Bruce County will be providing feedback to the Environmental Registry of Ontario regarding the data centre development.
The provincial government is seeking input from municipalities surrounding a proposed Economic and Strategic Assessment Framework for New Data Centres, with a deadline of September 12th.
“The comments overall support the Province’s three proposed assessment pillars for new data centres, being economic development, digital sovereignty, and community investment and public trust, while offering responses to questions asked by the province regarding the need for guidance, data, and tools to evaluate data centre proposals,” said Director of Planning and Development Jack Van Dorp.
In the report presented to council, the comments compiled by staff point out what is missing from the Province’s model.
Bruce County staff pointed out that it was important that local municipalities don’t get stuck with the costs of externalities associated with data centres, and that benefits should be considered after ensuring any impacts are fully addressed.
“The comments also recommend requirements for municipal engagement, infrastructure cost recovery, local economic benefit, environmental performance metrics, agreements to secure commitments, and alignment between municipal and provincial approval processes.”
During its meeting on August 26th, Kincardine council approved feedback that was compiled by municipal staff.
Van Dorp gave assurance that the County’s viewpoints were aligned with those submitted by the Municipality of Kincardine.
Following discussions, the County’s feedback was approved for council to be submitted to the Environmental Registry of Ontario.