Rosemount Approves North Wind's First-Phase Aerospace Campus

Rosemount City Council voted 4-0 on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, to lock in the first phase of North Wind Test's aerospace campus.

Four yes votes. Four separate actions. Rezone. Plat. PUD plan. PUD agreement.

Paul Theisen did not vote. Mayor Jeff Weisensel and councilmembers Paul Essler, Heidi Freske, and Tami Klimpel voted yes each time.

Where it is

The applicant is North Wind Test, LLC. The staff report still calls the project the Minnesota Aerospace Complex, or MAC. At the meeting, program director Justin Pierce said the name is now the Aerospace and Hypersonic Research and Testing Complex, said ARTIC. He stated his name as Pierce.

The site is 60.74 acres, just south of Meta's data center, west of Blaine Avenue, a half mile south of County Road 42. Phase 1 covers 8.86 acres. The city split this land off UMore Park in February 2025 and rezoned it from A-2 Agriculture to B-2 Employment. Tuesday's vote moves it to B-2 PUD.

Planning Commission already approved the final site and building plan on July 28. That is their job. Council did the plat and the PUD.

What phase 1 is

Phase 1 is one wind-tunnel building plus two accessory buildings for mechanical gear. A later engineering building would be a North Wind and University of Minnesota project. Later phases sit on an outlot and still have to come back for plats and site plans.

The plat makes three parcels: two buildable lots (phase 1 and an Xcel Energy substation) and that outlot. The city gets 151st Street East as a public road along the north edge, from Blaine west.

The smallest lot is 3.36 acres and 282 feet wide. Code only asks for 1 acre and 120 feet.

A park cash-in-lieu fee of $75,310 is due before a building permit. That is $8,500 times the 8.86-acre phase 1 area.

The PUD breaks

Staff supported six deviations. Height can go to 120 feet for exhaust towers and other unoccupiable gear. Occupiable height stays at 75 feet or less. Phase 1 drawings show a 70-foot exhaust tower. The rest of that building is 40 feet.

Parking follows actual jobs, not warehouse math. Security fence can go over 8 feet, like Meta. More than half the trees can be coniferous so screening stays up in winter. Lighting can go over 1 foot-candle at the property line for security. Walls longer than 100 feet get some relief if the mix of glass, fins, translucent panels, and textured concrete still looks like a campus.

The site is not next to existing or planned homes. U of M covenants keep 1,000 feet between incompatible uses on land it sells.

Who pays, and the cleanup

Council asked about the Xcel yard and the old contamination.

Pierce said North Wind pays for the transformer site. State DEED funding helps. He said that cost is not passed to Rosemount residents. Most of the power stays on site. Extra capacity is not settled.

The staff report says this is the third UMore sale. Amber Fields and Meta did not need cleanup. This site did, mainly asbestos, and it has been removed. Pierce said North Wind pays and partnered with the U of M through an escrow when more cleanup was needed. He expects the site off the environmental watch list when the first foundations go in. No dollar amount was given Tuesday.

The packet also says the applicant told Planning Commission water use would be similar to a microbrewery, and full build-out energy would stay under 100 MW, through the on-site substation.

Noise

The closest home or school is 3,250 feet from the property line. The applicant's study uses MPCA nighttime limits. Staff said continuous noise hits 45 decibels at 2,170 feet from the source. Intermittent noise hits 52 decibels at 510 feet. By the houses it would be lower. Distance is the main buffer. The city can still work with the operator later on hours or more screening.

What happens next

Pierce said mass grading can start after approvals. Equipment is already on site. Foundation work is expected in the spring. He expects to be back in about six months for the next capability. Senior planner Anthony Nemcek reminded council later phases still go through Planning Commission and council.

This is not a data center vote. Rosemount already has a one-year pause on new data center applications. Meta next door keeps building. If you drive Connemara and Akron, that roundabout is a different project. It is almost back open.