 230. All right. Um, again, everybody has two minutes and we will be setting a clock, so hopefully you'll be able to hear the alarm, but uh tell us about uh your position on this project.

Well, I am in favor of it. Uh, I believe this to be a good thing not only for uh the ward, but for our city as a whole. It has benefit for our water division uh who has a crumbling infrastructure that we cannot get uh enough funding to begin to repair. we continue uh to have problems with our water uh system and this will provide some much needed gen uh or generate some much needed uh revenue for them. Additionally, our schools definitely need this uh labor. We need uh union participation which uh they have already uh you know given data on uh how this will affect the working uh uh man and woman in the trades uh skilled professionals. So this has so many benefits uh uh for our city. Um, you know, I know that there are going to be some people who are against data centers, but you know, right now all of us are on a computer data center. Uh, you go to a doctor data center. Uh, you know, even people who claim that, you know, this is something to do with AI, you'd be hardressed to find a person that hasn't altered a photo or did something with with AI. It is the technology that is here. It's the technology that's coming. Um, I'm excited that um the the uh the work that has been done to make sure that all of the benchmarks are met um where they went back to the drawing board and came back with with thoughtful design that did take into con consideration um things that would negatively impact uh the area or people living nearby the area because it really is a uh really a perfect location. You know, it's not right next door across the street from

anybody's house. Uh it's tucked there uh right in back of the armory. All right, that's two minutes. Can you wrap up? Two minutes. I'm done. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. We appreciate it. All right. So, with that, I'm going to move on to the next person I see with their hand up. Brad Wooden. Uh can we get you to unmute? I've asked you to unmute via the the button. Hey, can you hear me? Yes. Can you state your name and address for the record, please? Uh, my name is Brad Wooten. My address is 11,000 Lynville Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63123. Uh,

all right. Great. Thank you. And can you go ahead with your testimony? So, uh, I'm a business representative for the operating engineers. Uh I am testifying in support of the proposed change. Uh you know we want to see development in the city. This city sorely needs it. Uh this is an opportunity for that uh for that to be done responsibly uh with both union jobs during construction but also union jobs afterwards. Uh you know we currently represent data center engineers in the city of St. Louis and see this as an opportunity for expansion of good well-paying jobs that support uh not only the people there but their families and the region we are in.

All right, thank you. All right, we'll move on to the next folks. I see I see uh Sylvester Taylor II. Hey, how you doing? Uh

5850 Elizabeth. Um, listen, at the end of the day, uh, there's a couple things that I heard. Uh, one, the grid is the grid, right? So whether you are all the way out in Collinsville, Illinois, or whether you in Warrington, Missouri, it's the same grid. Um, with and with the state proposal to cut income tax and property tax, how do you raise money? How where does that where does that uh revenue come from? Now, uh let's face it, nobody's we we have a ton of people moving out, not a whole lot of people moving in. So, at some point, we have to be proactive and not reactive. And last but not least, CO exposed us. And what I mean by that is when we were all working from home and uh the the city was just about shut down and the schools were everybody was was virtual for the it exposes and and we need help. I think this is a wonderful way for us to increase our uh the help that our kids need for for the data loop. And and last but not least, there has been a data center at 1010 Pine for 30 plus years. 30 years. This has been in St. Louis. So, it's not like, you know, we have this uh anomaly of of data fence. We already have them. They're already here. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Uh, next person on my screen I see is Brooks Getter. Can we get you to unmute? State your name and address for the record. Morning. Brooks Getter, uh, proud City of St. Louis resident in Ward One. Um, I'm the executive director for the St. Louis Midtown Redevelopment Corporation. Uh, 3728 Market Street is not within our redevelopment area, but we are neighbors of it and supportive of it. Uh, Contour, the developer for this project, fortunately, has agreed to go ahead and invest in the Armory building. The Armory building is very important to us and, you know, a lot of city of St. Louis residence. It has an amazing history to it. Uh it's $60 million was invested into that building. It has been vacant, been closed for the last year and a half and unfortunately it was broken into for the fifth time a couple weeks ago. So all the copper has been stolen from the building now. Um it's, you know, it's already getting in disrepair as part of it. We are very nervous of what the armory building is going to become again in the future if this project does not go through. The other thing I would say is Contour is not only interested in 3728 Market Street and the Armory building, but they are actually looking to go ahead and do future residential and retail development in the area uh which would be, you know, very much needed and very much welcomed as part of this whole area. Uh, Contour is also a big fan of the Brickline Greenway and they want to go ahead and support the Brickline Greenway, not only along the Armory building in 3728 Market Street, but they actually want to support it to go ahead and get the Brickline Greenway up to Shoto Avenue and, you know, eventually getting to Tower Grove Park as part of this. Uh, so we see that this is a tremendous amount of community benefits as part of this project and we wholeheartedly support it.

All right. Thank you. Uh, next person says, "R ledbed."

Good morning. It's a weird code. My name is Rich Leadbeter and I am a resident of the city of St. Louis, uh, Ward 10. I happen to be CEO of Guarantee Electrical Company, uh, resident of the city of St. Louis and it will come as no surprise that I'm in support of a data center. But let me say a couple things. Why can't we have a both and approach to important things in the city of St. Louis as opposed to an eitheror approach? We are absolutely capable of doing responsible development in the city of St. Louis and I believe that this Armory data center represents responsible development. Um we are part of a peer group of electrical contractors that come from all over the country and we meet three times a year for 15 years. We've had the opportunity to listen as peers in Nebraska and then it was the Southeast and then it was the East Coast built data centers. Over the last 5 years, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and soon Little Rock and other communities are going to be building data centers. We're capable of staying inside this race and we're capable of doing it responsibly for the city of St. Louis. Our utility company Amron has already decided to spend billions and billions of dollars to produce multiple gigawatts of power. Someone is going to use that power and it's going to go for data centers across the river. Data centers are coming to Pontoon Beach and other places nearby. So, why not stay inside this game and do it in a responsible way? Guarantee has been in the city of St. Louis for 124 years. We're part of what I believe is a center of excellence for construction in the nation. We're partners with our IBW uh brothers and sisters, IBW local

number one. We are the very very best in the universe at electricity and contracting. Let's do this right and let's do this as a community and let's support the human beings who live and work in the city of St. Louis. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um let's see. The next person just says IBW. Let me get you to Oh, good morning. Yeah, my name is Mike Newton. Uh proud St. Louis city resident, 13th ward, lifelong uh city resident. Um proud public school graduate. My address, I'm a city resident again. uh 8747 Partridge Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63147. Great.

When I I'm a U journeyman wireman electrician with IBW Local One. Uh currently work as a business agent uh for our union. Uh we represent also represent the uh St. Louis city employees that work in you know the uh the electrical divisions here in the city. So to me this is more about investment tax you know tax uh funding um and just basic investment in the city. I know on the as a resident of the north side, we face issues with economic instability, lack of investment, access to uh careers, educational challenges, access to information, infrastructure, and I know all of those are they start with money, supporting St. those public schools, quality education, a career path, which is what the, you know, the union building trades could offer. So, this is to me, this is not just about this one data center. It's about a long-term uh approach to uh helping to rebuild the city of St. Louis. And right now, we're in a uh tough position with no support from Washington DC, no support from Jeff City. You know, it's basically they're like France Fernan said, they're breaking our legs and they laugh because we have a limp. So, we need not only for the the construction industry, but we need a long-term investment in St. Louis city, for St. Louis public schools, for Career Pass for people in my community.

Okay. And this is a great this is a great opportunity. And like I said, career past with the union building trades. I've been in IBW local one for this August will be my 35th year. And as a result, I've been able to support myself, my family, give back to my community. We do mentoring. So this is a great opportunity I think and the really the bottom line is the investment and the uh you know the opportunity to two minutes sir. So sorry apologize. All right, we just want to get through everybody. All right, appreciate it. All right, the next person I see says Greg M.

Yes, thank you. I'm a lifelong resident of the city of St. Louis. I live in Ward 5 and I just want to speak in support of it. I know that Can you say your full name for the record? Uh Gregory Meyer. Thank you. Go ahead.

All right. Uh, and as a lifelong resident of the city, I have seen the city change where we've had many people moving out of the city. We've had a lack of investment in the city. This is an investment where the developer is not asking for any tax incentives. and our public schools and and and our water system, which could use investment. City leaders can use the uh money that is generated from this development to help with many of the needs that we have. And many of the things that I've seen in the chat um ask about how that money will be spent. Well, we need to make sure that our alders and our other elected officials spend it as we believe it should be. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you. Uh, the next person I see says Deborah's S10. Uh, can we get you to unmute? State your name and address for the record. All right, Deborah, are you calling my phone? It would be star six to mute and unmute yourself. I'm also asking you to unmute. So, there you go. Deborah Robinson, undecided. Um, okay. We're going to have a time at the very end for undecided. Are you able to wait on the call with us? Yes, sir. All right. I'm going to put you back on mute. Okay. Yes, sir.

Thank you. All right. Next person I see says Mark Crowe. Can we get you to unmute? State your name and address for the record. All right. I I hit ask to unmute again, Mark. There you go. Uh, Marro, 3100 Lavender Lane, 63139. Uh, been a resident not just in this area, but also in a 63139 Dogtown area. Uh, so I'm definitely in favor. Basically, the the money that would be generated from this for the city is extremely important. number one for the schools and as some other people had stated the water and and we all know the water has been a problem for for years and if we can get some money from this and also I want to explain to some people that the platform that we're on right now used as a data center opposed and against we have to understand that this technology would not be here and during co Uh we we all used it. The whole world used it. And without these data centers, I think I mean they can they can build them over in Illinois and we'll still be using our power. You the power that's being used for this whether it's in Illinois or St. Louis is the same and we might as well benefit from it. That's all I got. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Um, the next person I see says, uh, Byron Clemens. Can we get you to unmute? Um, state your name and address for the record.

Byron Clemens. Uh, 5128 Shoto's Bluff, St. Louis, Missouri 63111. Um, I represent the American Federation of Teachers, St. Louis 420. Like everyone else, we had some concerns as a union. Um and we felt like the developers were responsive to those concerns um both to the board of alderman to the town hall meetings and they changed the proposal and they addressed most of our concerns and uh just the whole idea of investing in the infrastructure of St. Louis in the St. Louis public schools in the city and the water department. One of the things they came up with between the first proposal and the second one is a closed loop cooling system. It would not be draining water from the Mississippi River which I look at every day. Um the infrastructure Amaran UE has said publicly that it will not raise the electric rates. Now they confess the electric rates may go up but it won't be because of this data center. Um it's in a industrial area. It's not a residential area. It's surrounded by highways and um it's a win-win situation for the city. Three $35.9 million in the first year is important uh for the St. Louis public schools, $47 million for the city of St. Louis. No tiffs or tax abatements. We said to them, "Other developers keep asking for tiffs and tax abatements that impact the St. Louis public schools. Millions and millions of dollars have gone out the door and really hurt the St. Louis public schools. This is an opportunity to move in a positive direction and we really think we should do it." Um, those concerns people have,

I think most of them have been addressed. Uh, and one more thing I got you. There are 13 data centers currently extent in the city of St. Louis right now. I don't hear a lot of hoopla and people screaming and getting out the pitchforks and torches about that. All right, two minutes, Mr. Clemens. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, the next person I see says Lynn Martin. I didn't think I'd get up so early. All right. Can you state your name and address for the record?

Martin, Evelyn Martin. I'm in ward 553 Flozen 63109. I am a partially retired mental health nurse and I still teach nursing. I'm against the data center for a couple of reasons. Oh, Lynn, we are not in the positives. I wondered if I was in the positives. All right. So, you can either hang on the call until we get there or you can write I was wondering if I was in the positives. Oh, I have such a I don't know. I've been here a long time. We gonna move on, Lynn. All right. But yeah, you can submit. Tell me what I need to do. Just unmark my hand and then mark it again.

Yep. All right. Next person we have is Kyle Montgomery. Uh we are still on uh support of the conditional use. Kyle, can you state your name and address for the record?

Yeah. So, good morning, Kyle Montgomery. Um I am actually just on the Illinois side, so don't hold that against me. Um, I will give you my uh address as an our office address which is 66 16 650 Chesterfield Grove Road in Chesterfield, Missouri. Um, I've been working in and around St. Louis for 20 years and about the same time in any mission critical facility which is a hospital or a data center. Um, I've been working with the developers for the last three years to repurpose the site. Uh, I'm in strong favor of this project. Not to be redundant and a lot of people have already touched on this, but this is a great opportunity for the city of St. Louis. We talked about the power usage, the water usage, um the tax incentives, which is really needed for the city of St. Louis, uh as well as our school districts or as well as the St. Louis school districts as well. Um you know, and the other thing we haven't really talked about is is the jobs it creates downstream. I think somebody mentioned this too, but we talk about the the armory as a office building and then what the you know data center jobs would be and then temporary construction. But for a company like me, I would hire at least 10 more uh technicians to service this equipment and that would be no different than guarantee which would be a lot higher or uh any mechanical contractor that would be involved as well. Um so again in favor there's a lot of uh opportunity here and and I guess the other thing I just wanted to say and then I'll be done. Um you know when we talk about generators and noise pollution we've heard a lot about that. Uh as we mentioned this is right by the highway. If you think about a generator it's like a semitr and how many semi-truckss drive by that corridor every day. So um again just in strong favor of it and I appreciate everybody's time.

All right. Thank you. Um, let's see. Next person I see says, uh, Jeffrey Lewis, can you unmute yourself? Um, state your name and address for the record and there you go. Hi, this this is actually Brandon Flynn. I was in Jeff's office. I couldn't get on earlier. Um, I am the business manager of the Missouri and Kansas Savers District Council. We actually we represent more than 1,450 members from Labor Circle local 42 and 110 who are city residents. They would love the opportunity to work on a project within the city limits. We're in favor of this data center project. Additionally, local 42 represents the St. Louis public school custodians and the the tax revenue benefit to the public school system for the students and the employees is is tremendous and sorely needed. Um this will create family supporting unit construction jobs. I know that some of the opponents may say that these are temporary jobs, but this is will be the largest investment construction project in uh recent memory in the city of St. Louis. It will employ a lot of building trades members including construction craft.

Um that concludes my comment. Thank you. All right. Uh moving on. I see um I'm sorry I'm going to butcher your name, but Jeffrey Abusi Abosi, can you unmute? There you go.

Yes. Thank you. Hi. Um, my name is Jeff Abusi. I work at 2300 Hampton Avenue as a 45 year resident of the 23rd ward. Currently, reside at 330 Shetland Valley in Chesterfield. Uh, I represent the building trades and the operating engineers. We're here to talk in favor of this project. First, I want to applaud the Alderwoman Keys for sponsoring this piece of legislation. As as others have said, this is critical to the building trades. It's not just about the jobs for these people. It's the pathways that it creates for new apprentice, new apprentices to get into the trades. Um, as you talk about the the benefits and the taxation that comes to the city, um, it's really needed for our educators and for our St. Louis public school district. We hope that this project moves forward. We think that with the crumbling decay of the city and other infrastructure needs that the remaining taxation can help fix up some of our roads, bridges, etc. So again, uh that concludes my remarks and look forward to this project becoming a reality. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, all right. Next person I see is uh and again this is in support of the conditional use. Uh, is it Wesnicker?

Hey there. Thanks. Um, if you can hear me. All right. My name is Wesnicker. I'm a homeowner in the city of St. Louis. Um, who can barely afford the increases we've seen over the last few years in electric and gas as it is. So, we are currently on um those in support of the conditional use. We will get to the opposition uh as soon as we are able. Um so, you're you're welcome to also write in testimony at zoning styenmo.gov. Um but we are going to

the rest of us will be speaking when time comes to it, but you can go on to the rest of the people that are benefiting from this. Um, we will go on to UA Local 562. Can you state your name and address for the record?

Yeah, my name is Scott Ramshaw. I'm with the plumbers and pipers out of St. Louis. Uh, we want to go on record that we're in support of the data center at the Armory Project. We build and maintain uh and service all the uh buildings throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County. We are involved with servicing and u not only building but servicing the u data centers in St. Louis city, St. Louis County and other facilities that are out and out west of St. Louis. You know when our members of a when our members or any of the building trades member hit a job they those those designs have been reviewed by civil engineers, structural engineers, plumbing engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers. We're growing a workforce for the future. We roughly have about 830 apprentices right now in our apprenticeship training program. We're looking to grow that as the data centers come online. We service and maintain residential schools, hospitals, water treatment plants, uh wastewater plants, commercial facilities, pharmaceutical, gas stations, fuel stations, power plants and even the nuclear facilities. So, we are uh heavily involved in economic development, workforce development. Let's move this project forward and move St. Louis city forward.

Uh sir, can you state your name again? We didn't catch you. Scott Ramshaw with the plumbers and pipe fitters out of St. Louis. Can you spell is it Ranchaw? Yeah. R A W. Perfect. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Next, I see Dave Sweeney.

Good morning. My name is David Sweeney. I represent the developer. I live in the city of St. Louis and work in the city of St. Louis. I live in the fifth ward and work in the eighth ward. Um, thank you for the time today. I I was also involved in the first uh proposal and this proposal as discussed already and I won't reiterate it is is so much uh better. The community was listened to, city officials were listened to, and and changes were made. And this would be the largest investment in the history of the city of St. Louis. I don't think that can be stressed enough. As our population decreases and our cost to infrastructure and lack of investment, this would be a great opportunity for us. So, I appreciate everyone's time um both on the pros and the cons. And have a good day.

All right. Thanks. Uh Jay Landingham, can you state your name and address for the record?

Yes. Uh John Lanningham, 1447 Bope Road, 63131. I am a St. Louis County resident. However, I do have a very strong connection with St. Louis City after attending graduating uh both St. Louis University undergrad and law school, living there the whole time, which is very close to the Armory. And I just want to see the city of St. Louis succeed. Today we have the opportunity to build infrastructure of a modern economy, not only for us, but for future generations. You know, this isn't just about servers and buildings. It's about creating jobs, both construction and long-term technical careers. It's about expanding our tax base to support both schools and city services. And it's about positioning St. Louis so we don't get left behind while all these other cities are expanding and building these data centers. I agree that it is a valid concern that we need to get the right agreements in place. We need to ensure this project aligns with our sustainability goals while still driving world is growing via Zoom. We can either welcome the investment to St. Louis on our terms or watch it go to another city. Let's choose to build a brighter future in St. Louis. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Uh, next person I see is Nick Perryman. Can you state your name and address for the record?

Hi, good morning. My name is Nick Perryman. I am a lifelong St. Louis city resident and a proud St. Louis city resident. Uh, I would like to speak in favor of this proposal. Uh, I live at 383 South Kings Highway uh, in Ward 2. Uh, so this project is going to create solid union jobs here in St. city and provide millions for SLPS. This project is also critical to ensure that St. Louis city can take part in our next generation economy. So, uh very happy to be here speaking in favor of this proposal and thank you for your time today. All right. Thank you. Uh next person I see says Sean Fa. Yes.

Can you state your name, address for the record, and proceed with your testimony? Yes, my name is Sean FA. at 6309 Minnesota Avenue, First Ward, St. Louis City. All right. What would you like to say?

Yes. So, this is a conditional use hearing. I know that there's a lot of people here that are coming from a very id ideological position. This is a conditional use hearing for property in unrestricted K zone. Um, you know, we have our conditional uses here for the public safety, for the health, and um the welfare of the community. Well, I can say that where I work at on the hill in the fifth ward that recently we couldn't use the restroom for the large part of the day because the water man had broken because we need investment in infrastructure. We need revenue to do that. We need revenue for our public schools. We have an opportunity here to see the largest investment largest tax generated investment in the history of the city of St. Louis. And let me just say that again. is the largest tax generating development in the history of the city of St. Louis and St. Louis has been around hundreds of years. So, as a SLPS parent, which I haven't heard anyone else on this call say yet in the sport side, but I will be the first hopefully to say that I am very concerned about seeing this development.

Wish I could loot my friends and what the is there? Keep going. We're trying to monitor that. Can I get my time back? Because I hate being interrupted. That's very obnoxious. If you if you could proceed, then you will have your time. Keep going. I'm trying to. Yes, thank you. I um apologize for that. That was very rude. Um but I'd like to see this water infrastructure um invested in. I'd like to see our police and fire funded and I'd like to see my schools funded for my kids. Um I uh am very excited to see this development and I really hope that we can have a mute for all in the future instead of being interrupted whoever is speaking in support or opposition. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, we will move on to It looks like Rod Thomas. Can uh you state your name and address for the record? All right. I'm asking you to unmute. Do you see the button, Rod? There you go. Okay. Th This is Rodney Thomas. I spoke earlier. I am a co-developer on the project. I just wanted to clarify a couple points. Well, Rod, uh, we're going to have a time at the end, uh, for the applicant to respond. Um, so we're gonna keep moving on to folks who are here from the general public. Thank you. All right. So, uh, I see a Matt Geeki Greyber. Can we get your name and address for the record?

