A Judge Just Sided With Lakeville in the Data Center Lawsuit
If you've been following the back-and-forth over that big proposed development in Lakeville's business park, there's a new update worth knowing about.
On May 26, a Dakota County District Court judge ruled in favor of the City of Lakeville and developer Olam Holdings in a lawsuit over the city's environmental review. The short version? The city won, and the case got dismissed. You can read the city's full announcement here.
WHAT THE LAWSUIT WAS ABOUT
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, an environmental law nonprofit, sued the city back in August. They argued Lakeville's environmental review of the Olam project off 215th Street W wasn't good enough.
The big claim was that the review never came out and said the site could become a hyperscale data center. The group pointed to clues buried in the paperwork, like high water usage and traffic codes that data centers tend to use. Their position was that data centers come with their own set of impacts, so the city should have studied the project more carefully. We covered all of that when the lawsuit first got filed back in August.
WHAT THE JUDGE DECIDED
The court found that the city did things by the book. The review looked at the kinds of development that could realistically go on the site, which is exactly what that type of review is supposed to do.
One detail mattered a lot here. When the city did its review, no specific company or project had been lined up for the property yet. So the judge found the city wasn't required to study it as a data center.
The court also said the city's decision wasn't arbitrary and was backed by enough evidence.
WHAT LAKEVILLE IS SAYING
Mayor Luke Hellier said the city was confident in the process all along and that the ruling backs up the work that went into it. He added that Lakeville is "open for business" and sees this part of the business park as a real opportunity for the right kind of growth.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
This probably isn't the final word. The environmental group can still take the case to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and that's a likely move.
On the ground, though, not much is changing right now. The project hasn't moved into the permitting stage, so there's no construction on the horizon for the site.
Lakeville isn't the only South Metro city wrestling with this. Just up the road, Apple Valley flat-out denied a 1-million-square-foot data center earlier this year. Same big questions, different outcome.
We'll keep an eye on it. I'll see ya out there.
