Okay, thank you, Chair Bloomingdale.

Today's City Plan Commission meeting will be carried out in a hybrid format, which means we are accepting public testimony both in person at City Hall on 200 East Wells and online on GoToWebinar.

If you are joining via go to webinar, please keep yourself on mute until you are called.

If you would like to provide testimony during any of the public hearings, please click the raise hand function.

You can see that on the screen right now.

During your agenda item of interest, click the raise hand function, and our staff assistant Chris Lee will call on you during the public testimony portion of the item.

If anyone is watching on channel 25 and would like to participate in the hearing, you will need to log in to go to webinar to do so.

You can do this by going to Milwaukee.gov slash CPC.

Again, that's Milwaukee.gov slash CPC.

From this webpage, you can log in to go to webinar and provide testimony during any of the public comment items.

Whether you are providing testimony in person today or remotely, please state your name, address, and affiliation with the item for your testimony.

Thank you for your participation.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh the first uh thing that I'm going to do is to read the role of the commissioners.

Commissioner Alison Nemek.

Present.

Commissioner Rennell Washington.

Present.

Commissioner Katrina Crane.

Present.

Commissioner Tariq Moody.

Present.

Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez.

Present.

And Commissioner Willie Smith.

The broadcast is now starting.

All attendees are in listen-only mode.

Okay, thank you very much.

Um, all right.

The uh we will move into the first item of business, which is to review the uh minutes from the previous meetings.

And if you have up had had an opportunity to do that, I would accept a motion at this time.

Commissioner Washington, a motion to approve the meeting.

Uh City Plan Commission meeting.

Okay, there's been a motion.

Is there a second?

There's a second.

Any discussion?

Seeing none.

I will have to do the role since we have someone online.

Um, if you are in favor of this motion, please say aye.

Commissioner Allison Nemek, aye.

Commissioner Rinell Washington, Commissioner Katrina Crane.

Aye.

Commissioner Tariq Moody.

Aye.

Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez.

Aye.

And Commissioner Willie Smith.

Okay, motion carries.

Thank you very much.

All right, item number two.

Um, Miss Vonseca, would you like to introduce the file?

Item number two is file number two six zero zero four six of substitute ordinance relating to the change in zoning from industrial light IL1 to industrial office I-01 for the western 50 feet of 1215 West Leighton Avenue located on the south side of West Leighton Avenue, east of South 13th Street in the 13th Aldermanic District.

Kristen Connolly, DCD Planning.

Um, the subject site, sorry, I don't have the controller.

Sorry about that.

Um, subject site at 1215 West Leighton Avenue, as well as the adjacent site to the west, which is 1233 West Leighton Avenue, are both owned by the applicants.

RNF Oil LLC and representatives are here today.

Um, 1215 West Leighton Avenue is zoned industrial light or aisle one and currently is used as a restaurant.

And 1233 West Leighton Avenue, just to the west is zoned industrial office, I-01, and operates as Myan's Clark Gas Station and Convenience Store.

The applicant is seeking to expand the gas station by one pump, and as part of that, extend the gas station canopy over it.

And to accommodate this, they wish to shift that 50 feet from the adjacent the subject site onto the gas station site.

And since both sites have differing zoning, a zoning change is necessary for that 50 feet so that you can combine the land.

And then the expansion of the gas station would also need Board of Zoning Appeals approval, which they already applied for.

Um there will be substantial parking, approximately 47 spaces remaining on that restaurant site, so it's not really removing many spaces and still has quite a few spaces.

Um the sites within the Southeast Side Area Plan, which was adopted in 2008 and amended several times, including with the Aerotropolis Plan in 2017.

The proposed rezoning of the West 50 feet of the subject site does not is not inconsistent with the plan recommendations.

Principally the Aerotropolis plan calls for mixed use and commercial uses along Leighton Avenue, and this zoning change exports it supports the expansion and continuing operation of existing commercial uses, which are consistent with the Aerotropolis plan's vision for Leighton Avenue.

Additionally, the Southeast Side Plan calls for parking lots to be located on the side or rear buildings, sharing parking resources where possible, and the proposal maintains the site layout, which is consistent with the plan recommendations.

Um just want to add um currently there's a decorative fence with landscaping that's located between the parcels, and incorporating aesthetic elements into the redevelopment of the site is important to meet the southeast side plan's recommendations, which recommends using masonry walls or metal fencing and generous plantings to buffer uh parking lots and service areas that occur along shopping streets, and this is also within the garden district.

Um staff requests that these elements are included in the project if possible as part of that board of zoning appeals process, and I know that our um we'll have recommendations regarding the landscaping plan for that process.

The sites within the 13th Aldermanning District and Alderman Spiker is supportive of the file, and staff does recommend approval.

And as I said, the applicants are here to answer any questions that you might have.

Okay, thank you, Miss Connolly.

Um, so uh the applicants are here.

Would you like to please introduce yourself and go right ahead?

My first reason.

Last name is Mia, M I E N.

Okay, 1235 S.

Leighton Avenue.

Okay.

Safe me on uh 1235 West Leighton Avenue, and we are the applicants for the property.

Okay, do you want to tell us a little bit about the project?

Sure.

Uh so right now uh we own both properties 1235 the gas station as well as the 1215 uh used to be Martino's uh back in the days, now it's a different restaurant there.

Um we plan to add just uh one more pump on top of the 1235 where the existing gas station is.

So there's nothing that we're adding on to the adjacent property, but since we're uh adding on to the canopy, it has to be it's going over a little bit onto the other one.

So we we're just because we own both properties, we said we can use maybe about 50 feet from the adjacent property into the gas station.

So that's only the change we're asking.

There's no really any parking we're losing for the uh restaurant or something.

There's almost 47 to 50 uh uh different parking spots already for the uh both restaurants and for the gas station itself is there as well.

So and what did you say the restaurant is again?

Right now it's called uh Topshorm.

The Topswarm.

Topshorm on right, yeah.

They're the new they're the ones that leased out from us, yes.

Okay, I've heard about I've heard about this.

Yes, they were all over the news.

They're cooking good food, so do try it.

Yes, yes, okay.

Um, commissioners, do you have any other questions or comments for the Madam Chair?

Um, is so should we be conditioning this approval based on meeting the landscape recommendations of the garden district plan?

Or is that something BOSA handles independent of us?

Yeah, Boza does thank you for the question.

BOSA does handle that independent of us, since this is a base zoning change, specific plans aren't part of that file, but they've already applied to the board of zoning appeals.

And when I passed along the note to our colleagues, they're already actually right on the same page as us.

So we'll only work with the applicant on Atlanta.

We know it is the garden district, obviously.

Uh Elderman Spiker wants more than just you know anywhere else.

So we are willing to work with them into whatever they need and to change us to do it all of that.

So that won't be an issue.

We'll make it we'll make sure it looks nice at the end.

So, okay, thank you.

Commissioners, any other comments, questions?

I have no one else that wishes to speak on the item.

So at this time, um, I will entertain a motion.

I would make a motion to approve item two six zero zero four six.

Okay, there's been a motion.

There's a second, second.

The motion is second.

Any further discussion?

Commissioners.

If not, then we will go to the roll.

If you're in favor, please say aye, Commissioner Allison Nemick.

Aye.

Commissioner Rennell Washington, Commissioner Katrina Crane.

Uh Commissioner Tariq Moody.

Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez.

Aye.

And Commissioner Willie Smith.

Okay, the eyes have it.

Um, that's the point.

Thank you guys to do in your project and your landscape.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, next item, item number three.

Miss Vonseca, would you like to introduce the file, please?

Item number three is file 250157, a resolution to vacate the East West Alley north of West Cherry Street between North 12th Street and North 12th Lane in the 15th Aldermanic District.

Thank you, Chair Taylor Jones, associate planner with DCD planning.

Item three is a request to vacate in East West Alley bounded by West Cherry Street, West Walnut Street, North 12th Street, and North 13th Street in the 15th Aldermanic District.

This proposed vacation would accommodate the New View development, shown here, which is a mixed-use development by the New Life Community Development Group.

The applicant is also here to answer questions you may have about the development.

The applicant has submitted payment of 25,324 for costs associated with the vacation to the Department of Public Works.

And the vacation will not restrict access to private property nor reduce the city's ability to provide services to residents.

So staff finds the proposed vacation would not be detrimental to the city and recommends approval.

Okay.

Hi, I'm Jody Rhodes, Executive Director at New Life Community Development, and Newview is our project.

Okay.

Would you like to tell us more about this project?

Sure.

It's an awesome project on 12th and Cherry, a mixed-use development with housing for young adults 18 to 24 and youth development on programmatic space expansion and a gym and special um special event spaces and also office spaces for um community partners.

Um this alley that will be the vacation.

Well, there's actually two alley vacations, yeah.

One of the alleys um will be turned into a green space bio swell.

That's why we're taking the well why we want the alley to help with um stormwater management and just to have some green space next to the building next between us and the building next to us.

So it's for a green green usage.

Okay.

Commissioners, any questions for the Madam Chair?

I do have a question of staff.

I thought this was a companion file with number four.

We're taking these items independently.

Yes, we we would take them independently.

Okie dokie.

So this alley vacation will be used for additional parking.

Um the development itself, yes, not additional parking.

Okay.

I just wanted to know more about the group where um when you mentioned that this is it's an like an apartment community or is it an organization that's specifically for this 18 to 24 age group.

I just want to learn more about it.

So New Life, we're a nonprofit organization that does um youth development in Milwaukee.

We're 26 years old.

And this development is so we can expand services to all the youth we serve.

Um we're expanding our culinary program, we're expanding our media arts program, we're putting in a music recording studio, and we're also we identified housing as a major issue for our young adults that work for us and youth workers, ages 18 to 24.

So the housing units will be um aimed for that population that work for New Life and also work for other programs like public allies, Teach for America, AmeriCorps.

Sounds good.

So tell us a little bit more about the project, tell us about the housing, about some of the details, how many units, what do they look like?

36 units studio, one bedroom, and two bedrooms.

Um we're on 12th and cherry, so close to MATC where a lot of our young adults attend school while working for nonprofits or working for programs.

Their programmatic space will be great to expand.

We already serve almost 3,000 youth a year.

We'll be able to serve even more.

Um, special event spaces, which would be great for other entities and nonprofits who want to host events and meetings.

That's always a need that are at like a lower cost than using hotels and whatnot.

Um, a gym, we've never had a gym, so a gym is really great, and it's a multi-use space.

There's a fourth floor rooftop garden because it's part of the culinary program.

We grow food, so that will be important.

And then the very top um level on the sixth floor is will be outfitted for a rooftop restaurant when we find the right rooftop restaurant partner or special events space.

That's for the future use of the top floor.

So the the people that are working for you or for these other nonprofit organizations will have the opportunity to also live here.

Yes.

And is that at a route reduced cost or an affordable cost?

Yep, affordable cost for sure, because they're 18 to 24, navigating young adulthood, working and maybe going to school and whatnot.

So affordable housing for that age bracket, in which we employ quite a few in that age bracket.

That's where the need came from to start this project in general.

Okay.

Very good.

Commissioners, any other questions or comments?

I do have another question for staff.

I mean, is it typical to vacate an alley without a site plan as part of the file?

The usually when um the alley is vacated, public works will submit um exhibit A, which there's a screenshot of, and then it also shows where it's reverted to.

So a site plan isn't always necessary.

Um, it seems like a great development, and I want to know more.

You know, uh, and it just seems odd to me that you know we're going forward with an alley vacation without, you know, because it sounds like it's all figured out, and I'm just wondering why it's not part of the file.

Yeah, the um they are going for permits with um the department of neighborhood services, so um, we we could provide site plans along with the file if if you are interested.

I believe we already got foundation and footing permits already for the project.

I think it would be helpful just going forward to see the overall development instead of sort of tarkitecturing it.

It's easier for me to actually see what you're talking about.

Thank you.

But can you just go over the what you're gonna do with these alleys verbally, please?

So the alley to the north is gonna be the green space, um bio swell, um, collect this the stormwater, rainwater, and recycle that and use it within the building because we have radiant floor heating, so we need what lots of water to heat the floors.

So that's gonna be used to help with that for energy efficiency and plus just to have a little green space instead of so much pavement that's over there right now.

Um, the other alley to the west, we actually share with the new COGS building, the new um, and so that actually it's just more of a formality with the um the lines that there's nothing changing there.

They use that alley for um parking, and that's not gonna change at all for um the like wheelchair vans and disabled, so nothing changes with that alley to the west at all.

It's just like a formality for the survey.

Okay, yeah.

And what about the parking?

Where do people park on this?

So we do have underground parking for our building.

Um yeah, underground parking, um, one level totally underground and one level that's part of half of the first floor, and then of course, street parking.

So, but we do have underground parking, and we are way exceed the amount required for the housing.

Um, you do exceed the amount, we exceed the amount amazingly, right?

Very good and underground, which we like to see.

Yes, we'd rather have underground than surface parking.

Definitely, so it was a must.

We had to do underground.

So, okay.

Commissioners, any other questions?

Comments.

If not, I will entertain a motion.

Commissioner Gonzalez, I'll make a motion to approve item number two five zero one five seven.

Okay, there's been a motion, is there a second?

Commissioner Washington, second.

Okay, any further discussion.

Seeing none, I will uh call your name and please say aye if you are in support of the item.

Commissioner Alison Nemick.

Aye.

Commissioner Rennell Washington, Commissioner Katrina Crane, aye, Commissioner Tariq Moody, aye.

Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez, and Commissioner Willie Smith.

Okay, the eyes have it.

Um, good luck on the project.

Sounds pretty fantastic.

So we'll wanna make sure we come and take a look.

Well, Chair, I I do apologize.

We have a second file that we have to vote on separately.

And that's gonna go ahead and introduce the file then.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh uh item number four is two six zero one seven zero, a resolution to vacate the eastern portion of 12th lane between West Cherry Street and the Northern Alley in the 15th Aldermanic District.

Thank you, Chair and Commissioners.

Um this item is also for the new view development.

Item four is a request to vacate the eastern four point nine eight feet of twelfth lane between West Cherry Street and the Northern Alley to correct historical recording inaccuracies which were found by the surveyor when submitting their certified survey map uh associated with this development.

Um so the applicant will be submitting their signed petition and the five hundred dollars for costs associated with the vacation to the Department of Public Works if this item moves on before this item can be considered at the public works committee.

Um the vacation will not restrict access to private property as it's just um correcting historical inaccuracies and it will not reduce the city's ability to provide services to residents, so staff finds the proposed vacation would not be detrimental to the city and recommends approval.

Okay.

Commissioners, any comments, questions.

If not, I'll entertain a motion on this item.

Commissioner Crane, I approve item two six zero one seven zero as stated.

Okay, with second, Commissioner Smith.

Okay, and with that includes the conditional improved uh the condition on there.

Yes.

And uh so there's been a motion, there's been a second.

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, um, if you're in favor, please say aye.

Commissioner Allison Nemek, aye.

Commissioner Vanel Washington, aye.

Commissioner Katrina Crane, aye, Commissioner Tribeek Moody, Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez, Commissioner Willie Smith, I think the eyes have it.

Thank you very much.

And uh great, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Good luck to you.

All right, item number five, Ms.

Vonsecka.

Item number five is file number two six zero one four four, an ordinance updating the climate and equity plan and amending the citywide policy plan as part of the city's overall comprehensive plan and directing its implementation.

Uh good afternoon.

I'm Eric Shambarger.

I'm the environmental sustainability director for the City of Milwaukee.

I work in the environmental collaboration office, which is in charge of overseeing the city's climate and equity plan.

Climate and equity plan was adopted uh by the mayor in 2023.

Um we are making two very minor updates to the plan.

The first is the uh common council had changed the name of the Office of Equity and Inclusion to the new Department of Compliance and Engagement, and they are mentioned throughout the plan as supporting its implementation.

So we updated the name.

The other thing is we worked uh with our city attorney's office to just clarify some language.

Um I would point you to there's a footnote that was added that could kind of clarify some of the other minor changes that were made, which I'll just read.

Uh nothing in this plan is intended to establish hiring quotas, set asides or preferences based on race, color, or national origin.

The city of Milwaukee is an equal opportunity employer, and all programs and initiatives undertaken to this plan shall be implemented in a manner consistent with federal applicable laws, including Title Six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

So in short, we're just making sure that all of the strategies are targeted to support people in disadvantaged communities rather than you know uh having it be unclear that we're targeting uh people of color.

However, I would say that the uh the historical analysis of disparities in our community is still all in there, and we're um, you know, that does this is not change any of that historical analysis nor the intent and spirit of the plan to help those who are most uh in need of support.

Okay, thank you.

Um commissioners, any other discussion questions, comments, no substance of changes or updates.

It's no like the the changes that are included are in the um uh chapter related to green jobs acceleration.

Um, and so like I said, it's just right now it has stated that recruitment would be targeted to people of color, and now it says recruitment will be targeted to people who live in disadvantaged, economically disadvantaged communities, okay.

Any further discussion, uh seeing none, is there I'll entertain a motion at this time.

Commissioner Moody moves to approve item two six zero one four four.

Okay, there's been a motion.

Is there a second?

Second, the second any discussion.

Seeing none.

If you're in favor, please say aye.

Commissioner Alison Nemek.

Aye, Commissioner Vanel Washington, Commissioner Katrina Crane.

Aye.

Commissioner Charique Moody?

Aye, Commissioner Jesus Gonzalez.

Aye.

And Commissioner Willie Smith.

Aye.

Okay.

Uh the ayes have it.

Item five has been passed.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for your work.

Okay, item number six.

Which is the public hearing.

Yeah.

So Miss Venseca, would you like to introduce the file?

Yes.

We have two items that I'll read into the record just so we have them there, and the public hearing can start no be sooner than two p.m.

And we're just a little before that.

So item number six is file number two six zero zero two nine, a resolution approving the request for a deviation from the performance standards established by the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone or DIS overlay to allow an indoor self-storage facility and a data processing commuter services and computational research facility as permitted uses within a portion of the former Walmart building at 5825 West Hope Avenue, located on the east side of North 60th Street, north of West Capitol Drive, and in the second Aldermanic District.

An existing building previously occupied by Walmart, located at 5825 West Hope Avenue on the east side of North 60th Street, north of West Capitol Drive, relative to the midtown center development incentive zone or DIS overlay established by section 295-91.0044 of the former Milwaukee code in the second aldermatic district.

Okay, before we we are three two and a half minutes before the official time of two o'clock to open the hearing.

So you know, I suppose we can just do something else for two minutes quietly, or noisily, however you like.

I'm glad we have it.

Um glad it worked out that we could use this room too.

All right.

Okay, so we can do that.

Okay.

All the things are coming.

He's supposed to see the after friend for them.

So maybe it's going right there.

You talk right away and then I talk and then the aldermen will state the state testimony.

Yeah.

And said yeah, we'll have to get going.

He knows the two show.

So I'm assuming he's on a fire.

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

Okay.

All right.

So I thought we would like just uh, well, first of all, it's two o'clock.

So we're gonna open the public hearing.

And I would like to say that I see that there's a lot of people with a lot of interest in this subject.

And we want to be able to, I want to as your as uh the chairperson here, I would like to be able to get through and make sure that everybody's heard.

So if we can, I mean you have your signs, that's that's great.

But sir, if we can that like do the do the chanting on the or the it was already quiet time.

What did you say?

It was during the quiet time.

I wasn't sure.

Was that quiet now?

Come on.

No, I know.

It's fine, it's fine.

It's fine.

But I'm just saying let's try to work together so we can get through it.

Can we have an agreement on that?

Is that good?

Okay, all right.

So we're gonna open the public hearing, and we are going to have Ms.

Seca if you could introduce the file, please.

All right, file number two six zero zero two nine, a resolution approving the request for deviation from the performance standards established by the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone or DIS Overlay to allow an indoor self-storage facility and a data processing, computer services, and computational research facility as permitted uses within the portion of the former Walmart building at 5825 West Hope Avenue, located on the east side of North 60th Street, north of West Capitol Drive in the second Aldermanic district.

And file number seven is uh 2600 three zero, a resolution approving the changes to the site, an existing building previously occupied by Walmart, located at 5825 West Hope Avenue on the east side of North Sixtieth Street, north of West Capitol Drive, relative to the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone, or DIS overlay established by section two ninety-five-91 point zero zero four four of the former Milwaukee code in the second Aldermanic District.

Okay.

Sure.

Thank you so much, Chair Bloomingdale.

Uh good afternoon, Chair.

Um Commissioners, uh, and all those watching uh and planning to participate, both in person uh as well as virtually.

I'm Lafayette Crump.

I am Commissioner of the Department of City Development as well as executive secretary uh for the city planning commission.

Uh before turning things over in a bit to city planning director Tonya Fonseca, uh I do want to provide some overall context to the midtown center's ongoing development and the Department of City Development's review of the proposal that is before us today.

Now, since the conversion of the former Capitol Court Mall uh into the modern Midtown Center in the early 2000s, we've witnessed a range of successes at the site.

Uh there are variety of food and retail options.

There's a full service grocery store at the site, children's hospital, Planet fitness, and others.

Uh, I would note uh personal note, I live about six minutes south of there.

I use the Planet Fitness and the Pick and Save regularly.

Uh I practice law and I train small businesses right around the corner on 61st in Capitol.

I shopped at the former Walmart.

I know the area well.

Our department, Alderman Chambers, and this commission all concluded that that proposal did not align with the goals for the redevelopment of the center, particularly because that proposal did not have an identified plan to activate the frontage of the former Walmart or the large parking area that served the former store.

So that proposal was denied.

And I want to underscore that.

There was a previous proposal, we didn't feel it brought enough to the area, and we and this commission did not allow it to move forward.

And that was the right decision at that time.

Three years have passed, the building and the land remain vacant, and the area has not realized its potential.

And we have an opportunity to make the right decision for this time.

We now have an updated proposal that is unquestionably better, that addresses the critical issues identified by the Alder, DCD, and the Commission in your review of the earlier proposal, and that is the result of significant negotiation, compromise, and demands for public amenities and protection of community interests.

Namely, the oversized uh five acre parking, five acre parking lot that served the former Walmart would be redeveloped with 200 units of new affordable housing and green space, bringing new high-quality housing options to the neighborhood and new residents who would have access to the shopping and amenities at Midtown, increasing the viability and the staying power of the shopping center.