Uh, yes. Good morning. My name is Matt Geeki, uh, 34 North Marramck, Clayton, Missouri, 63105. I'm a senior vice president at Greybar. On behalf of Greybar, let me express our support of the Armory Data Center project. Greybar is a Fortune 500 company that moved its headquarters from New York to St. Louis in 1982. Among the many reasons why we moved to St. Louis, our community today, is that we felt St. Louis was a supportive business environment for creating jobs and providing opportunities. Appreciating what St. Louis means to Greybar, we have given back to our community as a company and side by side with our employees. And we believe through responsible and reasonable development, the Armory data center project presents a similar opportunity for the city to demonstrate to our residents the broader community region. Approving the CUP will further our reputation as a city embracing the future. It will enhance our reputation, broaden our tax base, and benefit our schools as well as our overall community. Consequently, I strongly encourage approving the cup. Thank you.

All right. Uh, if we can get the It looks like Henry Eubank. Um, can you state your name, address for the record, and share your testimony?

Yes, sir. My name is Henry Eubank. I live at 4415 Purging Avenue, uh, 63108. Um, I'm here on behalf of, uh, as a city or as a citizen of the city of St. Louis and as a as as someone representing Greater St. Louis, Inc., I want to express our support for this project. Uh, you know, the the city is in a position where we can't approach uh growth opportunities with disdain. Um, you know, rejecting rejecting projects uh with such great development teams that have uh dedicated time and resources to uh conforming their project to the demands of the community is uh is not something that we want to be in the business of. Uh so with that, I'll close and uh signal our signal our support for this project. Thank you,

you're on mute, Evan. Great. Thank you, Cecilia. Emily Martin, can we get you to also unmute? Apologize about that. And uh state your name and address for the record.

That's good. My name is Emily Martin and I am a 30-year resident of the city of St. Louis, ward 6 at 4232 Flora Place and I wanted to speak in uh favor of the development of the Armory Data Center. Um first of all, this is an underutilized piece of property in an industrial area and it's going to continue to be so unless um the city is willing to support development there. Um, this is a project that unlike most projects that come to the city, is not asking for any tax increment financing and indeed is going to be a taxpayer in the city at a time when we so desperately need revenue to support our schools, to support our city services. And this city is going to help St. Louis become competitive. um Kansas City, Columbus, Omaha, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Teroot, they are all getting huge investment in their communities. And if we're not willing to be open for business in the city of St. Louis, we're going to continue to to trail the rest of the cities of the Midwest, and that's not what I want as a city resident. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Uh I see next Bill Bick. All right. Can you state your name and address for the record?

Sure. Bill Bick, proud 26-year resident of the first ward, having moved from St. Louis County to St. Louis City. All my my last of my five children are just getting ready to graduate school this year in a couple of months. Um, so, um, uh, but I'm also calling for, so I'm calling I'm talking in favor of this project, not only as a as a resident of the city, but I for 40 plus years I've been in the business of supporting data centers. We worked all over the country. Uh, and just to echo what's already been said, I I really don't want to see the city get left behind. Uh, um, because, uh, you know, it it will get left behind. this will give it a a reputation and there's there's there's so much development going on all the tenants in these facilities the major tenants are among the most uh s you know sustainably minded companies in the world and spend more than any companies in the world sustain on sustainability uh you know that that can that that will happen with this um I I my company is also we have we currently work in or have worked in all the data centers in the city of St. Louis. And you know, from what I've heard of this project, this will be by far the most sustainable and cleanest data center project here. And and personally, um uh my benefit to this is, you know, if development happens to this scale, you know, it will it will get on people's radar for the for the city of St. Louis for all kinds of development. And um I'd like to see my property values increase. I'd like to see the services, you know, from the city increase and the reputation of the c of the city increase because of the additional revenue uh involved in all that. Um, so I'm very much in favor of her. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you. Uh, next I see Patricia R. Thomas. State your name and address for the record and proceed. Patricia, it looks like your Zoom is unmuted, but we can't hear you. So, it could be the audio on your device. Nope. Still nothing. Patricia, we're going to move on, but we'll come back to you. um see if you can try to work on getting the audio on your device to work. Your Zoom audio appears to be working. Uh but we can't hear you. Hi, good morning. Kyle McKenna, resident of Ward 2 and the executive director of the St. Louis chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association located at 3245 Hampton Avenue. Uh representing approximately 150 electrical contractors who employ more than 5,000 electrical workers throughout the eastern half of Missouri. uh clearly here in support of this responsibly planned data center project because what it means for the jobs and because of the economic development in the city of St. Louis. Uh projects like this bring significant investment into the city and create numerous highquality union construction jobs for our contractors and workforce alike. This is exactly the type of project that provides opportunity, stability, and

long-term growth for the region. Uh so with that uh I really want to say that the developers having come back and addressed the the water, the energy and noise concerns that have uh previously been mentioned just goes to show how responsible they're trying to be with regard to this development and we are in full support. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh let's see. Uh is it Marine McDonald? Can we get you to unmute?

Donald, I'm the vice president of advocacy for the Associated General Contractors of Missouri. Uh we're located in Ward 4. Um I won't be long. Uh we are in support of this project for many of the reasons that other supporters have listed. It's a fantastic opportunity um not just for construction, but also for the community, and we're excited about the opportunity that it provides St. Louis City. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, next person says Frank Jacobs.

Uh, good morning. My name is, uh, Frank Jacobs, uh, resident of, uh, St. Louis County, but I'm the business manager of IBW Local 1 at 5850 Elizabeth Avenue in St. Louis. Um, I'm speaking in favor of the data center. Um, the jobs created will be long-term jobs. Uh, there's going to be continued maintenance on those projects. uh future up upgrades as technology changes. Local one has been part of the city of St. Louis since 1891 and we want the city to just to to thrive. Um besides the jobs created, the funds generated will be what this city needs to move forward and and be the city that we can uh that we can be proud of. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, I don't see any more hands raised, but we are currently on um support testimony of support of the conditional use. Um, are there others here that would like to speak in support of the conditional use permit? So, I see a Brian Shelly. No, I was I was just raising my hand in preparation to oppose.

Okay. All right. One. Yes. I'll make one last call. Is there anybody else here in support of the conditional use that would like to give testimony? I see several people via phone, so I just want to give them a little bit of a second cuz sometimes there's a lag. It's star six to mute or unmute yourself if you're calling by phone and you'd like to testify in support of the conditional use permit. Okay, with that we will move on to opposition. Um, for folks who are here to speak in opposition, thank you. You're already raising your hands. That helps us out a ton. Um, and we will get to phones. Um, as we are able. So, I am going to go ahead and start with the first person I see, which says Margaret Keller. Uh, can you please state your name and address for the record um and proceed with your testimony? Oh, and again, uh, everybody will have two minutes as did the support.

Hi. Hi.

I'm Margaret Tyler and I'm a business owner in Ward 8007 Russell 63104. And I'm also a former fiscal analyst for the state of Missouri. So data center regulations are in progress right now by the city. They're in process written by the city and the right time for this decision is when these regulations are in place. Pressured to decide right now is a false pressure. There's no hurry. Yes. The unions are pressuring you for jobs. The right time for these needed jobs is when safety regulations and responsibility regulations are in place. In the name of economic progress and growth, which we all want, mistakes have been made in the city in the past. Don't let your name be attached to a mistake now with a premature decision on us before we have our data center regulations in place. If you're worried that we will lose this developer, unless you ask right now, don't be worried. Hundreds more will buy to take their place. The only right time to consider this proposal is when our data center regulations written by our aldermen are in place. Not right now. So please, I urge you to stand up and be strong and

don't fall for false pressure to hurry up this process. Thank you very much. Great. Thank you, Margaret. All right. Uh, the next person I'd like to move on to is Keegan Joseph. Uh, Keegan, can you unmute yourself and state your name and address? Can you hear me? Yes. Go ahead.

Yes. Um, my billing zip code is 63123. I have worked at the children's hospital and currently work at events in the city including Bush, Enterprise, and Fox, all the other things like that. I would like to speak from an EMT perspective of the byproducts of the pollution that will be coming out. As much as they might reduce it, there are chronic lung issues all over the city. The air already has some pollution in it and the air is stagnant as we all know from the humidity from the rivers. Mhm.

Um, as far as that, I have seen plenty of children with breathing problems get brought into this hospital. They do not need more pollution. On top of that, if there is not a way to find renewable resources and reduce greenhouse gases, the project should be postponed until they somehow find a way to do that. Furthermore, um, as far as electricity usage, there is no way for them to know. As they said, it depends on the user who uses it and that's what defines how much electricity will be used and therefore will definitely increase for the residents in the surrounding areas and on the same grid. That is all I have to say. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Uh, next I see is Ryan. Is it dyel? Can we get you to unmute? State your name and address for the record.

Hi. Uh, my name is Ryan Devil. Uh, I live in the county. I guess it's 9323 Corriodor Woodson Paris. Um, uh, but I work in W 10. Uh, I am also an organizer with the party for socialism and liberation building a data center in St. Louis benefits nobody except the ultra wealthy. Aside from the issues of water pollution, noise pollution, uh, which has been known to cause severe harm people who live near these things, including death, uh, and the urban heat island effect. The electricity required to run one of these things, the equivalent to, uh, 16 thou 16,000 homes or a small town, will put enormous strain on our energy grids. This means that Amron will need to build new power plants and in doing so increase energy rates significantly. Uh this two following uh this two following tornado on May 16th uh which Amaran responded to by increasing rates and cutting huge numbers of people off from electricity. We do not know who the end user of this data center is and they refuse to tell us. For all we know, ICE and the police will use this data center for surveillance. These data centers can be used to power facial recognition AI will be used across surveillance cameras in St. Louis to further terrorize uh and detain the people, you know, people of St. Louis. Um that along with the threatened increase of police budget by 72 million, which would the city, means that with the help of these data centers, uh St. Louis will become a surveillance state. This will also displace far more jobs and it will create the building and operation of an AI data center will ruin working people's lives.

This along with the illegal deranged war on Iran, increasing gas prices, and AI being used by Anthropic and others for war and genocide in Palestine. While the north side is still devastated, while people are struggling, the state should not be giving taxes data centers, but should instead spend that money on the working people of St. Not the billionaire's real name. All right, Brian, that's two minutes. We need to keep going. Um, let's see. I see a Wes uh Wes Snicker. Sorry, I'm butchering your name.

Hey there, I'm back. Um, like I said, I'm a homeowner in the city of St. Louis. Um, I can barely afford the increase we've seen in electric and gas in the last few years as it is. That's before an inevitable 200 to 300% increase that we see in communities in the years after data centers are built um anywhere near this scale especially as it consumes near 50% of what residential demand and is in our city. Um I have a close friend who got into building tech infrastructure including data centers years back and as we've approached this scale around the country he has shared repeatedly that these centers do not benefit any city large or small that they're built in. No matter what they initially offer, they always extract and cost the people while area politicians like Cara Spencer benefit for themselves. Electricity costs go up. Little to no jobs are created. And his experience uh matches nationwide data that we see report after report. Power projects take years to come online if further resources are planned. And the costs in the interim and afterwards are devastating to people on fix fixed incomes and residential households. Um and these same massive interests behind the proliferation of these data centers always work to skirt any oversight, power agreements and requirements by the by working to gain control um or power over the city and state power. um the citizens of this city do not want this and accurately understand the risks and cost of this that they will it will have for all of us and our community are and also in there if our city representatives and those trying to build this data center um know that we don't want this and if both of those parties are willing to sacrifice our well-being for their gain they should be willing to sacrifice their well-being as they walk around on our streets our city has no problem organizing to make it happen and if places like St. Charles can do it, so can we. Also, as a as a homeowner in the city, I don't give a about my property value increasing

because that just leads to edging people out of their homes locally. Um, so yeah, hear from the citizens and you'll face hell from us organizing if you don't hear our voices and act on that. All right, thank you. Um, all right. Uh, Lynn, let's uh get Oh, I'm back.

You're back. Yes. Let's get your name and address again for the record. My name is really Evelyn Martin. I live in Ward 5 uh 63109 5053 Flozen. Uh I'm against the data center for several reasons. As I think about this situation, I think of the play Mancha. Sorry if you've already heard my spiel, but um the lead character is an older man and his children want to put him in a home and what they say to him is, "We're only thinking of you. We're only thinking of you. and these data set we don't have a data center. So enough of that. But anyway, um these the people it's very interesting that these people are hiding behind the NDA. I know it's legal. I know they can. But just because they can doesn't mean they should. They're most likely billionaires. They're likely billionaires that have uh built rocket ships. So, if they can build those rocket ships, let's make them do clean energy. I mean, they we don't need to burn coal to do this. There's they um there are other ways to do it. And yes, they might take some time. Uh the faces that I see on here that are are against are a lot of young people. And I'm so happy I'm old. I'm almost 70. But um if you look at the guys who were pro, they were all of a similar type, too. But um I think that I think you guys get two votes because you're going to be around a lot longer than us. Um the data center is not our gift. It will cause noise pollution, air pollution, and the use of our precious water. And I was at a meeting last night. I did talk to the mayor for a few minutes about the water. And I guess they think that the more water that goes through, they're going to make money. But deregulation of the EPA will ensure that we no longer can say that that water going back is

going to be clean. So, um, and the river is the symbol of our city and I just can't I just can't risk it. Uh, we have enough. Oh, is that it? That's two minutes. Yeah. Do you have a final statement? Uh, I just want to say here's my slogan. No more AI without UBI. And I bet most of you guys know because it's gonna take your jobs. Great. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Uh we'll move on to uh is it Kelly McDonald or Kelsey? Kelsey McDonald. Yes. Kelsey. Sorry. Go ahead. State your name and address for the record.

My name is Kelsey McDonald. I'm at 4151 Tholan. So that's W 6, zip code 63116. I'm here to testify in opposition to the Armory Data Center. I understand the city wants to attract business, bring revenue, and continue to grow. But this is not the industry to do that. Large-scale data centers do not employ enough people to satiate those needs. It doesn't attract young families, bring vibrancy to the city core. It doesn't improve the air we breathe or the water we drink. It doesn't inspire community or creation or anything we need to cultivate. This only serves big business. This does not belong in our city center. My biggest issue with this project is the power usage. I testified in opposition back in January and received an email that the proposal has been updated. However, I could not find any meaningful documentation for it. The PDF signed by a PR agency glosses over energy demand by saying there are transmission lines nearby. So, all is good, right? The US Energy Information Association reported in 2023 that Missouri has to import electricity to meet our needs because we use more than we generate as it is. Yet, we are gathered here today considering a developing developing a new project that uses the amount of power of roughly 20,000 homes. I'd like to note that most people who testified in support argued that we had power to use, but we do not. We're already in the top five states for coal usage and considering power sucking projects like this would be marrying us to fossil fuels until they run out. Missuranss want diversified power to support meaningful lives for our people, not for artificial intelligence, collection of our personal data, or whatever other commodification of our lives this building would incur. I implore you to find a way to zone this area for anything else. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Um, let's see. I see. Is it Kalia?

Yes, Kalia Edwards. Ward three. I'm going to just be frank with y'all. St. Louis does not need another data center. We already have a very large scale data center as it is. Um if to be honest with you when I say St. Louis doesn't need a a data a AI data center a hypers scale one what St. Louis really needs is housing. It really needs uh community recovery, especially after a destructive EF3 tornado, which I don't know if Cecil and uh Nick and David and all these developers and people who came from uh Virginia and all these different places that are not in St. Louis realize what that means. I want y'all to go take a walk down the north side. Go down natural bridge. Go down to the west side and you will see with the people, the community you're saying supports this is really experiencing, right? The community that you're saying needs this is really experiencing. When you talk about needs, the Maslo hierarchy of needs is not being met for the people of St. Louis. Housing shel, you know, housing and shelter, food and water. We are already I'm a born and raised St. Louis. We have always been struggling. This is a city of people who will tell you we come from nothing, right? And then the tornado hit and made nothing go below go below nothing. How do you go below nothing, right? And so this is not this type of investment is not what we need. It does not fit the vision of where St. Louis is heading and going. It doesn't even fit the vision and direction that Midtown is going at all. And so if you really want to invest in St. Louis, if you really want to invest in the people of here, people who live here, this would not even be a left field a priority that came out of left field. It's not a priority. And so I would say reject this immediately

because it does not support us. It supports them. All right. Thank you. All right. Uh, next person we see is Christina uh Bettincourt. Hi, can you hear me?

Yeah, thanks. Hey. Um, I'm Chris Bettton Court. I live at 3958 Cleveland 63110. I'm a St. Louis resident speaking in opposition to this permit. When I was listening to Mr. Hartsler's presentation, nearly every commitment he made was we hope these are not commitments, they're wishes. This board is being asked to make a permanent land use decision based on wishes from a team that consistently dodged answering the city's formal 44 question survey. The developments the developers are presenting their tax obligations as community generosity. Paying taxes is not a gift. It's what every resident and business in this city is required to do. We're being told this won't affect energy rates. Look, Amaran has already raised residential rates over 32% in recent years. Last September, nearly 15,000 Missouri customers were disconnected for non-payment. When pressed, Amaran admits that grid expansion is paid by customers. We don't want this. But if this project genuinely intends to benefit St. Louis, then benefit us. contractually commit a substantial proportion of revenue to offset energy costs for low-income residents. Same with water, not taxes, revenue sharing. This is real, very possible action. And tensions without contracts are just marketing. Look, St. Louis already has 12 data center centers operating largely without any oversight, treated like warehouses, no scrutiny. The city is finally trying to get this right with a proper zoning framework and approving this permit today before that framework is finalized that the rules don't apply if you just show up and wait long enough. Finally, the end users of this facility, the

people we're hearing from, they're not St. Louis residents, they're companies. We're being asked to pay higher bills and breathe dirtier air so wealthy corporations can profit from AI that writes our kids papers and processes our photos. And that's not a trade worth making. Please deny this permit as written. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh next we have James Meyers.

Good morning. Um yeah, my name is James Myers. I'm from Ward Nine. Uh that's like the Grove area. Um so um I would like to say you know the AI industrial complex and developer industrial complex are continuously fighting to put up a data center right now for the past about year or so. Um at a this is coming at a time when people have been leaving our city for decades due to lack partly due to lack of uh livable infrastructure. We're being asked to allow this development of a data center that will increase the electric bills of people and make our city less affordable. Um, I don't think that is conducive to keeping people in our city. Um, I hear a lot about increasing the tax base and all of that, but if everybody's going to leave, if people are going to leave because the city is less affordable, it just doesn't it doesn't make any sense to me. Um, at a time when also hundreds of residents had their homes destroyed last year from a climate catastrophe. you know, it doesn't make sense to me that we're going that we're being asked to give our land to a data center that will increase greenhouse gas emissions um right here in in our city. Um that is that is tonedeaf. That is that is a betrayal of the black and brown people of the north side. Um and it's it's it's it's it's immoral. It's morally bankrupt. Um I have neighbors who wouldn't be able to afford to live if their electricity bills were increased. I myself wouldn't be able to live where I'm at if my electricity bills were to increase. I would have to go back and live in the county um in North County. Um we should reject this repo proposal. Um any benefits that the developers are saying could go to the city. Um it is my view that um they will look for any tax breaks they can to be able to make sure that they can't even get those benefits to us. And uh yeah uh this is a farce. Uh and yeah, that's my time.

All right. Thank you, sir. Um, next we have Alicia Schaefer

speaking this morning on behalf of Missouri Coalition for the Environment. Uh, thank you so much to staff for the opportunity to testify. Missouri Coalition for the Environment is opposed to the Armory Goodwill Data Center. Even in its updated form, the facility stands to do very serious environmental harm. The developer has not shared vital information. So key details including expected water use, cooling systems, backup power generation, fire suppression systems, air and water pollution mitigation plans, e-waste commitments, noise levels, and ventilation systems all remain a complete mystery despite that information being required by executive order 92. The few promises the developer has made should be weighed quite lightly against the known damages data centers cause to human health. The site is expected to use 120 megawatts of electricity consumption and that represents nearly 25% of Amaran's current total solar generation capacity. Yet the developers claim in their written materials at least that the site will be powered by renewables. Though they have just admitted a few minutes ago that this isn't in their control. The reality is that today any added use on our grid deepens our reliance on fossil fuels which is already a public health crisis. Pollution from Amaran's lavity coal plant is responsible for nearly 200 deaths annually. St. has already achieved second place nationwide for asthma deaths last year. And burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which caused the number of 100 degree days in the city to have doubled over the last 30 years and will contribute to that number doubling again in the next 30. The proposal's assertions around water are equally dubious. At one point it says the two million gallons of water per day available at the site will quote exceed anticipated project needs. But when asked directly how much water the facility will use, the developers say that is contingent on final science. Large data centers, those in line with this proposal, can consume up to 5 million gallons of water a day. Making their claims are on water spurious at best. Regardless of quantity, all data centers add chemicals to their water and produce thermal pollution at a minimum. At no point does the proposal outline the water pollution mitigation measures

that will be adopted, which means we must assume such measures don't actually exist. This cannot be acceptable in a city already struggling to maintain its aging water system. The proposal being considered today is incomplete at best and MCE believes deeply incompatible with the best interests of St. Louis. For these reasons, we respectfully urge the board of public service to reject this proposal. Thank you for your time. Great. Thank you. Uh, next I see Dallas Adams.

