Grant County
Written comment deadline — data center ordinance
Friday, August 7, 2026 · Noon
By email to the Zoning Officer, or by mail to 210 E 5th Ave, Milbank
The county's notice did not say plainly what the ordinance was about — it cited the ordinance number instead. This is the deadline to get your comment into the permanent record.
- Three or four sentences is enough: who you are, where you live, what concerns you, and what you are asking the Commission to do.
- It goes into the record permanently, whether or not you can be in the room on the 10th.
- Email steve.berkner@grantcountysd.us, or mail the Zoning Officer at 210 East 5th Avenue, Milbank, SD 57252.
“Written comments may be filed by emailing the County Zoning Officer at steve.berkner@grantcountysd.us or by mailing them to the Zoning Officer at 210 East 5th Avenue, Milbank, SD 57252 on or before noon on August 7, 2026. No materials will be placed on the website after 5 p.m. on August 7, 2026.”
Every water protection switches off below 10 MW
They apply only to a facility “exceeding ten (10) megawatts of IT load.” At or under that, none of them apply.
The water limit is a ratio, not a cap
It sets a “maximum annual Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) of 0.05 gallons per kWh” with no limit on total gallons. A larger facility uses more electricity, so it can lawfully draw more water and still comply.
It is an annual average
A hot, dry August can run well above the limit and still average out compliant across twelve months — the months the aquifer is under the most stress are the ones the annual figure hides.
The quarter-mile from your house may not apply
Equipment must sit “fifty feet from the property boundary… and/or one-quarter mile (1,320 feet) from any church, school, or residence.” As written, fifty feet alone can satisfy it.
The overnight noise limit permits bursts to 60 dBA
45 dBA between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., but with “5 dBA for a total of 15 minutes in any one-hour period; or 10 dBA for a total of 5 minutes in any one-hour period; or 15 dBA for a total of 1.5 minutes” allowed on top.
Paying for infrastructure damage is optional
“Approval of a data center may be conditioned upon” financial assurance for water-supply impacts. May, not shall.
One requirement has no number in it
§1220.08(4)(e)(ii) requires storage “for a minimum of [24–72] hours at peak load.” The brackets are still in the draft going to hearing.
The powerline and the ordinance are moving through this county at the same time
Grant County has been taking 765 kV presentations since 6 January 2026, when Xcel and Otter Tail presented to the Commission; powerline setbacks went to Planning & Zoning on 13 April. The ordinance itself requires an applicant to produce written verification from the electric utility of capacity on its supply lines and substations — capacity that does not exist today. We are told these are separate projects. They are arriving in the same county in the same year, and residents have had no say in either.
Prints three to a page, front and back — cut into thirds.