The proposal would also activate the entire commercial frontage of the former Walmart, utilizing about 50,000 square feet with civic and community uses, including a proposed future new Milwaukee Public Library branch, a permanent early voting site, and other civic and community uses.

Self-service storage and a data processing and computational research facility for the rear of the former Walmart building that would facilitate this comprehensive redevelopment of the entire site.

So DCD has carried out a technical review of that proposal to determine whether or not it meets the standards spelled out in the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances that CPC should consider in evaluating this request for deviation.

Now, as the commission knows and the public should be aware, seeking a deviation or seeking a special use permit or a variance are quite normal aspects of the entitlement process.

And quite literally, why there is this opportunity today for the public to be heard and for public bodies to evaluate proposals.

Without the deviation, without special use or variance processes, one of two things would occur.

Every project would move forward without any public discourse whatsoever, or nothing unique or additive that had not been previously contemplated or approved would ever get built.

Ultimately, allowing self-service storage in the computational research facility in the rear of the former Walmart will advance the goals of the midtown zoning overlay by facilitating the activation of the front 50,000 square feet with neighborhood amenities, community spaces, and spurring the redevelopment of the parking lot with again the 200 affordable housing units.

On balance, this new mix of uses advances the goals of reactivating the site through the addition of a variety of complementary new uses while limiting the less active uses to the rear of the former big box.

I've talked about the positive aspects of this proposal and why we are recommending approval.

I do think it's important, however, that we do take a moment to acknowledge the significant public commentary on this project, which represents understandable concerns about the environment, energy, water utilization, noise, and equity, particularly the development of this project in an area largely populated by black Milwaukeeans.

I've been at all three informational sessions now.

I've read the emails and letters, we know there are many.

I've viewed an unhealthy amount of social media.

I've talked directly with countless residents, and of course, I feel the energy in this room and the overflow room here today.

This level of civic engagement is welcome, and I personally think it's important if we are to be a community that puts its people first and not faceless corporate entities or amorphous cloud-based technology.

Yet I also think it's important that facts are not pushed to the wayside because they are strong feelings at play.

The fact is Capitol Heights, Denine Park, Grassland Manor, Lincoln Creek, Roosevelt Grove, Sunset Heights, none of them deserve to have this site remain vacant and blighted for another 10 years.

The fact is this is not an AI data center.

The fact is this proposal does not call for millions or even thousands of gallons of water.

The fact is that this computational research facility, which will cover floor space of only about 100 feet by 200 feet, will help facilitate the development of a new library, an early voting site, and new housing for hundreds of Milwaukee residents.

100 feet by 200 feet.

That's what we're talking about.

By comparison, the Microsoft Data Center in Mount Pleasant, it's 1.2 million square feet.

The one in Port Washington, 2.5 million square feet.

It's a hundred and thirty times bigger than what we what is proposed here today.

So the fact is data centers that rightfully concern all of us are massively different than the size of what's being proposed here.

And the fact is that the aldermen and the administration have worked hard to ensure that the amenities that will be developed at the site, there are additional conditions for use of the site, some of which are the direct result of community feedback.

City Planning Director Fonseca will walk through staff's technical review of the proposal and the overlay criteria in more detail in a moment, as well as some of those conditions of approval that we're recommending that this condition uh commission consider should this proposal be approved.

These conditions have been carefully crafted to ensure that the proposed research facility will not have some of the negative impacts of the broader neighbor of the broader on the broader neighborhood, I should say, that we are aware may be associated with some of those larger hyperscale data center type facilities, as well as some of the concerns, as I've noted, that have been raised directly by members of the public in review of this proposal.

Both the size and the use of this proposed facility and our recommended conditions would ensure that the appropriate controls are in place to minimize any potential for air quality or noise impacts to the neighborhood, limit water and energy usage, and ensure appropriate landscaping and screening from public view, and limit the computational use to no more than the 19,000 square feet within the facility, which is only about 3% of the total area of the site.

And finally, it would ensure that the self-service storage and the data processing facility use uh would not move forward until the housing and the civic and the community uses are proceeding.

This plan will represent a positive step forward for the midtown center by facilitating the reuse of this building that's set vacant, set vacant for more than 10 years, brings new affordable housing to a formerly oversized parking lot, new community amenities.

Again, I've said said that all this, it's going to bring new foot traffic as well, which will support the vitality of the Midtown Center.

And I just want to thank Alderman Chambers for his leadership in setting out goals for this site that would push forward the comprehensive redevelopment plan that we have before us today that achieves them.

And thank you, commissioners, of course, for your consideration.

And I want to turn it over now to Tanya, who will summarize the details of the proposal, our staff analysis, and our staff recommendations, again, including recommended conditions to ensure protection of community interests.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My name is Tanya Fonseiken.

I serve as City Planning Director for the City of Milwaukee and the Department of City Development.

Before I present our technical review of this proposal, I would like to recognize some city staff that have worked on the review of this proposal, including significant technical review of the proposed uses and the technical equipment associated with this use.

Thank you, Kristen Connolly, Johnny Latsco, San Likling, John Cunningham, Dave Miskey, and Mike Feinblatt.

This thoughtful research and review of best practices and standards has informed the conditions we are recommending should the proposal be approved.

We also have representatives from the Department of City Development, Department of Neighborhood Services, the Environmental Collaboration Office, and a third-party sound consultant are available for questions later in the agenda item.

And now I will begin our technical review of the proposal and share our recommended conditions.

The property at 5825 West Hope Avenue consists of a currently vacant building previously occupied by Walmart on the south side of West Hope Avenue and a surface parking lot to the north of West Hope Avenue.

This site is within Midtown Center, which previously was occupied by the Capitol Court Regional Shopping Center.

In 2000, the Milwaukee Common Council approved tax increment district number 42, known as Capitol Court Midtown Center, and the Midtown Center Development Incentive Zone or DIS Overlay in 2000 was established as a means to support the redevelopment of the former mall.

The DIS overlay regulates uses and design standards for new construction and alterations within the boundary as a means to guide development in a manner that fosters an active and engaging retail center.

The review of changes within the DISA overlay are overseen by this body, this Milwaukee City Plan Commission.

The subject property has been vacant since Walmart exited the site in January of 2016.

AFS Milwaukee LLC purchased the site in June of 2022 and previously requested a deviation from the DIS overlay use list to permit self-service storage within the vacant Walmart building.

That request was denied by the City Plan Commission because it was determined that the deviation criteria set forth by the zoning code were not met for reasons, including that the only non-speculative use proposed for the site at the time was for self-service storage.

Since then, the owner has partnered with several entities to compile a multi-component redevelopment plan for the entire site and an affordable residential development within the former uh Walmart parking lot on the north side of West Hope Avenue was approved by City Plan Commission on April 27th, 2026, as file number 252155, and is one of the key components of this site's redevelopment.

The subject files before us today relate to the land located on the south side of West Hope Avenue and entail a deviation from the DIS overlay use list use list for two uses and the overall project approval for the this portion of the site.

The property owner intends to repurpose the vacant building, including reserving approximately 51,000 square feet within the north or front portion of the building for community serving uses and allowing a self-service storage facility and data processing, computer service and computational research facility at the south approximately 108,000 square feet portion.

While specific tenants for the community serving spaces are not yet fully secured, the uses are anticipated to be allowed per the DIS overlay, including a proposed future Milwaukee Public Library Branch, a permanent early voting site, and other civic and community uses.

The two uses proposed for the south or rear portion of the building require deviations from the DIS overlay use that was established in 2000.

Alterations are proposed to the building and adjacent land within the site, which are subject to the DIS overlay design standards.

Once tenants are secured for the community serving uses within the north portion of the building, and the facade and site modifications for those tenants are known, a future file will be submitted for DIS Overlay Design Standard Review for consideration by the City Plan Commission.

It is anticipated that the West Hope Avenue elevation will be of the former Walmart will be modified to interact positively with the public realm with items such as additional glazing and patron entrances, as well as outdoor gathering spaces and seating areas.

Pedestrian connections across West Hope Avenue between the proposed residential development to these uses will be coordinated as well.

Minor building and site changes are needed for the two uses that are the subject of this deviation request and include a new entrance on the west side of the self-service storage office and potential additional overhead doors along the rear south building facade, as well as screening on the south side of the building.

Site changes including enhancing the landscaping along North 60th Street frontage and the existing landscape islands within the parking area to the west of the building.

And as part of the future file relating to the facade and site modifications for the community serving uses, the currently vacant land on the east side of the building may become a parking lot to serve those uses.

DCD staff have evaluated the applicant's proposal alongside the design standards established for this DIS overlay.

Future modifications to the building and the site for the community serving spaces will be submitted as mentioned, and minimal building and site changes are needed for the two uses that are subject to today's proposed deviation request.

Those components, as well as anticipated future modifications as outlined in the official exhibits entered into Legistar and in this report are consistent with the DIS overlay design standards.

Indoor self-storage is a prohibited use in Midtown Center DIS, as well as the base zoning district, which is regional business or RB2.

Additionally, the data processing, computer service, and computational research facility, which is a type of indoor substation distribution equipment as defined by the city zoning code, requires a deviation from the DIS overlay use list.

And so that's why we're here today.

Both the self-service storage, which is proposed to occupy the majority of the South 108,000 square feet portion of the building, and the data processing computational research facility that would occupy up to 19,000 square feet of that 108,000 square feet are considered to be secondary uses to the other allowable uses, the housing, the public play area, the community serving uses, including a proposed Milwaukee public library, as well as the improvements within the overall site redevelopment.

Because the standalone self-service storage use would not meet the performance standards of the DIS overlay or be consistent with the comprehensive plan.

Any approved occupancy and operation of the self-storage use and the data processing and computational research facility within up to 19,000 square feet of the space is contingent on the implementation of two other project components as mentioned previously.

200 housing units, open space, a public play area on the north portion of the former Walmart parking lot, and the community serving uses within the north section of the existing building along Hope Avenue.

As such, commercial commercial alterations and occupancy permits for the self-service storage facility use and the data processing and computational research facility use will not be issued by the Department of Neighborhood Services until the following items occur.

The portion of the site where the housing development is proposed has been conveyed to the ownership group that will construct the City Plan Commission approved housing development, and construction permits have been applied for by Gorman and Company to the City of Milwaukee for residential construction.

And there is a binding lease or lease option for the approximately 51,000 square feet of leasable space facing West Hope Avenue for community serving uses with the City of Milwaukee or other community-serving entities that will activate the front facing portion of the property, or in the event that the community serving entities are no longer interested in leasing the space with retail functions that align with the Midtown Center performance standards.

Also written into the exhibit is a statement that the approval of the deviation for the self-service storage use and the data processing and computational research facility use within the 19,000 square feet of the space and resulting occupancy approvals shall be null and void and require reapproval by the city plan commission if the applicant does not implement the project as described in this application or proposes a substantial change to the plan of operation uses or building designs approved within this application.

The applicant will present the proposal in more detail, but I'll touch on two uses subject to the deviation request briefly.

The self-service storage will have an office on the west side of the building, a new entrance and pedestrian walkway leading to it that will be added under the existing canopy, and new storefront glass and a person door will be added.

Vehicle entrances for interior loading and unloading are adjacent to the office and will utilize existing overhead doors that had previously been used by the Walmart as the automotive care center area.

Vehicles will not be allowed within the general storage areas.

Customer parking will be within the existing parking lot on the west side of the building, adjacent to the self-service storage use, and employee parking will be on the south side of the building beside an existing entrance.

No outdoor storage will be permitted.

Tenant storage access will be limited to 6 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

seven days per week and will be staffed by the on-site management office during that time.

And high definition cameras will be utilized to monitor the site, and tenant-specific access codes will be used for all of the entrances.

The data processing and computational research facility, a type of indoor substation, as mentioned previously, will occupy up to 19,000 square feet and will support advanced computational modeling, data processing, and research applications serving industries such as healthcare, engineering, scientific modeling, and computational research activities.

The application narrative indicates this facility will use servers and high performance computing equipment to process large amounts of data, run simulations, train or test models, and support research that would otherwise take significant time.

Research areas could include healthcare modeling and medical research support, imaging analysis, engineering simulations, financial modeling, or university and institutional research workloads.

The research is computational in nature, meaning the activity is performed through computers, software, and data processing.

The use does not involve manufacturing processes, hazardous chemical handling, industrial emissions, or material processing activities.

The proposed facility would operate with an approximate seven megawatt information technology load with a total maximum project utility capacity of 10 megawatts.

The facility would utilize a full closed loop system with dry coolers, resulting in a daily water consumption of five gallons or less under normal operations.

The system does not discharge water into municipal sewer systems.

Dry coolers relating to the clues loop cooling system will be located on the outside of the south facade of the building and will be enclosed by an engineered acoustic screening system.

All noise relating to this use is subject to the City of Milwaukee's code of ordinances and specifically Chapter 80-64 relating to the noise levels at the property lines.

Generators to provide emergency backup power in the event of power outages will be located within the building on the far south side.

Critical grade silencers will be utilized within the generators, which will be tested once per month.

The facility will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week with approximately 15 technical and support positions, and that's two to three employees per shift, including computational researchers, data technicians, network specialists, system engineers, facility operators, and maintenance personnel.

Per the applicant, typical activity levels are consistent are expected to consist primarily of employee vehicle traffic, equipment monitoring, and routine facility operations.

The zoning code outlines four criteria that the applicant must demonstrate are met when requesting a deviation from an overlay's performance standards.

And those four criteria are that the purpose of the overlay zone has been met.

Second, that the deviation improves the aesthetics of the site.

Third, that the deviation addresses one or more unique site factors that make the application of the standard impractical, and fourth, that the deviation is consistent with the comprehensive plan.

The applicant responses to these criteria are outlined in their zoning exhibit, and they will touch on these during their presentation.

Staff review the applicant responses alongside the plans.

For the review that the purpose of the overlay zone has been met, our staff analysis is as follows.

The purpose of the overlay zone is to guide development, use and design standards in a way that fosters an active and engaging shopping center.

Collectively, the applicant team's multi-component site redevelopment plan includes includes the housing, the community serving uses, and the two uses that are the subject of the deviation request are secondary to the housing and community serving uses meet this goal.

All active uses are oriented towards West Hope Avenue with the more passive uses subject to the deviation request located at the rear of the site and away from the public realm.

The two uses proposed via the deviation for the rear of the former Walmart facility would facilitate the redevelopment of the large former surface parking lot with new housing, a public play area, and new open space and activate the frontage of the former big box building with new uses, both of which advance the purpose of the overlay.

Staff find this criterion met.

For the review that the deviation improves the aesthetics of the site, our staff analysis is as follows.

Collectively, the multi-component site redevelopment plan improves the aesthetics of the subject site.

The previously approved affordable housing development on the north side of West Hope Avenue entails two buildings fronting the street with a generously sized play space that will be available to the community.

This oversized surface parking lot was made available for conversion to a more two more active housing uses via the proposed redevelopment plan, which will not require the large surface parking lot associated with the former Walmart use.

On the south side of West Hope Avenue, it is anticipated that the north facade of the building will be significantly enhanced within the community serving uses and outdoor gathering and seating areas that are possible between the building and the public sidewalk, creating a vibrant and engaging presence along West Hope Avenue and as part of Midtown Center.

Minimal exterior changes are required for the two uses that are subject to this deviation given that they are in the rear of the former Walmart building.

Staff find this criterion met.

For the review that the deviation addresses one or more unique factors that make the application of the standard impractical, if applicable, our staff analysis is as follows.

Staff acknowledges that repurposing a former big box building with a single tenant tenant is challenging in our shifting retail climate.

And the successful reuse of the building of a building of this size typically includes multiple occupants and reallocation of interior spaces and external parking areas or a conversion to less active uses that may not align with the midtown overlay zone goals.

Under the current proposal, the frontage of the building is the most impactful space within the building as it connects to the public realm and overall midtown center activity and is reserved for community uses that will provide the neighborhood and larger community with access access to active and engaging uses that will complement the remainder of Midtown Center.

The proposed use of the rear of the building by more passive uses that are subject to the deviation request are situated away from the public realm and will allow this multiple multi-component site redevelopment plan to be viable, including allowing the former oversized parking lot to be repurposed for housing, a public play area, and significant open green space.

Staff find this criterion met.

For the review that the deviation is consistent with the comprehensive plan, our staff analysis is as follows.

The property is located in the West Side Area Plan Boundaries, which was adopted in December of 2009 after extensive public input.

The plan establishes policies for commercial land uses and recommendations for the Midtown Center district and establishes recommendations for catalytic projects, including the Midtown Gateway area and redevelopment opportunities for Midtown Center.

At the time of the plan's adoption, the property was actively used by Walmart.

So future uses for this particular property were not contemplated at that time.

The plan directs that further development and redevelopment at Midtown Center is a balanced mix of uses, including retail, office, institutional, and residential.

And the plan directs infill and other redevelopment opportunities that they be compatible with and contribute to the existing retail mix.

Further, a minor modification amendment to the plan was approved by the common council in 2018 that reinforced that the Midtown Center District should continue to emphasize a mix of retail, office, and residential uses.

The applicants' multi-component redevelopment plans for self-service storage and the data processing and computational research facility, as well as community serving uses and the previously approved multifamily housing, are consistent with the West Side Area Plan.

Specifically, specific to the Midtown Center District, the relevant policies and recommendations in the plan include to continue to implement a balanced mix with both regional and local market appeal.

Encourage the integration of office institutional and residential uses, extend midtown center's town center approach to unifying all businesses on the triangle, and add uh pedestrian connections and infill buildings wherever possible.

Over time, make the entire Midtown Center District a walkable retail village and continue to recruit businesses for infill and other redevelopment opportunities that contribute to the existing mix.

Add amenities and public art that enhance the district and install enhanced landscaping and streetscaping along the rights of way of all corridors surrounding and intersecting Midtown Center.

Furthermore, the plan sets this overall commercial land use strategy as it relates to gray field uses, as in former big box stores and shopping centers to encourage similar or compatible uses to go into these vacant spaces where the market will no longer support a retail use or similar use cannot be reinstated.

Consider office or business services that support the commercial focus of the district or commercial corridor.

If the principal use is converted to office or business services, retain street-level storefronts open and transparent and not shuttered.

Standalone self-service storage on its own would not complement the mix of retail and commercial uses in Midtown.

However, the applicant is proposing to reuse the rear of the building for self-service storage and the data processing and computational research facility, with plans to create active community serving uses at the front of the building.

This mix of uses furthers the recommendations of the West Side Area Plan to create a vibrant and walkable town square.

And the community serving uses along Hope Avenue and the multifamily infill development will bring more people to Midtown, activating the spaces and strengthening the shopping district.

The applicant is also improving the landscaping along the west side of the building.

DCD is currently updating the West Side Area Plan.

And the planning process kicked off in late 2024 and is anticipated to be adopted later this year.

Public engagement is an integral component of updating an area plan and developing its draft recommendations.

To date, DCD has gathered public input through two community-wide public meetings in person and virtually, and convened three community advisory committee meetings, attended numerous community events, and conducted online surveys.

At the last community meeting in March of 2026, DCD staff presented draft recommendations, including recommendations for Midtown Shopping Center, and a final community meeting is anticipated before adoption.

During the area planning process, Midtown Center has been identified as a catalytic site for Milwaukee, meaning that the future redevelopment can have a transformative effect on the larger neighborhood and the plan area.

The draft concept for Midtown Center identifies opportunities for infill development, adaptive reuse, and commercial rehabilitation.

A key draft recommendation is to encourage a wider range of uses, particularly residential, community serving, and civic uses to enliven the Midtown shopping center and support the existing commercial uses.

Additionally, draft recommendations identify additional site improvements such as gather community gathering spaces and approved pedestrian connections.

In conclusion, due to the comprehensive multi-component set of uses in this redevelopment plan, the applicant's proposed deviation is consistent with the policies and recommendations in the West Side Area Plan, and staff find this criterion met.

These files were previously scheduled for consideration at the May 18th, 2026 City Plan Commission meeting.

And after receiving a large number of questions and letters of concerns related to this proposal, the hearing on the item was removed from the agenda to allow for additional community meetings and for the applicant to present additional information.

Subsequently, Alderman Mark Chambers has scheduled three community meetings.

Two were in person in the former Walmart building, and one was online as a virtual meeting.

DCD staff were present at all three of these meetings.

Additionally, in terms of engagement, we have received approximately 300 emails submitted from the public regarding the files that we're hearing today.

Approximately 16 were requests to provide testimony, and 15 were from duplicate senders.

The most commonly cited concerns within the proposal include energy needs for the facility and potential strain on the power grid, water usage at the facility, noise and air quality impacts, limited number of jobs and associated associated with the proposed uses, compatibility with surrounding uses and neighborhoods, and other desired uses being more impactful for the community.

This penning proposal would facilitate a multi-use, comprehensive development of a former big box retail facility and add housing and community uses that would contribute to the vitality and activation of the Midtown Center, consistent with the goals of the Midtown DIS.

Community input and letters received to date have raised a number of concerns with the proposal and potential for negative neighborhood impacts, which are mitigated through the overall plan and the proposed conditions of approval that will present today.

Before I move into our staff recommendations, I would like to reiterate the following.

There is existing power infrastructure in place and available to serve the 10 megawatt max utility load of this proposed facility.

The facility would utilize a closed-loop cooling system, resulting in water use estimated to be five gallons or less per day.

The proposed conditions of approval are designed to strictly control any noise or air quality impacts associated with the use as described in more detail.

The backup generators would be inside the building in the rear of it, and the dry coolers would be installed outside at the rear of the existing facility within the former truck dock bay and the larger service area on the west end of the midtown center.

This area would include an engineered acoustics screening system to limit noise for compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances.

And this dry cooler area is approximately 485 feet from residence on the west side of North 60th Street and approximately 450 feet from the new housing development located in the former Walmart parking lot area.

Many of the letters of opposition to the proposal referenced a goal of bringing housing opportunities and community serving civic uses to the neighborhood, which are both significant components of this redevelopment proposal and would be facilitated by this pending proposal.

And this is a breakdown of the use of the entire former Walmart site.

The housing public play area, open space, and parking for the housing are 41% of the entire site.

