What you need to know about board that approved the St. Louis data center project 1%
By Luke Nozicka0%
4/24/2026, 7:25:32 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Ambiguity (Equivocation), Optimism Bias, and Recency Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 9.4% saturation with 47 hits. Analysis detected 419 faulty-reasoning hits from 501 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 0% and a BS Rank of 1% (16,792 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 99.90% of the article peer group.
The approval of a controversial $3 billion data center project planned near the Armory site has left some St.
Louis residents wondering: What is the Board of Public Service?
The board has been under a microscope this week as it unanimously signed off Tuesday on a conditional use permit allowing developers to build a data center as part of a district in Midtown.
The project has faced fierce opposition from community members over water and energy use, among other concerns.
The mayor’s office pointed to conditions the project must meet, including that at least half of its energy be sourced from renewable sources within five years.
The board is largely made up of the heads of several city departments.
They include Shawn Dace, director of the Department of Public Safety, and Niraj Patel, director of the Department of Public Utilities and water commissioner.
Its president is appointed by the mayor.
President Richard Bradley was first appointed in 2009 by Mayor Francis Slay.
He was reappointed last year by Mayor Cara Spencer.
Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, who represents parts of south St.
Louis that include Tower Grove East, said she was only notified of the data center vote Tuesday morning, giving her little time to notify her constituents.
With such high public interest, she thought city residents deserved more transparency.
"I would give it an F for transparency," Sonnier told St.
Louis Public Radio on Friday.
Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer, who represents south St.
Louis neighborhoods like Holly Hills and Carondelet, said in a Facebook post that she, like many St.
Louisans, asked the board to delay the vote until the Planning Commission adopted rules for its use.
She said more stakeholders should have been involved in the negotiations.
Schweitzer said the proposed conditions had “significantly changed and improved.”
But she listed several requirements that she said would have strengthened the project, including upping the “renewable energy consumption target” from 50% to 75%.
“Even the conditions I suggested needed further review by the public,” she wrote.
“That's why we need strong, consistent regulations in place.”
The board’s decision prompted mixed reactions.
The American Federation of Teachers Local 420, which supported the project, said the updated proposal represented “what could be a national and local model for all developers,” as the developers listened to and addressed public concerns.
“Unlike some other data center concepts,” the union said in a statement, “this revised proposal offers tangible benefits paying a fair share of taxes and public benefits it will generate” for the city and St.
Louis Public Schools.
During its first 10 years, the project is expected to generate $423 million in tax revenue — more than $200 million of which would go to SLPS, making the school district the largest beneficiary.
The board's vote could be appealed by anyone “aggrieved” by the outcome.
Sonnier said she hadn't heard of any such effort but would not be surprised if someone appealed it.
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