A growing number of Mississauga city councillors contacted by Canada\u2019s National Observer are concerned by the proposal to build a 229,000-square-foot data centre in Meadowvale Business Park, with at least half of council prepared to support a pause in data-centre applications for one year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The issue could come to a head on July 29 when councillors debate a motion proposed by Ward 9 Coun. Martin Reid to delay any decisions on data centres until the city conducts additional research into potential safety concerns. The data centre would be located in his ward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reid now feels that approving the facility would deliver no benefits to the community,\u00a0particularly because it will support only 50 to 75 permanent jobs once operational, a number he says is too low considering the size of the development.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also concerned that Prologis has neglected to disclose what company would be operating the data centre. Developments without a confirmed operator are an\u00a0emerging<\/a> category across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), according to\u00a0Ontario Data Centre Tracker<\/a>. The amount of energy demand generated by the data centre could fluctuate greatly depending on which company moves onto the site.<\/p>\n Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla said she will be supporting Reid\u2019s motion \u201cbecause right now our zoning rules leave Mississauga exposed,\u201d she said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n Zoning and site plan applications are two methods municipalities can use to exercise control over data centre developments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Damerla is worried that approving Prologis\u2019 application would open the door to other data centres. \u201cThat\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When the issue goes before council later this month, Mayor Carolyn Parrish could be the deciding vote: \u201cI believe Council should await the staff report and the conclusion of its regular review process\u00a0\u2014 so that council members can make a sound decision based on facts,\u201d she told CNO in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n Reid\u2019s motion would pause data centre applications in Mississauga for at least one year, giving council an opportunity to create a new zoning class for data centres and examine their costs or benefits for the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n To gauge council\u2019s position on the issue, CNO contacted each council member to ask whether they\u2019d support a one-year interim control bylaw to pause similar developments.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the responses obtained by CNO, six of the 11 councillors are ready to support the motion. The vote could still be very close, particularly considering Mayor Parrish\u2019s wait-and-see position. She\u2019s the 12th city council member.\u00a0<\/p>\n Development application under review by city staff<\/p>\n Industrial real estate giant Prologis filed a planning\u00a0application<\/a> to the City of Mississauga last December, seeking zoning approval for a 229,000-square-foot data centre and two single-storey distribution centres at 0 Tenth Line W, located in the Meadowvale Business Park in Ward 9. If built, it would be one of the largest data centres in the GTA, according to Reid.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a March 30\u00a0planning meeting<\/a>, council appeared to support the application, with Reid enthusiastic about the data centre\u2019s potential to create jobs in the area. Council voted unanimously to work with Prologis and city staff to seek more information about the proposal, particularly related to engineering and technical information such as the facility\u2019s estimated water consumption.<\/p>\n Despite Prologis fulfilling many of these requests, residents and council members are still concerned about the potential impact of such a large data centre on nearby residential areas and the environment. For example, Prologis\u2019s\u00a0noise impact study<\/a> found that the data centre would not exceed decibel limits \u2014 but people living near data centres in other jurisdictions\u00a0often complain<\/a> about constant, low-frequency humming that isn\u2019t measured on a decibel study.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Community backlash at data centre town hall\u00a0<\/p>\n Reid was one of the first to turn against the development after hosting a standing-room-only town hall for his ward on June 25. More than 300 attended to hear from city staff, Region of Peel planners and three Prologis representatives about the project. In a community centre, residents shouted questions about the data centre\u2019s estimated water usage, environmental impact, noise generation, heat emission and energy demand.<\/p>\n A standing-room only town hall on June 25, 2026 saw more than 300 residents attend to share their concerns about the data center proposal. Video clips provided by Alvin Tedjo. Video edited by Emmerson Jull \/ Canada’s National Observer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs the meeting went on, I realized that there were a lot of questions that were unanswered,\u201d Reid said. \u201cWhen they didn’t have a definitive answer on the energy usage, the water usage, the decibel levels, that didn\u2019t sit well with me.\u201d<\/p>\n In an email to Canada\u2019s National Observer,\u00a0Prologis spokesperson Mattie Walker Sorrento<\/a> said, \u201cWe take seriously the questions and concerns raised at the recent meeting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sorrento confirmed that Prologis intends to work through the City of Mississauga\u2019s planning process and provide clear answers about the facility. \u201cWe aim to be a trusted partner to the Mississauga community and will continue the dialogue about how this project can best support local needs and priorities,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Councillors calling for pause on mega data centre proposals<\/p>\n Reid said he will introduce an interim control bylaw motion\u00a0similar to a moratorium<\/a> introduced by\u00a0Hamilton Coun. Nrinder Nann<\/a> and approved 15-1 by Hamilton\u2019s council on June 24, the day before Mississauga\u2019s town hall. Hamilton\u2019s interim control bylaw will go back to council for a final vote on July 15. Reid said he has been in contact with Nann\u2019s office since the town hall. Her motion will help inform the one he is bringing to council later this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the moratorium period, Mississauga\u2019s council would work to design a land-use designation specific to data centres, since they are currently classified as warehouses. It would compel the city to consult utility companies, Indigenous communities, environmental experts, labour organizations, academics and community members to understand the city-wide impact of hosting data centres.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reid said he isn\u2019t opposed to data centres, but he believes they should deliver real benefits to the city\u2019s economy and residents. If data centres are to be built, their consequences for energy demand, water consumption and neighbourhood wellbeing shouldn\u2019t outweigh their ability to create jobs and economic returns for the city. \u201cYou know, the moratorium at this point is one year. But if I see no community impact, I’m not afraid to make it a permanent no.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A growing number of Mississauga city councillors contacted by Canada\u2019s National Observer are concerned by the proposal to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-792647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}