The surrounding site that includes the commercial use parking, circulation, and landscape areas are 35% of the site.

The proposed self-service storage use would be 14% of the site.

The proposed community serving space would be 5% of the site, and the proposed Milwaukee Public Library would be 3% of the site.

And finally, the proposed data processing and computational research facility would be 3% of the site.

With that, I will now present our staff recommendations.

For file number 260029, staff review of this proposal to deviate from the DIS use list for the two uses outlined in this report, indoor self-service storage and data processing, computer services, and computational research facility indicates that the four criteria have been met based on the fact that this request is part of the multi-component site redevelopment plan, and conditions are placed on both uses that are subject to the deviation request with respect to limiting per permit issuance for the self-service storage and data processing and computational research facility as outlined in the deviation request section to ensure that these uses are secondary to the allowable uses that meet the intent of the DIS overlay and limiting the size of the data processing and computational research facility within the rear of the building.

Therefore, staff recommends conditional approval of the applicants request to deviate from the performance standards of the Midtown Center DIS overlay to permit an indoor self-service storage facility and data processing, computer services, and computational research facility as described in the official exhibits of this report.

The proposed conditions for approval are as follows.

One, the commercial alteration and occupancy permits for the self-service storage and data processing, computer services, and computational research facility uses will not be issued by the Department of Neighborhood Services until the following items occur.

The portion of the site where the housing development is proposed has been conveyed to the ownership group that will construct the City Plan Commission approved housing development, and construction permits have been applied for by Gorman and Company to the City of Milwaukee for residential construction.

And that there is a binding lease or lease option for the approximately 51,000 square feet of leaseable space facing West Hope Avenue for community serving uses with the City of Milwaukee or other community serving entities that will activate the front-facing portion of the property, or in the event that the community serving entities are no longer interested in leasing the space with retail functions that align with the Midtown Center performance standards.

Two, that the use is developed consistent with the plans and exhibit A in the legislature file.

Specifically the data processing, computer services, and computer research use shall occupy no greater floor space than 19,000 square feet.

Three, that the proposed data processing use shall not exceed 10 megawatts of power during peak demand, measured over any 50 minute interval.

Four that generator equipment shall not be used for primary power generation or non-emergency operation, including non-emergency continuous or discretionary operations.

Generators shall only be used during electrical outages, legally required emergency response situations, and routine maintenance and testing.

Condition five, that a schedule for routine maintenance and testing of generators and made available to the public upon request.

Routine maintenance and testing of generators shall be limited to weekdays between 8 a.m.

and 5 p.m.

except in the case of emergencies or where otherwise required by law or applicable safety standards.

Condition number six that prior to the issuance of permits, the applicant shall provide an acoustical report demonstrating compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances Chapter 8, subchapter 2 for noise control.

The submittal shall include the following.

An acoustical report prepared and sealed by Wisconsin licensed professional engineer demonstrating compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances, including any other relevant assumptions, sound data, measurement methodology, and mitigation measures, as well as any related drawing specifications and calculations.

Said report shall include any and all impulse noises, continuous noise, and low frequency noise, as well as an assessment of noise levels during the usage of generators.

A list of proposed significant facility sound sources, including sound sources to be located both inside and outside of the building, a schedule of operations for each proposed significant sound source indicating the days of week, times of day, and durations proposed, a site plan layout which identifies the location of all proposed significant sound sources and any proposed noise mitigation measures.

Manufacture design specifications of all proposed significant facility sound sources detailing the design sound power levels and octave bound, excuse me, octave band sound levels from each sound source, manufacture design specifications of all noise mitigation measures being proposed, and the results of an ambient pre-construction sound survey conducted at the facility property line locations in each direction, showing the existing sound levels at these locations during both daytime and nighttime periods, and that the results of computer noise modeling conducted to demonstrate the predicted sound levels during a worst-case facility operating scenario will comply with the applicable noise limitations contained in chapter 80 at the property line of all adjacent properties during both daytime and nighttime periods.

Condition seven, that the applicant shall conduct a post-construction sound survey within 90 days of facility startup at the same locations and times used for the pre-construction sound survey to demonstrate compliance with the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances Chapter 80, sub chapter 2.

If the survey demonstrates noncompliance, the applicant shall implement corrective measures and submit a revised survey demonstrating compliance within a time frame approved by the commissioner of neighborhood Services.

Condition eight, that prior to issuance of any permits, if a natural gas or diesel generator is proposed, document documentation proposed and sealed, prepared, excuse me, and sealed by Wisconsin licensed professional engineer shall be submitted to the Department of Neighborhood Services Development Center demonstrating compliance with EPA's tier four technical specifications found in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 1039.

Condition nine, that the proposed new HVAC heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system, equipment generators, and other mechanical equipment shall be like located only within the approved area shown in exhibit A, unless it is demonstrated that relocation is necessary to achieve compliance with noise controls and the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances as evidenced in the report required by condition five and reviewed and approved by the Commissioner of Neighborhood Services.

An increase in size of the generator shall not be permitted.

Condition 10 that the use shall comply with the applicable energy benchmarking standards and reporting requirements of Section 200-62-2 of the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances.

Condition 11 that the cooling system serving the data processing use shall not use evaporative cooling.

And finally, condition number 12, that a contact name and phone number be provided to the Department of City Development prior to occupancy.

The contact name and phone number must avail be also be available to all interested parties, including but not limited to the aldermen of the district and the department of neighborhood services.

The phone number must be available 24 hours a day.

The proposed modifications to the building and the site to support the two uses that are subject to the deviation request comply with the design requirements of the DIS overlay.

It is anticipated that future modifications to the balance of the building and site will also be compliant and will significantly improve the public realm facing uh West Hope Avenue.

Therefore, staff recommends approval of the request to make site and building modifications at 5825 West Hope Avenue.

Thank you.

With the conditions that you've put forward.

Yes.

Okay, I know there's going to be a lot of questions, but we want to get through the uh presentations.

We have the applicant if you if you would like to speak next.

I would and then we would have um Alderman Chambers come up briefly in the beginning and then also at the end.

That would be great.

Um, go ahead.

Introduce yourself and state your name, please.

Yeah, turn over here, and I'm the uh the primary developer of the site, so I appreciate your time and Tonya.

Thanks for going through all that.

I know that was uh a mouthful, but um, I want to stress kind of the importance of not only what uses I'm proposing today, but some of the impacts that this particular development could have to midtown.

I do view this as a catalyst project.

I think when you look at the uses as a whole, there's some good uses and some uses that have uh created a lot of controversy.

I'm here today to hopefully clear some of that up.

Um, I also want to stress all these use the self-storage and the computational research facility or facilities that I own.

And so these are businesses that I do have and have done this successfully elsewhere.

And when you ask, why not look at something else or what this is what I do, and this is going to be a project that I know will be sustainable for midtown and hopefully bring a big impact to that area.

I do understand the the jobs um are not as high as a lot of people would hope for, but when you look at the uh I guess utilizing the front space for some of the city related uses, a lot of those ancillary uses that go behind these facilities are generally not high high high job creators, but when you go in and start looking at some of the impacts that could have to midtown, you can see new tenants as far as retail tenants start to go there.

You'll have a higher degree of tenant quality.

I think you'll see a much greater impact both on the job creation out of the uh the impact of this development, as well as create a tremendous amount of new sales tax that would filter into to that area.

Um let me dive in a little bit about um I'll start with the self-storage and why we targeted this uh property originally.

So this area um has a huge need for that product.

There's a lot of misconception that it's got a no need.

There's a lot of misconception that it's not a need-based product.

So our tenants come within three miles of that facility.

This particular facility or location is the lowest storage density I've seen out of thousands of facilities I've looked at.

So, what does that mean?

That means there's not enough product for the people at that time when they go to go utilize that product.

So that either means they pay more for it or they have to travel out for it.

So square footage, you're at two square feet per capita, the national average is closer to seven and a half.

So that's saying statistically, there's 3x or 3.5x more of that product in that general area.

And so that's one reason why we originally targeted this uh particular site.

There was some also use cases, some favorable zoning across the street with some warehousing, and so it made sense at that time to to move forward with uh the acquisition.

Fast forward four or five years, um, we have tried anything and everything to try to go back and retenant this building.

So we've had it on the market, we've tried to be flexible as we possibly could, and uh after a long exhaustive search, it is very difficult to find at least in these big box stores tenants that want to go back into a hundred to a hundred and sixty thousand square feet to compound onto that.

You have a large retail center that's already there that does have vacancies, and so you it makes it virtually impossible to not to go back into a traditional retail setting, and so that's where these flexible uses I do think make a lot of sense in this particular aspect.

Um, they're very low impact.

Um the self-storage side, um, I mean, you're gonna have 20 to 30 vehicles in and out of there a day.

It is not a high trafficked area, and then the research facility um it's just cities or it's our staff that come and go, so they are manned at least in the research facility, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and so we'll always have somebody there for both one the operations and then two security.

Let me get into a little bit about the uh the research facility, and I do want to point out too in the overlay research is an approved use, and so we're going through to do an extra measure that we can do research utilizing computers.

And what does that mean?

We do a lot of stuff with biomedical pharmacies, university level research.

We take large data banks, process that it could be accelerated treatments for cancer research, it could be tumors, and through generally through these edge sites, there's HIPAA requirements that require that information to stay on one single platform, and that's where these edge sites become really helpful in the uh the medical arena, and so um there is other uses that they're applicable.

What our target is on this side is going to be medical, um, it gets into logistics, banking, um a host of uh different type of uses that need to process large amounts of data to formulate conclusions.

Um, some of the misconceptions, and there are a lot of them, um, are around water usage, noise, environmental impacts from discharge, and I'll address all those.

So the water usage, um, our designs, there's a lot of new technology out there, and we do designs uh based on the the least amount of water consumption as we possibly can, and so in layman's terms, our systems are kind of like a radiator of a car.

We have fluids that circulate through fens and fans, and that's what dissipates the heat.

So, as in a vehicle, you very, very rarely have to top off fluids in in a radiator, and that is a very similar system to what we're using.

The cooling system or s the drag coolers, they don't have any any coolant.

They are just pumps and fans.

And so as far as a a risk mitigation, we don't add chemicals to the water.

We we use very little to no water, uh we don't discharge the water, we do treat and condition it to make sure that it can be maintained for a very, very long time.

That water will stay in there for years and years and years.

And if we do dispose of it, we have processes, we don't just flush it down the drain, it gets extracted, it treated and uh and then refilled.

Um around noise, um that is another big misconception.

These facilities are not naturally noisy.

A lot of the old data centers of the past were all air-cooled, and those are noisy.

These are liquid cooled systems, and so the noise is consistent of like a commercial HVAC unit.

Um, and this similar style cooling is used in many, many other buildings that are around the the Milwaukee area.

Um, so it's not like it's a a new type of cooling system, a closed loop system is used quite uh uh all over.

Um to address the noise, um the dry coolers would go outside.

So we've been taking measures with uh acoustical fencing, um, and then strategic location of where that equipment would be to make sure that we can mitigate any kind of impact in this particular uh facility.

We are blessed that we have a hundred and sixty thousand square feet, and so we can go behind the building.

Uh the area that there's a a loading dock will be a prime area just because it does have two walls on that end, and uh we can we can screen or put sound fencing around the rest of it, um, and really mitigate any any noise impact that would come out of there.

Everything else, including the generators will be kept inside.

Um generators we we originally had proposed outside, and uh after talking with city staff, it made a lot of sense to bring those in to mitigate any future noise issues.

Um those generators will be up to a tier four emission standard, that's as high as it comes as far as any kind of uh uh I guess emissions um and then uh what else do I got on my list?

I I think just to stress the the importance to to close at least or at least open it up for for questions, is it it's not just about this use, it's about the entire project.

So naturally I can't go through and do a housing project and donate stuff to the city and all that if I don't have a use that helps on the economics to make sure that this project is sustainable, and so these are my businesses, and so I wish uh to have your support and happy to answer any questions that that you guys might have.

Okay, and I'm sure we will have a lot of questions, and we have a lot of people here that would like to speak, and there might be other questions as well.

Um, I just want to start off uh just ask a couple questions and comments because we have other people even that need to present on this on this issue.

Um, Chairman, we do forgive me.

Did you want to take comments from the alderman first before you got in the questions, or did you want to get right into that?

Well, I want to make my question.

Okay, so um and then I'll have then I'll have the alderman uh speak and um and then I just hope that we able we're able to have a have a good hearing here and so that everybody can hear.

When you come up, you can um give you our give your opinions or your questions, but um so we've gone through a lot of this, clearly spent a lot of time on this.

We're gonna hear from Alderman chambers again.

Come on, guys.

Help me out here.

Um what did you say so we've spent a lot of time on this you've spent a lot of time on this everyone has um we have a situation which um hopefully alderman chambers can speak to this as well of a really bad situation of Walmart up and leaving and leaving us with this massive land that has to be somehow dealt with but um we are gonna have the alderman speak and we will have other presenters speak and then we will take people one by one coming up now just so I understand because I'm I want to make sure that I'm understanding this correctly so um uh Mr.

Overhew you own the land and you also own the businesses of the storage and the computational facilities that's correct and so can you and you own these in other parts of the country or in the state I don't have any any left in in Milwaukee or in in Wisconsin okay so I I had one facility in in Cuttah but we had sold that one.

Okay.

And so you have experiences this isn't the first this isn't the first computational data or um computational facility or storage facility that's correct.

So tell us can you one thing I did miss when you were talking is who's going to operate this computational center.

Yeah and for what use so it will be my staff and I and uh as far as the operators of that and the way that it works we have certain contracts with medical companies that will house their equipment with our infrastructure and they utilize that for their research platforms so our jobs to keep everything up and online we do uh the the general maintenance um as far as the uh specific uses um this one will will most likely target the biomedical research industry okay so is there a name of the company unfortunately I I can't give that out just due to India's I don't know about the this is my time to ask the question who is this who is where we we have to do this together I'm just asking I thought I missed it.

No.

Okay.

Not very rarely are we able to to give out a a name of the company that we we work with okay microphone speak up to mic up thank you you're welcome so what we can do is we'll just try to speak into the mic a little bit louder if we can okay um all right so but you will be you and your company will be will be operating these two that's correct these two operations yep okay all right okay um let's have uh alderman chambers come to the table and present things uh good afternoon madam chair madam commissioners fellow commissioners um I'm gonna keep my comments brief because I'm gonna speak at the end um we are here at our comp compromise honestly um as you as you know Tanya already brought up he purchased his build in June of 2022 before I was elected and presented uh uh um a project uh I deem or we all deemed because it was rejected um not suitable for the area um however at that same meeting we also had a conversation let him know that this wasn't the end let's come back to the table and find out what can be the compromise I he may not get everything he wants we may not get everything we want, but we feel that the residents deserve um a strong opportunity to revitalize a blighted area.

Um I think we are here um but I'm going to save my prepared remarks for later on, um, because I got something to speak in more in detail, so I'll leave it at that.

Okay, but can you just tell us uh about the importance of the other projects that you have the housing and the library?

Well, absolutely, that was in part of my rough um prepared remarks, but um honestly, you know, midtown is uh the midtown area is home of the highest early voting site in the whole Midwest, um, with the and it has moved in the past five years four times.

Um, you know, we need something more permanent over there.

Um the Capitol Library was deemed to be the first library actually to be repurposed and re uh defined back in 2012, and it has since been leapfrogged five times by the new libraries that have been there, including the failed RFP in 2018.

Um so um, you know, this is an opportunity to um repurpose them into something positive, and also the the uh community space that is slated uh potentially to be there will be something that the community has been yearning for for quite some time um in in regards to that.

But again, we have to get we have to get to a point in order to get there in order to get there.

So um, you know, I I think it's it's highly important that you know we pay attention to the facts and um, you know, look at what the data look at everything that's in front of us and make a sound decision, and I know that you will.

Um again, I have prepared remarks that I will preserve and toward the end that will go a little bit more into detail about everything that you need.

So, okay, yeah, you can take as much time as you need now, and then I'll wait.

I'll wait.

Thank you.

All right, point of order thank you.

Is we comment in our point of order, and it's right now.

What is the point of order?

Yeah, but is he coming in now or you let him say for later or are we?

Here's the point of order.

Okay, we have a lot of people that want to speak here, and every most people in here are uh understand that that to have a democracy like this means that people come to hearings and speak.

But if we take a lot of time with kind of you know different things in between, it is gonna take longer.

So I would just ask everyone if we can work together to all uh come to the table and and give your opinion, give your questions, and all of that, and that's the point of order.

So this was Alderman Chambers, this is his district.

I wanted him to speak in the beginning, and then he will have an opportunity to answer any questions at the end of this hearing.

So that's that's how we're gonna proceed.

And I'm going to if are there any other is there anyone else that needs to speak from the applicants or can we move into the public hearing, Miss Van Seca?

We can move to the public hearing.

Okay, applicant team would like to do it.

If we have questions on the presentations, you wanted me to save them to the end.

Um it's up to you.

If you want to ask questions now, you can you can we can do that.

We can ask questions of the applicant.

So one thing that um that I just want to clarify, you know, you said that you sold your data centers to new to new purveyors.

Storage facility.

The storage facility.

Well, I I my question for the for the city is if he sells a portion of this to another entity, uh, what the provisions are for carrying the requirements forward.

Tanya, I think you're best suited to.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

It's a it's a great question.

So the approval is for the site and the uses, so I believe that would carry to the the purchaser, but they they would have to follow what the approval would be should it be approved and the conditions contained within.

Okay, and then um I just want a little bit more data on the excuse the fund.

Um for the lot where we are with the library and the city leasing the space um in the to the north on Hope Avenue.

Sure, I can speak to that.

So um the the agreement both for the housing, the 200 uh units of affordable housing as well as the portion uh that would be available to the city, that is part of the conditional agreement for um the remaining uses to go forward.

Uh one dollar um would be the conveyance for the housing and one dollar for the city use.

So the city will have access to 50,000 square feet within that facility just for one dollar, um, presuming that everything moves forward.

So we are in the process of negotiating what that um what the contract would be like uh and the library has already started its process of um uh sort of evaluating what a library could look like there.

They have uh an architect that they're working with to sort of um uh try to start planning some of that out.

But uh no one wants to move too far until we know that we're moving forward.

Okay, and then uh the backup is that there could be retail if those two uses do not go forward, and that would still be uh precursor for both of these other two uses, correct?

Right, to to be clear, um whatever happened regardless of what happens with the uh the city space, or if there were to be more shopping, or or if they were it would remain vacant, there will not be more than the approved utilization for the storage area for the computer processing area that would only get approved today potentially uh at up to the 19,000, and nothing more would be allowed there in the future, even if as Tanya noted, uh it changes hands.

Um saying that uh potentially there could be shopping there that just recognizes that we continue to be a political body, and if something were to happen where for some reason down the road, um let's say the city ultimately did not have the funds to do a library there that would not revert back to the property owner, the um it would either need to be a civic use or something that is already zoned for the area, i.e.

the shopping.

Thank you.

Okay, commissioners any other initial questions for the Commissioner Moody.

Um, this item was supposed to come earlier to the board, the zoning.

Uh before that, what's the process?

Did the constituents of that district knew about this process before it came to the first time to this body?

Do you mean years ago or most recently?

Most recently.

Like not just but the first time I was supposed to come here.

Well, as the constituents on the main chairman is talk to about this project.

So um I am the person who hosts the most town halls, and amongst my colleagues throughout the city, I've hosted over 30 since I've been elected um in 2022.

I've held many of them, at least nine that's in this area, and every single time for the residents that came to this area, to my town halls at Marshall, Blessed Savior, Capitol Library, um, Mount Lebanon, church, and everything, this project has always been discussed.

Not the entirety far as the end involved, but activity is actually happening in the midtown.

Um so for my residents of the second district, may not be people that's here, um, but they have been noticed of what's going on now far as the change of the computer research facility that all came late.

Um that all came late prior to after we testify as far as the housing thing, and that's what the reason why I made a decision to place it on to hold it from the May thing and have community input in regards to that.

So to answer your question, yes, I've been talking about there's like a canary, and I also have the second Walmart data's closed um on Tim and Plaza as well in mid-ummit um in Silver Spring that is working towards re uh repurposing that as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm hoping up here.

Okay, commissioners.

Any other any other initial questions?

You'll have opportunities.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Um you guys can um take your take your seats and we will start um with people that have filled out uh forums.

So hopefully I'm not gonna get these two out of order, but we're gonna do our best.

First person, uh Nathan Q.

Probably have another one.

So if I here's here's how we're gonna do it.

I'm gonna call the name.

If they're not there, then I'm just gonna move to the next one.

Does that make sense for everybody?

Okay.

Um next is Cardell Maycon.

Hi, and if you could just uh state your name and then you know give us your remarks and just try to keep it you know tight and just not not too long, so we have for everybody, but make sure that you say all that you want to say.

Alright, um, my name is Cordel Macon.

Can't hear you.

My name is Cordel Macon.

Um, I stand in Capital Heights area on 71st Street.

You just speak slower.

Do you need me to speak louder?

That's perfect.

Okay.

Sorry, um, my name is Cordel Macon.

I stay up in that Capitol High Street on 71st Street.

Um, so the questions and stuff I had in the remarks is.

First, it says attract regional, he mentioned attracting regional and local market appeal.

Like what does that mean?

Who is the who the park it who is the attraction that he's trying to get and through what markets?

They also keep mentioning a retail space, what retail space.

Obviously, we just heard that this is last this is thrown in at the last minute, and it wasn't something that has been planned along with the library and also the apartments from the beginning.

This is something they throw in at last minute.

He also um mentioned that he owns other storage facilities outside of this one, and he sold the one in Cutterhead, but we also know he owns one also on Misery, and is it what it's wabash miser misery?

Um they also use language that's very confusing using language that minimize the impact and the size of the data center, saying that they're gonna use 100 by 300 feet usage.

Um, but we keep hearing that they're gonna use up to 19,000 feet or they're approved to use up to 19,000 feet for this space.

Not only that, um they're using triple the amount of what Walmart used, which is uh about three kilowatts, but they're using 10.

So I'm trying to figure out how much of an impact this will have not only on the electrical grid and system because even on the online meeting, he stated that they were trying to use uh 80% output and they would get it to 99.9% at times.

