If you are a Hermantown resident and you treasure your rural lifestyle, PLEASE READ THIS POST, then share it with anyone you know that also treasures their rural lifestyle.

The data center is the catalyst, but the changes that will be decided at the Monday (6/1) City Council meeting at 6:30 PM will change ALL of Hermantown permanently. The City of Hermantown changed the 2045 Comprehensive Plan without the Steering Committee’s involvement in late 2024 and early 2025. The city staff has now been instructed that the sneaky changes they made did not go far enough, so they need to change the plan again. This time they are identifying the entire City of Hermantown as either a “Urban Service Area” or an “Urban Growth Area”. The maps posted here are just the easiest way to describe the most egregious changes. They are actually proposing to change dozens of pages in the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. One example of a drastic change from the current plan to the proposed plan is on page 52:

Current Plan: “4.1.4. Limit the extension of urban services (city sewer and water) to the western portion of the city for residential development while there is sufficient developable land available within the current urban services boundary to accommodate the city’s projected population growth.”

Proposed Plan: “4.1.4. Expand the urban services (city sewer and water) to encompass the entirety of the City, however phase the expansion in order to provide short term and long term growth opportunities.”

The community has not been involved in any of these decisions. As a Steering Committee we met for over 18 months discussing and molding the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. The plan that was ultimately approved in April of 2025 was changed dramatically from our last meeting in July of 2024 and now they want to change it again without any community dialogue. 

Please read the agenda packet for the Planning and Zoning meeting that was held on Tuesday (5/19), There is a lot of interesting information in this agenda packet, but if this is the issue that concerns you, save some time and go directly to page 42. The pages that include the most significant changes are: 54, 57, 59, 74, 75 and 82.

Please send messages to the City Councilors.  Show up on Monday (6/1) at 6:00 PM, meeting starts at 6:30 PM and talk directly to the city councilors about your concerns. The decisions that are made the June 1, 2026 city council meeting have the potential to permanently change the character of Hermantown. We need everyone’s voice! It’s time to protect the rural character of Hermantown.

Date: May 4, 2026 

To: Mayor Boucher 

CC: Hermantown City Council and St. Louis County Board of Commissioners RE: Google Tax Abatement and Development Agreements 

Dear Mayor Boucher, 

We are writing to convey grave concern regarding the Tax Abatement Agreement and the  Development Agreement between Harmony Group LLC (“Google”) and the City of  Hermantown (the “Agreements”), which the City Council will consider at the public hearing  on May 4, 2026. We would have written about our concerns sooner if the community had  been given more than 7 business days to consider the Agreements. We’re asking the City  Council to address our concerns during the City Council meeting on May 4, 2026. If the City  Council cannot factually and adequately address these concerns, we urge the City Council  to vote no or table the decision on the Agreements, particularly given that Stop the  Hermantown Data Center (SHDC) alleged in its Complaint served April 29, 2026 that the City  has violated spot-zoning restrictions and has otherwise improperly changed the zoning in  the Adolph neighborhood. We maintain that the location is inappropriate for this massive  industrial project. 

If the City approves the Tax Abatement Agreement or Development Agreement before the  environmental review for the hyperscale data center is complete, that would fail to comply  with Minnesota Rules 4410.3100 Subparts 1 and 2. These Rules apply to the AUAR process  in progress for the data center, per Minnesota Rules 4410.3610 Subpart 2.B. Approval of  these Agreements would prejudice the ultimate decision on the proposed data center, along  with the water utility and road improvements described in the Development Agreement,  because it would pre-determine the location and other project design aspects of the data  center, and the specific location and project design of the water utility and road  improvements. The environmental review process is supposed to allow for alternative  sitings, alternative technologies, and alternative project designs to be considered, along  with the option of no action. Note also that the water utility and road improvement projects  are connected actions to the data center project under the Minnesota Environmental Policy  Act and the environmental review needs to address all of these together (See Development  Agreement p. 1, “…in order to develop the Project, the Company will need to construct  roadways, sewer line extensions, and water main extensions as outlined in Exhibit I and  Exhibit G;”).

The facts as we understand them are that Google agrees to pay up front for the $130M in  municipal infrastructure. The City will rebate to $70-80M in property tax payments to offset  those infrastructure costs at least 20 years, at an average of $4M per year. We understand  that, per Minnesota State Statute, cities can abate up to 15 years. But if either the school  board or the county decline (in writing) to grant an abatement, the city’s duration limit of the  abatement can be increased to 20 years.  

To the best of our knowledge, neither Hermantown School Board nor the St. Louis County  Board of Commissioners has voted to approve or decline an abatement via resolution during  a regularly scheduled meeting or public hearing. If the School Board or County has done so,  the City should provide such written proof to residents prior to the May 4, 2026 City Council  meeting. Any abatements agreed to by the School Board or County will also affect the  citizens of Hermantown. Understanding the total value of abatements to Google should be  known and considered. The Hermantown City Council should be making informed  decisions in totality, not in a vacuum. The goal of the City should be the best terms for  Hermantown and to do that, the City and constituents need all the pieces of information. 

