ST. CHARLES (KMOX) - The fate of a proposed data center on contaminated land in North Saint Charles by Highway 370 is apparently dead, at least for now.
The project was shrouded in secrecy, the name of the company behind the data center was never and still hasn't been released. The only named organization was the developer CRG and Clayco.
Officials had to sign non disclosure agreements regarding the project. Mayor Dan Borgmeyer would not say how many people or who the people are that were required to sign the NDA. Residents attended an open house last Thursday and left knowing less than when they came it.
Late Monday, the Cumulus team withdrew that conditional use permit application to revise proposal.
The St. Charles City Council was set to vote Tuesday evening on how much diesel fuel would be required to power the data center. KMOX has been reporting since last week on how residents did not want the data center for a couple of reasons. The company's identity was a secret, and had health concerns because of contamination that already is in the area of North Saint Charles near Highway 370.
Mayor Dan Borgmeyer tells KMOX, "the city doesn't buy the land, we don't own the land, we're not involved in it, it's all between Clayco, the landowners, the EPA and everybody else that's involved in the thing. The City has nothing to do with it other than they need to come to us for special use permits for things like diesel fuel, like earlier today when we talked, the only thing this was about was diesel fuel so now they've even retracted all of that."
KMOX News asked Mayor Borgmeyer if he was aware that a relative owned the land wanted for the data center project. He says, he does not know the person and said a mayoral opponent of his told him about the relative. He then did some digging and found out it may be a second or third cousin, but he does not know the woman.
The Cumulus team says in a release: They are withdrawing its use conditional use permit application from consideration for the August 19th St. Charles City Council meeting. The decision will allow the team to incorporate recent community feedback and prepare a revised proposal for future review.
It goes on to stay Project Cumulus is committed to working hand-in-hand with the City of St. Charles and its residents. Cumulus believes this project has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the city and the greater St. Louis region, and we want to ensure it is done the right way - with open dialogue and meaningful collaboration.
The St. Charles City Council will still meet Tuesday night.