What does that look like for the residents operating on their own personal grid and the power that we run through?

He also keep mentioning that they're gonna use certain fluids to cool and everything, where are these fluids going?

How are these fluids evaporate out of the system if they're using fans?

Where were the fans blow this cooling air out?

And they're also saying they're using five gallons of water per generator.

Um none of this makes sense because these numbers don't add up to me.

Okay, as he said, where's the status?

Um also where they're also deciding to move forward with this before approval.

Now I've listed data construction manager safety jobs.

They have multiple data center dogs posted already on indeed and other job sites before approval.

So that's one of the other issues I have too because it seems more like they're saying we're going to do this instead of we need approval.

Now, they have not been verbal about what the data center will be, what it will be used for, only the people that they're contracting with.

We there's a lot of information that they are not putting on the table, and we do not like it as a community.

We are also saying we don't want the storage facility or the data center because they're only bringing 10 to 15 jobs.

Okay.

This is not acceptable in any ways, any way, shape, or form.

The amount they're paying too is unknown.

Not only that, he just stated that the facility of the AI Center would be used by him and his colleagues.

So they don't plan on hiring people outside of them to run that.

It's another problem I have with that.

Paying attention to everything he put up there, he's not listing where or how they're going to treat this water, where they're getting the water from, and how much of it they're going to use on a daily basis per usage.

They're not listing the time frames that they will do the testing and how much noise will be allowed during what time frames.

He put up a statistic, but they haven't given us analytics, analytics or statistics on how much noise it affects the current noise volume and how much that will change.

We know that this area generally houses the majority from ages 30 to 70.

And there's also a school several blocks up, Marshall High School.

How will this affect not only their water usage, their electricity usage, while having these type of facilities there?

Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

Okay, Yasmin Davis.

Hi, right.

Please state your name, and then you can go ahead.

Hello, my name is Yasmin Davis.

Can you guys hear me okay?

Bring it close to you.

So, sorry if I sound a little anxious up here, but my main problem is that they've contradicted themselves several times rather than talking.

That they said this is not AI data center.

But then in the same, but then literally like 10 minutes later, she's gonna say this data center will be used to train AI, we'll be trained to use models.

So, what like what are we doing here then?

Also, it just feels like they're playing in our faces and they just think that we're playing stupid.

They told us, because I also felt like they were kind of just talking in circles.

It felt like they weren't saying much.

And I hate the fact that it seems like they're just lying to us to just try and get you guys to approve the center.

And I'm one of the people, many people in this room that are personally affected by them putting a data center in the midtown.

Midtown is going through enough already.

There's so much pollution there that people are just straight up refusing to clean up.

Like y'all could easily get people out there to clean it.

Also, there are so many potholes.

Also, you know, the thing of like people stealing and stuff, it feels like there's just no, there's no care put into Midtown.

Also, I really hate the fact that they're trying to make it seem like it's eco-friendly, but with the stats that we have right now, it's proven that data centers in general aren't eco-friendly at all.

And like the man that came up here before me said like they were just kind of running around with the numbers.

There were no like clear numbers or stats, and I just felt like that's very, very weird.

Sorry, that's all I gotta say for right now.

Thank you very much.

Danielle Benett Benitez Rivera, Danielle Benetez.

Oh, sorry.

Um what am I supposed to say?

My name is you named you to state your name and then state what you'd like to come here to speak about.

Um, my name's uh Daniel Benita Rivera.

Um I'm opposed to the midtown project for a plethora of reasons.

Um, primarily um them holding hostage uh public works and development like the library or any other public goods, and can contingent with having built this center.

Um, I believe it's a fallacy that they will provide jobs uh when the majority of the 53216 um uh area code or um zip code, uh less than 20% of those people have bachelor's degrees for about 11% and 6% have masters, so and the gentleman running this operation, he said that it's basically everything is run in-house, and if it's already research, they can't really hire people when they're already working or developing whatever work research they are working on.

Um, additionally, um, he mentioned biomedical research.

Well, we already have a medical college of Wisconsin, and they do a very good job of being very transparent whenever they do research in the area, and it was also very ambiguous just saying, Oh, we're gonna do biomedical research or financial stuff.

So it's basically they're just plugging things into computers that they're just collecting.

Um then also, I feel like initially they may follow these rules that have been proposed here and saying stating that it's gonna be a small-sized facility, um, but I believe that it's more of a cudgel, a cudgel that they'll use to eventually develop and have a bigger data center, and I feel like these companies tend to they tend to use more water than they initially propose, or they tend to lower the tolerances that they say they're gonna maintain, whether it's electricity or water, and then eventually it develops and say, Oh, well, we needed more water, or we need more electricity because of X, Y, and Z.

Um, for that aspect I'm also against it, and aside from the logistical aspects, um, just the type of I don't they're not transparent with the type of data that's gonna be stored there or collected.

Um, but just in general, these are this information that's being collected from personal information from all of us here locally, statewide, or across the country, for their benefit and clearly no one else's, because it is a private company, right?

Um, and this just seems like he's uh opportunistic outsider, um, and that's all I have to say about the manager, Steve O'Connor, Steve O'Connell, I'm at 30 3810 North 56th Street, I'm directly across the street.

There's three things that come to mind.

We in that neighborhood on the other side of Capitol, you don't have enough fingers on your hands to count how many times we've been flooded since this whole thing started.

I've been at those original meetings with Robert, whatever his damn name was.

We complained.

We asked, are you going to fix the infrastructure of that area?

Anybody?

It has not been fixed, and we continue to be flooded.

FEMA has given up on us, they're not buying us out anymore.

They booked on us.

Now we're at the mercy of the city.

The last three years, there's been a committee of us up to 15 individuals meeting monthly.

40 houses get flooded every time you spit on the damn sidewalk.

Every time something happens over there, across the street, it comes across Capitol.

Pick and save was set on the second of the largest of those springs.

If you go there for any rain event, and you stand by the pick and save, that water just continues to come across 56th Street, where I live, continues to come into our neighborhood, and those poor neighbors, the anxiety level in our neighborhood, is dramatic.

There are people over there that are afraid to go to sleep at night if they hear it's gonna rain.

It's a dramatic mess.

The second thing I want to point out is yes, we've had meetings, not in the 7th District.

Not those of us who live on the other side of Capitol Drive.

Who you don't want to see how many petitions have been dropped on my doorstep, you don't want to take the amount of calls I've had from the neighbors.

They are as angry as you get when they hear something like this being proposed.

When we when we as the neighbors on the other side of Capitol haven't even been asked, we have not had a public meeting.

We not had a chance to say our piece, but we continue to look at floodwaters.

It is damn dangerous to try to cross Capitol Drive.

Every one of my neighbors, where do they shop?

124th Street.

How do they get to 124th Street?

Burleigh.

Exactly.

Center.

You try to go to that little old pharmacy on the corner of 51st.

And find a lap and capital.

We average two crashes a day.

Multiple crashes a week.

I have stood over there at Minicki Ace Hardware on the corner.

Maybe hope.

Damn.

It is so dangerous.

And it's so hair-raising the way folks drive in our neighborhood.

And poor Capitol Court, now Midtown, suffers because people are so afraid to go across that street, that highway.

How many times we have been before the state highway bunch?

We get nowhere.

We have picketed.

We've had a committee.

We've had numerous, numerous meetings with MPD.

We have gotten nowhere.

And now along comes this proposal.

And the neighbors are up in arms.

Except negatively.

And so I'm here just to let you know, and I don't know how many more petitions are going to be handed to me.

And how many more people are concerned that they're not being listened to.

And so my suggestion to you is to come to our community and sit at Albright United Methodist Church and listen to these neighbors.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I'm just here for some of them.

Oh, I just have a sheep that says you would like to speak, so you don't want to speak.

Okay.

Um I have Nathan Cole in the in the room.

I missed you before, so we're calling you on.

I apologize.

Nathan Co., 3873 North Sherman Boulevard.

State your name one more time, please.

Nathan Co.

C O E.

3873 North Sherman Boulevard, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I've been a resident of the area since 1983.

I've watched it evolve, deevolve, and return to where it is now.

Um, there seems to be a significant amount of missed opportunities to properly plan this area.

And I have to be careful how I word this because I have future employment opportunities as an urban planner and a political scientist.

These plans that have been made for this area seem rather um short-sighted and economically, excuse me, fiscally encouraged rather than what the original purpose of the uh area is.

This is a deviation, and I would encourage this board to stick to its original standard of being somewhere that is helpful to the people who live in that neighborhood rather than an economic thoroughfare.

Um that area needs to be developed, it hasn't been developed, and I understand the want to develop it now, but this seems to be rather short-sighted and lacks the professional acumen I know that the city of Milwaukee can bring to a project.

Um being an employee of the city, I've had an opportunity to be exposed to many of the people who are over my shoulder now, and I truly believe that they are capable of more than this, and I think it would be a great opportunity for this commission to ask for them to go back to the drawing board and come back with some more favorable aspects for our community.

Okay, thank you very much.

Okay, Samantha Doby S.

Can I use the standing mic?

This right here at the table, please.

All right, and if you wouldn't mind just saying your name one more time for the record.

Samantha Ducas, D-O-U-C-A-S.

Sorry, my handwriting might not have been super great.

Let me get my speech up.

Um, so my name is Samantha Ducas.

I live at 1129 North Marshall Street.

Uh I'm speaking in opposition to this project, and I'm a member of PSL Milwaukee.

Um, and I'll be clear right from the start.

As you've all heard the community residents already speak, um, as you've all heard our frustration throughout the meeting, uh, the community does not want this project.

Um, although Alderman Chambers says no, none of his residents are here, it's clear that there are residents of his here, and he can ignore them all he wants, but his continued uh ignoring of them is just testament to how little he wants to hear the actual opposition to this from his city.

And that was true of both open houses that he held this site.

Uh residents were equally as frustrated and equally um equally um decried this use of self-storage and a data center.

Um, and no matter what you want to term it, um, if you call it a data center or a data research facility, if it has server racks, if it has wiring, if it has outputs, if it uses seven to ten megawatts, it's a data center.

You can call it whatever you want, it's still a data center.

Um, so Capitol Heights does not want or need a data center now that we're all on the same page.

Uh Lincoln Creek does not want a self-storage facility.

Um, and after an entire week of canvassing up 58th, 60th, and 61st, talking to everyone who would stop and talk to us, it's become clear the only people who actually bothered to proactively ask neighbors, friends, and other Milwaukeeans about this were us, not the Alder.

He had the open houses, they the community was informed about the open houses by us from Instagram, not from the Alder.

And everybody who came rejected the proposal.

So Milwaukeeans know that data centers, as you've already heard, are not job providers.

Self-storage facilities are not built for community improvement, and making the construction of a library, a voting station, and other community resources contingent on building the data center because they'll try to put the what the horse before the horse, the cart before the horse and tell you that the um that the data center is what is enabling the um they'll tell you the data center's enabling um the housing and the um and the library, but they're putting the cart before the horse.

It's a little clever end around in reality.

Building the city services is contingent on building the data center and the self-storage.

The approval process couldn't matter less unless you get the data center and the self-storage, you are getting you are getting those city services.

You can't hold residents hostage for that stuff just because you want to use it for your preferred use, which you own 15 at least 15 other facilities across the country for, and because that is what you do for a living, you won't let the community actually have what it needs.

So the suggestion that there was any other intended use for this project or that any other tenant was looked for is ridiculous.

This man, this developer, AFS Milwaukee, builds storage facilities and data centers.

They didn't try to improve the facility to search for another tenant or use or retail or anything else.

So we can tell that this is not community-centered development.

People can see through the bait and switch and they can see through the mirrors.

This project is actually about profits for an out of state developer by building his preferred uses.

He already owns 15 other self-storage centers across the Midwest.

That was as of that was as of 2020.

That's five years, six years ago data.

Uh, and we're supposed to believe that he considered otherwise.

It's it's ludicrous.

Um, and we see the city already backing AFS Milwaukee and Trent rather than putting the well-being and long-term interests of residents first, and instead, it's up to the community itself to organize and come here and tell you what they want.

So here we are.

The developers asking for a variance from the site's existing zoning.

Also, he can make money in a low overhead, high profit margin industry, trying to bait and switch this with things trying to bait and switch it with things the community actually needs.

That's money first and profit first city planning, not community development.

For shame, shame selling out residents to guarantee profits for out of state developers is exactly how a war on black Milwaukee, a war on Milwaukee gets rolling.

There's a red carpet for a storage center, but not a second of thought for medical services or community centered use or anything else.

The plan commission, all of you should reject this out of hand.

It's an insult to Capitol Heights, it's an insult to the North side, and it's an insult to Milwaukee.

So I'm gonna ask you to just, because we got a lot of other people.

I'll be quick.

Yeah.

We all say we don't want a data center, we don't need self-storage, and you should have asked what the people wanted first.

Okay, build a library, build the city services without the data center and self-storage facility, and we'll be totally behind it.

We'll put the people first, we'll get what we need, we won't sell out, and eventually, you know, I'm a member of the Socialist Party.

We'll have socialism in Milwaukee.

We will have a real community center development right up in here.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thanks.

Next up, Joshua Taylor.

Oh Lord.

I think I speak uh well.

I like to say good afternoon to the commission first.

But I think I speak for everyone uh when I uh excuse me.

Could you please state your name?

Okay, good.

Uh Joshua Taylor, uh lifelong Milwaukee resident, member of the party for socialism and liberation, big party.

I think I speak for everyone.

I when I say I really wish uh our so-called public servants would be as uh dogged in representing our views as uh these two were for uh representing uh Trent Overhew's uh will for profit.

They're trying to sell us, and I would like to, you know, really speak to you uh commissioners, they're trying to sell us a uh a bad deal, you know.

They kind of package it as, oh, the benefits are gonna trickle down.

You know, it's gonna be a trickle-down deal.

But but basically what that is is that is them pissing on us and telling us it's good it's raining.

Trent overhew is all about profits here.

Is it's not going to benefit the community.

A self-storage facility is not going to benefit the community, and I'm gonna rip through the euphemism.

The data center is not going to benefit the community.

I don't care what uh whatever slippery language euphemisms that they use, it's a data center, it uses 10 to 10 uh seven to ten megawatts, which is can power around 10,000 houses.

These uses do not help the communities around midtown.

It definitely does not help the black working class community around midtown.

It helps the fatten the pockets of Trent Overview, and speaking about who gets paid to come here, the only one who's getting paid to come here is Mr.

Over You.

And it's beautiful to see we have people directly from the community black, white, brown, young, old men, women who are all against this deal.

It's really it's really it's really beautiful to see that solidarity.

The community, again, this is a bad deal.

You guys are in a position to stop the mistake that they're doing.

Trust me, it is a mistake.

If you let it go through, and we're not gonna let it go through because we're gonna continue to organize, but if you let it go through, I guarantee you, a couple years down the line, oh, this is a bad deal, this is a shit deal.

This is what happens, and this is what ruins the reputation of our city.

So you guys are in a unique position to be able to stop that, and like we even questioned a couple years ago, uh, how uh storage facility would not help the uh uh area.

Yeah, so the community and it shows here with the ideas, and like even with the add-ons they're trying to put on, making it contingent, you know, these deals with the devil, Faustian deals, that all the our housing, uh libraries, all of these public uh uh playground are gonna be contingent on if this man gets to profit, and that's not that's not the case, and it's it's a reality that they try to construct uh kind of try to construct.

We do not need to sell out to out of state developers who are only looking to make money.

I don't doesn't matter what kind of like all the gifts and all the bill of goods that he tried to put here and say that you know I guess you know he might as well uh picture himself as a savior of Milwaukee.

It's not, it's about profit.

The community knows what it needs and can know what it needs and can tell you and make a better use of the area than Mr.

Overhue and then also the public servants who are seeming to serve him.

The community knows what it needs, and let them decide uh you know what goes in there.

Again, this will not a self-storage facility and data center will not benefit the community.

So and so I know however it goes, we will continue to organize.

The organizing will continue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, blue.

Blue Pelican.

Okay, Warren Estron.

Lou Pelican.

Yes, okay.

So I'm asking.

They want to just take the middle one.

Thank you.

You state your name, please.

Of course.

My name is Blue Pelican.

I am an organizer throughout the city, predominantly with the Milwaukee DSA.

I am incredibly grateful to my PSL comrades here for kind of taking the forefront on this.

So, no matter what you want to call this research computational facility at its core, what it is doing is processing data for research firms.

It's not actually doing anything, any research of its own on any of the documentation that is publicly available.

It is simply processing data and other projects for research groups throughout the country.

If it all it's doing is processing data, it's not a research facility.

It's a data center.

It may be processing research data, but it is a data center.

It's a small data center, but it is still a data center.

As far as where it is and how it's going to be approved, this cannot be approved yet.

There's already data center regulation, legislation in the works from Alder Marder Woman Marina Dimitri of it Dmitrievich as well as several others.

This decision at the bare minimum needs to be put on hold until that point.

In relation to that legislation, that legislation would restrict any AI data center development to just IH1 and IH2 zoning codes.

Yes, research is allowed use in this day in this facility.

However, the amounts of pollution, electrical usage, and water usage are all at industrial levels.

This is not a facility that belongs less than a block away from somebody's home.

I don't know if you've had the opportunity to go visit any of the major data center projects here in Wisconsin.

I have Port Washington's data center.

The noise is ridiculous.

Even just half a mile away, you can still hear the drone and the buzz and the hum of their cooling fans and their and their equipment.

Obviously, this project would be a lot smaller, so you might not see as much of it.

But the suggested sound dampening effects with the sound fences, those while a great idea, don't prevent any noise from going up.

And I don't know if you know the physics of sound waves.

I forgive you if you don't, it's kind of weird.

Um, but those fences will only be effective for about 50 feet, roughly.

Uh any other noise is going to come out the top from where those coolers are, coolers are, and then dissipate from there.

Uh they will hit the homes right across the street.

I don't live in the neighborhood.

But I have experience looking into these projects and doing research on these projects via our Power to the People project and several other projects that I've been involved in.

This is a data center.

I need to make sure that is clear.

It while it is allowed in certain use cases, it does contain industrial levels of pollution, noise sound sound pollution, and electrical usage, which I'm going to get to one more point on that in a second.

And it does have industrial levels of air pollution and water pollution.

It does not belong in a retail or residentially zoned area in any shape of.

Okay, thank you so much.

One last point, real quick.

Yes.

The 10 megawatt of uh approximate draw that the facility is requesting is approximately 10 times the average electrical draw of the average American home.

Approximately.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's dram.

Uh hello, my name is Warren Enstrom.

I live on the 3700 block of North 54th Boulevard, five blocks from the proposed site.

Um, I kind of want to open it up just by talking about this west side plan update, uh, because as you mentioned earlier, it was solicited for new feedback, you know, looking at it again, uh taking another another update to it in 2024.

Part of that include an interactive map of the West Side plan area, which includes the midtown area.

Citizens, people who live in the city, young, old, black, white, elderly, like everybody has an opportunity to remark on this map.

And on the map, people wanted community spaces, they wanted affordable housing, they wanted walkability and traffic improvements, they want transit access, and they want redevelopment that supports the community.

Nobody said they want a data center, nobody said they want self-storage.

Okay.

Obviously, you have you have to have some sort of uh compromise, collaboration, whatever what have you.

But if you're going to solicit the public for feedback and then throw it away, why bother talking to us in the first place?

Why would you implement such a large change to the west side before the new plans are finalized?

It's hurtful as a community member to be asked what our feedback is, and then to have you turn around and say, uh, whatever.

That's fine.

Uh, people are tired of being condescended to and lied to by the people we've been working with.

And I don't mean the board here.

I mean the people who have come to the meetings, and I don't mean the city staff who are paid and work very hard.

I mean the political representatives, and I mean the people who are developing this project.

It is insulting to have my community members and neighbors be called paid activists by the developer.

I took a day off of work today so I could come talk to you about this because I work for a living, just like many of the people in the city.

Most of the people in the city don't make our money from rent seeking like the developer does.

We go to work.

Oh, I just remember we don't we we weren't at that meeting, so we're in there.

It's okay.

I think I know I'm getting angry, but how can you not be angry when these things are said about your neighbors?

Just keep it on the point is this we already have a computer research facility in the city.

It's located at 1025 North Milwaukee Street.

It's Dierks Hall at MSOE.

They have a server farm, they also have classroom spaces, students, teachers, educational spaces, common spaces, kitchenettes, microwaves, bathrooms.

That's not what this facility is proposed to have, right?

Like, there's clear differences here.

The reason why we feel condescended to, why we feel lied to, is because we can see it plain as day, and we're asking you to see it as well.

It's not being represented properly in order to get this approved.

In the remarks earlier, saying, Oh, we're gonna aim for a biomedical usage, previously at open houses, it was mentioned that defense is also a valid contractor for this company.

Think about that.

On the north side of the city, far, far north, you know, the city is working around the proposed ice facility.

And here we are, possibly considering a contractor who openly says, I work with defense for my data processing facilities.

He didn't say it here because he wants to get it approved, but you know, that is something that came up at an open house.

The self-storage use was already rejected.

The data center usage should be rejected.

At the open house, when we were looking at the affordable housing proposal, we were looking at the map.

That little green space in the middle beneath the three parking lots, that's where the kids can play.

That's what that's what we were told.

That little strip of grass between three parking lots is the play space for the children.

Does that improve walkability for our city?

Even if it does, are you gonna walk down across the street all the way along the strip mall as you're going to pick and save?

We had to put in two humongous speed bumps there, and I say we, I think it might have been a private developer who had to do that, because people tear through there so quickly.

Hope Avenue, people drive on incredibly quickly.

How does it improve walkability to just throw pedestrians on that road?

It doesn't.

We need actual infrastructure that will keep people safe.

My next point is that you are going to rent space for our library and an early voting site from a private company.

No, that's expensive, especially the long term.

Obviously, the city is not swimming in cash, and it's not like we can just put up our own public building, although we did manage to build a new public health facility near the Marcia P.

Cogs building recently.

Why is it the case that all of our libraries have to be renting out space from developers?

Why can't we have our own buildings anymore?

What's that about?

Okay.

The last thing I want to return to is how disrespectful this process has been.

The first open house, not today, I'm sorry.

Let me let me be clear again.

Commissioners, city staff, I appreciate you all.