Good morning everyone. My name is Dallas Adams. I'm a proud resident of the third ward, 5,000 block of Alabama. Um, I am here absolutely in opposition to this and I want to just take this time to think talk through some of the things that I heard from the people in support today. So, I know that someone mentioned that we are on Zoom today having this meeting. I heard that multiple times. We're only on Zoom because y'all do not want to see us in person. And we all know why. There are so many more people who are in opposition to this and if we were to be in person, you would feel the wrath from every single one of us energetically in that room. The other thing I heard is that we're speaking from a point of idealism. And I want to make a clarification that pursuing ideas unrealistically is idealism. And it's unrealistic to think that we would sacrifice our water manes, that we would sacrifice our electrical grid for the promise of maybe 75 jobs during construction and no more than 10 jobs to sustain the data center moving forward. That is what idealism is. We cannot drink money and these jobs will not last. There's a reason why, and Matt Rutled uh put this in the chat before they had to leave, but there's a reason why this is not zoned for industrial uh use. And I know that we are here on a conditional use zoning call. This area is meant for dense urban development, residentially driven. I also used to work for the greenway. So I no longer work there and now speak as a private citizen, but the Brickline Greenway has significant investment to connect entertainment districts to one another and to connect to transit. When you put a large heat island that is an environmental hazard next to a greenway, that significantly uh distracts from the entirety of the um EPA's in uh investment into our city. When we're talking about investment, you cannot support something that your project is going to directly impact in a negative way. Money is not going to

protect users riding past an environmental hazard. And I hate to see that Slooh as a chapter 353 development corporation is not present to represent on this call and that the powerful entities that support this would push this through for the illusion of progress while environmental risks will continue to put us in our city at a detriment. All right, Miss Adams, two minutes. Do you have a final statement? Sorry. The final statement that I will say is that we will always need to focus our efforts on tornado recovery because what really generates tax revenue is residents and homes and we don't have.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh the next person is um is it Amsia Husman? Husmania Hillsman. Hi. Um 8024 Delmare Boulevard 63130. I am a Union Public School educator. Um, I've been an organizer in the city for over 10 years now. Um, you know, I want to say around the country, every day people are showing up against these data centers. Uh, St. Charles kicked them out. 850 people spoke against it in Franklin County. Why do we think that St. Louis is supposed to be any different than them? Um, reports around the country of increased energy bills. For example, the Chicago Sun Times in November 2024 ran an article that um Chicago energy bills were expected to increase by about 10%. Um rates are constantly up in St. Louis. Twothirds of this country are living paycheck to paycheck. Um prices are continuing to rise due to the war on Iran.

Um the developers are promising tax revenue, but we've heard that story so many times. ABC News 17 last week ran an article that um you know Missouri schools still have not seen any money from legalized sports gambling. Uh and if the money does go, we always just see budget cuts anyway. So it it's not really any increase for uh our schools. If we really want to help our schools, uh we could end the Missouri voucher system more scholars and use that money instead of for private schools and charter schools. We could use it for our public education. We could use the Armory building instead uh to serve the people of St. Louis. We can use it for jobs training. We could use it as a community health center. We could use it as just a regular community center. And you know, we have all these promises from the developers, but will they actually be held responsible when they certainly don't meet those promises? I'll end by saying if we need jobs, we need them to fix the streets of St. Louis. We need them to clean up and rebuild the north side of St. Louis. And we need to build St. Louis for St. Louis, not for billionaires.

All right, thank you. Um, next we have Chelsea Murda.

Thanks, Evan. Hi, my name is Chelsea Murdoser and I'm a property owner in the first and seventh wards. I do not have a financial stake in this project and I am here in strong opposition to the conditional use permit for the Armory data center. The proposed data center is an industrial use that is not compatible with the surrounding residential and medical corridors under chapter 26.80.010. This project violates nearly every requirement for compatibility within the city's own zoning code. It is a detriment to public health, safety, and general welfare. It will cause serious injury to the neighboring properties and it will deteriorate the welfare and convenience of the specific location. It is not compatible with surrounding uses and there will be a negative impact on adjacent uses in community facilities. For these reasons, by law, the conditional use permit must be denied. This project anticipates 50 or more mega mega-ized diesel generators, which is a horrifying number for a location that is so close to multiple children's hospitals, residential neighborhoods, SLPS schools, student housing, senior facilities like the Southside Wellness Center and recreational spaces. I'm not sure if the developers have seen a topographical map of this area, but it's a valley. It actually used to be called Mil Creek Valley, but what that means is that all of the pollution and toxic air that's kicked out by this data center will settle around these places and cause physical harm to the people who live and work there. The developers have also failed to talk about required periodic blowdowns within their closed loop water system that have to happen on a monthly basis, which means that they're sending thousands of gallons of chemically concentrated waste water into our already fractured wastewater systems. We already have collapsing sewer lines throughout the city and I haven't seen any commitments by the developers to make contributions to the MSD system to strengthen the wastewater pipes around this project.

All right, Chelsea, that's two minutes. Do you have a final statement? Yeah, please deny the conditional use permit for this proposed Armory data center. The community has been clear and consistent. Residents oppose this project and it violates chapter 26. Thank you. Great. Thank you. All right. Uh, Claire Mueller. Hello. Can you hear me? Yeah. Go ahead and state your name, address for the record.

All right. Claire Mueller and I work in W 11, 3745 Foundry Way, St. Louis, Missouri, 63110. I live in Maplewood, but I go into where I work every day. So, I would just like to note that um I submitted written testimony in addition to this oral testimony. Um, so this meeting is inaccessible. It's capped at 300 people. Tuesday night in Franklin County, over 850 people turned up in opposition to the multiple data centers proposed there. We were there for 12 hours, 5:30 p.m. to 4:40 a.m. Um, so we need to have these meetings a little bit more accessible because there are people that want to be here that can't right now. Of the 13 data centers Mr. Clemens mentioned in his little print out earlier, how many of those are the size of this proposed project? Echoing Margaret's points, how can we even have this conversation without city adopted regulations in place? The comments calling this project the most sustainable they've ever seen is like calling the only hill you've ever seen the world's tallest mountain. It's ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, this city desperately needs funding. But why don't we look at our current budget problems? Those acting like this is our golden goose are clearly showing their lack of faith in the city's ingenuity and ability to find other options. For everyone thinking it's a real gotcha to say that we're all using data centers on this call, we're not saying we don't understand it. We're saying we don't want it. There are some beneficial uses for AI. That can't be denied. But for most people, it's used for generative slop, thoughtlessly wasting irreplaceable resources. Yes, data centers are used for many things that we do every day. They're also used for unlawful targeted surveillance, military systems and weapons, crypto mining, AI that takes jobs away from creators, and more. The public service commission was mentioned earlier. This is the body who decides utility rate increases. I'd like to point out that the public service commission is appointed by the governor who was paid $400,000 during his campaign by Amarind. And the PSC has never, to my knowledge, said no to a rate increase. I'll quickly explain a provision of SB4, a construction work in

progress that used to prohibit um by a constitutional amendment um the construction of sites that would be funded by rateayers. So MCE, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, explains this really well. Utilities had to have new plants complete and online actually providing customers with energy before they could charge consumers for construction. SP4 took that away. So two minutes. Do you have a final? Yeah, absolutely. So we could very well still bear the brunt of this. St. Louis does not want this. The um resubmitted proposal that it's meant to be all this better. It's it's still not better and we still don't want it. The bar is low. All right. Thank you. Thanks.

All right. Next, we have uh is it Mary Morardi? Sorry, I'm butchering names here.

Yes, my name is Mary Morardi. Um I'm a St. Charles resident, but I uh that's 39 Huckfin Drive, 6330. But I work in St. Louis and I'm choosing to invest my future in St. Louis and all my loved ones lived here. And uh I just want to talk a little bit about noise. I don't really have the facts as some of our uh people that are financially benefiting from this have condescendingly stated, "Oh, it's the same amount of noise as a semi-truck." Well, my house backs up to Highway 70, and I don't hear semi-truckss loudly at full volume 247. Other cities have already testified that these data centers are acting almost like sonic weapons and are making kids sick. It's distracting. It's much too close to residential and educational areas for these things to be in operation. It we don't need this. AI is not an inevitable forthcoming like thing. We can oppose it when it does direct harm to the city. This is just a ridiculous a ridiculous waste of time. And I did testify in St. Charles and we did oppose it and we can do it in St. Louis, too. So, thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mary. Uh, next we have Joyce Wong.

Hi there. Um, thank you for um the time to speak. My name is Joyce Wong. I'm a Ward 4 resident at the 6,400 block of Odell Street. Um, I just want to reiterate well love. My opposition cohort has also stated, "Word of mouth commitments from the developers are not binding and the residents of St. Louis know this all too well. Um there are few if at all any significant examples of hypers scale data centers benefiting their cities. But there are many examples of empty promises and citizen from um promises from the city um where developers came in and didn't comply to what they um committed to. Examples are the Edward Jones Dome was built entirely with public dollars and we're still we were left holding a massive debt when the Rams left. Ballpark villages original redevelopment promises saw city TIFF subsidies shift the burden to taxpayers while the private devel developers profited. Um over $37 million in tax abatements um were handed to private developers that never reached St. Louis public schools. Um, and the wealthy developers profited from that, too. The city handed over $390 million in public financing to Paul McKe and rights to 1500 acres of North St. Louis for the north side regeneration project with McKe promising jobs in rebuilding North City. He never did that. Today, we're told that this developer won't pursue tax abatement or use public funds, but one of the principles already owes $2.8 million in back taxes. And that's not a signal of a committed partner. That's just a liability. And the promises that are made are not law. So what we do know um is the cost. So my electric bill personally went from $90

to $210 a month. Um with that recent increase that's continuing to increase. My partner, an active duty service member, saw his energy cost jump from $180 a month to over $700 a month every month this winter. Mega data centers are amongst the largest power consumers in existence. Those costs fall hardest on seniors, families, children, people on fixed incomes, those without homes, our most vulnerable residents. The developers proposing this project don't even live in this city. All right, just two minutes. Do you have a final statement? Yeah, telling like changing the location does not change our answer. We are saying no to this data center. All right. Thank you.

All right. Uh, next we have is it Brian Chel or Shelley? Hi. Yes. Brian Kaye. Kaylee. All right. Uh, can you state your name and address again for the record?

Uh, yes. My name is Brian Kaye. I live on the 5700 block of Winona in the third ward. I own Readita Bookst STL, a used bookstore in Ward 5. And I'm here to uh support I agree with everyone and thank everybody who came out to speak out against this data center. But I want to talk about something that hasn't been touched on yet, which is what exists in that building right now. This proposal will gut the city of a vital resource to the most vulnerable population. The Goodwill Outlet located at 3728 Market Street is an essential resource for thousands of St. Louis area households. I've been shopping there for over 12 years, purchasing goods, mostly books, to resell. I am one of hundreds of people that directly depend on this store as a source of income. Eliminating this location in favor of another data center will kneecap hundreds of St. Louis families and businesses. Hundreds of people line up every day like Black Friday to get into this place, regardless of the weather, just for the privilege to shop here. Many of them own businesses like myself, boutiques, brick andmortars, online. Others are disabled or people who are locked out of the formal job market and use it just to access affordable clothing and household items. These are people who do not have time to show up to a public meeting and advocate for themselves. If you redevelop this building and evict the goodwill outlet, you will kneecap the people, these people's ability to earn, pay their taxes and put their money back into the city, which is what local businesses do. Don't sell out the city's most vulnerable populations to these predatory developers. They don't even seem to be aware that the building is currently occupied. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, let's see. The next person just says Katie. Uh, can we get you to unmute and Yep, that's me. So, my name is uh Carl Frank. Um, I go by Katie, though. Um, great. I'm at uh 2715 Arkansas Avenue. So, I'm about 2 miles from the proposed

data center location. Um, I think that the I'm very opposed to this and I think that um all the talk about this being an industrial area is really an insult to anybody uh who has eyes. Um, I've driven by this area many times. Like I said, I'm very close to it. Uh, there are apartment buildings less than a mile from the armory. There is a hospital and a university less than 2 miles. Um, just because it is right next to a highway does not mean it is there are not people living there. If you drive down Grand right near the armory, you will see a pretty large bus stop that always has people there. There are it's very common to see people walking along that stretch. uh between that bus stop and uh across um where 64 uh links in with Grand there. This is a area that is has a lot of people coming and going and I think that the um noise pollution and air pollution will be detrimental to the people living there, to the people working there, people who have to go to university, to the hospital. Um, and I also think that, you know, if we're talking about an AI data center, they're talking about all of the income that this will bring to the city. AI companies do not make money right now. Um, you know, if you look at something like Open AI, Sam Alman's company, it is not a profitable company. So, how good of a long-term investment is this uh data center going to be if we are talking about an industry that is not profitable?

Um, and that is all I have to say. I'm very opposed to this project. All right. Thank you. Uh, next we have um looks like Mary Beth Mchugh Mchugh. Yes, Mary Beth McHugh. All right, great. Great.

Um, my name is Mary Beth McHugh. I live in the 4500 block of Cleveland Avenue, Ward 5. I've lived there for six years. I'm strongly opposed to the Armory Data Center for three main reasons. The first is the environmental aspect. Um, I live within walking distance to Tower Grove Park and the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I spend a lot of my time there in these green spaces and having a data center down the road emitting air, water and noise pollution, which has already been mentioned, um will negatively impact the spaces that myself and the community hold dear. Um the Missouri Botanical Gardens is um worldrenowned for its research and conservation. Um what will this um pollutant down the street have impact have on that um that work that they're doing? Um the proposal has no plans finalized for the amount of water that they will use as was mentioned. Um and as environmentally as an ant from to many beautiful children, I care deeply about the world that we're leaving to our next generation. Um and this data center will endanger their health and safety. The second reason I'm opposed to the data center is that I'm opposed to AI um being used by law enforcement and ICE to disappear my neighbors and surveil citizens. Um it's dangerous and irresponsible to approve this data center proposal without the public knowing who the end user is and what they're using this data for. The third reason I'm opposed is from a cost of living perspective. I'm not alone on this. I'm a single inome household. I have student loan debt. Um I cannot afford an increase in utility costs. Um and again

they promise that this come two days in a row. What is the rates will increase? Um but a promise is not an enforceable regulation. Um so to the board of public service, I imagine you entered this line of work to serve the public and this data center will not serve the people of St. Louis. It will only serve to make corporations richer at the expense of me and my neighbors. Thank you. All right, thank you and sorry for the disruption there for you. Um, let's see. Next, I see Emily Sele.

Hi. Um, my name is Emily Cyple. I live at 4949 West Pine Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63108. I'm a resident of W 9 and I am in opposition to this condition conditional use and asked that it would be um denied. Residents have already spent hours upon hours testifying against the previous iteration of this deal and explaining concerns. Moving next door and not answering questions is not a good faith response to public concerns. Um, as a planner and resident, it's infuriating to me that the city can ask residents to provide input on the zoning code update. While on the other hand, we are potentially considering conditional use hearings for something that people do not want, especially to people who are developers who are not good neighbors, don't even live here. and who owe significant amounts of money in taxes. Residents deserve coherent, cohesive zoning policy that protects us from developer interests. That is the point of zoning. This is a massive data center. It's breaking with precedent and scope and scale and potential harm. So, I urge those empowered to say no and proceed with a sensible code update. Pushing deals like this through in the middle of the code update undermines its future credibility and feels like a slap in the face to the city staff, the consultants, and most importantly the residents who have contributed to the recommendations of the zoning code update. The planning staff who worked on recommendations for data centers intentionally and carefully created distinctions between data center types, something the presenters behind this proposal and those in favor refuse to do. conflating all data centers and is insulting to the people here who are speaking against the scope and scale of the specific conditional use. Speaking of use, the presentation did not give any clarity on the end user other than that they are a data center operator. Quoting directly, we don't know who our tenant is going to be. We don't know the end user. That is not transparency. That will not allow sufficient conditions and protections through hearings like this. Zoning is about uses. If we can't

understand the use, we can't be adequately protected. Again, please say no to this proposal. There is no price tag that makes this worth it. If you want people to stop leaving the city, listen to the people who live in the city. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Emily. Uh, next we have Nicole. Hi. Um, can you hear me? Okay.

Yes, we can hear you. Can you give your full name uh for the record? Um, I've lived in St. Louis for 15 years and I'm here in opposition of the Armory Data Center. Um, I've been working for a tech company right here in St. Louis for the past seven years. Um, between 2019 and 2021, this company has employed thousands of St. Louis residents. Um in the last month the company laid off intention of replacing workers with automation and AI. Countless friends and former co-workers here in St. Louis are now left without work and the remaining employees were impacted as well. With fewer employees supporting the business, we now have unattainable workloads all while we train AI to take our jobs and do those jobs poorly. So, as someone currently witnessing the devastating impacts of machine learning in the workplace, I am against the Armory Data Center for the inevitable aid it would provide in the decimation of the workforce in our city and across the United States. I'm not just concerned about employment. I'm concerned about the increased cost of utilities. I am terrified of the health and environmental ramifications. And I'm very concerned about the explicit lack of communication and knowledge around who will be utilizing this space. Thank you very much. I'm done.

Thank you, Nicole. Um, next we have Stephen Hine.

Hello. Uh, hi. My name is Steven Hine. I'm from Ward 5. I just want to make it absolutely clear that no business is is in support of improving a city. Businesses want one thing, and that's profit. That includes politicians as well. So, we shouldn't believe anything we hear when a business says that they're out to help a community. Um, I agree with what the other person stated about the zone itself. I do believe that it should be used for urban development, more houses or housing for people. Uh, not at all should be used for industrial. That's it. That's absolutely not on the table. And uh, just look at the people in here. We had nearly 270 people that are opposed and maybe 30 people, probably less, that uh, were in favor. All of those people in favor are just looking to increase their own profits. Um, benefiting the city of St. Louis is great, but not in this manner. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Um, next we have Amanda Burch and her buddy, it looks like. Yes. Hello. Hi.

My name is Amanda Burch. My husband and I live in the county, but we spend an average of 40 to 60 hours a week working in the city in Ward 8 at 555 Washington Avenue 63101. Um, I'm concerned that the Armory Data Center and the proposal for it does not specify many aspects including water usage and the water system, the waste management of electronic components, or the noise impact. We do know that the proposal will use 1.6 six times more power than the planning commission anticipated and is alarmingly close to a residential area, a greenway, a school, and a park. In 2018, my husband underwent a bilateral lung transplant and will be on amunosuppressant drugs for the rest of his life. The increased carbon emissions and water pollution is of great concern to me as we spend so much time working, shopping, and enjoying the parks and greenway around the armory. A January 2026 UN report declared the world has entered an era of global water bankruptcy. This systemic failure means many rivers, aquifers, and glaciers cannot return to their natural state. Knowing that large data centers such as the proposed will continue to deplete the drinking water supply by consuming up to 5 million gallons per day, this proposal will only stress the city and surrounding areas more with irreversible effects. as I am also an aunt to small children. This is simply unacceptable. Finally, with no end users selected, but with customary NDAs in place, some know who want to use the data and why. But the rest of the St. Louis community is left in the dark. We do not know if the data will be used to automate jobs away, to aid in immigration detention, or otherwise help create a surveillance state. For these reasons, I ask the board emphatically say no to the Armory Data Center. Thank you.

Great. Thank you very much. Um, it looks like next we have Dustin Turpin. Oh, Dustin, we still can't hear you. Is that Hello, Test. Yeah, there you go.

