The data center fight in Wright County, Minnesota
As of October 1, 2026, Wright County, Minnesota has a data center moratorium in force (action taken May 19, 2026; documented end date 2027-05-19).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Emergency 1-year moratorium (Ord. 26-2), unanimous. Applies to unincorporated areas only. Moratorium Workgroup formed Jun 16 to evaluate environmental, fiscal, infrastructure, and land use considerations
SourceOfficial
read 2026-08-13
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Monticello Tech data center campus — In review
Filing LLC: Monticello Tech · Acres: 547
Monticello Tech, led by Frattalone Companies CEO Nick Frattalone, filed a land-use application with the City of Monticello, Minnesota on 2026-07-07 seeking rezoning to a Data Center Planned Unit Development district plus preliminary plat and conditional use permit approvals for a site south of 85th Street NE and east of Highway 25. The application describes 547 acres (364 developable), up to 3 million sq ft, as many as 8 principal buildings, about 75,000 gallons/day of water, and a connection to Xcel Energy's 345 kV system; the developer projects about $7 million in annual property tax at full buildout, with construction possibly starting Q1 2028. The eventual operator is not identified. City staff had until 2026-08-21 to determine whether the application is complete; Minnesota law then allows a 60-day review, extendable to 120 days.
Next: Application filed. Ask the planning office for the hearing date and request formal notice.
Latest in the record
- 2026-08-03 — Monticello Tech submitted a revised application with hundreds of pages of engineering plans and technical studies, detailing a 547-acre campus (364 acres developable) with up to 3 million sq ft across eight buildings, air-cooled design using approximately 75,000 gallons of water daily, and an estimated $73.5 million in infrastructure costs funded by the developer. · source
- 2026-07-20 — The City of Monticello issued a nine-page letter deeming Monticello Tech's July 6 land-use applications incomplete, citing inconsistencies in applicant information, missing survey certifications, incomplete project narratives, and absent engineering and environmental documentation. · source
- 2026-07-07 — Monticello Tech submitted its formal data center application to the City of Monticello, Minnesota, ahead of the Planning Commission's tentative Aug. 4 agenda. · source
- 2026-06-29 — Monticello Times reported that Monticello Tech was targeting a July application for its proposed data center site, with the city confirming no formal application had yet been submitted and pre-application discussions were ongoing. · source
- 2026-04-30 — Wright County District Court Judge Suzanne Bollman issued a scheduling order in the MCEA v. Monticello lawsuit, setting discovery to conclude by October 15, 2026 and a pretrial conference for December 29, 2026. · source
- 2026-04-28 — MPR News reported on the newly approved Monticello DCPUD ordinance, noting data centers face new restrictions while the ordinance opens the door to building in Monticello. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-08-14.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Minnesota.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Minnesota briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Minnesota
- Minnetrista (20 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-03
- Elk River (21 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-03
- Waite Park (30 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-05-04
- St. Joseph (32 mi) — Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded
- Carver (33 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-04-06
- Minneapolis (36 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-21
- Eagan (46 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-17
- Apple Valley (47 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-07-09
All 18 tracked actions in Minnesota are on the state page.
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.