The first open house was held on site on an incredibly humid and hot day with no seating and no air conditioning.

There were elderly people there.

We were standing around for easily two hours, two and a half hours.

That is not a safe condition to have a place where you could have a meeting.

And to have it presented as a meeting was inappropriate because it was an open house a la, like a road redesign where they say, here's the plan for what we're gonna do to your community.

There wasn't even an alternative.

It was just kind of like here's the idea.

How do you feel?

Um luckily the second one appeared to have seating.

The third one, of course, was canceled to go to an online only version.

Um it feels like the people who are proposing this feel like we're stupid, that we can't read or we don't read, that you know, everything that we're taking in, we just don't understand, and we need explained to us from like a professional who knows what they're doing, but we do understand, and we want to be heard, and we want to be listened to.

And whatever the process that led up to today happened, that wasn't it.

And I would really, you know, obviously, maybe this is more of a statement for the alderman or other elected officials.

If this is how it looks, you need to have another look at how this process works because it's not working.

People are mad, it's not okay, no self-storage, no data center, and if you don't like that, sell the property.

Okay, all the member gellas has asked to um to speak at this time.

Thank you.

I really just have a question.

You don't want to sit in the middle?

No.

Um, no, I appreciate it.

I appreciate you taking the time to allow me to.

I just want to introduce yourself.

My name is Alderman Peter Bergellis, I represent the 11th district on the southwest side of Milwaukee.

I'm also a co-sponsor of Alder Woman Marina Dmitrievich's uh uh ordinance modifying uh and providing restrictions on data centers in the city of Milwaukee that's working its way through the legislative process.

This is a very uh important topic for residents.

I hear it uh almost on a daily basis, and what we know is that data centers are a reality, that data centers have been around for a long time and technology continues to improve.

Um my question for the Department of City Development is what happens if the terms of the agreement with the developer uh are not followed?

What recourses do the city does the city have?

Is there a $10 fine like driving out a sidewalk?

Or uh is it something more substantial?

What are the consequences?

That's a great question.

Um, so I may have uh Department of Neighborhood Services come up to speak about enforcement, but I think on day one, if this were to be approved with the conditions I outlined earlier and any others that may um come forth, uh permitting, right?

Department of Neighborhood Services reviews everything in full when they come in for permits and for occupancy.

So that is check one, right?

If they were to proceed, they would have to produce a lot more in terms of the alterations and everything that they are proposing to do, and that is reviewed very carefully by the permit center staff to ensure that they're adhering to the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances.

If they are not, they would not be issued their permits or their occupancy permits.

So that's step one.

So what happens if you don't if you don't have an occupancy permit?

Then they would not be able to proceed.

If they do what's the fine?

Well, that that's a great question.

So I'll bring uh enforcement staff up who could speak more to that process.

Should should um that be necessary for for a proposal like this or other uses.

And then the the second follow-up question for that.

Uh, when uh the sound study next year fails, and the developer, the operator fails to perform and improve the property within specs.

What happens?

Is there a daily fine?

Uh do they lose their occupancy and they have to see?

I'm sorry, I can't um do they uh is there a daily fine?

Do they lose their occupancy?

Do they have to vacate the premises?

What happens?

What are the consequences?

How quickly is the city able to react and enforce the agreement that's pending before us.

Those are excellent questions.

Um, no, we we do have responses, but we have gonna ask I would need to call uh staff who are work more in our enforcement area to speak to that.

I'm gonna ask for I'm gonna ask that you whoever wants to come.

What's this person's name?

Um Mike Masmanian or John Cunningham would come, yeah.

Yeah, okay, great.

Thank you, John.

Point of order, are we jumping from questions from the comments from the residents or to go back to this?

Yes, we're gonna hear from this section.

You got it.

All right, thank you.

All right.

Hi, John Cunningham.

Um permanent development center manager, so uh our enforcement uh the the person that deals largely with enforcement isn't here.

Uh he was here for quite a while, but had to leave.

So, do the best to answer the questions that I can, and I can certainly follow up with anything else.

So, yeah.

Generally, as we talk about occupancy and kind of getting into the building, we you know our role here is is to in the Department of Neighborhood Services is to check plans uh for compliance with the building code, zoning code, all of those types of things.

Uh that gets moved to the inspection team who will do that inspections, you know, for compliance there, and then they will move towards uh an occupancy.

So generally you can proceed during the you know the plan review process, you can get permits, you can start construction, but you cannot get occupancy in the city of Milwaukee until a certificate of occupancy has been issued.

So we do have uh some regulations in the code about what happens if that occupancy is falsified, we're able to remove that.

Somebody does something that's um in in you know conflict with uh the approval conditions with any of our local ordinances.

We do have enforcement in place that would be able to go out there and take a look at it, right?

Orders against the property, and those that's all spelled out in the ordinances of what that what those steps would be.

But it essentially we do have a court section, you know, or court liaisons within the department of neighborhood services, so we'd be able to kind of move things through that process.

If things did ultimately fall fall apart and we're not in compliance with uh code, the zoning, and their conditions of approval, so um from the from the date of the first verification that uh the the operator's noncompliant until a court revokes occupancy.

What's that time frame look like?

Is this a 30-day process?

Is this a 90-day process?

Is this a nine-month process?

Yeah, uh that's information I don't have.

It's not not my area of expertise within the Department of Neighborhood Services.

So I will well, I will I will ask the department to be ready at the next uh commission or committee meeting whenever this uh item comes up before us again uh to be ready uh because consequences are important.

If we there's absolutely no sense in putting um guidelines and rules in place in a development agreement if we're not ready to enforce, if we're if we don't even know uh what the timelines are for enforcement.

Thank you very much, madam chair.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um Aaron, Aaron Trad, thank you.

Good.

Good afternoon, welcome.

Can you hear me?

We're good.

No, about now.

What about now?

All right, um, so I have a journey.

Oh, my name is Aaron Trad, and I live on Hadley, so not necessarily directly part of the neighborhood, but I do travel along Capitol for my commute.

Also, my family stays along Capitol, so this includes me as well.

Okay.

Uh I was born and raised in Milwaukee, and I love it.

I love my city, and I think that two things are very apparent this afternoon.

I feel like some people thought that our city would not show up for certain communities, and that's not the case at all because we're all here.

We've all told you how we feel about this, that we don't want the data center.

And you can dress it up any way you want to, it doesn't matter.

It's still a data center.

And it's unwanted and harmful.

It's insidious to say housing in a library are the most important parts.

When we all know that Tristan or Trevor making money is the most important part.

You have to also please, please.

I know we're using a lot of fun language, lots of real ten dollar words up here, and that's great.

But what you need to think about is the man got up here and said, Storage builds community.

What community are you from, sir?

Okay, now hold on.

Hold on, hold on.

I'm just saying, oh hold on.

I do want to just state something just so that we know just your remarks.

If you can just make them to the to the committee.

Oh, not to Trevor.

Okay.

Then I'm saying, with all common sense intact.

What kind of community does a storage facility or a data center manned by the same ten people that work for a developer have to do with our city with this neighborhood?

Because to me, it sounds like the gentleman said before, an opportunistic outsider.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next up, Stacey Smyder.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Stacey Smyzer.

I am the president of the Greater Milwaukee Board of Realists.

We are the African American Real Estate Association for the state of Wisconsin who fights on behalf of who fights on behalf of um underserved communities as well as we represent all facets of the real estate industry that's our African Americans.

From developers to appraisers to home inspector to actually real estate agents.

So I think my opinion here today has a little bit of a value as well.

So good afternoon, madam chair and fellow commissioners.

The way that it's being presenting, that 108,000 square feet is a small fraction of the chart, and that 58% of that is being housing, which is on a parking lot that's not actually a part of the 160,000 square foot square feet of the building.

But what I've been hearing from the elected official, Mark Chambers, oh, it's not the residence that lives in my district.

It isn't about just the residents that live in the district, because I grew up in district two, but I happen to live on 81st in Capitol.

I shop at Midtown, pick and say, I am a member of the same very planet's fitness that our chairman or the director of the Lafayette Crumb stated that he's a part of.

So my tax dollars is spent just as well than midtown like him.

So I'm a shareholder as well.

In 2023, Chairwoman Miss Crane stated as well that she didn't believe that it was a good idea to have self-storage in there.

And neither did ultimate Mark Chambers at that time.

The only difference now in this new file that they created and presented before you is a deviation for the same self-storage, but now they're including a computer data center, 19,000 square feet is not small.

108,000 square feet is not small for store space or for a data center.

That is not the best use of the property.

Our one of our very commissioners, and I would like to thank you back in 2023.

I was here at that meeting for when y'all unanimously denied the fact that about the storage facility.

And at the time as well, they mentioned about adding affordable housing.

For some reason, they think by telling us in the northwest side of Milwaukee, which is predominantly an African American neighborhood, that hey, we just slap affordable housing in there, that we'll get what we want.

But in reality, they're not producing any documentation that support that it is good to have this data center.

This is the same information he is feeding to y'all that this hearing is the same information he is feeding to the individuals in Missouri.

Well, he's a partner in the very same kind of style data center.

The very statements that he's saying that these are a small facility, it's not true.

It's a data center, a storage facility.

The question is, is this the best uses?

Use in 2023.

Y'all said that it did not meet all four of the criteria.

The only difference now is that he's adding affordable housing, which was already approved on a separate bill.

So that really doesn't have a too much bearing on it, except that they tied this in as well as with the library.

If you look at the data that was just presented by Urban Milwaukee, libraries has declined post COVID and after COVID.

So having a new library is not something that, oh it's the end of the world that we would like to see.

We want the best use of that property.

And in 2023, the very same criteria that you use now, all of a sudden to be able to determine that it meets those criteria.

I understand that CD employees have to do their job and do what they're being told, but it's the same exact data, it's the same exact presentation.

Now all he did was slap the capital library in there.

Instead of building a brand new library, you should just be refurbished in the one that's already there.

It costs more money to build a new library compared to refurbishing the library that everyone already have access to and it's already there.

So to just smack that is all together and say that now all of a sudden it meets all of the criteria is preposterous because it's the same proposal.

You just wrapped a data center in there and now affordable housing, one bedrooms for twelve hundred dollars a month, it's not affordable.

Meaning it is not even for the area of the residents who's live there.

He states that storage facility max is needed.

You people don't even have nowhere to live.

So why would they be focused on storage facility?

I'm a firm believer in allowing for him to develop there, just not a storage facility and a data center.

We should not be subjected to getting a community hub or library and housing at the subject of if I don't get my data center and my storage facility, it's not there.

It's in the documents he has presented to y'all that his feasibility study is relying on your approving the deviation.

Anytime you have to deviate from something, that means it's not meant for it.

Y'all created this for a reason.

Y'all create this zone was created for improvements for residential walks.

I live in the area.

I shop in that area, so I'm an insult insulted when I keep hearing my residences don't live here.

It's not about just district two residents, it's about the whole city of Milwaukee residents who are taxpayers.

He's using tax credits.

That is your dollars, that is yours, Madam Commissioner Crane.

Who specifically live in the area?

He's using your tax dollars and telling you that you want a storage facility and a data center.

That is not the best use of that property.

I want y'all to base it on what is the best use because 10 years from now we're not going to get this chance again.

We waited 10 years.

What's another 10 years?

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Brian Dean.

Brian Dean.

My name is Brian Dean, AICP.

It stands for uh American Institute of Certified Planners.

Okay.

Is that better?

Go ahead.

Okay.

Uh I live at 3940 North 58th Street, directly across from uh Midtown Center.

One of the things that caught my ear and eye was that they said that this was going to help to really beautify and take care of the um what was the word that was used?

Uh all the all the problems, the blight that was going on in the area.

I find that amusing because at least once a week, the amount of garbage that comes from the areas in Midtown Center, specifically the restaurants and whatnot, like the subways and all those others, comes and gets caught in most of my lawn and all the plants that we've been trying to plant to in order to beautify our area of 58th Street.

I would encourage the city of Milwaukee to actually try and do more to clean up the litter and remove all the tree stumps that were have now been left behind in that area.

And I'm also a little bit nervous about the idea of community development being connected to private development because the last time that something of this magnitude took place, it was with the streetcar and the couture.

Now, the couture I think is actually a very, very beautiful-looking building, and the fact that they had it uh the streetcar go under and through it is actually quite a novel concept.

But then the streetcar stopped.

And that was probably the greatest uh fallacy that I've seen in the city of Milwaukee since I moved in here in 2018.

Now the question I have about the development incentive zone is why the deviation?

Because there are several other DIZs around the city, and if this is allowed to take place in midtown, my fear is that it would be a slippery, slippery slope for the rest of them.

Now I know that uh Tanya Fonseca and um uh Kristen and Johnny who are part of the staff, they are some of the most highly educated people that I had the pleasure of working with when I was with the city of Milwaukee.

And I know that they are trying to do things with as little emotion as possible because they're planners, they're land use planners, they're not real estate agents, they're not police officers, they're not going to be community leaders.

They could if they wanted to, I'm sure, but that's not the point.

But what we also need to ask in other staff analyses, and I know that's probably of reach.

Do we need this?

And if so, why not in some place such as General Mitchell International Airport where there's still some vacant properties that are left?

And someone brought up the the data center in Port Washington, which is obviously not the same size as this one, it's orders of magnitude larger.

But the problem is that there are already promises being broken for the deals that were signed there, and that is why I'm worried about this proposal as well.

I'm sure that the property owner does have you know his best interests at heart, and he doesn't wish to try and you know break any promises that the city has written.

In fact, I have to say the conditions that were laid out, I'm impressed.

That those are those are actually some very well thought out conditions.

The problem is, how are you going to enforce them and how are you going to prevent people from breaking them?

And from what I've seen when I was with the Department of Neighborhood Services, yes, there are enforcement of rules, but not equally.

And that I think is something that needs to be taken into account.

And that is about all that I need to say.

Okay, thank you very much.

Okay, uh Jeremy Moore.

Hello, my name is Jeremy Moore.

You guys hear me, okay?

Yes.

My name is Jeremy Moore.

Um, I'm not a developer.

I'm not an engineer, not a politician.

Uh, what I am is a product of this community.

I grew up here.

This neighborhood was home to me for many years.

Today I'm a small black business owner and a law enforcement professional with state, international, federal experience.

But before all those titles, I was just a kid that just grew up in this neighborhood.

I remember the days of Capitol Court when my family and I would take holiday pictures with Santa.

I remember walking door to door as a teenager offering lawn care services to earn money to treat my friends to snacks at Buddy Squirrels.

I remember JL Marcus.

I remember flagging down police officers simply to ask them for a baseball card.

Those memories shaped me.

I also remember the excitement when Applebee's, Lowe's, Walmart, Starbucks, and other retailers invested in our community.

It felt like people believed in us.

It felt like progress.

My father, who was a contractor and worked on countless homes throughout this community, probably many of your homes, especially appreciated having Lowe's nearby as it helped me, helped us serve his customers better.

After leaving for college, I eventually came home.

When I returned home, it was heartbreaking.

Walmart was gone, the property had become a place plagued by homelessness, drag activity and neglect.

Applebee's had closed, Starbucks was gone.

Many of the stories I grew up with had disappeared completely.

Walking through what was once a thriving shopping destination, I recognize almost nothing but a footlocker.

It didn't feel like the neighborhood I remembered.

Even after moving away, I remember connecting to this community because this community helped me make me the man that I am today.

That is why I'm encouraged to see so many residents come together to voice and ask their questions and genuinely care about the future of this neighborhood.

What touched me most was seeing longtime residents who have invested 20, 30, and 50 years of their lives into this community and show up here to see what's worth fighting for.

I simply encourage everyone to please do your own research.

Don't allow your opinion to be shaped by misunderstandings or by a small piece of an overall vision.

Based on everything that's been publicly available, I believe this project has potential to be transformational for this community.

More importantly, it has the opportunity to show other investors that this community is worth believing in again.

Successful investments attracts more investments.

It creates jobs, resources, opportunities, and momentum.

Sometimes all a neighborhood needs is one catalyst to begin a change in its future.

I understand that change can feel uncomfortable and progress can often look unfamiliar.

It's natural to have questions and concerns.

But what I do know is this.

She refuses to leave this neighborhood.

It breaks my heart to see so many familiar places, businesses, and resources disappear.

As difficult as it must be, we must ask ourselves the honest question, why?

Why did major retailers like Walmart, Walgreens, and Lowe's and other decide to leave?

Today I serve as safety consultant and my day and my company provides protective services for this abandoned property.

I see its reality every single day.

None of that reflects the true character and the potential of this community.

It reflects what happens when investment leaves, when opportunities disappear, and when abandoned spaces become magnets for crime and despair.

Environment matters.

When we improve the environment, we begin changing behavior, perception, investment, and ultimately lives.

This project represents an opportunity to reserve that trend.

Will it solve every problem overnight?

Absolutely not.

Will it include every single thing that residents want?

Probably not.

But it's a beginning.

It's a fresh start.

And after watching this neighborhood decline for so many years, I believe a fresh start is exactly what we need.

I also encourage people to look at some of the property company or Gorman's property development and see some of the craftsmanships, some of the thoughtful designs and long-term investments that simply don't just build buildings.

They could create places where people want to live, work and gather.

For decades we've talked about what this neighborhood has lost.

Perhaps it's finally time to focus on what it can become.

I absolutely love this community because it gave me my start.

It gave me memories that I can carry with me for the rest of my life.

I want to I want future generations to have those same memories, to grow up proud of where they're from, to see businesses invested in their neighborhood, and believe that great things can happen here.

This just isn't about a building, it's about restoring hope.

It's about restoring pride, and it's about showing our children that this community is still worth investing in.

I believe we deserve this opportunity.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Reagan, yeah.

Reaganma.

Reagan.

Reagan flick Emma.

I mean, it's Eliana.

Well, I'm I'm a bad reader, but I'm not that bad.

This is uh Flickima.

Reagan, R A E G A N.

Maybe different.

Okay.

Uh Benjamin.

Okay.

Hi everyone.

So we might have to be a little reading.

So it's okay.

Hello.

How y'all doing?

You brought props.

All right.

Now, how do we say your last name?

My name is Reagan Flicama.

I live at 7838 West Line Marcourt.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Commissioners, as well as my fellow community members.

It's disappointing but unsurprising to me that we're here today to stand against a data center proposal.

After all these corporations are doing everything possible to make AI relevant, desirable, and entrenched in our daily life.

I can wait.

Sorry.

That's okay.

Go ahead.

Despite the fact that most people don't want AI, I, like the commissioner, live close to the proposed data center.

I also work out of that planet fitness.

Shout out to my guy.

I don't know where you're at.

Suggesting that a data center be built in Capitol Heights is inherently inequitable.

Would we build one in Shorewood or Bayview?

I doubt it.

The data center will add noise pollution, light pollution, and cause many other issues.

It's not hypothetical.

You are right, Commissioner.

Our area does need investment.

I think we all agree about that.

But if anyone here thinks that a data center will improve Capitol Heights, I I fear they're sadly mistaken.

On another note, I love our Capital Library.

It's where I go.

Does it need TLC?

It definitely does.

But like the gentleman earlier, I agree we should invest in our library that already exists and it's already serving the neighborhood.

I've been wondering how our local librarians would like to work next to a data center.

It would certainly be ironic for our public stewards of knowledge to be tied to a field that's actively stealing knowledge.

Furthermore, it's shocking how out of touch it is to suggest that get another data center be built in a city located on the Great Lakes.

I'm a proud MPS teacher, so I'm gonna do a little educating right now.

This is the ancestral lands of the Ho Chunk, the Pottawatomi, and the Monomine peoples.

Water is sacred to these tribes and should be more sacred to all of us, especially in an area in a time of climate change.

Data centers are dangerous for many reasons.

One being the loss of fresh water and danger to local ecosystems.

The corporations will tell you it's a closed loop system, but that's not exactly true.

Um, in fact, it's kind of an insidious lie.

The impact is massive due to the consumption levels of these centers, which are ramping up.

And in a city that is still struggling to address the lead pipes that haunt our city and PFAs that are in our water.

It seems to me that it's more important to get fresh water to all our residents instead of building a data center which will steal more water.

So I am asking you to listen to your constituents today.

I think by and large, you've heard many people don't want this.

We want the housing.

We want the jobs, we want the library.

We don't want the data center.

So we're calling for a data center moratorium for no strengths attached investment into these predominantly black Milwaukee communities.

Please value people over profit, protect our water, protect our city.

Thank you for your time.

Benjamin?

Dufresne.

My name is Benjamin Dufrain.

I'm a proud resident of Milwaukee.

And I just want to ask why this is uh why this uh data center is necessary.

The council and Trent both listed the upsides for this project as being the library, the housing, the early voting location, and they specifically excluded the data center from that list.

I just want to know why can't this location be fully for civic use?

Over 300 people uh emailed before the first meeting to say that they don't want this data center.

The data center was added last minute, and I want to know why.

Um is the data center necessary for the library to uh be built financially.

Um it's gonna create almost no jobs.

Um we've already gone over the environmental impact, but water use and pollution, electricity use, the strain on infrastructure, the increase in utility costs for residents, air pollution, heat from the equipment, raising the air temperature of the surrounding area, noise pollution, and um stealing intellectual property as AI does, are all concerns that I have about this.

Um I also want to ask how does it make sense to make to put a thing known for noise pollution in the back of a library, a place intended for quiet reading and learning.

Data center generators have been measured to output noise levels up to 105 decibels, and no amount of sound treatment is gonna be able to reduce that volume by that amount.

Most treatment is gonna reduce your ambient sound levels by about three to ten decibels, which still leaves you with a volume that's gonna be equivalent to a stage at Summerfest in people's backyards.

Um, the whole premise of this data center is sketchy.

Trent refused to even say earlier the name of the company or organization that's gonna be using the computing infrastructure that he plans to build.

Um that concerns me.

Um, just in general, no matter whether the council finds this project to meet their guidelines on paper, I've yet to hear any way in which this data center will be anything but detrimental to the community.

So I just want to ask why is this necessary?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um Benjamin Dufens.

Oh, that was Ben.

Sorry.

Uh Patricia Sumnick.

Patricia Sumnick.

I'm mutable person, well, uh, give her a minute.

On deck, uh DeJan Johnson.

That's me.

We'll come back to Patricia if she comes in.

