Oppidan Data Center, Apple Valley, Minnesota

Apple Valley, Minnesota, has blocked Oppidan's plan for a data center campus of up to five buildings on gravel-mining land in Dakota County, after the City Council unanimously denied the project's permits on March 26, 2026. The council then passed a one-year moratorium on new data center proposals on July 9, 2026, halting any further consideration on the site. Oppidan and landowner Rockport LLC had proposed the Apple Valley Technology Park in early 2025, with five buildings totaling 1.05 million square feet and 250 to 300 megawatts of power.

The city's objections were land use and water: Apple Valley's 2040 Comprehensive Plan guides the site, between Flagstaff Avenue, 150th Street and Pilot Knob Road, for retail, hotel, office, medical and housing, not a data center of that size. A city analysis found it could not supply the water the project would need; the city says it already needs $106 million in water treatment work and has shut two of its 14 wells over PFAS contamination.

Rockport disputed that analysis and proposed private wells on the site; the city asked for an escrow payment to fund a study of the idea. The city received more than 100 comments, mostly opposed, and residents raised water, electric supply, noise, traffic and land use at meetings. The Planning Commission voted 5-1 against the plan in April 2025, and the City Council denied it in January 2026.

Oppidan and Rockport withdrew their rezoning requests on March 6 and 10, 2026, days before Oppidan's last extension ran out. On March 18 the Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial of the remaining permits, and on March 26 the City Council unanimously denied them. Oppidan had said the campus could bring thousands of construction jobs, about 200 permanent jobs and a $4.5 million increase in city taxes by 2030.

Apple Valley joins Eagan, Rosemount, Inver Grove Heights, Elk River and Minneapolis among Minnesota cities that have passed data center moratoriums. A lawsuit seeks to void Eagan's moratorium, arguing it is invalid because it pauses proposals above a 20-megawatt threshold; a Farmington data center proposal faces separate lawsuits over an annexation agreement and environmental review.

During the one-year moratorium, which runs to July 9, 2027, Apple Valley staff are studying how to regulate data centers and will recommend any new rules to the City Council, which can shorten or end the pause.