Concerns raised about proposed data centre in Mississauga

Community members have raised concerns about a proposed data centre in Mississauga.

The two-storey data centre is proposed for vacant land on Tenth Line West in the Meadowvale Business Park, just south of Highway 401, at the border with Halton Region. The property owner, Prologis, operates multiple industrial properties and warehouses in 20 countries.

The data centre would be 219,994 square feet.

The proposal came to the city’s Planning and Development committee meeting earlier this year, and at the time, city staff requested more information.

A map shows where the data centre and two new distribution facilities are proposed at the Meadowvale Business Park. Map: City of Mississauga submission from Prologis

With the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence, data centres, which power cloud computing and AI, have been in the news recently.

In April, York University published a report, noting a “gap in publicly available information about these facilities.”

The report notes that the centres “consume enormous amounts of electricity – often equivalent to tens of thousands of households per facility – while creating relatively few long‑term jobs compared with the scale of public infrastructure they require.”

Mississauga residents have expressed concerns about the new centre.

In a letter to council, sent to INsauga.com, nearby resident Anthony Osojnicki, asked the city to reject the proposal until Prologis provides full public disclosure of generator count, fuel type, noise projections at residential property lines, water consumption, electrical capacity and tenant identity.

Osojnicki noted data centres’ typical need for water.

“Data centres can consume hundreds of thousands of gallons of water daily for cooling,” he said in the letter. “This draws from the same municipal system serving residents, risking higher rates and supply pressure during peak usage.”

He expressed concerns about the amount of electricity required to operate the data centre and the pollution that generators might produce.

Councillor Martin Reid is hosting a community meeting on the project next week.

“We understand that this proposal has generated interest, questions and concerns within the community, and we are committed to ensuring residents have the opportunity to learn more and share their perspectives,” Reid said in an invitation to the meeting.

The community meeting is on Thursday, June 25 at 6 p.m. at the Erin Meadows Community Centre.

Residents are encouraged to send questions to Reid via email [email protected] by Friday, June 19. All submissions received will be reviewed by city planning staff and Prologis.

For more information on the meeting and to register to attend, see Reid’s website here.

For more on the data centre from Prologis see the reports here, and the March meeting here.