You just say your name for the record.

Thank you.

Uh Dujan Johnson.

Uh, my family has been members of Milwaukee community since the late 1960s.

Um, I grew up on North 40th Street my entire life.

Um, a hop skipping in a burrowway from the midtown data center.

Um, well, to kick a dead horse, along with all the resumes other community members who have come up here handshaking, voice trembling.

We are asking you guys to please listen to us.

We understand that we are not a rich city.

We understand that we are not a hot spot, but the community, Milwaukee's, we love our city, and we are beginning to question if our representatives ever did.

We want development that pours back into the community.

We want a community center, we want a learning mannex, we want green spaces, community gardens, community greenhouses, things that will allow the community to thrive.

And we see that that is not the priority with our city.

Um with potholes, a two point one billion dollar highway project that's gonna take eight years, um, disrupting people's commutes, bus routes being cut, people not being able to get to their jobs, or taking two, three hours to get to their jobs.

The community is hurting, and we understand that you guys have the major task of having to make these very difficult decisions, but we do not need this, like everybody said it's a data center, small or not, it does not benefit us.

And we want a moratorium, and we want to kick out these out-of-state developers like Trent Overhew, who do not see the community members as actual people but paid agitators.

That was a deep cut for the community and referring to us as a blighted area.

We love our area.

As you can see, the entire community came out.

The long passion speeches that has been given out.

We just want the opportunity to make the city what we want it to be, not what these data center developers are trying to do.

And to add on to what uh the I forgot her name, uh, but the wonderful lady said about this very specific area being a the only major freshwater source.

We know that there are billionaires who are celebrating over being able to come here, prioritize the water, make data centers, and starve out the community.

We do not want that, and we are willing to put our full weight behind showing you guys that we do not want that, and this is not an act of aggression, but just to show you guys how passionate the community truly is about wanting to make the community ours, and that's all I have to say.

Okay, our reaction a-r-i a Mabel Lamb.

Say your name again for the record.

I will do that.

My name is Mabel Lamb.

I serve as the executive director of the Sherman Park Community Association, and additionally, I live in Sherman Park.

I have lived there for the last 26 years.

Um, the first thing I wanted to say is this.

Um, when the narrative was written for this proposal, um, it was very carefully written for uses as a data processing, computer services, computer research rather than a data center.

That distinction is likely intentional for zoning, permitting, political sensitivity, utility scrutiny, neighborhood concerns, or the DIZ overlay compliance.

The proposal repeatedly emphasized research, office work, areas, engineers, technicians, commercial office environment, minimal noise, not industrial, and not manufacturing.

Those are common strategies used in zoning narratives to position a computing facility as an office research use instead of industrial infrastructure.

However, functionally, the described operation still fits within the broader category of a data center because it includes centralized computing equipment, server infrastructure, dedicated cooling, backup power, and continuous data processing capabilities.

So I wanted to mention those things because when our organization first posted this information on our website, um, it there was a lot of questions about is this a data center.

I have gotten calls from the universities, from professors, from community members, people who are in technology, and they also confirm that this was a data center.

Additionally, um news media outlets have been calling it a data center.

So if it's not a data center, at what point in time will somebody make the correction, but they're not gonna make the correction because it's a data center.

So I'm gonna say that.

Um I do want to thank you all for hosting this meeting.

Um I would suggest that um the I think his name is Trent.

I'm sorry if I messed your name up, but at any time, if you are um thinking about purchasing property, I would say do a comprehensive market analysis prior to your purchase.

So that way you know what is going to work in that in that facility.

Um, but I'm very concerned about the environmental impacts.

I do believe that this proposal should have an environmental impact statement completed so that we know what any problems which would come out of this.

Um we also really want to know who is running the data center.

I did attend the second meeting, and when that question came up, we were told that we can't tell you who's running a data center.

So those in the room who heard that can confirm that.

Additionally, I would also ask that you all support amending the Milwaukee code of ordinances to enact a 24-month um moratorium on any of the data centers.

And reason being because right now the city of Milwaukee does not have any ordinance regulation or anything that is going to keep people in compliance, and additionally, the state of Wisconsin does not either.

So my suggestion would be to truly, truly, truly before making any decisions on this, is let us get our compliance in order, our regulations in order, so that we know what is going to happen if people are not following the um follow.

Thank you.

They're not complying.

So that is all I have to say, but thank you for your time.

I did also send the alderman please check your email.

I sent you all a draft of an ordinance that came from Manitawalk because they did enact an 18-month moratorium all data centers.

Thank you.

Hi there, my name is Fiona McKenna, and although I used to live in the community I used to live on, 70th and Hampton with my father for several years, and before that I lived on Lovers Lane and Silver Spring.

Although I reside in West Allis now, I still have so much love for this community and traveling to see my friends who live in this part of the community and the fact that it has not gotten the love that its residents deserve and just the care overall makes me very sad.

But when it comes to the development of this data center, I wanted to talk about a psychological phenomenon known as the foot in the door theory.

It's talking about the fact of when you approve a small request, a bigger request can be made down the line, hence the foot in the door.

I believe that the approval of this data center and the approval of this plan would be that foot in the door, and that down the line it would not only signal to additional developers that Milwaukee is for sale, which it is not.

Um I also think that it would eventually lead to the expansion of this data center in some way, shape, or form, that would just be more of a burden on the communities than it is help.

Um, and I would like to call it spade a spade in the sense that uh this data center is not being proposed in Wapatosa, it's not being proposed in St.

Francis or Bayview or West Allis, it's being proposed on the north side of Milwaukee, which is inherently environmental racism, and that is what has been happening with most of the danger centers around this country is that they have been placed in either predominantly low income or black and brown communities, and they have been paying the price for these data centers out of their own pocket because these are residents and people who are working class, they're not people who can afford the increase in electricity cost or the lack of water.

Somebody other somebody earlier had mentioned lead pipes in Milwaukee.

That's still a huge problem here.

Now we're talking about something that would actively be taking away water from communities and their access to that.

I don't believe, as much as it's great that having affordable housing and having a public library added to uh capital and added to like the community as a whole would be a great thing.

I don't think that making a deal with the devil is something that should be contingent on those things happening.

These should things should happen because the city genuinely cares about the neighborhood and the community and the people and they want to give it to them and not be like, well, let's allow this small thing.

It's a little bit of evil, but it's a necessary evil, it's not a necessary evil.

The reality is is that artificial intelligence and our acceptance of that is a choice.

The only people who are actually pushing this forward are the corporations who are trying to sell this and sell and pedal this.

It is our choice whether we decide whether we want this in our community, whether this is something that we want to impose in our lives.

That is a constant choice.

Residents will be picking up the water and electricity costs like I had been saying before, and they're not inevitable.

It is a choice.

We that's the reason why we're here.

We're asking for public comment and we're asking whether people want this, and they're saying a resounding no, and I feel like it's the jobs of not only like the city, but also here, the commission as well, to respect that and the sense that the residents are saying this is something that they don't want, so let that be what it is.

It's not happening.

Um the last thing that I wanted to say is that I believe the vacancy doesn't bother residents, it bothers those who see its potential for financial gain for themselves.

And that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Yes.

Can you call my name?

Okay, what is your name?

Ariage.

Aria, please come forward.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Arya Chin.

Before I start, I want to preface my speech with this.

The fact that facilities that will benefit our community, such as housing, early voting sites, and libraries cannot be built without the contingency of lining the pockets of already rich people is not only disappointing but preposterous.

It ails me to know that this hearing may be just that a hearing.

Are you listening?

Will you take action based on what we are saying or let it fall on deaf ears?

Following the development of such data centers, residents are usually stuck with high electricity bills, higher water bills, increased rates of getting cancers and other serious illnesses, and an extensive amount of noise pollution, causing people to not be able to sleep or go about their daily lives in peace.

Today you claim it costs us five gallons, and tomorrow the next data center you force upon us and build a few blocks away will cost us 500.

The numbers and information you give us are unclear.

The jobs will be few, and it has been made plain that you will not create jobs but rather deploy your own workers to run the area.

It is no secret that the north side of Milwaukee has room for improvement in many areas.

Plopping a loud resource-sucking data center in the middle of it seemingly does nothing to decrease crime rates, increase literacy rates in the children who live there, or employ a significant amount of residents.

Those are the things we need to be focusing on.

Based on the review, there are many things seemingly put in place to avoid loud noise and water usage, but that's how most data center proposals start, not how they continue.

It is not a coincidence that these centers find themselves in marginalized communities that also happen to be predominantly populated by black and brown people.

It is up to leaders like you to be our voice and stand up for what is right.

Milwaukee does not want to be the next Memphis, Jolit, or any other city that is upholding what's best for the developers' pockets rather than their citizens.

When looking at the few details I could find about the proposal, they mentioned the data center will be using high performance computing, quite literally the foundation for powering generative AI.

The AI event flyers, locals, and warped photos on Facebook are not worth putting any size data center in our city.

We simply do not want it here.

AI is being integrated into everything we do, and nobody asks for this, but the rich people who are in over their heads investing in this environmental villain and want to see a quick return on investment.

Most of us graduated high school and beyond to learn how to think for ourselves and conduct our own research.

Therefore, we don't need AI telling us what time a store opens, answering questions that we can find the answers to on our own, and we certainly don't need those things in exchange for our environmental well-being.

And for the record, generative AI supporting or not, it is still a data center.

And the answer is still no.

I implore you to reconsider the proposal of a data center in its entirety and replace that 3% of space with something beneficial to everyday Milwaukee residents, not big corporations.

We do not need or want a data center, but you clearly have already disregarded our desires by approving things pertaining to this project behind our backs.

We need resources for the youth, funding for projects that directly improve the quality of life for citizens, and a plethora of other things.

We are counting on you to do what is right for this city and its people.

We've said no once before, and we will continue to say it.

Do not insult our intelligence by assuming we do not understand because we've heard you loud and clear.

It is our turn to be heard.

No means no in every context, and we the people of Milwaukee are saying no to this data center.

Thank you.

Sarah Gruzinski.

Hi, I'm Sarah Grzezinski.

Can you hear me?

Not really.

Okay.

Um, like every other Milwaukee who has spoken here so far, I'm vehemently opposed to this data processing's computational services, computational research, whatever it's called, but allegedly not AI center.

As Samantha and others have said, so many others, no matter what it's called, sorry, I gotta take a breath, it is functionally no different in its use from any other data center.

It doesn't matter what size it is compared to the colossal ones brought up, it's still as um I forget she just spoke.

Um it's a tiny piece of evil.

We don't want any evil here.

We're opposed.

We are speaking so clearly, this is not what the people want.

What services will this data center offer to the people here?

Will it help alleviate any of the direct issues faced by the residents?

Will it lower utility bills?

The answers are no, from us and about the project.

The most specific Trent overhew can be about what sort of research might be done at his exploitative cash cow is it will look into tumors, whatever that means.

At his incredibly unprofessional open house at the abandoned Walmart a few weeks ago.

Trent mentioned many other uses of this center, as was mentioned earlier, including defense, and we know why he didn't say that today.

Now, today, he says it's likely biomedical research.

It all sounds incredibly nebulous to me.

And that's by intention, by design.

If he can't give us concrete names of companies or even the topics for research, what trust has he garnered with the people who will be directly affected by this development project?

None.

Everything about that open house was disrespectful.

I I can wait if it's as soon as we walked into the building, I saw members of his team packing up the poster board as if we weren't worth their time, the minute of the time.

They gave us the wrong address.

We walked around the whole building in the rain.

And like people mentioned, there were elderly folks there coming in with canes, wondering where the chairs.

Like we've come today, we've sat for hours, we've listened to other projects.

Oh, sorry, I gotta stick to my script.

The way Trent and his team spoke to this community about the supposed blight that we he was somehow coming in to fix with an empty storage facility and a soulless data center was abhorrent.

They evaded our questions with obfuscations and exhibited far fewer organizational abilities than folks I met that day who had only just heard from us, not them, about the project.

We know our lived experiences, and we care about our quality of life.

That is what we're speaking on, and that should matter to you, my fellow humans, right?

Unsurprisingly, Mr.

Trent Overhew was met with equally righteous push push pushback against similar projects in his own state of Missouri, as has been mentioned.

Why should we let him come in and exploit our land and resources and people here in Milwaukee when he doesn't even care about what his own community needs?

Trent claims storage is a need in this community.

Let's call this what it is, as was said at the open house, blatant exploitation.

He's profiting off of this.

What this community needs is to be listened to, point blank, period.

A new expensive library that, yes, we need the libraries we have and attend, be refurbished, put money there.

Affordable, not affordable at all, as has been mentioned.

Housing.

These metaphorical carrots are being dangled in front of a community that, yes, needs tangible support from its governing body, but this is not the way.

A data center will not solve a damn thing.

Excuse my language.

Why are these supports not offered without making Trent richer?

Or people like him, right?

We're not here to serve his financial interests.

You are here to serve the community, and I say that with respect.

So please, listen to us, all of us.

We want our needs to be met.

We are calling for a moratorium.

We're so clear about this on data centers.

We are not alone in this, as has been mentioned.

Many other communities are asking for this protection to join us and the world of people who care in opposing projects like this before the AI bubble pops.

It's heading there.

Have some respect for the people of Milwaukee and consider our words.

Thank you.

Let's let's ask uh who's who's next up online.

Okay, at this time uh there's a call for virtual testimony.

Anyone who is present online uh who wishes to offer testimony, please press the raise hand button.

And at this time, I will call upon individuals.

Uh first person is Landon Zimmerman.

Yes, hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you.

My name is Landon Zimmerman.

I'm with Healthy Climate Wisconsin, and I'm here today to also oppose the data center proposal and the current just proposals going on today.

Um I want to reiterate a lot of what the amazing things that the other community members have said so far, particularly the need for safeguards.

I think that as was already mentioned, like a lot of these laws and regulations and consequences haven't been codified, and we just need the community itself needs time to breathe and to process and to make sure that these things, if they are going to be done, are gonna be done in this safe way with the community.

Hearts and communities across Wisconsin have made sure to make sure this happens with many of them passing data center moratoriums themselves, including Superior, Wrightstown, Dane County, Manitoba County, Madison, and Cassville, and I think Milwaukee should join on that.

Um and then again, the pollution is also a concern, whether that be lights, whether that be sound, whether that be the um water, even though it is a closed system that still has been shown by um investigations to cause pollution, um, that be the diesel generators which are shown to cause increases in things like asthma and just in a comedy where the air pollution and the air quality is already at such a minimum.

Um, adding more sources of it is ever going to be helpful for the community.

And another thing that has been touched on by many folks is the NDAs that are causing that lack of transparency and information about these projects.

We can't even know the companies that are involved because these NDAs have been signed and there's just no transparency, and then none of the information that communities need to make proper decisions is coming out, and I would like to oppose that.

Um, and again, I think so.

One of the first folks said it best themselves, it feels like the things that the community needs are being held hostage to these profit motive incentives, and that the things that the community needs are only going to be allowed if some people set in, and I do not stand for that.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Connie Solacek.

Yes, I'm outside, unfortunately.

Can you guys hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

So I first want to say that um my name is Connie Solacek.

And it's K-H-A-N-I.

I would also like to say that I'm in full agreement with all the people that spoke defending Milwaukee.

We are Milwaukee.

We are Milwaukee, and we trust in Milwaukee, and so we want our people that are working for us to continue to trust in us.

And when we say no, we mean no.

And when I say we we are Milwaukee, I'm the inner city of Milwaukee.

I've been here 56 years.

I've been at 53210 all my life.

And I used to walk to Capitol Court.

I enjoyed Midtown when they opened up, and I just don't agree with things that aren't going to be a benefit to the community and the people that put it into the community, put the work into the community.

It makes no sense that we're allowing somebody private to come into our city to do something first of all.

And it makes no sense that he gets to be so private with the information where we are a trusting community.

So if he has some good to be done, he would be able to tell us this information and we could trust in it.

We can't trust in that.

So we don't need that.

We don't need our community to be torn down by something like that.

And we don't want the repercussion from the community.

Haven't you guys had enough of you not listening to the community and what they do as a repercussion?

Don't you want to hear us out while we're performing in the right way and doing it in a diligent way and a way that you would prefer for us to do it, and you said if we say no, you'll listen to us, or do you want what they will do?

There are people here in Milwaukee that really want things to work, and when they don't, we can't control the other people.

We try our best.

But when you guys make them mad, you know exactly what happens.

That center won't last if you give it the okay, and that's coming straight from Milwaukee.

Thank you very much.

Rachel Styles.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, I'm Rachel Stiles.

Um I am speaking as a concerned Milwaukee resident.

I live at 777 North Van Buren.

Uh, and I am opposed to the motion which would allow AFS Milwaukee LLC to deviate from the midtown development standards and allow warehouse usage for a high performance computing data center and self-storage facility.

I had a lot of uh thoughts prepared, but for the interest of time, many many people here have spoken today, and so I don't want to reiterate a lot of the same um thoughts and arguments.

But I will say two things.

One is the most pressing issue with AI currently is that the hardware aka the high performance computing facilities that are proposed has not caught up to the software in terms of technological advancement in remaining sustainable, and without usage regulations in place, putting in this kind of supercomputing processor that accommodates AI usage will result in draining the surrounding area of resort resources and electricity.

The reality, no matter how you package it, is that regardless of how much space is allotted, the use of this data center by companies choosing AI usage outpaces the energy supplied by current data center technology and communities are the ones that suffer.

Even with a closed loop cooling system, the energy drawn in to power it has to come from somewhere, and the result will be energy bills in the surrounding grid going up.

And because part of the proposed use is a Milwaukee public library branch, the city will end up being with the city will end up footing part of the bill and the affordable housing units that are also proposed, will also foot the remainder of the energy bill within that grid.

So, unless the research being conducted in the proposed research facility is researching ways to make AI more ethical and more sustainable, please please reject this modified proposal.

It might not say AI outright, but if if the hardware is available for use, the software will follow.

Um, and then finally, I want to add that because many comparisons have been made to the Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant.

I just want to remind the commissioners that the only reason Microsoft was able to green light that land for a data center so quickly is because of the horrendous deal that Foxconn made with the state.

They came in and made promises of economic progress and development for that area that later all fell through and kept shrinking more and more and more.

And the residents said it would happen and they weren't listened to, and so that land went sat vacant.

And now everyone hates that data center, but it could have been prevented, and this can too.

So please listen to the residents when they tell you that it that the proposal will fail and pave the way to something worse, the way that Mount Pleasant and Scott Walker did not.

Thanks.

I see six four.

Um next person is Daniel Cross.

Danielle Cross.

I'm sorry, I didn't see the mute button.

Can you hear now?

Okay, great.

My name is Danelle Kross.

I'm a resident of Sherman Park.

I work in Metcalf Park as the executive director of Metcalf Park Community Bridges.

Um I know it's a concern that people, some people that are speaking are not from that community, but I'm here to speak for the fact that if this data center is approved, it can negatively impact surrounding communities like Metcalf Park.

Um Metcalf Park is closed, but we have also a lot of big box stores that are vacant in our community, and I believe that if this is approved, that it opens the door for other developers that want to develop data centers to just swarm our communities that are at risk.

I also wanted to point out that uh Harvard uh magazine has uh done a study in called Metcalf Park a sacrifice zone, and the reason that they did that is because of all of the um filthy factories that were in our commercial corridor, factories with toxic spills and harm to our community's health.

Uh, our community is very high in cancer, and so what I'm asking um our uh committee to think about is are we gonna continue to allow black and brown communities to be sacrificed for profit, and I also wanted to make a statement that I've listened to the people mostly affected, and I hope everybody did.

Um, and they have said no, and if they say no, we say no.

I also listened to the young lady that was really passionate about how this could trigger folks uh in a negative way.

Well, what I would say is that it would trigger us in a way that we would mobilize, we would organize, we would educate, and I would hope that other surrounding communities would do the same because we all have to be in defense of each other.

That's my statement.

Thank you.

Next person is Ivory Kanyeon.

Ivory Canyon.

You're on Ivory Kaneon.

Otherwise, next person is Melody McCurtis.

I'm here wrong.

That's how long I was on.

Oh, okay.

I'm not after it.

Okay.

All right, let me let me exit off here.

Okay.

How y'all doing?

It's good to see y'all again.

I know y'all see me a lot.

Last year, I'm back.

I wish it was for good reason.

Dang, okay.

Just go ahead and introduce you.

Okay, so I'm Melody McCurtis.

I live in Metcalf Park in the 15th District, which is about under two miles from the proposed site.

I also work at Metcalf Park Community Bridges.

Um, I am here first to address some of the questions that y'all asked that I feel like was not the responses were not true in the beginning of this meeting.

When you asked were there engagement, there was not engagement.

It shouldn't have never made it to the CPC before it made it to community.

So that first meeting was not canceled because Chambers, like, I'm gonna cancel it, it.

It got canceled because the community, hundreds of thousands of people online making calls, making emails said not on our watch.

So one of the things that I want to lift up is that the community, white, black, brown, northeast, southwest in Milwaukee has been throwing down around this issue, and they've been saying no.

And we're gonna bring them in the room because this room is filled because of community power.

And it's filled because they have not been getting what they have been asking for.

It's transparency.

I also went to that first rapid engagement meeting.

Now that it hit the fan, there was no chairs.

We had elders walk out.

It was as hot as it is in that building that it is right now.

There was not a town hall the first hour and a half.

There was no direct questions, QA.

There was boards spread across.

This is the most information we got and it still ain't sufficient.

I am disappointed in DCD because we went through two years of going back and forth about engagement.

So I would have thought that DCD would have gone to the orders and said, we not finna get that smoke no more.

That's on y'all.

I'm disappointed that they thought they could just bring y'all something without bringing it to the community.

Now, Chambers did do some engagement around this plan.

It did not have a data center attached to it, and it did not have a storage facility attached to it.

So for it to be switched at the last at last minute, thinking it's gonna slide, is disrespectful and diabolical.

Because that is the reason why Milwaukee is in the condition that it's in.

There's tons of ideas about what this space could be utilized for, trip over you, research over me, search, your partners, and you just had an AI data convention center last week.

Your own community don't want you building there, but you're gonna come and build in Milwaukee.

On the north side, so a lot of that could have been brought today when you asked where have you built these facilities, what have you done in those facilities?

