Data centre town hall draws angry crowd in Mississauga

Residents packed into a community centre to hear more about a proposal for a new data centre in Mississauga on Thursday.

The proposal, from Prologis, is for a two-storey, 229,000 square-foot facility in the Meadowvale Business Park on Tenth Line West.

The proposal first came to the Planning and Development Committee in March, and in the weeks that followed, residents expressed concerns about the project. A petition was launched in April.

Residents wanted to know more about water consumption, electricity use, and which company will operate the data centre.

On Thursday, Coun. Martin Reid hosted a community town hall at Erin Meadows Community Centre with representatives from Prologis, city planners and fellow councillors.

Over 200 people attended, and at times, the meeting got heated with frustrated residents trying to get questions answered.

Prologis operates multiple industrial properties and warehouses in 20 countries, and has been in Mississauga for just over 20 years, said Bill Bates, vice president, investment officer with Prologis, at the Thursday meeting. The company has over 25 of years experience building data centres, he said.

A data centre is a secure facility that stores and processes digital information. Data centres have been around for decades, and are needed in our digital era — everything from Google Maps to online banking requires the centres, said Mike Kenny, director data centre investments Prologis.

“Each one of us interacts with data centres every day,” said Kenny.

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence, however, is behind a growing need for data centres, according to a report from the Canadian Climate Institute.

Kenny said the site Mississauga was chosen because it is an existing industrial area. The building would also be right next to transmission lines, he said.

People are concerned about the possible strain on municipal water and electricity.

“Understandably, data centres impact on utilities is a big concern, and we totally get that,” said Kenny.

There are reports of data centres using massive amounts of water to cool processor chips, but Kenny said this building will use a closed-loop cooling system.

He said the maximum estimated daily usage is about 2,000 litres, the equivalent of a hockey team taking showers after a game.

“There will be no impact to residential use (on water),” Kenny added.

A World Forum report said that practices such as closed-loop cooling systems, involving wastewater recycling or rainwater harvesting, have already shown significant reductions in freshwater use, with potential savings of 50-70 per cent where these systems are implemented.

Brett Skyllingstad, Prologis vice president, data centre pre-construction, said Prologis has built data centres with this system, and it works.

But residents at the town hall were sceptical. Some raised concerns about climate change and questioned if the data centre would continue to cool properly in prolonged heat waves.

A rendering shows the proposed data centre in Mississauga. Rendering: Prologis

Other concerns centred on hydro use and noise levels.

Prologis is funding 100 per cent of power system upgrades required to serve the site, along with 100 per cent of all utility costs, Kenny said.

The electrical usage would be 35 megawatts at peak capacity, Skyllingstad said.

The electricity demand from modern AI facilities typically exceeds 100 megawatts—roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of 350,000 electric vehicles, the Canadian Climate Institute noted.

Skyllingstad pointed to some of the economic benefits of the data centre.

The facility construction will provide around 790 jobs per year, said Skyllingstad said. Once operational, the facility could offer 75 full-time jobs, he said.

It will also provide over $1.6 million in property taxes for the municipality, he added.

If the project is approved, construction could start later in 2026 and continue through to 2028.

A map shows the proposed location for the data centre and two new distribution facility buildings.  Map: City of Mississauga submission.

After the meeting, Coun. Reid said he would not be supporting the data centre proposal.

In a post on social media, Reid said he plans to ask city staff for a comprehensive city-wide study on data centres and their long-term impacts.

He wants to ensure that any future applications include detailed, evidence-based estimates of resource use, including electricity, water, noise, traffic and environmental impacts.

He is also asking that the city consider a one-year pause on new data centre applications while this work is completed.

And he wants staff to explore creating a new planning classification specifically for data centres, rather than continuing to evaluate them under the existing warehouse designation.

“Technology is important. Economic development is important. But so are the people who already call these neighbourhoods home,” Reid said.

Lead photo: George Tavares