Okay, thank you. Um, hello. My name is Dustin Turpin. I live in Ward 8. I also work in the Central West End. I'm actually very close to the Armory just down the street. Um I'm in opposition of that that zoning changing um for industrial use. Um the um let's see uh I think the city officials just see dollar signs. We've been promised um lots of money from uh from the uh was it the super gambling that goes on. Um so that's um that's really big big thing that I dislike. Um, I made a little illustration because I can't screen share my screen, but I can make a map. Um, the South Korean Metro Station is really close to the armory. Um, it's a very quick walk. Um, they also butchered this by making this giant parking lot that has a fence around it. This quick walk could have been quicker if they just made a path through there. They also refused to do a um a a walkway underneath the highway. Um, but they're talked also in the people who are speaking forward, they want to build it for the 150 employees that may work in this building to go to the foundry, but like a bridge for 150 people versus that could have been used for thousands to go from the city foundry to the armory. Um, this also goes grossly against the city grand plan for the central corridor development. Um, so right now some of these are in industrial use. Um and the the old walkway people used to have to walk uh have to walk almost you know 20 minutes about it's exactly 67 mile um walk from the foundry to the armory. So this project failed um as a third space because they didn't implement a transit oriented development where this location is exactly prime for that. Uh please do not rob the city of an opportunity to

have transitory development as a focus. We do that terribly at other place um along other stations. This is one opportunity that we're going to throw away. Please pick another place. Um and also agree with that the gross resource that's two minutes. Do you have a final statement? Yes. Yes. Um uh please um consider another location. This location is prime for transitory development that the city and developers throw away um all the time that can actually benefit our city. Thank you for your time.

All right. Thank you. Uh next we have Barbara. Is it Cherio? Oh, sorry Barbara. I was trying to ask you to unmute and I think I muted you. Ask. There you go. All right. Can you hear me? Yeah.

All right. Thank you. Yes. I'm Barbara Chicario. I live at 6954 Dartmouth in University City, but I'm speaking on behalf of the St. Louis Green Party. Many of our members live in St. Louis City. The Green Party of St. Louis stands in opposition to the proposed data center at the old Armory site and therefore we oppose the granting of this conditional use permit. So, one of our questions is how many questionable promises from developers will St. Louis city officials believe? We're still suffering from the lies of Paul McKe and many other developers that did not say did not do what they said they were going to do. The proposed data center at the Armory raises many concerns and I want to address the closed loop system that's being proposed and this is for water use because it would report uh reportedly use less water and to me this feels like a shell game because if you use less water you're going to have to use more electricity. This is just one of the questionable promises of the developer. The closed loop refers only to the internal system for water use to actually remove heat from the water. These systems often rely on an external loop that use evaporative cooling towers which consume massive amounts of water. Truly waterless closed loop systems require significantly more electricity to cool the water. This shift can increase a data cent's carbon footprint and stress the local power grid. So Missouri already generates about 60% of its power from coal and we were already importing power from other states. Am Amaran has stated that they plan to build new power plans plants to meet the data center needs. The promise of a closed loop system to reduce water

usage is a promise to use a lot more electricity. Less water usage means more electricity use. I urge everyone in the city to take a deep breath, stand back, and reject the request uh uh and deny this permit as written. Thank you. Yes, thank you very much for hearing our concerns. All right. Thank you, Barbara. Uh next we have Cynthia Combmes.

Hi. Yes, I'm here. Sorry, I wanted to turn my video on. Um my name is Cynthia Combmes. Uh born and raised in St. Louis City, but currently are residing at 11:09 Catonia Terrace in Richmond Heights, 6311 7. Um, continuing into consideration by those in power of being out of touch with the realities of life for working-class St. Louisans and of their commitment to prioritizing the wants of the wealthy and corporate elite few over the needs of the majority. Data centers like the one proposed are environmentally demanding in a way that our planet cannot sustain. And if built, it will rob St. Louis residents of affordable and plentiful access to vital resources such as water and electricity while subjecting anyone who lives near the center to noise pollution and a strained power grid. This will raise the cost of living and decrease the quality of our lives. We're discussing spending $3 billion in St. Louis on a dangerous tech trend instead of using funds to meet the actual needs of the people of St. Louis. If there are $3 billion to spend, we should allocate that money towards tornado relief for folks who still haven't been able to return home since last May. We should spend it to fix our dangerous roads. We should spend it on our public education and libraries. It is ridiculous to prioritize gambling million in tax revenue will be generally spent on St. Louis city and St. Louis public schools. Why on earth would we do something risky and extravagant before we've even addressed the basic real needs of our people? Complicity and participation in the rapid broads-cale integration of AI into existing systems and the substitution of AI for existing human jobs is a road that leads only to ruin. It is choosing to invest in our certain demise. This

project is bad for St. Louis and I vehemently oppose it. All right. Thank you. Uh next we move on to

Hi, I'm Toeer. Christopher Sudlick. I live on uh Charlie Douly Drive uh in Northwoods right over the city county line. I've lived here within a mile of here for more than half of my life now. Uh and I feel like I'm getting a little old. Uh and I've been very active in the city and around the city organizing. Uh the day the tornado hit, I was down there in Fountain Park with some hand tools helping clear stuff and I kept doing that for as long as I could. Uh I ended up very active in the tornado relief efforts and I'm still there. And one of the things that has been happening there is there has not been relief and recovery. You know, I was in Joplain a year after the storm and the only evidence there was ever a tornado there was uh statues and monuments to the storm. You go through Fountain Park today, it's as bad as the day the storm hit. It's horrible. And one of the things that Amarind has been doing there is pushing shut offs very hard. You're a day late on your payment, they're going to send you a disconnect notice that day. They are pushing people out of their homes. The same Amaran that is one of the biggest funders of Greater St. Louis, Inc. that is also supporting this data center. People already can't afford their utility rates. And this is only going to make it worse. And on top of that, we have no guarantee or even suggestion of who the clients are going to be. This could easily be a palenteer data center for uh Epstein client Peter Teal to be doing all kinds of mass surveillance of our city, putting the people like us on target lists. I don't think any of us want that here. It's not a good use at all. We have to stop that. We don't need Shnooks doing surveillance pricing. We don't need Amarind jacking our rates up. All that is trash. I think that's about all I have to say on it. Don't build this data center. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Uh next we have Daniel uh Romano. Hello. Um I I am a 21 street in the city ward 3. Um I am a member of the Missouri Green Party. Um I would like to call out Mr. David Lambaso of Legacy Investment who I believe was and could still be on this uh video this call. Um I he lambi uh legacy investment of Virginia. Why has he not been available for questions? This is the head or one of the heads of the this project and proposal. He has had his subordinates answer and evade responsibility. Maybe he's evading the the fact that this is an outofstate corporation behind this that want seeks nothing but to make money. Union members have cited that have testified the jobs that would be created but none of them could name anything beyond temporary construction jobs. Uh the fact is is that AI will take away jobs has taken away jobs of people I know including my brother. Um so there will be a net loss of jobs. Energy use this is very important. The data center is going to use as much this data center as much electricity as all the generators uh generating I'm sorry data centers combined already here. It's a mega center. It will use much more than all those and uh so Amaran has already been talking about building new power generating stations to meet this increasing need. The need

is being caused by data centers. And who will pay for these new generating stations? The generating stations are the power generating stations are the most expensive part of the grid. And these costs will go to the consumers who are already struggling with high energy prices. As far as revenue, I'd like to do from this data center. We don't even know who's going to be using it. And as others have testified, um you many of the AI uh have not made money. So that's two minutes. Do you have a closing remark?

All I hear are empty promises and uh I think I urge the um commission here to reject this um proposal. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Uh next we have uh Matthew Tamasi. Nothing happened to Brandon Brown.

Oh, I'm sorry. Can you hear me? Yeah.

Uh, thank you. Um, uh, my name is Matthew Tamasi. Uh, I live, uh, at, uh, 3733 Connecticut Street, uh, Tower Grove South, W 6. I work, uh, at the I run the Batteries Plus here in Central West End. That's where I'm at today. Um, that's going to be a W nine. And I just want to start by saying that uh no matter what your politics are, I don't think anyone wants their electricity bill to go up. And we should just be able to stop right there. Now, they're saying the electricity bill is not going to go up. I anything said by the people, oh, we already had dinners. Oh, we're using a data center right now. Well, we're not really talking about uh data centers. We're talking about AI data centers which use way more electricity than anything uh that is currently in St. Louis right now as far as I'm aware. Um so so I can't really trust anything else that they're saying about this. Um you know they're saying that if if the water usage is not a problem fine then what benefit are we going to get from this? Can I can I get a tangible benefit other than they keep saying the school and all this? Well, you know, what is the average uh resident going to see um from from any of this? And how do we know that any of the regulations that go through will actually be enforced? How do we know that they're not just going to pay fines if they break any regulations that we put on them? Uh and then another fact that I've really only heard one person mention this so far, AI is a bubble. This stuff is not going to last. Okay? You can look at it. It makes no sense. The only way AI will not be a complete bubble is if it magically becomes this, you know, sentient being or whatever they're uh whatever they're saying about it. You know, it's going to solve all the problems. It's going to do

everything perfectly. People have already uh fired their workers, replace them with AI, and then realized, oh crap, we need to hire everybody back because AI is not it's not fulfilling the promises uh uh that everyone is saying about this. So, um, you know, and it seems to just be destroying the price of hardware, destroying internet, destroying critical thinking, and now AI is destroying objective reality itself. All right, Matthew, that's two minutes. Do you have a final remark? I'll stop there. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, next we have Brandon Barnes. Hi. Hi.

Uh, my name is Brandon Barnes. Uh, I live at 4410 South 37th Street. Uh, I made and I just want to say that um, I completely echo the statements about how there has been not enough transparency from this project about who was going to be in there, about the potential damages to our water, to our electricity. Everything that has been brought up before is a completely valid thing. But uh I just want to also point out that um we are seeing right now in a number of states uh at least 12 where there are moratoriums being put out against these buildings of the the building of these data centers. Uh they are um all trying to put a stop to these things and uh many of them like Georgia and Virginia were uh very poor data centers. They are all that Georgia has that they are going to lose $2.5 billion from these. Virginia 1.6 billion. Texas is going to lose another billion dollars. And I think that we should see these things as cautionary tales that the places who have embraced building of data centers are now suddenly realizing that these are hurting their environments. They're hurting the jobs. The jobs are not being there. the tax revenues, the increases in growth for the city, their city revenues have absolutely not been manifesting and have actually been creating detriments to the places where they've been building these things. And so that's why these moratoriums are being done. They're not putting in these moratoriums because these things have been generating revenue. They're not putting in these moratoriums because they water is suddenly better because their electricity is cheaper. It's because these things are bad and they are absolutely causing problems for the places that they're in. Otherwise, they would not be putting in these

moratoriums. Right now, there's 12 states that are trying to put a stop to these things. Should be not looking at places where these like there are not success stories where these data centers have been going on. Historically, these things are not doing the things that they're being sold. They're selling people on the idea that these are going to somehow magically generate revenue with all 11 people who work there, all 70 people who are there to go and build it and then not and then like these there is it's all it's all snake oil. Like these things do not do the things that they are saying they're going to do. And so I think that it's it's

we should be looking uh at how the places that have built these things are reacting to them now that they're in because that's like something that no one here is seeming to to bring up. These things exist. That's two minutes. Do you have a closing remark? Yes. I think that we should uh really be looking at the places where these things have been put in and see what they've done to their local economies and their local environments because the there is no evidence that these things do anything good for their places. It's all bad. It's all bad and everyone's trying to stop it and we would be foolish to ignore that blatant warning from everyone else.

Thank you very much. Um next we have Lauren.

Hi there. Uh Lauren Gosling, 5426 LET Avenue in the second ward, Princeton Heights. Uh I am here to say reject this proposal uh and focus on passing our data center framework that includes enduser transparency. This work has already been started. Pick it back up. And yes, people have been saying we already have data centers. The biggest data center we have right now in St. Louis is 20 megabytes. This one is going to be six times. That's a huge red flag. We need framework. Already on this call, we've heard it depends on the end user. This was repeated several times by the consultant. They can't even support uh their claim for 200 permanent jobs without knowing an end user. Um this proposal concerns the development developers commitments. We don't know what's going to happen after an end user comes in. This could get much worse for us. Uh back to those jobs on the call, they stated 50 out of those 200 jobs be on the actual data center. So 75% of these promised jobs are going to come from that proposed Armory Creative Tech workspace. So will the undisclosed end user be paying these salaries or are they actually counting the uh employees of businesses who will leave space in this space? That's not really job creation. That's just probably existing companies moving to new uh office space. Um St. Louis has a really bad habit of copy paste development projects that leave similar facilities in the dust. This portion of this plan is hollow and for show. Uh the cortex is still growing. Construction's active there. We're investing. We're still investing in that space. And we have a mission to connect the T-Rex to NGA's new north city area uh with startup firms. We are set in this area. We already have commitments. We can't

abandon them. So city leaders reject this proposal. Focus on passing framework that includes enduser transparency first and strict enduser standards. That's my time. Thank you. Right. Perfect. Right on two minutes. Thanks Lauren. Um, next we have Jay Zim.

Hello. Hi. Can you state your name and address for the record?

Yes. My name is Josiah Zimmer. I live in the 3500 block of Humphrey Street in W 7 and I am very opposed to this data center. I can't believe we are even having meetings about it still because I feel like a majority of city residents have made it very clear that they are opposed. I don't know why board of alderman still kicking it around. Just say no to it. Um especially given its location right next to the Metroink station on Grand. Um I take the Grand Bus to that station every day then take the Metroink to work. I don't want to sit and hear the data center buzzing, breathing all the polluted air, the heat island in the summer. It's just so stupid that we're considering it right next to a transit stop at the busiest bus line and one of the busiest Metroink stations. This should be dense, mixeduse development, not something that's going to employ hardly any people when it's actually open. It's a stupid waste of time. It' be a stupid waste of electricity and water. Just say no, city government. No, we don't want it. No, we need dense, mixed juice, residential, some workplace there, sure, but that site around Grand uh Metroink Station, absolutely not a data center. That would be the dumbest decision ever. Just say no, it's easy. We can have de development come from elsewhere. AI is a bubble. Like people have said, it's going to pop soon anyway. So, but there's not even a tenant lined up. I don't know why we're still thinking about this. Again, all I can reiterate is no. Absolutely not. And also just want to add it was pretty obvious to me that the armory was going to close when like dustin point put a giant parking lot with a fence around it. It should be transit oriented. It's right there in the middle of a a dense city. Like what

are we doing here? We should not have put a giant parking lot. should dep prioritize cars and data centers and prioritize people and transit. Say no, please. That's all. All right. Thank you. Um, next we have Will, I apologize, Rosiswitz. Really butchering that one. No, that's okay. It's close enough. Will Rosit, can you hear me? All right. Yeah, thank you.

All right. My name is Will Roswitz. live in uh 10 North Taylor um in the central west end. Um I'm standing here against the building of the data center. Um I think it's important to have a discussion about what it is we're hoping to have by allowing this to move forward in St. Louis. Yes, a data center will provide short-term jobs in construction and it will provide some amount of long-term jobs. Um but the verdict on data centers is out. Research by people smarter than me have already done this. Um, the University of Michigan did a lot of research on the effect of data centers on local communities. They found it leads to higher utility rates, higher resource consumption, and climate problems. All while usually failing to deliver on the economic benefits, often not providing the jobs promised and failing to provide the taxes that are promised to offset the financial burden on the community. A fundamental assumption of data centers is that they consume resources locally and disperse profits globally. An idea of a data center is that people will be using it all across the country, if not the world. They will be the people benefiting while we will be the people paying the higher utility rates and the higher resources. Um, we have to focus on what it is that we want St. Louis to develop into. We don't want this prime location in downtown St. Louis to be turned into what is ultimately going to be an empty building for computers. St. Louis is a cool and wonderful city and I've chosen to live here because I love it and I don't want it to be another spot for us to pump up companies that we don't know and until there are serious promises about who will be using this data center and what kind of resources will be powering it and whether or not those resources will be coming from sustainable places or from more fossil fuels, we can't move forward in good faith. I really think that it is a bad idea and we shouldn't be moving forward. Thank you. That is all I have to say.

Right. Great. Um, thank you. Um, next we have uh Khloe Harris.

Chloe, are you still there with us? Yes. Hi. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yeah. Good morning. How are you?

Hi. Good morning. Good. Thank you. Thanks for having me here today. My name is Chloe. I'm a St. Louis resident, born and raised. I uh I work in the St. Louis area providing home care to a lot of um underprivileged seniors. And I have to say I'm absolutely opposed to this data center. Um I'm a a veteran myself and so this harms our community in ways that a lot of other people have done a much more job of describing today than I will. But uh the developers, they claim to listen to the local residents, but they are completely ignoring the large majority of residents that do not want this data center whatsoever. We are tired of hearing their concessions about how they're listening to us and making those changes when in fact nothing that could implement would change the fact that we do not want a data center in our city. We don't want it in our state and Americans are opposed to the destructive rise of AI at large. It's exhausting how relentless these developers are to destroy our city for a few extra dollars in their own pockets. AI data data centers increase electric bills, deplete the drinking water, supply emit air pollution, create noise pollution, strain power grids. If someone could please mute their mic.

And after construction, they create very few jobs in return. The developer said it would add 50 jobs. All right, folks. Who? Jay Zim, we got to get you. Can you mute him? I guess it's working. I appreciate it, Chloe. I'm sorry about that. Um, please continue and we will extend your time.

Oh, no worries. Um, as I was saying, the developers said that it would add around 50 jobs. 50? That is a ridiculous in the face of all the damage, harm, and negative impact the data center would cause. St. Louis residents do not want to see another data center in Missouri, no matter where it's proposed. And it was claimed that during the hearing, this will help improve the neighborhood. And due to the due to the location, it isn't in anyone's backyard. It is in our city and it's even admitted by the developers in a what they called central location. We don't want it. Please remember that the people on this committee making the decisions have the power to benefit or harm the people that you represent. I beg you to consider the overwhelming opposition presented by the community and to make a decision that actually represents the citizens desires. Do not succumb to these out of town developers and listen to local US residents who do not want this. Thank you guys so much for your consideration.

Great. Thank you very much. Um, next we have Nor Brady.

Hello. Uh, my name is Nor Brady. Um, I'm a St. Louis Humphrey Street um in W 8. Um, I'm also a business owner in St. Louis city. uh own a business for

13 years um with four locations in Wards four, two locations in WS five and and eight. Um and uh I'm a commercial um property owner um in the same zip code as the Armory um and we are very very opposed to the data center. Um over the last 13 years we have created hundreds of jobs for St. Louis city residents. Um and these 50 mere jobs um with the the union labor um right out of the gate is very shortsighted. Um and we do not want the data center um moving down the street. Um my children attend St. Louis public schools. We love the public school system. We need to be investing in public schools uh transportation um infrastructure. Um our resources are already very depleted. Um and uh bringing in this data center right down the street is just a horrible idea. We do not want it here. Um thank you so much.

Great. Thank you. Um next we have uh Zoe.

Hello. My name is Zoe. I live in the sixth ward. I'm here as a resident and a youth rights advocate. I used to be a social worker at SLPS. I've heard funding SLPS come up as a pro for this. Yeah, SLPS needs money. SLPS needs a lot more than money. The most frequent like issue that I found with families there was folk who couldn't pay their utility bills and were having their services shut off and they weren't able to provide, you know, the care, the housing, the environment their kids need to thrive, to learn. Kids need food, sleep, clean air, and clean water. Whatever promises these developers are making, there's no way this data center is going to make any of those things better for us. It will only get worse.

I'm having him look, we had a significant drought last summer. Water bankruptcy has been named in this like in previous testimony. Everything I'm seeing. Give me a second. We'll give you some extra time. Somebody is I know. That's why I'm I'm confused. So, he'll look at it though. We got to get you to mute.

Can I continue? Yes, please.

Um, I know people who have already lost their jobs to AI, parents or and more who are anxiously waiting for it to happen. Um, but I also want to speak to something I haven't heard anyone say yet, which is that as AI is becoming more and more used in warfare, we know Israel's used it in their genocidal assaults in Gaza. We know the US is using it in their war with Iran right now. Data centers, if they are part of the infrastructure of war, then they are targets for war. We are seeing this happen already in Southwest Asia. We cannot be embedding infrastructure of war, viable military targets among civilian populations. That's reprehensible, irresponsible, and dangerous. We do not want this. Shut this project down.

All right. Thank you. Uh let's see. Next, we have Courtney M.

Hi, I'm Courtney Miner. Um I'm a resident of Ward One. Um I've lived in St. uh various parts my entire life and I'm opposed to the data center uh especially in such a large scale. I know we've had a lot of references to the fact that there are data centers here already um but it they pale in comparison um and especially without zoning as we see here with the Armory data center. Uh as a born and raised St. Louis resident. It saddens me to think that my son, who I'm currently managing, um, now 3 years old, will be growing up in a place that values profit for the few, uh, above the health and well-being of its people. The Armory Data Center will pollute our air, water, and create noise pollution, raise our energy costs, and harm our health, contribute to the job loss that we see all around us due to AI. And for these reasons and many more that have largely already been mentioned, it's a clear lose-lose for residents. Um, I recently went out across the city multiple times to let people know about this hearing and it was made abundantly clear that the people of St. Louis do not want large-scale data centers in our city. Many of them said they don't want any. Um, so city res residents are making their voices loud and clear. We do not want this data center. There's not an improvement to our city in this and it's further reason for people to not want to live here. Um I'd love to see other parts of the county take on something of this scale and not raise a voice about it. Um and I can't see myself voting voting in the future for local government members who so clearly make decisions that fly in the face of the well-being and opinion of their constituents. It's this devaluing of the people of St. Louis that makes me feel focused on moving my own family

elsewhere. Um, and I have no interest in raising children in a city that does not honor and listen to the people who make this a city in the first place. Um, yeah. Thank you. I oppose this Armory data center contract. And that's it. Great. Thanks, Courtney. Uh, next we have Giani. Hi. Uh, can you hear me? Yes. Go ahead and state your name and address for the record, please.