It was very unclear, but it's it's research out there.

It's quick to find who you're working with.

You and your partners teach AI infrastructure to churches, it's out there, it's a quick search.

DCD, y'all got some of the phenomenal researchers, but then y'all only present certain things.

As far as these clinics and hospitals, these secret folks that y'all are working with to house their data.

We have so many hospitals that are not even using a hundred percent of their buildings.

Ascension, aka St.

Joe's, for example, they only use 40% of their building.

They could use 60% to create their infrastructure.

So again, we back here two years later, after the zoning fights, the CPC is a people's body that is supposed to hear the pros, the cons, the approval of the opposite of people before it makes it to them.

It's supposed to make it to the community and it did not.

So before we even get to that, y'all should be feeling like this is a slap in the face because it didn't go through the proper challenge before it got to y'all.

And they have a standard protocol of engagement.

And DCD, I want y'all to know this.

The orders, the mayor, they are hired by the people, they are voted in by the people.

Y'all operating like they y'all's boss.

We are they boss.

So if y'all keep moving like this, the north, east, west, and south side, is organizing.

Y'all gonna keep seeing this many people here.

Y'all gonna keep seeing the overflow.

They're gonna keep coming up when it's something that impact.

If the impact one of us, it impact all of us.

We got corporations leaving us every day.

We gotta stop investing in them every day.

And when it comes to a public good like a library, it ain't just your district chambers.

Everybody gonna visit that library.

So this is a decision that expands more to your district, and it's been community members canvassing, and they didn't even know about the first hearing.

So say thank you to PSL because they got them there.

We drove people there.

They didn't know about it.

So to answer your questions, there was no engagement.

Anybody can go on Facebook or Instagram right now and see the the even the people that's not here.

How caught on guard that they are.

They have so many ideas of what this space could be.

Why are we always taking a hit?

Black communities.

They wouldn't do this in short hood.

You couldn't even, you couldn't even whisper this in West Islands.

You couldn't whisper it.

You couldn't even think about it.

The people gotta come first.

When the people don't come first, then you have Walmarts that leave.

If you do community land development, things last.

And another thing about this housing.

Gorman is not a Wisconsin Bay's developer.

We have a whole acre program with small developers here in Milwaukee that if they got the tax support, the TIS support, to develop, they could be developing housing that actually is not prisons.

They lock people intoever rentals.

Well, we just build an apartments, apartments, that's locking the whole community into forever rental districts.

And Gorman is building it for 90% free with all the tax credits that's coming from us.

So let's speak on it.

And that went through.

And we got all this talent here.

That could be designing housing for what folks actually need.

Cause we don't, if you build it for one bedroom for people, you build it for people to grow this city.

I understand we gotta grow.

I understand we gotta grow our tax base, but we gotta repair the harm, and we gotta repair the folks who already live here first before we grow.

We gotta repair the growth.

And I'm gonna yield my time, but I'm I'm fed up coming down here.

I don't even feel good today.

I wasn't even gonna come down here.

Why do we gotta?

I keep I I talked to all of y'all separately.

I reached out to y'all, I talked to y'all, I heard everybody's side.

I did my research.

I reached out to institutions.

It's a data center.

How dare y'all tell people it ain't?

We are at a point where it's 2026.

I don't care what the data center was built 10 years ago.

2026, it ain't going down.

People is woke, they are where they can research, they are building across communities.

The way that we are moving in community, I need all of our elected officials to move like that collectively.

We show y'all how to do it.

Come to us, ask us what we need.

And maybe we're gonna keep going around circles, having a rebuild, unbuild, rebuild again because y'all keep building things that's not gonna last.

Like a Walmart.

Who's coming when the market is hot?

Like a pig and say that that pig is saying to close in midtown.

Like a pig and say that, oh, snap is getting cut.

Let me pull out.

Y'all should be looking at the markets.

And making plans on what's gonna go down.

I'm tired of come down here.

Thank you.

David Ashley.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, my name is David Ashley.

Um, long time citizen of Milwaukee.

Family, as a lot of public service.

Um, I am an IT professional.

Um, however, um, the IT portion of the data center has been beaten to death.

I'm not here to ask about that.

Um, my concerns and what I would like the council to consider before they go and vote on this, is uh a few things.

Um Trent Overview, you and his business plan is not engaging as much as he would like to say.

Um, this Saturday, I was at the virtual open house, and only like two of us got to ask questions.

I was one of them.

I only got to ask two things before making a suggestion, and I got cut off, but that's another conversation.

But the thing I want to bring up in front of the council and what's in for them to consider.

Um, nowhere in this plan, it even shows a big blind spot for me, which is how are they going to do security on this data center?

You have several millions, maybe even hundreds maybe a hundred million dollars worth of equipment that's gonna be sitting there and the research uh whether it is for AI readers or whether it is for medical studies, data is worth money.

They sell our data, they do all that stuff.

It's a business, it is what it is.

As an IT professional, though, I wonder what is his security plans.

He probably won't be able to mention that, but depending on the what kind of security apparatus he wants to put in there, if he's using anything involving ring, flock, any of those outsiders that will come in and do that security, that concerns me because of the abuse, the lack of oversight on who gets to manage that security data.

Um data is a very important thing in our world today, and who giving someone access to our neighborhoods on the north side and letting them get that type of data, regardless of what the purpose is on a millions and millions of dollar facility, regardless of the size, that concerns me.

Um another thing I wanted to bring to note for the council to really consider um is trend overview when I asked them the question of uh why would a self-storage uh location be good in this area when not only there's already one in that zip code, but there's also two others not too far, there's one on 76th Street, there's one on 35th street.

If I stretch out the map even further, you can find more.

Um, he claimed that this location in the country this Saturday in open house is recorded.

He claimed that this is one of the most needed areas in the country that needs self-storage.

I just unfortunately do not believe his statement there, and the fact that you would make such a claim lets me know that he just can't be trusted, and whatever his partners that he cannot disclose, whether they are family, like he said this Saturday, or if there are other disclosed people that he cannot mention, and I understand with business contracts you can't always make those things public, but regardless of what the situation is with whatever type of business you want to do with that data center, it's just the fact that when you look at it, you see it, you smell it, you feel it, it just doesn't pass the test, and it's not going to serve Milwaukee, and as an IT professional, and I've been doing IT professional things for almost 20 years, I just do not see a purpose of letting this through, and like others have said with that slippery slope, you let one in, then there's 10, then there's a hundred, there's a million, and then there's no more water, there's no more electricity, there's no more resources, and as a black IT professional, and as a black member of this city, I just do not see why in this black neighborhood with one of the highest unemployment zip codes in this city, and creating a zone where you're only bringing in a total of maybe 15 to 20 jobs, and using our tax dollars, it just doesn't add up, it doesn't make sense.

So I'm gonna leave it at that.

Thank you very much.

Have a wonderful evening.

Amy Donahue.

Amy Donahue, uh, if you could unmute yourself.

Otherwise we'll come back to you.

Um Isadora Persic.

Is that Dora Persic?

Hello.

Um, I'm Isadora Berserk or Porsche.

Um, I'm calling in to oppose the data center because what good does it make for the community?

We need to listen to black and brown neighborhoods, and we have to check our privilege, you fucking you fucking crackers.

Listen to them.

You've got to listen.

Is there anything more?

Next person, uh Ivory.

Or try again Ivory Kanean.

Final.

Ivory Kanye.

And Amy Donahue.

Perhaps there might be technical difficulties on your end.

Okay.

So we'll just move on and then you can tell me, Mr.

Lee.

Sarah Gerzinski.

I'm sorry.

I think she's still earlier.

Well, thank you.

Okay.

Julia Albert.

Arthur.

Oh, there's Julia.

Okay.

Okay, good.

Good afternoon.

My name is Julia Elberth, and I'm here to speak on behalf of Healthy Climate Wisconsin, where I work as the health equity coordinator.

We are a statewide nonprofit of 14,000 health professionals, including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, community health workers, and public health all coming together to advocate for climate action because we recognize that climate change is a public health emergency that will have long-lasting impacts on patients and communities that we serve.

There are still too many unanswered questions regarding what safeguards are in place to protect Milwaukee communities from the impacts of a data center proposal.

What safeguards have been considered regarding water use, water quality monitoring and testing, wastewater treatment and processing, heat island impacts, air pollution from diesel generators, rising energy demand and costs, and requiring the use of clean energy.

The public deserves safeguards from pollution and transparency on how energy will be on how much energy this will use, as well as commitments for the consequences if safeguards are broken.

It is irresponsible for the city to be entertaining a zoning exemption for a data center proposal before we have the health guardrails in place.

Milwaukee needs to slow down, provide transparency with the public and allow for meaningful public participation before making long-term decisions.

The city should pause consideration of a new data center proposals until thoughtful, well-researched regulations are developed and adopted.

We need to adopt a moratorium as other Wisconsin cities have done.

Additionally, we urge you to uphold the standards and vision that were originally adopted in the midtown center development incentive zone.

When the DIS was adopted in 2000, it established a vision for a vibrant Milwaukee community that promotes economic development and neighborhood revitalization.

Affordable housing and community centers fit the plan, but neither indoor self-storage nor a hyperscale data center advance these goals by creating the kind of economic activity or neighborhood investment in the DIS the DIS was designed to encourage.

Midtown is home to predominantly black community.

Granting it an exempt exemption to the DIS to allow a data center would continue a long pattern of placing undesirable land uses in a neighborhood that has historically shouldered disproportionate share of environmental and economic burdens.

Members about the serious nature of this data center proposal and prioritize public health in your decision making.

I also brought copies of 15 comments from Milwaukee residents who oppose the midtown proposal.

They just learned about the project this weekend and were not able to attend the hearing today, but their voices deserve to be heard on the project on a project of this scale, which will directly impact them.

And these were also emailed to each of you.

Thank you.

We'll go to the next person.

Arthur Nine Hughes.

Mr.

Lee, do you want to call on whoever's next online?

Spare with me.

Sure.

Sonarda Wilborn.

Sonarta Wilborn.

Yes.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Shanarta Wilburne.

I grew up in Milwaukee.

Sorry, you guys, I am outside.

But I've been up, I grew up in Milwaukee all my life.

And I pretty much agree with everyone else who opposed for this data center.

There haven't been much information on the data center.

And I feel like you guys need to listen to the community, the community at this time.

We live here.

We know what's going on in this community.

And for someone to just come out of nowhere and want to smack a data center in our community and which will do more damage than good.

I feel like at this point you guys need to listen to us.

This is where we live at.

This is where we pay our tax dollars.

And that's all I just want to say.

That is all that I see for now.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Um Brianna.

Stelling.

Redona Williams.

That's me that I missed me.

Okay.

Would you like to?

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Will Coleman.

Grace Schurer.

Deborah Ford.

Lewis.

No longer in here.

She's gone.

Keontae Shields.

Blessings to you all.

Um to the commissioners.

Um, thank you guys for allowing us this time has been going on for a long time.

Um, my name is Keontae Shields.

I live at 2439 North 46th Street.

I am um Sherman Park Neighborhood District Number 4 chair.

I've been living in the Sherman Park neighborhood, I'm gonna say 35, 40 years combined since high school.

And um, although I'm not immediately near this project, but close enough to be directly impacted.

Um I'm a homeowner, increase water, electric, and perhaps property taxes.

When new development of any type directly with new development of any type, it normally directly impacts property taxes.

Even though they don't speak on it, their property value uh goes up, which automatically increases our property value, so we're paying more property taxes, especially for a project that we are opposing.

I'm opposed to this project.

Um to me, it's just complete deceit.

The seat has been going on since the beginning, and it continues to go on, and that starts at our legislation, because allowing for NDAs to even be okay, we've built a culture of deceit.

So, why wouldn't an outsider come in and take advantage of that deceitful opportunity?

Um, it's it's not cool at all.

Um, and with that, how do any of you expect us, my community, your community, our community, to even trust what you say or you put forth when you guys allow for this NDA to continue to go on?

We're operating off of legislation that's been on the books over 100 years at this point, and to put something over there like that is completely ludicrous.

How is that helping us?

It's not, and you guys should really consider and listen to what we are saying.

We don't want it.

I'm okay with development of some type, but not this.

Go back to the drawing board.

So, what has been sitting for over 10 years?

What's another 10?

What's another two?

We would like you to postpone this.

Come back with clear plans, and um it's it's very self-seeking interest here.

Um whatever the energy costs may come with this data center and mencing words, like we're not intelligent to understand it, it's the same thing.

Whatever energy cost that comes with the data center should be on the tenant, not the community.

It shouldn't affect us, our way of living, our budgets at all.

The jobs, jobs should be supplied outside of your team that you have already, Mr.

Trent.

Um, what safeguards again is gonna be in place if what they're saying the water uses may be now.

What if that goes up?

What's the safeguard to prevent that?

What is the gonna be the consequence to that?

Um, I do think that there needs to be a clear plan, like they have their plan is clear, but we don't have a clear understanding, and it seemed like this is being so rushed.

What is the why is it being rushed?

What's the what's the big deal?

We just want understanding.

We we we know that that's what it is, but with that it ain't our money, it ain't for us.

We're gonna be paying more than then receiving more out of this project.

Just a clear understanding what this really is, and please stop mincing words and talking to us like we're illiterate because we're not.

Okay, wait, no, that's right.

Okay, please consider what we are saying, not what looks good or to the benefit of the city.

And what I heard is I'll know for real, but what I heard is we energy right now is speaking about again a gas plan because of the pollution that the data centers are producing around the state, so they're devising a plan on pollution.

How could this not affect this community immediately with pollution and all the series of pollutions that come along with that?

Uh, yeah, I believe that's it.

We say no.

Thank you.

All right, Hayden Harwood.

Hi there.

Uh, my name is Hayden Trouble Harwood.

Uh, I live in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, um, which is where another data center was built.

Uh, much against what the community wanted.

Uh, I used to live in Milwaukee, but because DNS can't hold slum lords in the cities accountable, I was forced to move.

Uh, so that just, you know, just to touch on this whole holding the company accountable thing, sounds like a total joke.

Um, now I know Mr.

Alderman went on the radio recently whining about people not from Milwaukee coming to the meeting, but considering I'm living near a data center, I think that maybe you can make an exception to my attendance.

Um I volunteer with the PSL and which is the party for socialism and liberation, and during my time volunteering, we organize, we agitate, and we educate against these data centers across the state.

Um, this isn't because of emotion, again, like Mr.

Alderman said.

Uh, this is about the facts.

Uh, and the facts are this data center is being pushed by a man named Trent Overhew, an over out of state developer from Ohio looking to make money off of yet another underserved community.

Also, it's funny that the city is fine with bending the rules when there's someone waving money money under your nose, but you know, can't get a grocery store in here.

Um, another fact is that these data centers are completely unhealthy for any living thing.

The environmental impact from the noise, water dust, and electricity will affect residents' health and their wallets.

The companies building these will lie through their teeth to convince you otherwise.

Because they're not going to be living next to it.

We are then what they're gonna do with this center.

There's a lot of buzzwords being thrown around.

Uh, but the bottom line is this AI is being used to surveil you.

AI is being used to take over your job, it is being used against you by people who are trying to convince you that we need it, that don't want you to use your brain.

The community has shown up and overwhelmingly opposes the not data center.

We need dignified housing, we need access to grocery stores, we need good jobs, and we need lead-free water.

The only way we will ever get that is if we organize and fight back like we have today.

So I want to urge people, the people in attendance, to continue fighting after today, regardless of whatever happens with this vote.

Because a better world is possible, but it's only possible when we fight back together and put people over profit.

Thank you.

Okay, we do have we do have additional people online who wishes to speak.

Um we have Gloria Gonzalez, hello?

Yes.

Hi, this is Gloria.

I've lived in the midtown.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

I've lived in the midtown neighborhood for over seven years.

After so many years of vacancy, our community deserves a fresh start.

Supporting this plan means choosing growth, safety, and hope for everyone who calls this area home.

The new plan offers a chance to bring life back to that space instead of weeds and broken pavement.

The area could become a place families enjoy, businesses grow, and neighbors gather.

Thank you.

Wait a minute.

No, I'm telling them, okay.

So you're over here what they were seeing on the uh Tina Ogeta.

Tina Ogita.

Yes, it's Tina Ojeda.

And I and I do I live in midtown, the midtown area, and I want everyone here to know I'm not against my neighbors.

I am my neighbors.

I feel the fear, I feel the frustration, and I feel the exhaustion of watching that building sit empty for 10 long years.

We lived with the blight, the darkness, the uncertainty, certainty.

It's personal for us.

This plan finally gives us a chance to heal that corner, a library, clean storage, computer returns center.

That's basically a small thorough room, no water, no heavy electricity, no trucks, no noise.

I'm supporting this because I want our neighborhood to stop hurting.

I want midtown to feel safe, bright, and cared for again.

I'm standing with my community by standing for a solution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Shayna Howard.

Um, let's try again.

Shayna Howard.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, yes.

I am for this.

Um, I've been in this community for over 10 years, and I think that it's about time that our community has something valuable that we are able to be a part of.

The community deserves this.

We just need another shot at the luck.

I feel like there's been so many instances where there's been failed attempts and failed attempts, one after another.

And I think this data center allows the opportunity for those within our community to be able to have something not just tangible, but something of value that means something.

And it gives us all an opportunity to be able to be a part of something great.

So I would say that I am for this, and I um my hope is that it will be successful.

Thank you.

And um Amy Donahue.

So I'm speaking in opposition.

Apologies if I missed the time.

Is it is that still okay?

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, so yep, I'm Amy Donahue.

I am uh a librarian.

I have my master's in library in information science, uh, and I'm now a clinical health care worker.

I live in Milwaukee.

Um, and my testimony.

Thank you all for listening to all of us.

Uh appreciates the time that this has taken.

Um, but I have continued to hear nothing in the presentations that speak to the specific usages for the computing research center or the data center.

I know other people have raised the questions of what is it actually being used for and who does it benefit?

Um, and that there really doesn't seem to be any significant actual experience that AFS has in operating each of these components, let alone in overseeing a project that includes all of them.

And I'm concerned about what happens if AFS like goes under, has to file bankruptcy, becomes in law involved in lawsuits in other states, just given what I'm seeing and reading about what they're doing elsewhere and the people who are uh standing up against those data centers as well.

Um, or if they sell this development to somebody else, or if the substation research facility doesn't make the money they want.

Um, so the questions about that backup plan.

I think other people spoke to the um like having an impact statement and things like that as well.

But my concerns with the research facility itself are around how they do not help our community, regardless of the technical definitions and justifications for the deviations, like other folks here.

I was at that first town hall where Trent Overhew essentially laughed when a community member asked if the data processing center would hire from the community, but then caught himself and noted that the small number of jobs are highly technical, implying that people nearby would not be qualified.

And when I asked for more information myself about who would be using the computational center, I who would be doing the research as a healthcare worker and librarian, Trent answered much more flippantly than he did here.

You're not going to like this, I can't tell you that.

Um he also said, as others have mentioned, that defense projects are also on the list of users, and we have no guarantees that the list of generic uses in the narrative are the only uses for the center.

So I'm a librarian and I looked up standard uses for high performance computing centers such as this.

Uh and there are common uses in advanced medical imaging and things like weather modeling that are beneficial for humanity, but there's no guarantee here for what percentage will be that type of work.

Um, and I'm not going to take that general claim that we're focusing on biomedical as any kind of enforceable enforceable promise.

And I ask that you also do not take that claim on any like actual face value.

In reality, our healthcare systems and big pharma, some of the users also operate with profit in mind and not people's lives.

Um, there's plenty of examples, including in our own backyard of medical institutions who have investments in gun manufacturers and oil companies, even though they also have amazing providers and researchers working on gun violence and environmental health.

And there's also harmful uses that these data centers are often used for, computations that help banks and insurance companies increase their profits, presumably, I would assume at the expense of people who are trying to buy a home or get insurance to protect their families, and that's in Milwaukee and also on much larger scales.

So we could potentially be enabling those kinds of things.

And of course, the fact that these centers are used by the Department of Defense, and that some of the uses I found are modeling weapon use.

Uh are there any guarantees also that facial recognition or license plate readers technology uh providers would not have access to this computing power?

How are those uses being considered within the request for deviation?

And I'm just connecting the dots as I'm hearing from my community about the ramp up of ice activity in the Milwaukee area.

Everything's connected.

We need to help keep each other safe and healthy and not help rich outside capitalists with lake houses get more profit.

So I'm asking that you please vote no on this resolution.

Thank you again for your time.

Thank you.

Dr.

Deborah Pasha.

Well, good evening to my community.

My name is Dr.

Deborah Pasha.

I have been a resident of the city of Milwaukee for 39 years and have lived on North 61st Street in the Alameda section of Endrus since 1993, where I raised my children and worked with my neighbors to try to keep this a better part of Milwaukee.

It's about two and a half miles from Midtown.

That is part of my neighborhood, and we have frequented it over the years.

I served as a public health nurse for the city and for the state for a total of more than 26 years during this time.

My doctoral degree is multidisciplinary, multidisciplinary, focused on environmental impacts on public health, specifically the built environmental impacts on our health.

Recently, I served as part of the West Side Plan Committee during 2025.

The Northwest and Central City of Milwaukee are still recovering from the historic industrial and chemical degradation and loss of jobs in this corridor, which have caused worse health and social outcomes as compared with adjacent areas, and in some areas worse than even third world countries.

On an ongoing basis, our community has asked for healthier environments and the return of jobs to sustain the residents.

Neither of which will be provided by the proposed use of this property for a data center and storage facility at Midtown.

It may even introduce more of the same harm and pollution to this already struggling population and be a burden to the greater community.

I am opposed both to the sighting of this scale of this the sighting of this scale of a data center and storage facility in this mostly residential area and to rezoning the area to accommodate heavier heavier industrial operations than have been previously permitted.

I'm opposed to both.

For example, the assertion that one side does not face the public is not possible as all sides face the community.

The generator plan is described as not sound safe.

The pollutants created in discharge from closed loop water systems have not been clarified.

And besides, that has been talked about, we haven't mentioned PIFAs that would have to be cleaned up.

One wonders who will profit from this business.

A corporation who has not been named and likely is not local.

Additionally, this proposal was not reviewed throughout the 2025 West Side Plan meetings.

