County council approves bylaw amendments for Goldfinch Data Centre

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County has taken its first steps towards the construction of the Goldfinch Technology Park proposed for Carseland.

Council voted 4-3 in favour, Aug. 11, to approve Bylaws 2025-34 and 2025-34, being to allow a data centre as an appropriate industrial use case, and to redesignate lands in the Goldfinch Industrial Area Structure Plan (ASP) to accommodate it. 

Reeve Scott Klassen, Coun. Shannon Laprise, Coun. Berle Hebbes, and Coun. Keith Klayton voted in favour. 

Coun. Donna Biggar, Coun. Rick Laursen, and Coun. Glenn Koester voted against. Koester previously voted in favour of first and second readings.

“There was numerous concerns from the public, numerous letters … and I thought there was a good response from the developer and everything, and that is what makes it so tough, but the public did not want it,” said Koester. “I have a hard time with this because the ratepayers should be happy … overwhelmingly, the response is not too good for the development. I don’t know why.”

Laprise emphasized council to be approving a concept plan, and there remain opportunities throughout the development process to address ongoing concerns maintained by local residents.

The proposal on the table promotes the construction of a nearly 600-acre data centre located immediately south of Township Road 222, and west of Highway 24. 

The data centre campus, as currently presented, estimates being comprised of approximately 3.5 million square feet of floor space built out across its designated development areas.

“On the human health side, I went and looked at the Mayo Clinic. They have an absolutely neutral stance on data centres. Then … I went and looked at Harvard, and they have two concerns, water and electricity,” said Hebbes. “The water usage in these types of plants is very highly mitigated by using air cooling and glycol, so the water, it is going to be 50 to 100 people (working in the plant) … the water use is important to me, but I think it is mitigatable.”

Despite his statement, published work by the Mayo Clinic themselves, as well as Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Law Review, The Harvard Gazette, and the University of Michigan Ford School of Science, Technology, and Public Policy refute those claims.

Hebbes also referenced a $196 million data centre greenlit for construction adjacent to the John Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore. This facility is reported (The Baltimore Banner) to anticipate a maximum load capacity of less than 10 megawatts.

The Goldfinch Technology Park, by contrast, is projecting a minimum load capacity of 250 megawatts, with a maximum of up to 950 megawatts.

Prior to the start of the meeting, a petition hosted through change.org launched by county resident, Emily Barnett, amassed 1,669 signatures voicing their dissent towards the data centre. 

Laursen noted prior to the vote, Barnett’s petition received significantly more engagement and signatures than county residents who turned out to vote in the October 2025 municipal election.

Representatives from Diode Ventures who were present for the discussion in council chambers did not make themselves available for comment following the result of the vote.

Instead, a statement was released shortly following their departure from the meeting: 

“Diode Ventures appreciates Wheatland County council’s approval of the land use amendments for the proposed Goldfinch Technology Park and its thoughtful consideration of the work undertaken to date. Over the past 18 months, we have demonstrated our commitment to diligence and transparency through extensive technical studies, stakeholder engagement and ongoing collaboration with county administration, residents, local businesses and regulatory agencies to help shape a responsible development proposal.

“We remain committed to continued community engagement as the project advances through its next phases, with a focus on responsible development, delivering long-term economic benefits for Wheatland County and supporting Alberta’s growing digital infrastructure needs.”

Despite the results voted for by council, Barnett said she is prepared to continue fighting to prevent construction from being allowed to begin. 

“I am grossly disappointed in the four council members that voted for this. I am grossly disappointed that they (council) didn’t look at what our own Goldfinch ASP states they have to accept. We have policies that demand information before any application moves onto the permit side, and one of those requirements is listing where your power will come from,” she said. “You need to map out where your transition lines are, where your substations are; none of that has been done by Diode, and in fact, Diode acknowledges that they are supposed to do that in the ASP.”

She added a letter was sent, Aug. 10, to council requesting the discussion be tabled until more information regarding the facility’s power intentions were brought forward.

Dawn Parnell, another county resident in opposition of council’s vote, said she, among many others decrying the facility, is concerned about the potential for both physical and psychological stresses associated with living near to a hyperscale data centre. 

“It may not cause some people to be sick, but it may cause emotional stress that we don’t even understand yet, like anxiety and depression and things because of not necessarily the noise, but the low frequencies,” she said.

Similar to what is being observed in Vulcan County, Barnett and Parnell intend to spearhead a request for a judicial review, attempting to overturn council’s decision.

“We are going to be looking into all of our options. We are not giving up. We will be there every step of the way – every permit, every (application), making sure it is done right if we can’t stop it,” said Parnell.