St. Paul City Council — Transcript
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Downtown Noise Ordinance and Possible Changes
Data Centers: Impacts and Local Approaches
Votes (2)
Discussion of Downtown Noise Ordinance and Possible Changes
The discussion covered existing noise regulations, including the 'reasonable person ordinary sensibilities' standard and specific decibel limits distinguishing downtown from residential areas. Enforcement challenges were detailed, such as police call prioritization (noise complaints are priority 4) and limited access to sound meters. Community engagement revealed conflicted views on stricter enforcement, a strong concern about racially biased enforcement, and specific issues like garbage truck noise and amplified sound events. The consensus favored targeted, 'scalpel' like solutions rather than broad, city-wide policy changes for downtown.
Discussion on Data Centers: Impacts and Local Regulation
The session distinguished between different types of data centers: traditional enterprise/collocation (smaller, existing) and hyperscale (new, over 100 MW). Concerns were raised about hyperscale data centers' impact on energy, water, and land resources, transparency issues with NDAs, and the rapid pace of development. CURE emphasized the need for 100% new clean energy for data centers and active community benefit agreements. District Energy St. Paul highlighted the opportunity to co-locate urban infill data centers (1-50 MW) with their district heating system to capture waste heat, reduce natural gas consumption, and enhance grid reliability. Xcel Energy confirmed sufficient capacity and explained how increased usage from data centers can spread fixed costs, benefiting all ratepayers. The importance of local control through ordinances, zoning, and utility agreements was stressed, with examples of moratoriums in other cities.
Notable Quotes (11)
Reasonable person ordinary sensibilities. So that's sort of that overarching thing about our noise ordinance. It's very important one to remember because it sort of guides a lot of things we do.
Then you get to class three, which is our downtown, you're going to see that it's 80 dB all times of the day. So that's one. Now we're starting to see the distinction between downtown and outside of downtown.
When we get a noise complaint, it's going to be um 99.999% of the time it's going to be um given a priority 4 response. So, that means as officers are going to these calls, they take those calls in that priority. Twos are coming first, threes are coming first. we get to the fours.
Of the people who we spoke to and surveyed, 32% said that they thought it was not a concern at all. 16% categorized this as low priority. 13% said it was high and 37 said it was medium... In the feedback that we received, most people are conflicted.
A lot of people did, um, express concerns about enforcement being done in ways that could be racially biased. So, um, almost half of the people we talked to said that they were concerned about that.
It just seems to me that this is a place where thinking more with a scalpel is beneficial to us rather than thinking about, you know, firm quiet hours or, you know, downtown is a very unique place.
Hyperscale data centers should be required to use 100% new clean energy from the start. Promises to comply with future goals or state mandates are not sufficient to prevent climate harm if they are adding emissions now.
For every uh megawatt of electricity that is supplied to the center, we can pull 100% of that heat off of that center to serve our district energy system... All of that heat that we can capture from an existing data or from a new data center can be put into our hot water system and displace natural gas combustion.
Today Minnesota is being served by us uh by about 69% carbon-f free electricity. Uh we have aggressive plans in place by 2030 we'll be nearing 90% carbon-f free and very much tracking state law and have full plans to be at that 100% carbon-f free goal by 2040.
The more people use that power, those costs are spread across that's that's positive benefit for everybody. Um so there is good value in idle in uh using that idle power and spreading those fixed asset costs across the system that all customers otherwise would be paying for.
NDAs, non-disclosure agreements are prevalent. Um we've seen that across the state. That's not you know, that's not hyperbole... That has happened and people feel understandably like they haven't been heard, that they haven't had an opportunity to weigh in at points where it matters.
Ordinances & Resolutions (11)
The primary subject of the first discussion, exploring current regulations and potential changes.
Specific ordinance section regulating domestic power tools, prohibiting use between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Administrative permit issued by DSI for exceeding sound level restrictions, allowing up to 80 dB (residential) or 90 dB (non-residential) at 50 ft.
Variances overseen and approved by the City Council to exceed noise source limits.
Regulations defining collection hours for mixed municipal solid waste, with different rules for residential areas (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.) versus downtown (anytime).
A new enforcement tool being developed for low-level offenses like noise violations, distinct from misdemeanor charges.
A mechanism used to add conditions to business licenses to mitigate noise issues from establishments like bars and restaurants.
Minnesota state law requiring 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040, relevant to data center energy sourcing.
Categorizations (Class 1, Class 3) that determine applicable noise source limits (e.g., residential vs. downtown).
Mentioned as a potential local action tool for regulating data centers.
Cited as a transparency issue in data center development, often preventing early community input.