Instead, developers on all data center projects will have to go through a special permitting process with a public hearing, and provide answers to a list of questions about neighborhood impact: Will they support artificial intelligence or cryptocurrency mining? How much energy and water they will consume? How many permanent jobs will they provide? How will they limit pollution and noise?
“We want to be open for business,” Spencer said. “But we do want to be thoughtful in the regulation that we’re putting forward.”
The rules, laid out in an executive order to be signed Friday, show the city grappling with an industry that is at once driving development and prompting backlash across the country. Data centers are considered essential infrastructure for the artificial intelligence boom — McKinsey predicts $7 trillion in investment will be needed worldwide by 2030.
But they can take up large tracts of space and consume enormous amounts of energy, raising concerns they could displace other development and drive up residents’ electric bills. While construction can employ thousands of workers, far fewer people are needed to maintain the facilities once they are built.
There are already about a dozen in St. Louis, mostly in former office buildings downtown. In setting planning priorities earlier this year, Don Roe, the city’s chief planner, wrote that an abundance of cheap office space and light regulations could easily attract more data centers, potentially precluding other development that might be a better fit.
Last week, Roe released a memo urging officials to act quickly — either by adopting interim rules to guide development or by imposing a moratorium while a full set of regulations is drafted.
The city of St. Charles had already banned data center development for a year after rejecting a $1 billion project along Highway 370 that conservationists said posed threats to the region’s waterways, wildlife and drinking water.
St. Louis’ planning commission voted last week to recommend a moratorium. Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer, of Boulevard Heights, announced plans to propose a one-year pause. Spencer voiced her support.
But there was pushback. The building trades unions, whose members could work on the projects, warned of lost jobs, three city officials told the Post-Dispatch. Developers, like the one proposing a $600 million project in Midtown, also raised questions. It wasn’t clear a moratorium could get through the Board of Aldermen.
In response, the mayor’s office and aldermen crafted the plan announced Thursday. It lays out the questions developers have to answer. And it changes rules that previously allowed data centers to bypass a process requiring review by top city officials in at least some industrial areas.
Aldermanic President Megan Green, who favored a moratorium, said the new framework should accomplish the same goal of slowing down development so the city can better understand the issue without pausing things entirely.
The city just needs to know more, Schweitzer said. “The point is to get those questions answered,” she said. “What is the energy use? What is the water use? What is the effect on nearby property owners?”
Spencer’s executive order gives city departments five months to come up with additional rules.
City planning and zoning specialists will handle the zoning regulations. The water department will need to draw up rates for data centers and outline any upgrades needed to accommodate them.
St. Louis planning commission calls for moratorium on data centers. Mayor supports pause.
The city's planning agency wants more time to study their impacts and to suggest regulations.
2nd St. Charles official is tied to data center proposal
Mary West, a St. Charles councilwoman, is cousins with Chris McKee, president of CRG, the developer behind the data center plan known as CRG Cumulus.
St. Charles rejected a data center. Ameren has a list of dozens of similar projects
Data center debates across Missouri will likely be shaped by ongoing efforts to determine rules and rate designs about how to accommodate and pay for them.
© 2025 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