If at all, I was told on Saturday in the virtual meeting that it may have been brought up in March of 2025.

I joined the committee after that time.

So I've been trying to confirm with other committee members and the planners, and I have not gotten a confirmation that it was ever presented.

I know that it was not discussed during our meetings last year.

It was not in the final plan documents that we were asked to review.

This is not transparent.

And to the point of it being discussed in district two, well, that may be, but this is going to impact all of Milwaukee.

It impacts the people across the street, two miles down the road, and to our borders.

Environmental concerns are significant with this size of a data center and include heat, light, noise, energy, and water use and pollutants.

We need to begin by completely researching and understanding the environmental impacts of such a proposal.

And always to ensuring that accountability for utility use and environmental pollution is completely assumed by the corporation.

We should expect any property owner or business operating in the city actually contributes positively to benefit and protect our community.

These must be regulated by the city.

We have so much potential together in this community.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Okay, Marty Wall.

Good afternoon, all.

Boy, it's been a long day, and I appreciate all your time.

And uh boy, when Milwaukee shows up, Milwaukee shows up.

People telling us that we don't live near this.

I live about two miles away.

I've been going here to Midtown for 55 years, probably.

Marty Wall, lifetime citizen of Milwaukee.

Transparency.

I don't know where to start.

I got about nine different things, and a lot said, I won't repeat, but uh with regard to the health, and it's very timely.

I just heard that uh there are farms around the country that are experiencing no live births, no live births near these data centers.

They're just animals, but you know, maybe that's should be a concern of the people that are gonna be 450 feet away from this.

Okay, different size, but uh I understand.

We don't know, we don't have the environmental impact study.

I think when and I appreciate uh Alderman Burgells showing up, it's really appreciative when uh when an alderman shows up at City Hall.

Doesn't happen very often.

We come here, we're five and a half hours of the fire and police commission, five hours here.

You know, we're trying, we're trying to do our part, but I think it'd be appropriate if we had the Milwaukee uh uh medical college of Wisconsin give a report on this.

Okay, health departments not here, but I'll leave that to the health experts.

I'm not a health expert.

I got a little background in numbers, and I'm just wondering, and Mr.

Crumb.

Very good speaker, duke Duke graduate, so you know it's hard to compete.

But I'd like to know where the where the 3.3 million dollar development fund that we put into midtown in 2013.

Where is that 3.3 million dollars right now?

Five point two million dollars was taken out of Midtown.

This is a struggling district, no, no trees, no no landscaping.

We had weeds last year.

I hope some of you went by midtown, saw the four or five foot weeds in this guy's parking lot.

This is the type of landlord we have, and if it's not his if that wasn't his responsibility, I apologize.

We have to ask the Department of City development how did Lowe's become a storage unit that is not allowed by the by the development uh agreement and I just want to say I'm worried about these storage units if you go to 60th and good hope there's been a storage unit on the corner there for 30 years.

Painted orange gaudy orange who knows what color this building is going to be painted but what happens when you have a storage unit with advertising gaudy orange advertising that tells everybody what kind of neighborhood this is and there has not been one Iota of development on that intersection in 30 years.

I wouldn't want to be next to that I'm surprised the gas station's still there okay is there anything else that you want to add to that no I'll just finish with the again the numbers Mr Crump used a specific word terminology this is kind of legalese uh gonna conveyance for one dollar and young lady said the same thing conveyance for one dollar is going to be one of the uh uh restrictions what does conveyance of one dollar mean who who are you conveying it to are you conveying it from Mr.

Gorman Gorman Company to another outfit owned by Gorman is that what you mean so that the Gorman company is going to become the landlord and the owner of forty million dollars of housing that is that's where we're that's where we're at you so much okay um I have three more individuals okay on virtual um Janice West I am calling in support of the development over in that area I think it would be nice to have a library over there in low income housing something needs to be put over there okay now I just really want to ask I know it's long we've been here a long time but we can't hear the person testifying if we're all talking at the same time so if we can just hold that if you want to have a conversation you can go in the hallway but let's let's continue Janice continue please thank you I'm just I agree I'm in support of it being put over there that's all thank you okay thank you next we have Babette Jones hi there and hi Babette Jeans how are you good go ahead I am very in support of um the library and the the housing there so um I actually live in the neighborhood and I attended the church that's across the street so we really miss having action and people more people in the neighborhood um it was just a nice thing as a child coming from the Capitol Court area over to church um it was just made it more it became part of our community so yes I'm in very much support of the library and the housing I think it's a great idea Dr.

Dr.

Cass Bowers hello I am Dr.

Cassandra Bowers I live in Sherman Park neighborhood I grew up in the midtown area.

Actually, we went to Don Marshall High School.

Dr.

Cassandra, could you please speak up and start again and then go ahead and please?

Okay, can you hear me?

Yes.

Alright, I'll talk louder.

So, Dr.

Cassandra Bowers, I live in a Sherman Park neighborhood, grew up in the Sherman Park neighborhood, went to Don Marshall High School.

I can walk to Midtown from my home.

And I want to be clear on the money grab that this is.

The return on investments of a data center is upwards, it could be upwards of 60%.

The reason why a data center would come to this location is because they can make money.

And I want the questions I want to have answered is of the 126,000 people that live below the poverty line in Milwaukee, will this data center help them?

Of the 30% of children that are below the poverty rate in Milwaukee, will it help them?

Are we really trying to help folks in this neighborhood, or are we just trying to put something in a place because it looks bad right now?

Let's be real about what we're doing here.

This is a money grab, and it's going to be harmful for the people that live in that neighborhood.

People like me who can walk to Midtown, who can walk to pick and save over there, who can walk the planet fitness, who can walk all the way over there to the car wash all the places.

So really we need to consider what are we going to be doing to our people?

Are we helping the citizens of Milwaukee as a whole?

Because the data center doesn't just affect Midtown, it affects the whole city and eventually the entire state.

So we need to really consider that.

This is a 40 to 60 percent or upwards of that money grab, and that's the return on investment for a data center in this lake area.

And 20 jobs is not enough to to account for the 40% of Milwaukeeans that get paid less than $15 an hour.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, Dr.

Melita Tyler.

I did Melita Tyler.

Oh, sorry.

Okay, make sure I get up again.

Okay.

All right, so first I just want to say thank you for everybody uh for being here making this possible.

This is something that we were begging for at one of those first meetings because we really want to be heard.

Also, thank you to everybody who's still here, because I know it takes a long time to uh or a lot to stay here.

Um through all of this.

Um, and you know it's a weird time of course during the day when most people are working, so I hope that you also appreciate how hard it is for everybody who's come up here to speak.

Um, and I'll try to keep I already feel myself going a little raspity, so just please bear with me.

Okay, um, I'll start with a little bit of humor.

Um, with all of these things with the federal government, with the wars, with um the government playing with my student loan forgiveness.

Finally, somebody has done something for me because all I've ever wanted was self-storage, except except that's not true.

So, um Dr.

Malita Pay Tyler, that is who I am.

Um, I am here tonight to urge this board to deny the requested zoning deviation.

I have been in Milwaukee for my entire life.

So has my family.

Um, I used to live on 35th and state, but since I was four, I was just a couple blocks from where the midtown area is.

Um my mom also lives in the same duplex that I do, and know that she does have asthma.

Know that my nephew has asthma, know that my brother has asthma, and a lot of people that I know.

I also want to say, I mean, walking around to different people in the neighborhood that included district seven and district two, a number of people did come out with oxygen masks that were on their face.

So I just want you to think about the population where we are thinking about putting this.

Um, zoning laws exist to protect residents from predatory land use.

The development incentive zone, the DIZ, um, for this property explicitly prohibits data centers and self-storage units.

It was intentionally designed to foster community-facing commercial and residential growth.

And it's incredibly concerning that an out-of-state developer, Trent Overhew purchased a property, knowing its zoning blocked the exact business model that he had, seemingly counting on this board to bend the rules for him.

So when he bought this, he already knew no self-storage, no data centers.

Why would you do that?

Unless you're assuming that you can change people.

Unless you're assuming if you shake the right hands and if you have enough money, that we can make something different happen for him, right?

The developer claims, so I did go to some of these in meetings, that he tried so hard to get other places in here, and now he's suffering by holding on to this vacant Walmart property.

But let's be clear.

A wealthy developer with a vast real estate portfolio does not hurt from a vacant building.

To him, this empty building is a financial tool.

He can use it equally as collateral to secure bank loans to for his projects elsewhere.

He uses its maintenance costs and paper depreciation to shield his other profits from taxes.

He's holding our neighborhood hostage, and he is dangling the library relocation.

So let's not say it's a brand new library, it's a relocation.

And having easily 600 people living on top of each other as a carrot.

But when we when we really look at that, right, um, it seems like or it's sounded like the library that we have over there, right?

Has been kind of left.

There's been a lot of things happening with a lot of libraries, and R1 on Capital has kind of been left.

But I heard that people in their district were actually getting things together to get that place upgraded, but then that stopped because of this.

So again, and then let's also be clear, right?

With all those things that I said about the developer and having like this is actually not hard for him, in that same vein, right?

We all say, oh man, this building has been empty for so long.

That's because of Trent.

He's left it there, he's left it empty to wear us out, so that we say, Oh my god, this place has been so empty and so degraded, please do something.

We don't care what you do with it, but we care.

We still care.

Okay, um, so the other thing is with that, in terms of things that he said, he also said in those meetings again that he tried so hard to get the people in there.

Has a committee and can we ask the developer to produce official commercial listening history?

The dates the property was marketed to retail makes use tenants and the actual asking rent per square foot since 2022, right?

Because if he's asking for more than what people usually pay over there, you're essentially keeping them out, and again, keeping it empty.

Um, so keeping this empty protects his phantom valuation on his balance sheet while he waits to force zoning change, and he isn't losing, but he is leveraging us.

So, variation of this project was already voted down in 2023, um, holding on to this property to sneak it back through in 2026 as bait and switch that severely erodes public trust, which is important, and furthermore, um I do want to say I would like you to please pass this around.

Uh oh, you're passing the surround to us, and it's um it's not it's not locked, so if it goes out, please you can just switch it back on.

Um, so I did go to that meeting, um, and I brought her with me.

So that is my three-year-old daughter, and I want you to not think of Trent instead of think of that three and a half little age little girl.

She came to the meetings as well.

And I do want to say, and I will try to be as respectful as possible, that I feel like Mark Chambers was failing at his fundamental duty.

He was elected to represent the ward, collective interests, and to maintain open communication.

But instead, at that meeting that I went to, thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

At that meeting, at that recent meeting at Midtown, I, residents, my three-year-old daughter were left waiting in a hot building with no chairs.

I know you've heard, no water, no microphone, no fans, no organization, no real opportunity for documented public comment.

And I do appreciate you for asking about public comment.

And I did hear his answer, and it was not real.

I was there.

People from his award were there.

I spoke, I spoke to them as well.

They're very upset.

Their questions were not answered.

They were getting a lot of the same stuff parodied to them that you keep hearing that does not actually answer any of our questions.

Okay, um, to be honest with you, he sounds like a spokesperson.

And I, and I don't, again, not meaning to be rude, I'm I'm really want to be very clear with how I felt, and this has brought me to you.

Um I also expressed there how disappointed I was that he was telling everybody they needed to respect him in Trent while me and my three-year-old were sitting in a hot room for hours and not being listened to.

I also told him that I didn't appreciate the format, because if you're telling us that you want public feedback, that is not the way to get it.

And I will also be honest with you and say when he's talking about his engagement, that I have been on his Facebook, and I have seen some of the posts that he put about midtown, right?

And some of them were saying I want public input, but it didn't give meeting dates and times.

So I went in the comments and gave people meeting dates and times.

And they they DM me back and said thank you for telling me because I didn't know.

I only heard about this because of the Sherman Park Association, right?

They're the ones who have been on the ground that have been talking to people and getting them to come.

I will keep going.

Thank you.

The other thing is that again, this is a if there's anything more that you want to do.

There is, thank you.

I do.

So the other thing is that we know that this is a data center from all the people the parts that are on that um blueprint that they have, and then a facility dedicated to data storage processing service hosting or research, regardless of whether you market it or you classify it differently, like as a tech campus or research facility or high density computing operation, it's still a data center, as we know.

We do read, we research, and we do care about our community.

We all know if it looks like a duck cracks like a duck, it is a duck.

So Trent was quoted in articles saying that it'll be a medical research and a computational research facility, but he also did say defense.

And I will say when somebody said it earlier, saw him shaking his head, I heard it as well.

He did say that that was a possibility.

Um, and I don't understand why the city is okay to make deals that involve non-disclosure agreements.

Um, when I need something, when I need from something from the city, I give all of my information, even a vial of blood.

But a community uh, but a company can say, hey, I want this, here's some money, and we don't ask questions.

I don't think that's right.

And we are counting on you to make sure that that is not okay.

The dev the developer claims that we should accept this.

He said this also in the meeting, because there are other neighborhoods like ours that have the same thing.

So, in that vein, I guess if somebody else jumps off the roof, I should too.

And I think that we deserve better than that.

Data centers do not generate community wealth or local jobs, they employ a handful of high-tech workers who rarely live in that community.

Worse, thanks to the 2025-27 state budget, certified data centers receive massive massive sales tax exemptions on equipment, construction, materials, and electricity.

The sales and use tax exemption 2023 Act 19, um, they are exempt from the 5% sales tax, county city tax, all that.

The elimination of personal tax is a 2023 Act 12.

Um, while our local taxes go up when we can hardly survive, does out-of-state developer benefits from state tax loopholes?

Watchdogs warned that Wisconsin taxpayers could be losing over two billion in lost revenue because of these kinds of loopholes.

We bear all the burdens and they take all the profit.

The health risks to our neighborhood are severe.

There's air pollution on-site diesel generators which emit particulate matter that triggers asthma attacks, cardiovascular stress, and COPD.

I read a study that our north side neighbors are the highest ones that have these lung problems in the whole county.

So we are taking a very vulnerable community and we're putting them in harm's way.

And then we are looking at environmental hazards, closed loop cooling systems, which we talk about a lot, right?

So, no, it's not using as much water, but guess what?

It's using a lot of chemicals.

So you see things like glycol, toxic biocide, and corrosion inhibitors like nitrates, nitrites, and heavy metabolism.

Um, but we don't know exactly what's in there, right?

Because that's also something that's being held from us.

Um, if the pipe cracks, if a veil fails, if a joint ruptures due to high pressure, thousands of gallons of this chemically toxic, non-potable water can flash flood the facility, it can spill into the local environment, contaminating local soil, storm sewers.

Like somebody already said before.

We already have those issues.

People have stuff coming backing up in their houses every day, every time it rains, right?

But then we're also gonna put people and live have them live right on top of it so they can also live with that and just suck it in.

I do.

I just have a couple more points.

I will be very quickly.

No, I don't.

I have one paragraph, and I'll finish.

I appreciate it.

And we've all been sitting here and giving time, and I appreciate being able to be here for a long time.

And I left my three-year-old, please, because I was gonna come here with her.

Um there's also biological hazards and called dead legs.

So you think about when um when there are minor leaks that introduces microscopic organisms, this is when you get things like lesionary disease.

So that's kind of their that piece.

Microbiology influenced corrosion when we have anaerobic and our anaerobic, excuse me, bacteria that builds up inside of those, and they're making pinholes inside the pipes.

By the time you know that there's a problem, it's already erupted.

So that's not anything that they would know about right away.

So there is that corrosion, there's thermal expansion expansion and explosive pressure.

We won't even go into that.

The seven to ten megawatts of continuous power is enough to run 10,000 homes, residential homes, and simultaneously, right?

It's dropping a small town into the middle of Milwaukee.

It's adding fossil fuels that need to be burned, adding to the pollution.

So we lose, we have a bunch of blackouts when it rains and all of that, right?

So our system is already overloaded.

So, what's gonna happen now when this is already there?

We're gonna have blackouts, their backup generator is gonna come on, and we get to breathe that in, and they're in their company still goes.

And we also have the heat islands, right?

We are already heat island, and they say that adding a data center will give you another 10 degrees.

So we are already somewhere that's 10 degrees hotter than surrounding areas, so now we can be 20 degrees hotter than the surrounding areas.

I also want to say my degree is in, I have a doctor in the lead in the educational leadership for the advancement of learning and service.

Okay, and one of the things that you learn there is that when you're a leader, you are in service to those that you work for.

You also know that when there is problems, you don't just give them something and say this is gonna make it better.

Because the way that you actually solve problems is you find out what that community needs.

You actually ask those questions, you actually listen when they come to you.

So I really do hope that you guys are hearing everybody who is here.

Um I also have to say a note from listening.

I thought it was an insult to say that the front is the most impactful piece of this project and that the back is very passive.

When the back is the part that has such health impact, such health ramifications, and I also think again trying to be respectful, that it's asinine to say we want to do this with no regulations.

And then with the regulations that are being put forth, they have nothing to do with this.

So those regulations are working on are for data centers that are 20,000 feet and larger, and this is 19.

So even though it looks like we're doing something, we're still not addressing this issue at midtown.

Okay, and I do live there, I want you to think about my daughter.

Because she lives in there, she breathes that air.

So does my all of my family members that have health problems already, and the people that I spoke with who came to the door with oxygen mass.

I also want to give you all the opportunity to sign my petition because we don't want a data center.

So if you would like to add your name to that, I also allow you to do that.

And I do want to thank everybody.

Um, thank you for listening to me.

I I am begging you to not grant this deviation.

It does signal to outside developers that Milwaukee is for sale, and that the people do not matter, but we matter.

Our health matters, my beautiful three-year-old matters.

And I urge his board to uphold the integrity of the DIZ zoning, vote no for this deviation.

Trent does not care about our community.

He has held it there on purpose.

But I expect and implore that each of you do.

So thank you for listening and not only listening, but hearing.

All of those things.

Each and every one of you, thank you very much for actually hearing and taking it into consideration.

And it's not just being something where you can say, We gave them a chance to talk.

Because again, with all those other hearings, where we said we gave them a chance to talk, we weren't being listened to.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Rosetta Lane.

Rosetta.

John Johnla Mitchell.

Hey.

I live like five minutes from their property driving.

So I want to address two things, and I want to talk about the human capital of everything.

Someone brought up the reason why we have this issue.

What's going to happen if this doesn't pass?

It's going to stay blinded.

The reason for that blight is because of racism in the first place.

Systemic racism that we all have been suffering in the city of Milwaukee.

That's killing us, elders, children.

I have lost eight, eight trans sisters in Milwaukee because of the racism in this in this city.

That's not been addressed.

But I and I have to continue, we all have to continue to deal with the racism.

Which looks like a city governance or elected officials that are collaborating for the interests of two rich white men.

That is what racism is.

We we we talk about these, we talk in these general these general terms, but this is what's real.

It's a diverse community in Sherman Park and Metcalf Park, the old North neighborhoods that I live in, that I work in.

I'm at Planet Fitness, the grocery stores there, my partner and their family are there.

The community is very loud.

We don't want data centers there.

And honestly, someone someone a couple of times they've mentioned like a fresh start.

Someone mentioned a fresh start on the phone, and um someone else spoke about a fresh start and disinvestment being a fresh start.

A storage facility doesn't build community, and it's not a fresh start.

The same thing of the gentleman who uh runs the security company that will be paid to provide the security for that property, mentioned again, they have a financial interest in their support, might I add.

They mentioned that if that that property stays undeveloped on with the storage data center, that the crimes and all the social issues you mentioned, the drugs and all their inappropriate behavior, as you said, that happens there, a storage facility and a data center are not going to fix that.

The exact same social issues we deal with that this property, even affordable housing.

I'm a fan of affordable housing because that's the least we can get right now.

But affordable housing does not end generations of systemic racism that drove us to poverty in the first place.

So if we want a fresh start, and again, we all want a fresh start.

No one here, no one out, no one watching, no one is against a fresh start, no one is against the words of development, but we need to focus on the human capital here.

The human capital is if we continue to let rich white men who run a corporation, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, get what they want at the detriment of black and brown communities that continue to suffer every day.

That is not a fresh start.

A fresh start is changing how we make decisions, which are public hearings, but also elected officials who consult the community that elected them to build that solution in the first place.

That's a solution that will solve the issues, but also why we do that, and that's based off of human capital.

We talk about money, we talk about numbers all together.

But there's a human capital to all of this.

And I think we also need to remember that because whether they they're going to make money anywhere.

They are across the Midwest.

They're going to make their money regardless.

We still have, we will have to struggle whether it stays blighted or not.

We still continue to we're gonna struggle with those results.

Okay, so again, I ask that you vote no on data centers in the city of Milwaukee as well as this development.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, now I have a few people more uh maybe maybe maybe this person already came up.

Melody McCertes.

I can come up again.

So I think you put it, oh, you know what, you were there and there.

Yeah.

I think I remember your testimony, so I think we don't have to come up with you.

Um Carly Mortar.

Okay.

Shale Wilson.

Shalea.

Alright, so I'm gonna try to make this quick.

I know we've been saying that.

But I'm Shalia Wilson, and I'm a long-term walk resident.

Hey Renew, how you doing?

Um, all right, so let's be honest.

AI data centers are a tool of oppression.

Period.

And oppression is the number one reason to have depression.

It's the number one reason to be down.

Is it why our community is not prospering?

It is why we are not okay right now.

And for y'all to stand here in front of us, sit here and be our council elected officials, you're failing us.

And I know nobody said that to y'all today, but that's what this is.

It's an egregious gross oversight, it is a failure.

Because your commitment is to the people.

I am the people.

These are the people.

You are the people, your families are gonna have to deal with this unless y'all all live in the suburbs where they're not putting these data centers.

And even then, the air travels.

How many times have we heard about fires coming from Canada or from California?

And we have heat advisories here, we have weather advisories and air advisories because it travels, these effects are traveling, period.

And when the heat increases, violence increases.

Y'all know that?

I don't know if y'all knew that.

We have less trees on the north side in majority black neighborhoods, and we have less shade, which means we have more heat, which means people are more likely to be upset and stressed out, and there's creating more violence.

Y'all say y'all don't want the violence anymore, you're about to put something that's literally about to increase the temperature in our neighborhood and make people more violent, make drivers more reckless, make neighbors less likely to get along with one another.

This is factual, and like I said, the internet is free, dude.