We understand that the City revenue from the project, $150K + $100K + 15% of tax revenue,  is estimated to be $448K per year at full buildout. By the City’s analysis, this equates to a  $2.5M per year discount on city property taxes alone. According to the Minnesota Office of  the State Auditor, the net tax capacity of Hermantown in 2024 is $20,208,334. Describe in  detail the tax base projections (real numbers) that would allow tax abatement of $4M per  year for a single company. With public opinion decidedly in favor of tech giants paying their  own way for infrastructure, how do you justify this to the constituents?  

During the City Council’s Work Session on March 23, 2026, the projected 10-year financial  plan discussed was a “wish list” beginning in 2027. Included in the presentation by Ehler’s  was the addition of 7 new positions valued at $150k each hired over ten years. This would  add over $1M in wages and benefits to the City’s budget and result in a 17% levy increase.  This is greater than the additional property taxes being paid by Google exceeding $500M.  The City Councilors did push back and stated they wanted the levy limited to a zero percent  increase. The needs of the City to hire an additional 7 positions, and the subsequent  shortfall of the additional property taxes that will be collected due to the abatement,  indicates that better terms must be negotiated.  

Please provide additional information about how the project is going to “unlock potential  value”. We understand the $130M municipal infrastructure extension. However, we  question if, and how, the project is really going to generate an estimated $4M per year  ($80M/20 years) in potential added value. To do so, at 0.5% city tax rate, there would need  to be $800M of new development, equivalent to 177 Bass Pro Shops! We don’t believe that 

there is sufficient available real estate in the City of Hermantown to build the equivalent of  177 new Bass Pro Shops, particularly along the location near the new municipal  infrastructure extension, nor do we think the residents want to change the city to that degree  even if we could. If the justification for the tax abatement is future economic growth, then  residents urge that this be studied, modeled, and shared for public comment, prior to  approving the Agreements.  

Concerning future economic development, it is misleading to state that hyperscale data  centers attract other businesses. However, they do attract additional data center  developments, lots of them. Residents deserve a real and true response concerning the  long-term development plan for the southwest corner of Hermantown that borders Solway  and Midway Townships. Hermantown residents have not expressed a desire to sacrifice  rural Hermantown in favor of hyperscale data centers or other industrial projects. The lives  and homes of residents in Solway and Midway Township would also be affected, and they  are without voting representation for the City of Hermantown project that is going to upend  their lives and homes. 

To the best of our knowledge, the $130M in municipal infrastructure extension is exclusively  for the purpose of Google building its proposed hyperscale data center in a rural area of the  City that is surrounded by residential dwellings that are well and septic. Are residents  expected to pay for the infrastructure extension via stormwater assessment (like the very  expensive road assessments in the City of Hermantown for which residents are already  paying) for the maintenance of infrastructure that residents oppose?  

It’s misguided to use the tax abatement cap to devote 7% of the state-allowed 10% to one  company. Such a decision constrains future economic development and limits the City’s  options to attract businesses that employ more than 2.5 individuals per acre. The only other  sector that employs fewer individuals per acre is farming. How does the City intend to  attract additional economic development, considering that 7% is devoted to one large  company for 20+ years? At a minimum, it’s financially risky, if not irresponsible, to place “all  one’s eggs in one basket”, particularly for a small community. What financial risk mitigation  strategies has the City studied or modeled, that focus on the disappearance of the end user,  a real and true risk given the continual reinventing of the market, in particular, the newly  released Google Gemma? 

Finally, the terms of the Agreements are outdated, and the City should negotiate with Google  for more favorable terms. For comparison, see Microsoft’s “Building Community-First AI  Infrastructure Plan” from January 2026 in which Microsoft announced it will set a high bar by  not requiring tax abatement agreements, among other points detailed in its Plan. Will 

Google follow Microsoft’s lead and decline abatements and do more for communities it  chooses to impact?  

In another example, Oppidan (a Minnesota data center company) signed a deal with Beaver  Dam, Wisconsin, that not only refuses tax abatement but pays the city $6.5M for  infrastructure.  

Given these trends, why doesn’t the City of Hermantown strike a better deal and at least  require Google to install and pay for infrastructure absent of tax abatements? The exemption  from sales tax, on its own, is ridiculously generous to a $3-4T tech giant. Perhaps it’s time  for Google to stop taking advantage of small cities and towns.  

We’d like to be able to attract actual economic development through a transparent process,  to the proposed technology park (not rural residential zone), with actual employment, and  actual benefit to the community. Again, if the City Council cannot factually and adequately  address these concerns, we urge the City Council to vote no or table the decision on the  Agreements. 

The public has a right to know. 

Stop the Hermantown Data Center 

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