BRAINERD — The fate of a cryptocurrency mining operation in Brainerd remains in limbo.
When faced with an application for an interim use permit to construct storage units in the industrial park for the crypto mining facility, the Brainerd City Council asked for more time.
Council members voted 6-1 Monday, May 20, to extend the time they have to respond to the permit application by 60 days, allowing them to gather more information on the level of noise the operation would produce.
The vote comes after several residents living near the industrial park spoke at the last
Planning Commission meeting
and sent letters to the council with concerns about the facility being too loud and disturbing their homes.
The property is on Thiesse Drive.
Planning Commissioners voted 3-2 last week to recommend denial of the permit, based on the inconsistency of a cryptocurrency mining facility with the city’s comprehensive plan.
Community Development Director James Kramvik told the council Monday staff’s recommendation was to approve the permit, as it was a land use permit, and the Planning Commission’s concerns dealt more with crypto mining as a business in general versus outdoor storage as the primary use of the land.
Under the city’s code, outdoor storage as a primary use is allowed in the General Industrial zoning district with an interim use permit. The permit allows City Council and staff members to put conditions on the use and an end date, if they so choose.
The proposal from VCV Digital Infrastructure is to construct 26 containers that house data machines and cooling towers that are 40 feet in length, and plans include an 8-foot-tall chain link fence with privacy slats and barbed wire around the property.
City Attorney Joe Langel said if the interim use permit meets the standards laid out in the city code, the applicant has the right to the permit.
VCV Digital had an interim use permit issued in 2022
for 12 containers and 12 cooling towers that were 20 feet in length, but that expired after a year, as the company did not make any improvements on the land within that time.
The company also has a power agreement with the Brainerd Public Utilities Commission, guaranteeing them power for the facility for the next two years. The BPU Commission approved this agreement in April after the
previous agreement signed 2022
expired earlier this month. While the current agreement runs through April 2026, it will be null and void if VCV’s operation does not use at least 15 megawatts of power by the end of 2024.
I will say that if you find me a town that has no sounds, no sights and no smells, I will find you a city that is dead or dying.
Mayor Dave Badeaux
VCV also purchased two parcels of land in the industrial park from the Economic Development Authority in 2022 and since paid for power lines to run out to the property for the operation. With a roughly $625,000 investment already put in by VCV Digital, council member Mike O’Day said he worried about repercussions if the city did not approve the interim use permit.
“It feels like maybe the cart was put before the horse because now we have a lot of opposition to this, where we didn’t before,” O’Day said to a packed City Council chambers Monday. “But now we do. Now it’s a controversy. And I don’t know where it ends up. I’m just kind of trying to point out some difficult decisions that we have to make.”
Council member Jeff Czeczok asked if the previous permit granted bears any weight on the current decision. While Kramvik said they should be viewed as two unique applications, Langel said the council would have to provide specific findings of fact with this application about what differentiates it from the first if they were to deny it.
“The logical question that would come up would be, what’s the difference? What’s changed?” Langel said.
Council member Tiffany Stenglein asked if the changes to the size and number of containers laid out in the current permit application would be enough of a change, and Langel said that depends on the zoning ordinance.
“Does that make any difference in terms of the use of outdoor storage?” Langel asked. “Does it make any difference in terms of the noise on the property?”
Mayor Dave Badeaux asked about any noise complaints received from Just For Krypto — another cryptocurrency mining facility happening just to the north on Kitty Hawk Court. Kramvik said there had been no noise complaints, pointing out the operations are of different natures as well. The Just For Krypto operation is an open air operation, while VCV’s would use immersion technology, meaning the mining machines are submerged in oil, and the only noise comes from cooling fans.
Council member Gabe Johnson asked whether Just For Krytpo had a permit for their operation, and Kramvik said that company does not need a permit, as there is a principal structure on their property, meaning outdoor storage is not the principal land use.
While the city has 60 days, under state statute, to respond to a land use permit application, officials have the right to extend that time by another 60 days with written notice. Any further extension would have to be approved by the applicant.
Council member Kara Terry motioned to extend the application response time by an additional 60 days to gather more information on the possible noise.
“Are there any other facilities, for example, around the state that have a similar setup that we could consult with to see about the noise?” she asked. “I don’t know what our options are … to understand what the impact of this truly is.”
Stenglein said she wasn’t convinced they’d have the information they needed in 60 days but said she would support the motion anyway, as she could be wrong.
Johnson said he would vote no, asking how they could explore the ramifications of the sound before the facility is here, not knowing exactly how much noise it would make. He said he would be more in favor of adding an end date to the interim use permit, allowing the council to revisit it in a certain amount of time to see if there are any noise complaints.
Mayor Badeaux, who doesn’t vote in council matters except in the case of a tie, worried about the city being in the business of measuring sound.
“Who’s measuring the decibels? How are we doing this?” he asked. “… Not only how do we measure something that isn’t there, how are we measuring this? I’m really concerned with the idea that the city of Brainerd wants to go ahead and start measuring decibels of things.”
He brought up the large shredding machine at Crow Wing Recycling — which he said is a great organization for Brainerd — and how loud that can be when it operates.
“When do we start drawing the lines?” he asked. “I want to be available for people to do business in Brainerd. I’m a little concerned with the city of Brainerd measuring units of decibels.”
Badeaux added the city needs to find places where things belong.
“I will say that if you find me a town that has no sounds, no sights and no smells, I will find you a city that is dead or dying,” Badeaux said.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
enforces the state’s noise rules
. The state noted noise pollution rules are based on statistical calculations that quantify noise levels according to duration over a one-hour monitoring period, and the state limits look at distances from a home and how much sound decreases by distance. A quiet rural nighttime is 20 decibels. A rock band at 5 meters is 110 decibels. The MPCA uses a sound level meter and outlines a procedure to measure sound online. Crow Wing County has also measured sound from its buildings in Brainerd to a residential area in response to a complaint in the past.
The motion to extend the application reply period by 60 days passed 6-1, with Johnson opposed.
A second motion directing staff to begin a request for proposal process and seek out professionals to study the sound implications failed. O’Day said the council should revisit the specifics at the next meeting in two weeks, after which time staff should have figured out a direction in which to go.
THERESA BOURKE may be reached at
theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com
or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa
.