Right. My full name is Juvenina Gardner. I am um I live at 3618 Hydraulic Avenue. Um I've lived in the city for a long time and I am a teacher and I have children at SLPS um and other schools in the area. And I like everyone most people on this call, I'm very much opposed to this data center. Um I think a lot of other people explained the reasons quite well. Um, so I don't need to take additional time to do that, but I think it's important. I'm very fortunate that I'm on spring break, so I get to actually remain on this call. Um, to share with you that I, uh, my strong opposition as a community member. Um, I think that's all that needs to be said. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um, next we have Kathleen Logan or Logan Smith, sorry. Sorry.

Hey, welcome back.

Yeah. Well, thank you. Um, so I mostly wanted to say I already submitted my comments in writing and echoes everything everyone has said, but I also for the record I just wanted to say that this process has not been very accessible and there are a lot of people who are excluded. I have friends um we talked to I talked to a lot of seniors who don't do Zoom and Zoom is kind of a a privacy violation in general. So some people don't do it on principal. So that that format is a little bit exclusive um for folks who could have just come down to 1520 on their own. Um and then folks without internet uh don't have access because it was scheduled at a time when the public libraries aren't even open. So that has limited people's access to uh free access to this meeting. So for the record um those two things I wanted to raise and um we don't need office space in St. Louis, I think everybody knows that we have kind of an abundance of office space that's vacant right now. So, uh, the Armory Project, the the economics of that are kind of dubious and and I'm not sure if I heard him right, but I heard him like something about the money that would go to the schools based on a 2% appreciation. And I always thought that assets depreciated, so somebody smarter than me can correct that. Um, but in my written comments, I raised a lot of issues and one of the biggest ones is for the zoning group uh board yourself, which is we need protections. We are looking for protections. That's why we're passing regulations. We want protections. We don't want promises. Okay? And if you watched Saturday Night Live last week, you will remember the quote that is a promise is just a lie that hasn't happened yet. And we really don't need we need protections. We need stuff in writing. We need it to be very clear. and we need to make sure our health, our well-being, and our electric bills are not going to be trashed out. And this project is just badly located. We just need to reject this one entirely and move on with something meaningful. That's all.

All right. Thank you so much. Uh, next we have Elaine uh Buick here. I'll ask to unmute you and a button should pop up. All right. All right, I think I've unmuted myself. Yep.

All right. Thank you for having me. Um, I am a new resident in St. Louis City. I live in the 4,000 block of Botanical Avenue. Um, I moved here to further my education and my professional development. Um, uh, really with the understanding that St. Louis was a place that cared about every aspect of their infrastructure, not just the most obvious man-made ones. Um, I actually uh come from central Ohio and Columbus, Ohio has come up in a few testimonies so far. Um I my hometown is in the greater Columbus metropolitan area and uh they are currently fighting tooth and nail to keep the data centers there from putting in a new fuel cell development right next to an elementary school. And this is happening and it's going forward without the approval of the community because they did not have safeguards in place when they invited these tech companies in. And I'm here to tell you all, do not let tech companies get a foothold in your city without having safeguards in place because right now, I mean, I have I printed off some articles and all um to bring to you. Um we're playing a catch-up game. My parents are playing a catch-up game trying to get their community back and uh I do not want to see that happen here. Please reject this proposal. It's a bad proposal. If this is something that the city needs more digital infrastructure, it is worth do they can come back to the drawing board with something that will actually benefit citizens. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Um, next we have Kristen's iPhone.

Wait, is that me? That's you. Yes. your name and address for the record.

My name is Kirsten. I live on the Yes. the 4,400 block of Lindle. Um I think it's the ninth ward. I want to state my opposition to this proposal vehematly. It's for so many reasons a terrible idea. I would there's been lots of people pointing out kind of the downside. So I'm going to touch a little bit more on the arguments that the people arguing for the data center have made. And it basically boils down to financial benefit to which I would argue financial benefit for who? Because it's not the residents of the city which is the most important thing. Um the second point would be it's creating jobs. It's creating temporary jobs. We can create much more jobs by rebuilding our city that was destroyed last year and our city that was crumbling anyway from the bad infrastructure. And then the third insane take is that it's inevitable. Like the older woman said that it's inevitable. It's only inevitable if we let it be. And we're standing up and saying that it's not. We don't want this. Clearly, our voices are not being respected. We've already said once that we don't want this. And any financial benefit that the city gains, we can get by taxing the rich. Oh my god. There are other ways to accomplish these goals, which doesn't involve abusing your community, which it's just insane that we are still having this discussion. Like other people said, we have ways to accomplish these goals and this is not it. our voices are not being heard by taxing the rich. We would accomplish all of these things and we don't need to pollute the air and destroy our city. I just made a quick list. I don't know how much time I have left of other things that we could do with the data with the armory that's not a data center. We could build a community garden, a community rec center, a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, a library, affordable housing, a sports complex, a senior center, animals animal shelter, a green renewable power source such as solar panels. There's tons of other things that we can do that are better than this. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um Kirsten, can we get your last name for the record? Settle. S e tle e. Perfect. Thanks. All right. Next, we have Emily uh Corte Stro.

Yes. Hi, Emily Corte Stro here. I'm from the 4200 block of Castleman, uh the sixth ward, and I am opposed to this development. the location is not one where we want this type of industry. I don't believe the promises from this corporation. I think the flimsy promises I think would um have no accountability and we in St. should be aware of how this does not lead to economic thriving in the long term from um some of our historic uh uh uh flimsy promises that um we've awarded. Uh my child did graduate last year from SLPS. I do not believe the schools would benefit from this development as much as better leadership in a city that provides long-term clean water and fewer food deserts and better housing and just a a real commitment to the people and the children of our um city and um and stop pitting uh private funds against um public funds. You know, our government should work for us and we can make it that way and so this is how we do it. AI industry is one that has no regulation. We're all aware nothing restricts this industry from using the technologies of AI against our community as we've seen and as we're waking up to. I think the industry refuses to regulate itself and governments must use this valuable resource of our land to deny that they build in our backyards and just we must make regulations and this is how we do it. given the amount of money and that uh that this data center and uh the return of their proposal for this development has garnered I think it's clear that this you know that we we can um we don't

have to do this there are other um ways that this uh this particular space and this particular land is highly valuable um to industry industry that we want such as like others have said um there have and uh lots of other examples. Uh but something for our community, you know, dense um dense and mixed use development is is really more pri Emily, that's two minutes. Do you have a closing remark?

Thank you. I think I just want to say I'm I'm completely opposed and I want the community to know that now um you know going forward we are aware and we are concerned about such um such development and enrichment that um these type of have on our city leaders. All right, thank you. Um next we have Carson Anic. Carson, are you still here with us? Yes, I am still here. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. Can you state your name and address for the record?

Um, yes. My name is Carson Anich. I live on Lboro in War. Um, I am here to oppose the Armory Data Center because this proposal has not been properly planned out to ensure the safety of those around it, such as future patients at the Cardinal Glennon's Children's Hospital that are just.3 miles from the site. nor has this proposal been planned out for the planet itself with no plan in the proposal for proper e-waste management. Even on this call, when asked about e-waste, the answer was essentially that there was no clear plan at this time. That this permit is even being considered despite the potentially hazardous nature of its output and its close proximity to the public is disturbing to say the least. As someone who works at a preschool and talks to children daily, I can tell you they deserve a city that cares about their health, safety, and futures. not one that should this permit be approved would choose money over them. Thank you.

Right. Thank you. Uh next we have Cam.

Hi. Are you guys able to hear me? We are. Yeah. Can you state your name and address for the record? Yes. Camille Ingram and address is 4000 uh Bergen Avenue uh St. Louis, Missouri 63111. All right. Go ahead and proceed.

Uh data centers Missou's grid is already under pressure and cannot be cannot absorb this demand without consequences. Uh diesel backup generators emit toxins into the air that exaggerate respiratory illnesses. These uh generators emit particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and other toxins that will increase asthma, asthma related deaths and negatively impact cardiovascular health. As an ICU nurse, I can testify this to firsthand and St. Louis is already number one in the nation for asthma related deaths. Data centers use millions of gallons annually for cooling systems. St. Louis draws its water from Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Rivers that are already stressed by climate variability and industrial use. Placing a massive data center inside an urban building intensifies that demand. This data center will destroy the vision for a people centered city. The city foundry is a testament to what we can do in this area. This data center is shortsighted and goes against a live and play district. So what could go there? a mixed income housing with retail, a culture institution, a university or medical expansion, or a community gathering infrastructure. The reason why the armory failed was again, as someone pointed out, the walkway that didn't wasn't built before. This data center claims to provide well, it was 30, but now they're saying 50 permanent jobs for a 1.5 billion investment. That's an extraordinarily poor return for the community compared to what a mixeduse development, hospital expansion, or university facility or a manufacturer hub would produce. Uh, Senate Bill 4 in plain terms state that our electricity bills could go up so a high-tech company could run its data uh, servers cheaply.

So inhoods raising utility costs for residents pollutes the air and produces 30 permanent jobs is not a development win. It's a trade-off that benefits corporations far more than communities. The foundry itself is uh proof that there is a better path. And I remind St. Louisonian officials that you have already heard hours of public push back on data center development and the community is paying close attention. I appreciate your time on this matter. Great. Thank you. Um, next we have uh Jennifer D. Rose.

Hey, that's me. Thank you. I, um, my name is Jennifer D. Rose. I live on the, uh, 500 block of Ray Avenue in Ward One. Um, and I'm an environmental advocate. I wanted to plus one the testimony of my colleagues who spoke earlier, Elise from MCE, Claire Mueller, and Kelsey McDonald. I am opposed to this hypers scale data center being located in our city. I don't want our city to sell out our future for a few temporary jobs and the possibility of a pittance from this company who again as many people on this call have said do not care about us. Silver bullet solutions are not real. They're not profiting. Everyone else is going to suffer. I am horrified that our for-profit monopoly utility is courting power sucking monsters while most of the power in Amaran territory comes from a notorious coal burning co power plant. Pardon me. The laby coal plant is one of the worst polluters in the country. It's the second deadliest power plant in the country and this proposal pardon me. This proposal will only prolong its life. Levity has no modern pollution controls. It spews SO2 and particulate matter into our air and it significantly contributes to our red air quality. days. Black children in St. Louis are 10 times more likely to go to the ER for asthma related complications than white children. And this proposal and our continued reliance on fossil fuels will only worsen this disparity. Additionally, the claims that data centers will not increase our bills is flawed in several ways. Negative externalities like poor air quality, poor wall water quality, noise, pollution, increased traffic, all of that. They all have costs and none of those costs will be borne by the company. We will pay those costs with our lungs, with our ears, and with our worsened quality of life. And utility bills are likely to rise from increased demand. Aaron disconnected 1,548 households so far this year alone. They

disconnected 92,834 households last year. That's households, not individuals. So, grandmas, kids, those are folks without power. We cannot afford this data center and we cannot afford our addiction to fossil fuels any longer. Lastly, this hearing has been wildly deeply inequitable. It feels intentional that opposition was made to wait that opposition that's us was made to wait for hours before speaking. Normal folks cannot wait for hours for a turn to be heard. And it's insulting that those profiting from this project were allowed to take up the first few hours of our time. We need to think about all of our shared futures. We need to invest in our people. Don't sell us out. We're going to remember this come election time. Um

Jennifer, that's two minutes. Do you have any closing remarks? Thank you for your time. Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh it looks like next is Samuel Bonte.

Yes. Hi, my name is Sam Bamonte and I live in Ward One. Um, as someone currently working literally across the street from the forthcoming Ture Point 20 megawatt data center on Locust Street, I'm very concerned with the rate at which these data centers are popping up in our city and the lack of proper zoning and other regulations to which they adhere. Uh, specifically this one. I'm concerned with the environmental impact as well as the huge impact on our utility bills. The only people that seemingly benefit from this project are the developers and undisclosed tenants of the data center. you know, without our community seeing any considerable financial gain. I think the Armory data center needs to be stopped as it has absolutely zero disclosed reason to exist and will only cause harm to those living near it within the surrounding neighborhood. Um, many have already pointed out the bus stop that is literally above the building along with residential buildings less than a mile away. Um, but ultimately I'm extremely concerned with the president this will set more projects of this nature for St. Louis and I think it's very evident just how harmful this would be to the present and future of our city. So for these reasons and those that have already been stated by other more wellspoken and researched citizens on this call, I strongly or oppose Armory Data Center. Thank you for your time.

Great. Thank you. Um next we have Maxine Gil.

Hello everyone. My name is Maxine Gil. I'm a city resident on the 4600 block of Arsenal and I also work for Missouri Coalition for the Environment. I echoed everything my colleagues Alisa and Jen said and just wanted to add in my personal capacity that I'm opposed to this data center. I also wanted to explain a little bit more about SB4. SB4 is a statewide bill that approved the construction work in progress funding process for new power plant infrastructure built by utilities. Essentially, this means that Amarind is already building new methane gas power plant infrastructure and charging rate payers for the cost of that construction. So, even absent this data center, our rates will go up. But if this data center is put in place, that means that Amaran will have an excuse to build even more power infrastructure and charge us. Again, this isn't theoretical. This is happening right now. Um, and it's a cyclical pattern that only serves to increase the profits of Amarind at all of our expense. This also renders the developers alleged commitment to working with Amarind to increase renewables completely moot. They have no control over Amarind. As they stated, Amarind is building more fossil fuel power plants without decommissioning our most dangerous coal plants in the state and in the country while trying to change statutory definitions of renewables and failing to provide community solar. This developer statement that they won't increase residential rates is a fallacy. But if they build here, our rates will increase to subsidize electricity for a data center that the community is wholeheartedly against. The developers also failed to adhere to the executive order. They answered questions with speculation while providing no concrete details in their new written plan. They failed to disclose an end user. So they don't know how to answer questions about water use, electricity use, handling of waste, the diesel generators, and the purpose of the data center. So, this could be used for hospitals maybe, but it could also be used um for flock data, which is AI data that is increasing the surveillance state across the country. Um, additionally, the developer stated that this would use 100,000 gallons of water a day, even with a closed loop

cycle, that still qualifies as a major water user under Missouri statute. And that's highly unacceptable. We don't really have the water infrastructure to be able to support that. Again, the cost of those updates, I'm sure, will be passed on to consumers. Maxine, that's two minutes. Do you have some closing remarks? Yes. Um, this board is really our only safeguard in this case. Um, the developer can say anything they want to get this project built without having to follow through on the commitments. So, I really urge the board to vote to listen to and approving any new data centers. Thank you.

All right. Thanks. Um, next we have Olivia Engel. Hello, my name is Olivia Engel. I live in W 2 uh 63109 and um people have been speaking in opposition very clearly and very well researched. I don't need to repeat what's been said. I just want to highlight a couple of things. First and foremost, this is against the zoning regulations. So, the zoning commission legally right there, that should be enough in and of itself to say no. Um, I also want to highlight some of the less made points. Uh, specifically making the city of St. Louis a military target. We already have Boeing operating nearby. And we know that they are generating munitions that are actively being used in the genocide in Gaza and in Iran. So that already kind of makes us a target to put such a mega center of potentially AI data right in the center of our city. Not only is it going to destroy living conditions for us, but it makes us an active military target. Um, I'd also like to say as a closing remark, there's so much about, you know, oh, in the in the four remarks which went on for so long before we were able to speak. There was a lot of emphasis on being proud of the city and bringing people in and uh, someone talked about how they had seen people leave the city. Well, people will leave the city if they can't afford to live here. people will leave the city if they can't breathe the air or drink the water. Um, our infrastructure can't support this and it's very clear. So again, this is against the zoning. That should be enough enough in and of itself and I urge the zoning commission to pay attention to what's in place. Let the regulatory work that's in process come to fruition so that we actually have regulations and can do any kind of

things within your zone the right way. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Olivia. Um, next we have uh it says Nell Kate. Uh, Nell, can you hear us?

Yes. Hi, that's me. Um, I am Nelly Kate, also known as Ellen McFersonen. I live in the fifth ward and I just wanted to um state my opposition to this conditional use for this building. Everybody has been very well spoken on all the facts here. Um as a 20-year resident of St. Louis city, um I'm just concerned that this is an area that could be used for so many things that um this proposed center will destroy the opportunity to do. um having uh a building that's going to just house computers. It's just an empty an empty promise for what? Um we're not providing anything to the city, anything to the residents. It's only taking from us and we're going to have to pay with our bodies and with our time. So, um I am strongly opposed to this for all the reasons stated and many more. So, thank you so much for your time.

Great. Great. Um, next we have Isaiah Danfort.

Hey, this is Amber Cole, the 2,000 block of U Fair Ward 11. I haven't heard my ward come out yet, but I am strongly opposed to this. I'm not going to repeat everything. Um, but I did want to let everybody know that conditional use hearings are normally on the web. So, they're not doing nothing different than they've been doing. Uh, but based on I got a uh thing came out from the water department saying protecting our communities, lead and drinking water. And it basically said the city of St. Louis drinking water is lead free when it leaves our treatment plant. So when we dealing with water and we dealing with electricity and our infrastructure, infrastructure has not been upgraded and this stuff do not make any sense. And once we finish conditional use and if the conditional use board says no, we're not going to we're going to honor the people and it goes to the board of adjustment and they say we're not going to honor the people, then we have to go down to the courts. So, I'm asking everyone if you you're against this, follow this all the way through. Don't just come on and say we're against, we're opposed. Yes, we know we're opposed. So, please, please, please, please, if you care about all the city, mostly North St. Louis, where we have broken packs and things have not been upgraded from the tornado, please oppose this system. Thank you. Uh, thank you.

Uh, next we have um is it Aquara Foster? Oh, hi. Um, it's Akira Foster. Akira. Good guess. Go ahead and uh state your name again and address for the record, please.

Um, my name is Akira Foster and I live in Ward 8 and my zip code is 63104. Um, thank you for moderating. Um, it's a difficult task I can imagine. Um, I'd really just like to state honestly that um, my family has lived in St. Louis for generations. Um, my grandfather and his siblings grew up in the Puitigo projects. Um, he then finally um was able to secure like a fantastic job and ended up moving his family out to North County. Um unfortunately that was within the footprint of uh the Cold Water Creek. Um now um my family has generationally had health impacts that I think are directly linked to choices that the city has made. Um I have asthma myself. Um, and I just like to state that though these things do seem like um, potentials for short-term gains, the impacts are generational and they affect real people. Um, and I am one of those people. Um, I don't think that this should be zoned for this use case at all. Um, it will have devastating effects for the people that live around there. It'll also be bad for business. They are champion they're championing the um foundry as um progress and wow potential look what we can do. If you put a data center that has been shown to have harmful environmental impacts right next to a burgeoning like food and um commerce space. What you're going to have is less traffic to that area and higher costs um energy costs for the business owners that are housed there. that's going to drive traffic away from that place that we just built up. This doesn't make longitudinal sense. It's not good for our health. It's not good

for business. It's not good for St. Louis or the people that live here. Um, I understand that some people um involved might actually be from St. Louis and it sounded like from some of the other comments that they were just shortsighted and they thought they might be doing a good thing. We all love this city, but there are ways to do well for all of us that actually do well for all of the us. and this is just not that way. Um, all right, that's two minutes. Do you have any closing remark? No, thank you so much. All right, thank you. Um, next we have Kim Jane.

Kim, are you still there? All right, there. Can you hear me? Yes.

