Applied Digital rendering, Harwood (Courtesy/Applied Digital)
FARGO (KFGO) – The City of Fargo has taken action to annex land near Harwood where the $3 billion Applied Digital artificial intelligence data plant may go.
During the Aug. 4 city commission meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to begin the annexation process, without any mention of the AI data center.
Jim Gilmour is director of strategic planning and research for the City of Fargo. He says some of the land is in Harwood’s zoning jurisdiction.
“The proposed site for the Applied Digital is in one of the areas the city has started an annexation on,” City of Fargo director of strategic planning and research Jim Gilmour said. “We started the annexation. There has to be hearings and land owner notices. That’s all in progress, but we began the process on Aug. 4.”
Gilmour says the land is in Fargo’s extra territorial zoning jurisdiction. He says acquiring the property is a legal process that could result in mediation. He says resolving the annexation question may drag into November.
Gilmour says he and several others at City Hall have signed non-disclosure agreements with Applied Digital and they’re limited on what they can disclose publicly.
Mayor Tim Mahoney has not responded to a request for comment from KFGO News.
Applied Digital has said it hopes to move ahead with “Polaris Forge 2” quickly and break ground as soon as next month.
The company promises at least 200 full-time jobs once the two-building factory is completed paying an average of $64,000 a year. An estimated 300 people turned for a meeting hosted by the company in Harwood Monday. Concerns were raised about the cost of supplying the data center with electricity, and the possibility of the cost of living becoming too expensive.
In a statement to KFGO News, the company said “We met with both Fargo and Harwood. Because the site is near Harwood, we felt its community would feel the biggest impact and also see the greatest benefit from the property tax revenue. We believe in doing things the right way, so we chose to work with Harwood to listen to and address their concerns. For these reasons, we are planning to protest Fargo’s annexation of the site.”
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