Missoula County sets July meeting for vote on Bonner data center

The sole public hearing for a new data center in Bonner is set for early July, where the Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board will rule whether the development would be compatible with nearby residences.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 1 at 6 p.m. to review the data center application from Idaho-based company Krambu, which has ambitions to grow the operations to use 100 megawatts over several years.

The application for the data center notes that the site would operate 24 hours a day, not include any permanent onsite staffing and use less water than the standard artificial intelligence data center.

"Krambu will be constructing a modern data center in Missoula," the application said. "The equipment they are using is state-of-the-art."

The hearing is required because the proposed location for the data center sits within 500 feet of existing residences. Krambu must pass a special exception review for the project to continue.

The proposal will require the installation of new cooling towers on the exterior of the building. Krambu plans to mitigate the new construction by installing new street trees, according to the application.

The Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board, or MCCLUB, will make the decision because the board handles zoning variances and land use decisions under state law.

The land use board would specifically consider impacts from the data center on nearby residents, like increased traffic, noise, vibrations, outdoor lighting, infrastructure impacts, among other criteria, according to the county.

"The Special Exception review is focused on whether the proposed industrial use, including its equipment and operations, would be compatible with nearby residential properties and whether potential impacts can be avoided or mitigated," the county said on its Missoula County Voice webpage.

County staff have yet to make a recommendation to MCCLUB on the application, county planner Jennie Dixon told the Missoulian in an email on Thursday.

Dixon said county staff are in the public notification phase of the process and a recommendation should be available for review on June 16.

The Board of Missoula County commissioners do not have a say for the project.

Krambu would still have to comply with the county's data center zoning rules, which require the company to obtain a new renewable energy source for the operation and recycle electronic waste associated with the center.

Krambu said on its website that it has plans for roughly 120 megawatts of artificial intelligence data centers in western Montana in 2026, although its CEO Steve Wood declined to share specifics with the Missoulian in March.

Krambu employees previously told residents at a March town hall that the center would start at 3 megawatts, and Wood hopes to add other services like a hydroponics garden at the mill.

"My vision, from an industrial symbiosis perspective, is to educate people on what you can do with the energy that you are using again and again," Wood said in March. "... It creates an economy within the data center environment that serves the community."

The site's existing infrastructure would allow for approximately 29 megawatts of power, according to the application, but at "full build out" the operation could reach 100 megawatts.

"Power will come from nonlocal sources and will be fed across the regional power grid that is owned by multiple power companies," Krambu's application said. "The availability of additional power to the site depends on several unknown factors and therefore cannot be determined at this time."

A coalition of residents are opposed to the data center, citing concerns over the use of power and water. More than 4,000 people have signed a petition opposing the project as of May 14.

The county will host the special exemption review in the Sophie Moiese Room within the Missoula County Courthouse starting at 6 p.m., July 1, with an option to participate remotely.

Additional updates around the project can be found at the Missoula County Voice webpage.