Sorry about that. I was needing to leave, but yeah, I appreciate the time and won't um repeat what other people have said. I'm uh I live at uh 4463 Norfolk. Uh I'm in the 9inth ward and just uh maybe I don't think it's a mile from where the proposed data center is supposed to be built. Um, I'm a property owner and I'm I'm just super grateful to hear my neighbors who are so smart and loving um becoming more and more intolerant against the political class of this city. um who continually sells us out uh rarely listens to uh residents even if we do go into meetings and town halls and say the way we want. I've lived in Forest Park Southeast which has been named um several times by different developers over the years over the 30 years I've watched the development in this ward go on. Green Street did a lot of work here. There were seven huge developments. At the same time, our infrastructure was really disrupted. Uh we were treated terribly by developers and workers. Uh they tore up tons of stuff. I won't go on. Um the other thing is promises. You know, I love that promise is a lie that hasn't happened yet. I think of the tiff right down there in Dogtown um after St. Patrick's Day. is just bloody empty. Um, and the city just continually does the same thing. You know, they'll take a quick buck and not take into consideration our health and

well-being, especially if you've lived here a long time. Um, the schools, man, come on. We've been told the schools were going to get this money and that money and yay, yay, yay, vote for that. And even if they do get it, like as someone else said, the leadership sells it out to, you know, $150, $200,000 salaries to people that come from out of town. St. Louis gives its money away to out oftowners and spits on residents. And we're saying it ain't happening no more. The meek are getting ready.

That's too I was gonna give you a final statement, but you're good. All right. Thank you. Um, next we have Robert Thompson.

Hello, my name is Robert Thompson. Um, I've lived in and outside of the city for most of my life. Currently live out just outside the city in Afton, uh, 9760 Arv Ellen Drive, 63123. More importantly, I want to speak on behalf of my two kids that spend 50% of their time with their mother uh living in Ward 5 uh 4959 Odell Street, 63139. There was a laundry list of reasons that I think we should reject this proposal. Many people have spoken very clearly today. Uh but I just want to focus on the future of my children and the other young people of St. Louis. Um, in spite of the quote unquote commitments that the developers have stated, uh, the project will almost certainly have a negative impact on the quality of our water and air in addition to a general general decrease in quality of life due to light and noise pollution and increased utility prices. All we have to do is look across the country at other hyperscale projects of this nature uh, and what those cities have suffered as a result. Um, so I'll keep it brief. I ask you to think of the future of our children. Uh, on behalf of my kids in W five, I ask you to say no to the proposed data system. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Robert. Um, Deanna Sim Simon. Hi. Hi.

Um, I am a resident or my name is Diana Simon and I'm a resident of, uh, Overland, which is right next door to St. Louis City. Um, I live off of Wabaday Avenue. I do work in the city. However, I actually work the Armory Data Center would be like right over there. I work at WashU. Um, and I am very much opposed and could go on for a very long time for all the reasons why, but many people have already stated a lot of the reasons, so I'll try not to repeat. Um, I'm pretty angry about the fact that this is still in discussion at all or just about the fact that government officials of every single level are just ignoring human level. And so it's just getting really frustrating to see people constantly hit with roadblocks and not being listened to in a society that's supposed to be a democratic society. Um, I also in my neighborhood, it's a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, and with all of the ICE raids and everything going on right now, the idea of more potential AI surveillance systems is terrifying to me. We already have more flock cameras around my neighborhood in particularly than any other area in St. Louis, and I'm seeing more and more of those cameras just pop up everywhere locally. Um, I also think think in the area my whole life. My parents are from here, my grandparents are from here. I think it has so many great things going for it. And it's mostly the community, the small business infrastructure, the green spaces, and the affordability. And that those four things are causing young people in particularly to move here because it's the only place where they can afford to live. And there are so many good things that it has going for it. And building a data center like this is just going to deter people from moving

here. Like you're getting your one chance to finally rebuild in a positive manner. And we're seeing positive impacts in many of these neighborhoods, where local businesses are popping up, where younger families are moving in, and people are settling roots here. Nobody wants to set their roots in a place where emissions are higher, prices are too high. So you get rid of the affordability aspect altogether to move here. And that will just deter people from wanting to be here at all. And it's going to have a lot of it's going to make a lot of people leave because they can no longer afford to stay. And people have lived here for so long. I know so many people wouldn't want to do that. But if you can't afford to do anything else, then how are you supposed to stay?

Um, you're muted, but I'm taking that's my time. Sorry. Yes, I was. Do you have any closing remarks? That's it pretty much. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um, all right. Next, I see just a phone number. It's 636 3882616.

Can you hear me? Hello? Uh, not you, ma'am, but uh we'll we will get back to you. All right. Um, let's see. 636 3882616. It looks like you're unmuted, but we don't hear you. Are you able to hear me now? Yeah, great. Uh, can we get your name and address for the record?

My name is Benjamin Schwarz. I live in Overland 63114 and I worked in the central west end and Florescent area and I also worked in the Sulard area when the last proposal was made. I argue against the proposed hypers scale data center for a multitude of reasons that are unable to sum into two minutes. But as somebody who has seen long-term impacts from Cold Water Creek firsthand, this is a disastrous tragedy of an idea that would cause irreparable damage to residents long term. I want to echo the points of all those before me. that this has been that the argument that this is beneficial for the community is laughable when you consider the negative impacts on ecosystems, pollution of all kinds, power consumption, as well as how this AI technology is being used in surveillance as seen with Stargate LLC flock cameras and more and also in warfare. I want to echo that these developers are only interested in inflating failed investors wallets and they do not hear our voices as they say they do. The communities that are impacted are still recovering. When questions were answered, they were hardly addressed. Quote unquote benefit for the community does not translate to plugging in an industrial monster that actively pollutes and destroys a community. There is an imaginary race that we do not need to participate on. lofty promises and proposals for profit. This would cause irreparable damage and harm to the city. And I wanted to mention that the closed loop system is not closed. The heat exchange loop is open causing water evaporation is responsible for the majority of water consumption. I urge you to listen with your hearts and not with your wallets. The residents have a strong opposition to this proposal for good reason.

All right. Does that is Are you concluding your comments? That's all. Okay, great. Um, and can we get the spelling of your last name? S C H W an Az.

Great. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right. Uh, next we have Edmund. Hello, my name is Edmund and I O'Neal and I am a resident of Ward 7 uh 3651 Lafayette Avenue. I am very close to the proposed data center development. Uh I do not think we should move forward with it. Uh, I have a question for all of these data center proposals so far that we've gotten outside of all of the very valid concerns of all of our other residents and business owners, but why are they always targeted to be built in areas such as downtowns or entertainment districts and such? The area that they're designating a uh industrial zone is anything but. if they want support. I I'm cynical enough to say that no matter what happens, some of these are going to develop around here anyway. But why if we're going to approve them, are we not putting them in places? There's a whole North Riverside where barely anybody lives that is almost all industrial by Proctor and Gamble and gas stations and stuff like that where they're dilapitated and there are blighted warehouses. Why not do if you're going to say that you're committed to the city and you're committed to not going in these areas, why would you not take down these blighted warehouses in these industrial districts and build there? And again, it's far from residents. Um, you know, it's an area where you can honestly say if you care about the city that you're making it uh a a positive development that's not tied to any of these promises that we know you're not going to keep. Uh even the last developer of this area, Green Street,

when they were developing this area, the proposal was for mixed use. This was going to be residential areas. And so, how are you with a straight face saying it's industrial? That's that's my comment. I I sincerely hope that the board uh does not move forward with this. Right. Thank you. Um next we have Audrey Kidwell. Hello, my name is Audrey Kidwell. I live at 3933 Connecticut Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63116, Ward 6. And like lots of other folks on this call, I am opposed to the proposed development of the Armory into an AI data center. I know this is a zoning committee, so I guess I will, this is my first time testifying at one of these, but I will try to keep my comments on zoning related topics. Um, as Edmund uh the previous speaker just sorry I might have got your name wrong. The previous speaker just said um you know this area I guess it is technically zoned for unlimited use. Um however the the city strategic land use policy categorizes this land with the central west end and grand center. Um so that gives you an idea of the type of space um this this land is considered. Um it's urban. It's um you know we should be zoning it for dense urban use. um not industrial. Uh yes, there's, you know, industrial buildings around it. There's the highway right there. I think people are really trying to sell this. Um the developers are trying to sell this as land that we don't want. Um and that's just not true. Um it's, as others have mentioned, it's right across from the foundry. Um which I don't know all the zoning details. I'm sorry, but the foundry, you know, is commercial, it's residential, and it's right across the highway from the proposed um you know, data center development. um if we could connect those two uh parcels, I think, you know,

it could be a huge asset to what's already a really vibrant um area of the city. I grew up in Shaw. Um and when I was a kid, that part of Midtown was nothing. IKEA wasn't there. The foundry wasn't there. Um I was just saying in chat, I moved away for college. I've been away for some years. And when I moved back and saw that development, it was really exciting. You know, it felt like a city that I want to live in. um I go to the foundry all the time um to enjoy a night out and um you know there's so many other things that we could do with that space and so I really urge um the zoning committee to rethink uh putting a data center in that space um for all of the other reasons very credible reasons everyone has stated but again just focusing on land use and zoning um it really doesn't feel like an industrial space to me that's it uh a closing remark is um oh I forget what you said to say in the chat, um, reject a proposal. Something like that. Reject. That's all. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, next we have El Lucy Taylor.

Hi. Um, my name is Eda Taylor. I go by Lucy. I live in the 3,400 block of Juniata Street. Um, I am opposed to the Armory Data Center, not only for the reasons that like everyone else has stated. Um, but then some things just um that I picked up listening to the people that were for it where they keep saying, "Oh, it's going to give generate money for schools. It's going to generate money for infrastructure." And I'm like, "Okay, put your money where your mouth is. If it's going to generate so much money, donate that money to the water department. Go ahead and give us the money and then you can make it back." You know, I've been told a lot in investing, no risk, no reward. Well, risk something. Like we don't know anything about, you know, what's going to happen. Oh, that's engineering. That's planning. Spend the money doing that planning. Spend the money doing that sort of stuff before you just making a few promises, not putting anything on paper. and you can't literally just do the work. Um, it's it's insane to think that we should agree to something without anything, you know, saying what exactly we're agreeing to.

I'm done. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, let's see. Next we have uh Chris Chartrand. You got it. Can you hear me?

Yeah. Great. Uh, hi. Yes. I'm Chris Chartrand. I'm a homeowner in the seventh ward. Um, first I just wanted to say how disheartening it was to hear all the labor union guys in favor of this data center um demonstrate just how bought and sold they all are. Uh, this is a political entity that I used to believe in. Uh, but in fact your leaders are conmen and you are their shills. Uh, onto the matter at hand. So everybody in St. Louis is already outraged at utility rates. Uh I'm not aware of any specific protections in this proposal for the average St. Louis individual or family um from severely inflated energy rates on top of the already severely inflated energy rates. Um it's a 33% increase by household from 2020 to 2025 on average. Um, this is already something we're dealing with for no good reason and everyone I know feels powerless because it is imposed upon us top down by unaccountable corporations. Uh, needless to say, we do not need more local influence from unaccountable corporations, specifically if it's going to be something as precarious and worthless as artificial intelligence. Um, I could spend the rest of my time talking about how the financialization of artificial intelligence is hollowing out our economy and our arts and our culture and our next generation's critical social uh critical thinking social capacity. Uh, but the last thing I want to mention because I only heard it mentioned once or twice, but there's something called infrasound pollution. Um, this is actually just below the hearing range. Um, so even if on some tactical level it's only as loud as a pickup truck, there is a physical rumbling that spikes cortisol levels, causes discomfort, dizziness, nausea, and disrupt sleep in humans and

wildlife. Um, a lot is coming out that indicates a data center of this scale would produce infrasound pollution up to 2 and a half mile radius. And as others have said, this includes schools and hospitals and people will move away and quality of life will go down for those that stay. And I take that very seriously. Uh reject this proposal.

All right. Thank you, Chris. Um next we have Elizabeth Clark. Elizabeth, are you still with us? Elizabeth. All right, we'll come back to Elizabeth. Um, next I see Grace.

Hi. Um, my name is Grace Zaki. That's spelled Z A K Y. And I reside at 20 North Grand Boulevard, MSC number 1275, um, W 11. Um, I just wanted to make a statement in opposition. As a current Slooh student, I am planning to stay and live here in the city, of course, and I am one of those people that walks to the Grand Metro Link station at least three times a week. Um, ironically, it's to go to work at an allergist where we see increasingly more asthma patients. Um, additionally, as a Midtown resident, it feels somewhat insulting to call the location as an an industrial location, as other people have mentioned, um, because it is zoned for dense urban development that is residentially driven. And I don't think we should be allowing this.

Oh, Elizabeth, we'll come back. Um, we had to move on. We're with Grace right now. Okay.

Um, but yeah, so I don't think they should have um use it conditionally when it is intentionally for um residents. Uh, and just because the building is technically closed off um by the highway and other things doesn't mean that we should accept that at as is. I think we should take that as an opportunity to connect it to the rest of the neighborhood. Um, as Akira mentioned, it will harm the foundry and nearby businesses, as well as, of course, raising our utility bills. I'm in opposition to um the proposal as it stands for many of the reasons mentioned, but mainly because data center regulation is not currently set in place, and I feel it is very irresponsible to approve such a project without explicit protections written by alderman. Um it is also responsible to go through with this before an enduser transparency agreement is established because without knowing the end user we are writing a blank check for them to use it however they choose. Um and beyond that historically it's been incredibly difficult difficult to enforce regulations once a data center is set in place as imposing fines on them um usually just amounts to pennies to these large companies. Um lastly, it is incredibly disheartening that this space is not being used for affordable housing among other things the city needs. And I strongly believe that we can create jobs by rebuilding the roads and homes destroyed by the tornado. I urge you to have faith in St. Louis and our potential to do much better for economic development than this AI data center. Thank you for your time.

All right. Thank you, Grace. Um, next, uh, Elizabeth, can you All right. Can we get your name and, uh, address?

Yes. Hi, my name is Elizabeth Clark. I live in Ward 1 at 4371 Wallace um 63116 and I will I know you've been listening a lot so I will make this quick. Um I'm just going to say I'm rejecting the application for the Armory Goodwill data center. We have two college campuses Harristo and Slooh in an entertainment district within walking distance distance. I'm sure the abrasive sound of the data center turning constantly will help enrollment continue with learning comfortably and safely. According to the University of California, Riverside, they have found the adverse health effects have tripled in three years of a data center being built. Generators emit nitrogen oxides, which is a carcinogen that it causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Sound pollution adds to headaches, higher stress, sleep disruption. Data centers can use PFAS in their daily use, which is a forever chemical. Yahoo News reported that the data center located in Oregon is linked to a spike of rare cancers linked to toxins polluting the water and violating the legal late limit of nitrates allowed. This can link to miscarriages, losing kidneys, extreme joint pain. And a resident got his voice box taken out for cancer linked to smoking and he does not smoke. Um NPR reported that it could possibly be Google as this shadow um company. Google has a revenue in 2025 of $42 billion annually. So obviously they don't need tax abatement tax breaks. They can pay their own electricity bill, but it doesn't matter anyway because we're not interested. Um the water coolers that cool or the water that cools down data centers can be about 40% evaporated into the air getting into our gardens and wildlife. The rest can go into the swore, which will be another problem St. Louis will need to deal with. Seeing that our budget is more likely overblown from the state trying to wreak havoc on the city of St. Louis, where does this leave the huge onslaught

of new problems to deal with along with minimal research on emerging crisises bestowed upon us from billionaires? Um, when I reviewed the people that were applying for this application, they don't live here. It's I think it was a venture capitalist and private equity company headquartered in headquartered in Virginia. They don't understand St. Louis nor do they care. That's that's 10 minutes. Do you have a closing remark? Um my last remark is I just want to look at the Mississippi River River with my daughter and read Huckleberry Finn. If we allow this data center, it will look like the river to pair. So please don't. Thanks. All right. Thank you.

Thanks. Uh, next we have William Stevenson.

Hello. I apologize if any of this has already been addressed. Uh, I came in a little late. Uh, but my name is William Stevenson. I'm a lifetime city resident. Uh, currently in Dogtown in the fourth ward and I work downtown in the eighth ward. I oppose this proposal. Uh however, I'd be more uh open to supporting the proposal if our local representatives would educate themselves uh about the ways to negate the potential environmental impacts many of our citizens are concerned about and enforcing them. Uh this includes uh commitment to using sound dampening housing uh after exhaust filtration systems for the emergency on-site generators for sound and pollution, air pollution. uh as well as a commitment to closed loop glycol systems uh utilizing chillers which do not use exterior water cooling uh as opposed to evaporative cooling tower systems to safeguard our water systems. Um as someone who works in the mechanical field and in and with data centers across our area uh these are some of the minimal things that can be done to alleviate folks concerns. Uh we need to uh we need the city to commit to these requirements for both the armory and all data centers going forward. Um I understand people's concerns with regarding power. Um this is an absolutely critical issue and we need to wholeheartedly reject tax breaks and incentives from Amron and subsidizing the costs uh for the data center power usage to the local residents. Uh this is just unacceptable. Um finally we need better commitment to holding these companies responsible for implementing these environmental considerations as well as ensure that these facilities can make a commitment to collocation availability uh to future proof them from the concerns of the AI bubble that many residents already have. Um, if these conditions are met and our representatives are better informed on these issues, I would consider changing my position. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, next we have Megan Tiffany. Hello. Sorry. Um, okay. I don't have like any like good factual data. Everybody has been incredible. Can we get your name and address for the record first? I'm so sorry. Megan Tiffany, 3910 Lle Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. I'm in the ninth board. Great. Proceed.

Okay. Um, yeah. Anything I have to say is anecdotal. And, um, I'm I'm a nurse. I work in um, a very busy level one trauma center in the heart of the city. And, um, I see the effects of the air pollution already. And um these people who are coming in from um out of state, they don't hold the hands of people who are having an asthma exacerbation and before they get like I live here and I work here and I love this community and and we could do so much better and definitely like there are several unhoused people around all the time that why can't we build something for them or turn that into housing or you know everything that everybody else said. But that's it. I'm just really passionate. I don't have good numbers.

Okay. Does that conclude your testimony? Yeah. Yeah. Don't uh reject it, please. Thanks. Okay.

Um next we have uh Matthew Rutled. There we go. Hi, my name is Matthew Rutled. I live on the 3500 block of South Spring Street in the six ward. And give me one second to pull up my notes. Um, I'm opposed to the data center from a land use and zoning perspective. Regardless of how one feels about data centers, this is not the right location for one. The land is right by the Grand Metroink station and the 70 bus. Trains come to the site every 10 minutes, 18 hours a day, every day, and buses come every 15 to 20 minutes. data centers do not benefit from that level of transit service. Land is also a few hundred feet away from the new Brookline Greenway that we're spending $250 million on. And the Great Rivers Greenway has secured $10 million in funding for a new pedestrian bridge that connects the greenway to Metroink that will skirt the perimeter of the site. Generations of visitors to the greenway deserve something better here than a giant server warehouse. Um, due to these factors, the new strategic land use plan the city recently passed categorizes this area as a central area west. It's the same designation as the Central West End and Grand Center. It recommends 20story buildings and walkable land uses, not industrial and warehouse projects. The sloop passed last year with a lengthy public input process and popular support. I'm disappointed to see the city is so quickly entertaining violating the intended land use that it's outlined in this new plan. There's a clear vision for this neighborhood and it does not include a data center. There's multiple new residential projects in the media vicinity already, including a new tower at the foundry, the new target building on Grand, the steel coat building renovation, and new apartments that just broke ground this month in Cortex. The market shows clear demand for more housing in this area. Regardless of the pros and cons of data centers, this is not the right location for one. It's a waste of some of the most valuable and transit-rich land in the region. The site has transit access, a major university, the foundry, and a new greenway. Please set aside this land for better and higher uses. Do not let it be turned into a large empty

warehouse with no neighborhood activation. I encourage you to reject this proposal. Thank you. 428. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Matthew. Um, next we have, it looks like Shauna Rogers.

Hello. So, my name is Shauna Rogers. I live at 4048 Cleveland Avenue. That is Ward 6. I'm testifying on behalf of myself and my 2-year-old and four-year-old who attends St. Louis public schools. So, I am not super prepared. I took some time off my midterms to do this, but here are some points from a research project that I did last semester. Sorry if any of these have been discussed. I ran a little late because I have midterms. So, oops, sorry. So the jobs that what we've seen the jobs that these data centers create, they're not like highpaying tech positions. They're like security and janitorial type positions and they're normally outsourced to contractors and therefore don't have benefits. Um obviously the utility bills will disproportionately affect low-income families. Um, so someone else already brought up a bunch of research that came out of University of California, Riverside. Uh, something she didn't mention is the public health burden of AI data centers in is in California alone is projected to surpass an additional 20 billion dollars by 2028, which is less than two years away. Now, since these data centers are being constructed in low-income communities, we are they are who is footing the medical bill cost in addition to the infrastructive/ energy bill costs. Meanwhile, coincidentally, right now, public health insurance is being gutted. Me and my toddlers were just taken off. I'm hoping it's a mistake. We don't know yet. Um, but the negative health impacts of data centers span hundreds of miles in every direction. I want to make a point that no one is going to be spared by this. Obviously, data centers happening in urban areas are due to environmental racism, but this is going to hit all the rich neighboring towns, too. This has

been proven by scientists, doctors, people who have gone to school for over a decade. We have the data. It's there. And yeah, thank you. Thank you guys for showing up. Thank you to the board and elected officials for hopefully representing our community because it is definitely over rejected and objected by the overwhelming majority. I reject this proposal. Thank you very much. Right. Thank you. Um next we have Riley Young.

Hi. Can you hear me?

Yes. Go ahead and state your name and address for the record. Hi, I'm Riley Young. Um, I live in North County, also by Cold Water Creek. Um, I am in St. Louis city almost every day, especially WS 10 and 14. St. Louis has been my home for 20 years. And this uh this issue affects the entire St. Louis metro region. We already have so much pollution in our area from our government and many corporations here showing for decades that they don't care that much about our health. They promise envir in environmental responsibility and then do the complete opposite. Um, I'm very opposed to this data center. I It's also disappointing that the community doesn't have a better process to comment on this than a Zoom on a weekday morning. I understand this is like the regular thing for these meetings, but I have at least nine other people who I personally know are opposing this who either couldn't join this meeting or had to exit the Zoom call earlier cuz they had to work. Um, I'm also disappointed to see union reps showing up in support of this as the long-term harm to unions and all workers rights and jobs far outweighs the short-term benefits. My husband's in the local 396 iron workers union. Um, so of appreciate that union reps want to find work for their members. Um, but like at what cost? This is a 120 megawatt data center, which is six times bigger than our current largest data center here, which pretty much guarantees it's going to be used for AI, contributing to automating jobs away, providing services to union busting companies, creating more political power for anti-UN policy makers. A lot of the tech companies using spaces like this have an interest in privatizing schools, defunding and ending uh completely ending public education. AI as a whole is harming all of us, especially children, making it harder to discern what's real, spreading misinformation, causing chatbot induced psychosis, stealing from artists and writers,

allowing for the creation of non-con uh non-consensual sexually explicit material. I'm here partly because I'm worried about how this will hurt my nieces, nephews, and friends children and their futures likely to burst and has not even shown to be a good source of economic growth. We don't know the enduser. Um, to me that's kind of like my main concern today. That's a massive red flag. We need better regulations on this, preferably a moratorum. Um, the people of St. Louis keep showing up to oppose this and keep getting ignored. Uh, I would also like to know how many in favor of this would actually still be if it weren't their job to speak positively about it. Riley, that's two minutes. Do you have any closing remarks?

Okay. Yeah. Don't go forward with the data center. Also, St. Louis needs to be focusing on funding the recovery of North City from last year's tornado damage. Thank you. All right. Thanks. Um, next we have uh Nadia Datka. Uh, Nadia Datka. Oh, man. Sorry. No worries. No worries. It's an Iranian name. It can be hard. All right.

Um, so hi there. My name is Nadia Delea. I live in W 10, zip 63112. And I work in water as an analytical chemist. In fact, I worked for this city's water department. So, I know firsthand that this city's water department cannot handle the increased water use that this armory would require, which is, mind you, over 5 million gallons a day. I know this because this city's water systems can barely handle the current output of water production. The chain of rock chain of rocks water treatment plant is dilapidated, underfunded, and understaffed. Despite decades of imploring the city's government to update our treatment plant, it remains antiquated and overlooked. The newer Howard bin treatment plant is much smaller and at max capacity could only provide water to onethird of this city's residents. So, I speak as a professional with inside knowledge of this city's utilities. If this city pushes through this data center, the chain of rock treatment plant will fail and only the wealthiest residents on the west side of the city will have guaranteed clean, safe drinking water. Mayor Spencer herself was originally against the data center and has since flip-flopped when citizens of St. Louis need her steadfast support more than ever to protect their right to clean, safe drinking water. This is deeply disheartening, especially given that the data center has not provided a single functional figure about their WATER USAGE, NOT A SINGLE DETAIL about their zerowaste water system. This is absurd. This is a group of shady developers offiscating as much information as possible from the people of St. Louis. So, I ask the board of public service, what do they have to hide? Well-meaning citizens of St. who informing themselves on this data center cannot tell you a single certain concrete long-term benefit of this data center. Yet, a citizen with even a cursory understanding can list any number of delletterious consequences. These

developers know if we had all the facts, there would be outrage. I am outraged. Our waters are already polluted at Cold Water Creek and in desperate need of remediation. This data center is an affront to the people of St. Louis and will be disastrous to this city's ability to provide clean drinking water to its residents. So, I will continue to show up for my community at each of these meetings to oppose the data center. And clearly, I am not alone. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um, next we have Lauren Fila or Fela.

Hi. Yeah, I'm Lauren Fila. Thank you. I live in Maplewood 63143. I'm the co-chair of the Ecosocialist Green Party, which represents members in the city, and I go to the Goodwill building like a lot of people that do homeless outreach do to get supplies. I don't want to see this turned into a data center. And I'm going to make the case that this proposal is unprecedented, that it's preposterous, and that it's going to affect everybody in the city and beyond. Right now, the largest data center that we have here is 2 megawws. This would be 120. All of that energy is going to be turned into heat and that's going to make our deadly summers worse, especially for our unhoused residents. This is within a mile of Slooh student housing, a mile of Slooh Hospital of two children's hospitals. The generators are going to admit nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and this one building, one data center, is going to use as much power as half of all the other residences in the city. This is not like a normal building. We can't treat this like a normal building that's going through the conditional use process. This will be the biggest power user ever. This would be historically bad and it would be irreversible. Our power bills have already gone up 34% in 5 years. We've lost 20,000 residents and that would just get worse because of this. And it's so unnecessary. I want to say that we don't have to approve a terrible proposal just because developers ask for it. The developers answers so far have been unqualifyingly weak. Zoning is asked good questions like what's going to happen to the e-waste? What are the numbers for noise? What is the final design of the cooling system? We're not being told any of that. All we're hearing is approve it and then the end user will decide that and you'll be stuck with it. And I think as Nadia just said, there's a reason that these NDAs are in place. It's because the companies that are the end users of hyperscale data centers are terrible companies that do terrible things and they've decimated the communities that they've been in. And if we had that information to arm ourselves

with in these hearings, we would be even stronger. And so that's a specific tactic to keep us from doing so. There's been no transparency. And so the conditional use hearing can absolutely not approve this. It's not development. It's only extraction. Extraction of our water, of our power. We're saying no. And I want to remind people on this call that this isn't over today. That there is an appeal process. And if this gets approved, that we will be appealing. Thank you. Thank you, Lauren. Um, next we have Erin O'Reilly.

Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Go ahead and state your name and address for the record, please.

Okay. Yes. My name is Aaron O'Reilly, and I live at 3855 Humphrey Street, St. Louis, Missouri, and that's W 6. I'm a public health nurse and a lactation consultant. And I am against this um proposal for the status center at the armory. I believe it is an unhealthy a resource greedy and a polluting um proposal. So for all those reasons I am against it and there have been many other reasons that have been stated by others so well who are much better speakers than I am. And I'm so proud of you all of all the other speakers. Um, and I so I agree with all the other statements against this data proposal, this data center. And uh, I just want to end by saying I am against this data center at the Armory. Thank you so much for taking my comments.

All right. Thank you, Erin. Um, next it looks like uh Sweet Tea. Can we get you to unmute? All right. And name um address for the record, please.

Yeah. Um, hi, my name is Tina Sweet Ty Peele. Uh, I at 4384 Gibson Avenue, 63110 9th Ward. As a city planner and a former alderwoman of the 17th ward, I oppose approval of the proposed Army data center conditional use permit. At present, there's insufficient publicly available information to support an informed decision on a development of this scale and impact. Additionally, the commitments the developers have made to the public are not guarantees. The commitments are not legally binding and the city has not discussed what recourse there may be if the commitments are broken. I've seen the planning in the city where there have been commitments to the public made and then they are broken. For instance, when is Green Street going to fund the St. Louis public schools for the Armory tip they received in 2022? Green Street had committed to giving the SLPS Foundation over $400,000 for the development of the Armory, but it was never received. I vote against this tip because there were no guarantees on the developer commitment. How are we assured that these commitments for the data center proposal will be honored? Those supporting the data center have argued that because St. Louis has 13 data centers already, why are individuals opposed to this data center, this is a hyper data center that will use between six to 600 times more power than the current data centers in St. Louis. And while the development team thro investments and contour make their um while the development team th Investments and contour make their claims that this data center is a benefit to the city, they have not included cited sources or sufficient detail um for independent verification about the benefits to the public. In contrast, size produced a report called community transparency report on the Armory data center. In the report, he provided sourced information clearly identifying

assumptions and highlight substantial gaps that warrant further study before an approval of this massive data center is considered. Please note, I sent this report to the zoning section and the mayor and I posted a link in the chat. I also wanted That's two minutes. Do you have any closing remarks? Yes. And and we did receive your letter. Pardon me. And we did receive your letter for the record.

Great. I also wanted to note um that these concerns were also raised by Steve Smith, the owner of New and Found in the podcast 314 on October 16th. And he said regarding this great big data center, do we take what is quick and convenient or do we hold off and do a bigger and better thing? Thank you. Right. Thank you. Um, next we have Jerry Connelly.

Hello. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Go ahead and uh state your name and address for the record, please.

Very good. Yeah. Jerry Connelly, six resident, 3849 Botanical uh 63110. I've lived in St. Louis for 33 years. I oppose the granting of a permit for the construction of a data center at the 3728 to 3858 Market Street location. Hyperscale de data centers do not belong in the city of St. Louis. I oppose the project for many reasons including the negative impacts on residents and workers in prox. These impacts are well documented and include noise, air, and a heat pollution, a heat island effect. Increased utility costs for residents and business owners are also a concern. On September 10, 2025, the planning commission voted unanimously to recommend to the board of alderman that a moratorum be placed on all data center construction until planning and zoning staff had adequate time to study the issue. 9 days later, following pressure from the development industrial complex and many of the folks who've spoken in favor of this today, um Mayor Spencer has signed Executive Order 92. This order effectively ensures the rubber stamp improv approval of this data center proposal. All but one member of the board of public service to whom zoning staff will make a recommendation or but one member is also a member of the mayor's cabinet. The applicant's responses to the questions in executive order 92 are grossly deficient. As others have pointed out, the developer provided no data and calculations supporting their claims for pro projected tax revenue figures. The two developer propaganda town hall meetings held last October pertain to the original data center proposal on 500

Prospect, the parking lot east of the Armory building. These town halls do not constitute public engagement for the 3728 market site. The lack of substantive answers to key questions in the executive order supposedly due to the end user not being identified point to this project being speculative. Jerry, that's two minutes. Do you have any closing remarks?

Uh, yes. Number one, please continue this hearing to later dates, one in the evening, one on the weekend, so the public can engage. The lack of the ability to join Zoom earlier uh prohibited a lot of folks from getting on to this meeting. They won't have heard the instruction that the room was going to be expanded. And secondly, I want to call on the mayor to rescend executive order 92 and follow that original recommendation from the planning commission to put a moratorum until the final regulations are in place. And number three, I'm asking Phil Hulse from Green Street to pay his taxes. He owes 2.85 million just on these Market Street properties. He can't even pay the taxes on the armory for which he has a tiff and tax abatement and pace financing. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

All right. Thank you. Um, next we have Mahala Pitman.

Hi, my name is Maha Pitman. Um, I live on the 7200 block of Southland in uh the second ward 63109. I want to thank my colleagues and my neighbors for speaking out today and um I'm going to testify in a a personal capacity. Um what will it take for you to listen to us? What will it take? Um, I've been to countless hearings in the city level and at the PSC like the rate case hearings, which to my knowledge the PSC has never denied uh a rate increase as we continue to be an affordability crisis uh utility burden, energy burden. Um, St. Louis needs a lot of things. A data center is not one of them. Uh, our black seniors who are taking their medications every other day because they cannot afford their energy bills and their meds do not need a data center. Um, black children in St. Louis who are 10 times more likely to go to the emergency room for asthma related incidents do not need a data center. We have been emphatically clear. I think it is very clear today that the opposition far outweighs the support, who are the people who stand to benefit from this. Your effort to be a part of some arbitrary elucory tech race is actually an AI bubble that will burst at the expense of workers and lowincome communities. To approve this proposal is a gross ignorance of the people's will. it will be to blatantly ignore what we are saying loud and clear. We do not want this data center. I urge you to listen to the residents of St. Louis and say no. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um next we have Abby Gunther. Hi. Um can you hear me? Yep.

Okay, perfect. Um my name is Abby Gunther and I live in Ward 7. I live right off Grand and just down the road from the proposed Armory data center and I pass by there just about every day. I am vehemently against this data center proposal and everyone here has made excellent points. So I just want to mention two things. Um and I want to be clear I pulled both of these things from the city code. Um the first is that the board of public service is not supposed to approve any conditional use if it will be detrimental to public health, safety, morals or general welfare. Everyone here today has made several points demonstrating that that will be true. So on this alone, the conditional use should not be approved. Um additionally, the board of public service is not supposed to approve any conditional use that doesn't conform to the applicable zoning standards. The planning and urban design agency created very detailed zoning recommendations and they presented those to the planning commission and this project does not meet those zoning recommendations. Soding zoning for data centers in St. Louis is on track to being established and it feels sneaky and predatory that this project is trying to sneak in before we can regulate them as a city. We deserve real protections, not promises made by developers that stand a profit. It is simply common sense that this would be rejected. 300 St. Louisans jumped on a Zoom call at 8:30 a.m. in the middle of the workday to tell you they don't want this. Now, imagine everyone who can't make it. I reject this. Thank you.

Thank you, Abby. Um, next we have Sarah Jones.

Hi. Sorry. Um, I'm got to clock back in for my break, but I live in the 5,000 block on Miami Street. I'm in ward number five, and I think the city should reject this. I don't believe that these AI use buildings have a long-term track record of being useful and um for this the places they're being built on top of the other um environmental impacts and the impacts that it's going to have to the health and well-being of the residents that we already have here. So, thank you and please reject this proposal.

All right. Thank you, Sarah. Um, next we have Julia.

Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Um, Julia, can you give your full name and address for the record, please?

Yes. My name is Julia Mer, M A G- E R, and my address is 1933 Park Avenue, 63104, Ward 8. Um, I would like to uh re uh state that I reject the application for the Armory Data Center. Um, this is my first time doing this, so I'm very nervous. Um, I just also wanted to thank everybody who's spoken out today in opposition. It's really inspiring to hear everyone. Um, and as a St. Louis native, um, I'm really scared about what this is going to bring to our our city. Um, I'm going to speak today in a personal capacity. Um, so um, I love the outdoors here. I want that to be here for future generations, for future um for for my friends, my friend's kids, for my friends grandkids, for anybody else who who moves here. Um it's it's just devastating to hear all of this and even to understand that um um a lot of this is going to be ignored by those who are just going to make a lot of money from this and they don't care about St. Louis. They don't care about our future. They don't care about our health, our well-being. Everyone today has brought in so many points, point after point after point, and I don't feel like it needs to be reiterated again, but I want to full put my fullhearted um um support behind everyone um and everything that they've said. We need to focus on jobs to rebuild North City after the tornado. We need to listen to those who live here and who love this city. Um, I work in the courts and I see evictions and I hear how health um, detriments not only um, bankrupt people, but then they get kicked out of their homes because they can't afford their rents and the rent the rental properties here are already predatory. They will not stop coming after people just because things like this happen. Um, I just I reject wholeheartedly this application for the Armory Data Center

and not just here but anywhere in St. Louis or surrounding areas. We do not need this here. We do not need this on Earth, much less in our city. Um so I just um in closing, thank you very much for your time. Thank you so much to everyone who has been here today. Um this really needs to be made more convenient um or more times so that people can come. It's absolutely done on purpose to make this difficult. Thank you for your time. Um that is all I have to say. All right. Thank you, Julia. Um, next we have Heidi Bud.

Hello. Um, I also or I'll start with my name address for the record. Um, my name is Heidi Bud. I live at 2632 Alhhamra Court in 63118. It's w 7. Um, I've lived in St. Louis my whole life but moved to the city um in September and I work in Ward 14. I've been a St. Louis resident my whole life. I love this city. Um I second all the points that everyone's made today in opposition of this proposal. So um I think all I'll add today is that I am especially motivated by the impact on the city's vibrancy moving forward and feel that a data center especially a hypers scale data center um so close to a residential area a commercially redeveloped area a very upand cominging area to higher education campuses greenways parks is not at all what St. needs. We have made amazing strides in the last couple years and I want to see that improve. I love this city. I want to live here for a long time to come and rising utility bills will not only impact residents but also the businesses that are working very hard to give us a wonderful place to live and wonderful things to do. Um so and of course second all of the points made already about environmental impacts um health concerns and just want to go on record and say that I ask the board to reject the Armory data center proposal. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um next we have Chris Matthews. Chris, are you still with us? Hi. Can you hear me? Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Uh, yeah. You can go ahead and start the timer. I won't be long. So, I'm driving. Let me park and be safe. Um. Okay. Yes. Please be safe.

Oh, Chris, you're muted again.

Okay. Well, I wanted to put my video on, but I'm not sure how to do that right now. But, uh, yes, my name is Chris. I am a homeowner on Grace Avenue in Ward 3 in Dutchtown. Um, I moved here two years ago. Used to live in Boston for 12 years, but I'm originally from Memphis, Tennessee. So, I've been following very closely what happened with the Bhalia pipeline and with our very precious aquifer in Memphis. And something that came up when they were trying to put that pipeline over our aquafer was they chose that area because it was the path of least resistance. So I know what it is for someone to choose an area thinking it will be a path of least resistance. The environmental permitting I am a professional environmental perimeter by the way. I used to work in the renewable energy industry for over five years. So I know what this process should look like. I know what good due diligence looks like. And it is not this. I'm not seeing it. So, it is just please, you y'all got to go back to the drawing board on that. I mean, you've heard from everyone else here about the environmental concerns and the socioeconomic concerns. So, I won't I won't wax poetic on that, but yeah. No, absolutely not to that. Um, I've had a developer before ask me how much it costs to kill an endangered species to put their project there so they could put it into their financial model. And that is just not the way you should do things. if you actually care. Um yeah, and one more thing I wanted to add there was um a good example of what the armory could look like. Please look to the cross town concourse in Memphis. It used to be this old dilapidated Sears building. I used to pass by it as a child all the time. And once they built it up and brought it together and really made something for the community, it's really something stunning and I really do think the Armory Data Center could do that as well. So, that's all I have to

say here. I am here for St. Louis. I'm here to invest in it. North St. Louis needs all our attention right now. And that's that's all I got for you. All right. Thank you, Chris. Thank you very much. Um, next we have Lindsay Hullman.

Hi, my name is Lindsay and I actually live in the county. Um but these pollutants are going to travel hundreds of miles as already stated and um uh I just think that this would and it's going to affect all everyone in the Amaran districts bills. I think it if the city would move forward with this that that would be negligent of them for us and the city the citizens and I've requested several times like from these uh meetings information about the environmental impacts and they always always ignore me. And so that tells me that they don't want to comment on it. And probably because they know that regardless of what they say, they could get sued on the back end because either they're going to lie and say it doesn't create environmental concerns or they're going to say it does and it's just going to be out in the open on how terrible this is going to be. So, I just think that this would be a public nuisance and it is the city's job to serve us and keep us safe. So, if you guys allow this, then you are not doing your jobs to us as citizens. It is not worth anybody's longs to for someone to make a buck. And that's all this is about. And I just kind of worry for anyone who's like supports this because like what about the sake of like your soul too? Like is it worth money? So that's just my thought process on this. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um next we have Don Fitz. Hi, my name is Don Fitz. I live in the second ward of University City at 7 uh 6954 Dartmouth.

Speaking on behalf of u the Green Party of St. Louis and in memory of Malcolm X. I want to emphasize that this is not just a project for St. Louis. It is a project that will poison people throughout the the United States because there is an increase in multiple types of poisons. You can't just look at one poison or two poisons or five poisons. you look at have to look at about a 100,000 poisons and this is adding to that toxic mix. And for those who support this project, I would urge them to remember the words of Malcolm X because I think if Malcolm were here today, he would tell those supporters, you've been tricked, you've been hoodwinkedked, you've been bamboozled. Um I I think that it's not over just because, you know, this committee passes their just because the city of St. Louis passes it. the I was um I spent some time in jail during the Vietnam War. That's how old I am. And when that happened, we we we sat in, you know, we demonstrated, we did what we needed to do to stop that stop that war from happening. We succeeded. It may take things a lot more. I mean, the uh testifying here is a very good thing to do, but it may take a lot more than that. And I think um we need to be very careful about this because Donald Trump just said that he uh uh bombed Venezuela, kidnapped its leader, and killed a hundred people in the process claiming that Venezuela was shipping poisons, poisonous toxins to the United States. And so these are the things that would happen with all the poisoning today is real poisoning, not just fictitious out of the president's hallucinations. So let's just hope that Trump does not bomb St. Louis. you know, the the same way that he's bombing countries around the world because of the allowing poisons to come in. That's it.

Okay. Thank you, Don. Um, next we have Carrie McCullen. Hi. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Okay. Um, hello. My name is Carrie McCullen. I live in W 2. I'm also an organizer with the Ecosocialist Green Party of Eastern Missouri. Um, good. The strategic land use plan is a core policy guide for land use and one important tool for shaping investment and change in our built environment. It provides an opportunity to communicate a clear vision for land use that policies, plans, actions and investments can support.

You can think of it like a constitution for land use. It's a highle document that will continue to be updated and amended, but it lays the foundation for decisions the city makes. The sloop is yours. The sloop is urban. This is directly from the sloop policy guide. I write to you in strong opposition to the Armory Goodwill data center proposal. This large load hypers scale data center goes against the city's own sloop guidelines for city planning. by ignoring sloop by approving this. Please know that this is a massive injustice and a direct attack on the democracy, community input, and strategic planning it sought out to do. This was unanimously um voted on last year in February, so just over a year ago. This would be a massive injustice and frankly a joke. I moved to the city in August of 2025 because I wanted to be closer to my peers and community who fight for justice. If this gets approved, I may have to consider leaving the city again so I can afford my life. This site is in a zone not meant for industrial use. Um I mean there's there's so many reasons. There's literally countless reasons to oppose this um and to reject this permit. Um I don't want to go on too much, but there's $2.78 million owed currently um by Green Street. So, I think that's kind of ridiculous that that's like totally glazed over and um that the they're testifying for it. Of course, they are because they're getting bailed out. Um and

that's two minutes. Do you have any closing remarks? Yeah, just that like you know, Mr. Look at Malcrat and Cold Water Creek and they had NDAs um with their employees. So, it's just something to consider is you know, who is the end user and what is it that they're going to do it to do? Please reject this proposal. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um and then next we have um it looks like Danny Khan.

Hi, I'm Danny Khan. I'm calling in from W 2. Um this proposal is unacceptable. I have been expending energy that I don't have as a student and organizer in many different movements in the city um on the Armory Data Center since August and Septemberish. um and they have tried to lie their way into uh one situation. They got back um with the with community um outpouring against it and then they came back with an even worse solution. So, um, initially I got, um, very angry about this out of concern for the river, but over the past several months, I've only done more and more research and accumulated more and more reasons to oppose this conditional use. I've heard steadfast in greater St. Louis lie and evade the public. And over and over again, I've seen how little the board of alders and the mayor actually care about the people and our will. Um, I moved to St. Louis randomly, but I decided to stay here because I love this community and um I really believe in our ability to affect change in the city. But every aspect of uh this data center, um the water quality, the noise pollution, asthma issues, AI displacing jobs, rising utilities, lack of transparency, mass surveillance, data broking, the war economy, and more. We are these are all reasons for people to leave. These are reasons why people have been leaving. Like in addition to the tornado and the lack of response to that, it's just it's it makes sense why people leave this city and that's only going to make our bills go up even more. Um so that uh the declining city population is really

something that you should be considering here. Um ignoring the people is another thing that you should consider as a part of uh the population decline. It has led people to leave. I don't think that growth is going to happen without us. Like Michael Browning said, this is my final remark. Okay. St. Lewis has money. What we need is people. All right, we appreciate it. Uh, next we have Rebecca. All right, Rebecca, can you unmute yourself? I'm going to click the ask to unmute button and you should receive There you go. Hello. Can you hear me?

Yes. Can we get your name and address for the record, please? Hello. Can you hear us? Hi. Sorry, I'm going to somewhere more quiet. Um, hi. Yeah. Can you hear me better now? I'm so sorry. Yes, you're fine. Uh, can we get your name and address for the record, please?

Yeah. Um, so my name is Rebecca Strauss. Um, I'm located in the St. Charles area. Um, but I do work in the foundry, uh, right across from where the armory is located. Um, and I'd like to testify against this project to make the armory into a data center for many reasons. Um, a few just being the increase in cost of utilities when cost of living is already out of hand, the noise and air pollution affecting our health, and the devastating effects this will have on our already deteriorating planet. I urge our leaders to reconsider this project and listen to the people on this. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Um, next we have, it just says iPhone. Um, can we get you to unmute?

Hello, my name is Jesse Meat and I live on the 3,400 block of Wisconsin Avenue in the seventh ward and I just want to agree with everyone in the opposition of the resoning action. I don't believe that the longterm consequences will even remotely outweigh the short-term benefits of this action. And this this city just needs uh it doesn't need any more problems. It needs really really heartfelt solutions. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you all. All right. Sorry. Uh can we get the spelling of your last name? Mes. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye.

All right. Um, I don't see any more hands raised, but I do want to check in with some of our folks who have been very patient on their phones that may not be able to use the icon buttons. Um, are any of our phone numbers here to speak in opposition of the conditional use? Um, and it's uh star six uh to mute and unmute yourself. I see a 314 319. Yes, we can hear you. Hello. Can you hear us? Yes. Um, just yes. All right. Um, so going forward, ma'am, can you state your name? It would be helpful.

It would be helpful if you mix the phone calls in with the Zoom users just to be a little more equitable. But yes, my name is Arthur Harris. I reside in the um 13th Ward 63112. All right. Do you mind spelling your name for us? We didn't catch it. Yes. A R T H U R I N E. All right. Perfect. uh proceed please.

Okay. So um there was some confusion around the amount of tax revenue that the project would generate in the first year. The lady said or the man originally said 28.2 million and then the lady came back and said 75 million. So I'm not sure either way that amount plus 50 on-site jobs and a thousand temporary construction jobs. It all sounds amazing but at what cost? I do not believe that this project can happen without raising the energy cost for residential consumers of Amaran in St. Louis. I just do not. Amarind has already stated multiple times that all customers has to pay the cost for the infrastructure needed in order to support a data center. North St. Louis is still wobbling on our knees to recover from the tornado last year. We cannot afford any increase in our utility bills and we have no desire to share our precious portable water with a building filled with electronics. To any elect elected officials listening over whom will you preside if all of your constituents are priced out of residing in your wards? If we seek to increase the population of St. Louis, shouldn't we be saving what um the presenter called our excess water capacity, quote unquote, for prospective residents of St. Louis rather than for servers? If data centers are such cash cows, then why aren't affluent areas clamoring for their construction? I don't hear Wildwood. I don't hear Lake St. Louis, Clayton. There's a reason for that. What happens when the data centers long term require more water in the future and the city of St. Louis finds itself up a creek without a paddle? They're not asking for taxing centers. Oh, of course, because they're asking for our drinking water. Which do you value more? Vote no. We are vehemently against this proposal. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um, let's see. Again, I just want to check in. I know the phones um don't have the icon, but

I've been waiting if you can hear me. Yes. Great. Uh, go ahead and state your name and address for the record.

Great. My name is Nicole Dietrich. I'm a lifelong resident of St. Louis. I've born and raised here, raised my family here. I just want to rate state for the record, my phone shows, and I called in at 8:30. This call is 4 hours and 50 minutes in. So, you have already disenfranchised so many people that couldn't be here today. And um I'm going to speak fast since you're only going to allow me two minutes. I've heard this will not affect anyone or anyone's backyard. Who is anyone to you? We are the anyone you speak of. Students, patients, employees of Slooh, Harris, do SLPS, WashU Med School, Shriners, Cardinal Glennon, the VA, St. Lost Children's Hospital, Siteman, Cancer Center, employees and tourists to the Arch, Bush Stadium, the dome, the Grove, Fox Theater, Shape It, Enterprise Center, Energizer Park, Midtown, and Downtown, all city residents, employees, and tourists. I heard today characterizations of our Midtown as a dump cut off. Maybe to you it is, but not to us. We are STL made and proud. We receive alerts all summer to stay indoors due to bad air quality and excessive heat. Do you want our children, mothers, residents, tourists, and employees to stay indoors all summer as you increase air, water, and noise pollution and excessive heat? I also encourage, considering the city is not listening to us, for residents and organizations to sue the city. People have already done this across the country for many reasons such as a lack of transparency and accessibility of meetings, non-disclosure agreements, illegal closed door meetings, fasttrack approval of massive tax breaks. It's we should also be requesting sunshine laws and asking our city officials how many will personally profit from their stock

investments in Amaran and Peabody in um Apollo Global who recently acquired Argo Infrastructure who has who owns Tarpoint and it's tied to Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black Vanguard Power Powder River Basin and all New York Stock Exchange companies with affiliation to this project to destroy our beautiful city. Ma'am, that's

I have a lot more to say, but I'm going to say as my closing statement that this is our city. We live here. We are the city, not billiondoll corporations and not city officials who are not listening to us. All right. Thank you. Um, all right. Uh, let's see. I do just want to do maybe one last call here for folks. Um, is anybody on the call that would like to speak in opposition that did not get a chance? They weren't able to use the icon or maybe they're on their phone uh star six to mute and unmute yourself. Uh, we Hi. Hi. Is this Johnson? Yes.

Perfect. All right. Go ahead. Bates Avenue, um, St. Louis, Missouri 6311.

Great. I am here in opposition of the data center due to the fact that I know the health concerns that it will cause as well as it would being the rates will increase it would contribute to the unhoused community. It's already being hard to find homes for the tornado victims, the unhoused folks and that's illegal, right? We already know unhoused folks have been incarcerated and that also prevents them from finding housing. It is so many reasons that many have already spoken and I will not repeat what they said but um inform you that this is not going to help. It's not going to add. It's just going to keep hurting St. Louisans and those who pay these high utility bills and barely make the income to stay house and pay the bills. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, again, uh, this is final calls for opposition. Uh, if you'd like to testify, you weren't able to, uh, you weren't able to use the icons or star six to mute and unmute yourself. Um, I'll give you just a few seconds here to see. I would like I would like to speak. All right. Um, yes. Let's get your name and address for the record, please.

Yeah. Hi, my name is Cheryl Whitenower. I live in the 4,300 block of Juniata Street in Tower South, Ward 6. Thank you for um patience and your listening. Thank you for all the speakers who spoke so well and articulated so many things that were in my heart. I take this very personally. Um, you know, I attended a meeting uh a neighborhood meeting last night uh in Targo South and Mayor Cara Spencer um attended and spoke to the group that was gathered and one thing she she talked about her accomplishments so far uh in her term mayoral term and somebody asked her what are you doing about increasing the population of St. Lewis and she talked about well we got to prevent the out mouth out out migration and we have to attract more people to the city and I would like to say to her and to all of the city and this is a point that has already been made. People will leave. Longtime residents, even though we have roots here, we will be forced to leave if we if this company is allowed, if this data center is allowed to poison our water, take the water, poison our our air, and just sap the energy. you know, it's just it's uh all these all these points of, you know, tax write offs or tax an infusion of tax money. It all sounds very attractive, but I warn the city to be careful what you ask for. It may sound like a quick fix, just like the war in Iran sounded like a quick fix. We can get in, get out, and have what we need. And look what we're ending up with. I think there are unintended consequences of this decision if we go forward. Um, and there's a saying that kind of works for me, you know, something about um, putting lipstick on

a pig. You know, you can put all the lipstick on you want, but you still have a pig. And I think this is what we have. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, again, is there anybody here um to speak in opposition uh that did not get a chance to speak yet? Hi, my name is Mackenzie Wingenstein. I'm a resident of the four or the second ward 4345 Neoso Street, 63116. I'm just here in opposition um mainly because of the environmental impacts, the community health impacts and the impacts financially to our um community members who are experiencing financial penalties. Um, and yeah, just a bunch of other reasons that everybody else said here.

All right. Thank you, Mackenzie. Can we get your last name um for the record? Sure. It's Wangenstein. W A N G E N S T E I N. Perfect. Thank you so much. Um, again, is there anybody here who has not had a chance to speak? Uh, they're speaking in opposition. Yes, Melinda. Melinda Long. All right, Melinda, go ahead.

Uh, yes. Hi. Uh, yes. Thank you. So, this this hearing today is the conditional use. So, you mean so you're telling all So, what you're doing today is because the board of adjustment already kind of granted and in and support of this data center coming. Is that correct? They made that decision after hundreds of people stood up and responded to the fact that we do not want another data center. We and but now we're in front of the conditional use. I personally am have not ever been so disappointed in this current administration. I'm sorry. the young lady, she's just got in office and now she's signing an executive order approving order number two 92 approving this data center. No ma'am. And along with the fact the fact that this data center is attempting to come there in that area is because of and I ask any remaining listeners here on the line to there was a ordinance that was enacted back in 2017 by an alderman um Marlene Davis. At that time that ward was in ward 19. Now this data center is in ward 11 under the representative representation of my current alder person and I will reference to anyone who listen I'm freedom of speech I would not and have not and will not ever vote for her but check this out now this ordinance this ordinance 702 70428 which supports a development plan number 353 that allows any business that comes within this 400 acre radius around St.

Louis University and Midtown area could to build and get a 25 year tax abatement for any business that comes there. So yes, so if this data center parks itself in the armory building or anywhere within that 400 acre radius, not only will are they rip they're raping us of our water, they're they they have the al they allocated a 25-year tax evading. So any any any individual who is on this board of adjust this adjustment hearing panel, I encourage you to sir, ma'am, think about what you're doing.

All right. Thank you. Um, can we get an address or a place where you could receive mail if you'd like? Oh, forgive me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Melinda Long. I live in the 4500 block of Fair. They are founding community. What you're doing panel, you are going against this panel that is there. You are going against Sorry to interrupt again, but your two minutes are up. Um, do you have any closing remark?

You are going against hundreds of people who live in this area who are against the data center. And if there's any individual on that panel who and or a board member and or the mayor who is listening to this hearing, I encourage you to to man up, introduce another board bill stating no more data centers within the city of St. Louis. No more data centers. And we need to make sure everyone has a chance. Um I see also Tom and Carol Bradford. Braford. Yes. Braford. All right. So much Evan. You've just done a wonderful job. Thank you. Unreal.

All right. We'll start with Carol or and then move to Tom. We'll start with Tom. Okay. Um well, we waited. Where are you?

Uh we're at 3965 Westminster Place. That's in in W 9. And um um I purposely I submitted a written objection. So, I didn't want to take go into anybody's time, but since we're right at the very end, I'd like to go on the on the record um to say that um uh I'm I'm looking strategically at how we uh keep this kind of thing from happening. And one of the things I I I've been uh lobbying for a smaller uh scale of of data data center because I've done some research and I I think the largest scale of data center where you could actually make make it safe and unobtrusive to to the neighbors and and still be of use is what I'm calling a nano data center which would be 18 the size of a micro data center. Um and I I think that's a good would be a good measure to put on the on the books as a kind of fighting fire with fire. Uh, you know, if if you have a a forest fire, um, if you wa if you wait until till everything's on fire, all all you can do is is react. Uh, run for your life. Uh, call the fire department. Um, so, so what you do is you do controlled burns. So, if we had

on the books uh a nano data center or maybe you need to do some more research and find out maybe it's even smaller than that, smaller than one 1/8 of a micro data center. But I I think that would be helpful. That's all I want to say. And and this has just been great. I'm so so proud of of all my neighbors. uh you know coming out and and being just being so eloquent about what they've said in oppos opposition to this travesty. All right. Thank you. And Carol, you don't wish to make comment.

Oh, I'll just make the comment that I think this is a very worthwhile. Thank you so much to everybody that came. It was fun seeing a bunch of people we haven't seen for a while. And um what we're all about is creating communities. So that nano data center could be at the scale of a community, one little neighborhood and it would serve you fine and then you then connect to another one. So yes, thank you. And totally transparent. Yes. And renewable like an eco village. Yes. All right.

Thank you. We appreciate it. Um let's see. I know at the beginning of this hearing there was somebody on the call that had a neutral comment and so we do want to give opportunity um for any neutral comments. Um is there anybody here on this call uh for neutral comments? Okay. Um with that the last two minutes are for the Oh, wait just a second. I see a Sai Fram, I apologize. Dubasi,

uh, we can't hear you, sir. It looks like you're unmuted, but there's no volume. Is it better? There you go. Right. Can you give your name and address for the record, please?

Oh, yeah, sure. Uh, um, hello everyone. I'm Sabbasi. Uh, I live in the Forest Park area. I'm a data analyst uh with a master's degree in data analytics engineering from George Mason University. Well, today I'm not here to support or propose the uh army data center. Uh I'm here as someone who was approached by the community members and asked to help organize the publicly available information about this project into a clearer uh more accessible format. uh in response to that I prepared a transparency report which is community focus and uh supporting visuals uh with that and uh I wanted to make clear that some parts of the work are based on estimates comparisons and uh uh stated assumptions because uh certain project specific technical details were not publicly uh disclosed at the time of the review. Um also my work is not an engineering report legal opinion or a formal environmental determination. Um but yeah uh I'm really glad that some of the community members have already found materials useful and uh have been able to reference numbers from the report in their own uh public uh comments and discussions. My my purpose is uh in sharing is it is simply to help residents, stakeholders and decision makers better understand the scale of this proposal and some of the questions it may raise. Um I'll be sharing the link in the uh chat and uh you can go take a look at the uh work that I've done. Uh it's my GitHub repository. Uh if it's difficult to access it, you can also find some of like my information I mean the uh the report that I have done on no more data centers. Seems like they have published it on their site. Yeah. Uh feel free to go take a look and see what you think of it.

Yeah, that's it from my end. Okay. Thank you. Um Uh, and then let's see. Uh, it looks like Carly Ferdman.

Can you hear us, Carly? Yeah. Hi. Um, my name is Carly Ferdman. I'm in the sixth ward, 4236 Cleveland Avenue. Um, I me and my husband both work in the city. My kids go to school in the city. Um, we live about two miles from the proposed data center spot

and uh I want my kids to um have a better life than this. We know um there is a lot of evidence that data centers cause physical health issues especially in kids respiratory and cardiac and um I wish the developers had stayed on to uh look us in the face and tell us that our kids are not worth are not worth the time and effort um to really give this due process. Um so just I want to be on the record opposing it. Um because I think our our kids' lives are more important.

All right. Thank you. Um all right, we are on uh folks who may have neutral comments. I don't believe there was any more, but I just wanted to check. Is there anybody here that has a neutral comment? All right. Uh the last two minutes are uh the applicants. Uh so is Cecilia or Rod here with us still? All right.

Yeah. Hey, Evan. I'm going to let uh Rob take the last two minutes, but I just wanted to thank you really and the zoning staff for being such an incredible, graceful, and active host this entire time. Um I'm just in awe of your dedication and ability to facilitate this process. So, um Rod, I'll let you take it from here.

Okay. Yeah. Thanks, Cecilia. Um, well, I want to say I really appreciate all the uh thoughtful Oh, by the way, I'm a co-developer of the project. Uh, I I really appreciate all the thoughtful comments from so many people today, our our neighbors and uh the citizens. And you know, there's nothing secretive about what we're doing. the as far as identifying the tenant, we cannot identify a tenant because we can't even get tenants to talk to us until we have zoning. They they consider it a waste of time to talk to a developer about a site that's not even zoned. Um, and as far as the concerns about electric rates, water use, and so forth, I mean, I think those are legitimate concerns, and and we've brought our engineers in to address them in some of these public meetings. uh you know the Amron just had a tariff put in place and this tariff requires it puts a big search charge on data center electric rates with the purpose of not raising residential electric rates and you know I mean let's face it electric rates are going to go up with inflation like everything else but it's not going to be due to data centers in Missouri and on the water use. Our our closed loop system uses 90 o uses only it uses 95% less only 5% of the water that a conventional data center would use. And you know that's definitely a big improvement. uh the Goodwill uh business that's in that building. Uh if we build the data

center, the Goodwill building is going to relocate close by and have a better location. And there's 5,000 data centers in the United States. Data centers have been built for the last 25 years. And there's a bit more now with AI, of course, right? Um but it's part of the evolution of society. So, all I can say is uh my closing statement is there's big urgency to this project because you know there's a bunch of money invested and the opportunity is now and you know if if we mess around

Cameron's going to give the electricity to somebody's it's been two minutes. Folks, please do not interrupt or we will close the meeting. Please do not do that. All right.

Um, with that, uh, we do appreciate everybody's patience with us today. I know this format can be frustrating, uh, both those in support and in opposition, uh, for kind of bearing with us here. Um, but as I said at the beginning of the meeting, um, after today, our office will be making a recommendation to the board of public service. um and they will be making a vote um which will be available. You can see their uh scheduled hearings on their website um and then they also post their hearings on the YouTube channel. Um so with that again thank you but uh we consider today's conditional use hearing for March 19th 2026 to be complete and call this hearing heard. Um again thank you everybody. Have a good rest of your day.

Thank you. Thanks everybody.