An electrical substation is adjacent to a solar farm north of Mapleton, North Dakota. The Bison Substation area could also become home to a battery storage site and a data center. (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
MAPLETON, N.D. (KFGO) – Harmony Township is searching for new legal representation as local leaders face mounting questions over past zoning decisions for a proposed 540-megawatt data center west of Fargo.
The rural township board voted unanimously on Sept. 22 to request a formal legal review into ordinance changes enacted under former Board Chairman Tom Roden. Land records show Roden signed a private purchase option agreement with developer Geronimo Power in May but voted on July zoning revisions without disclosing the contract.
The legal review aims to determine whether Roden’s undisclosed land deal invalidates the July zoning votes under state conflict-of-interest statutes. Those amendments raised allowable noise limits and designated battery energy storage systems as a permitted use in agricultural districts.
Former 30-year Harmony Township Clerk and current landowner Bob Pyle said frequent turnover in legal counsel has left local officials and residents struggling to navigate complex industrial energy proposals.
“We obviously didn’t get the legal advice that we needed,” Pyle said during an interview on KFGO’s “News and Views”. “We have been through like three attorneys in the last year and a half…no real continuity in the whole situation. It has turned into just a fiasco.”
Township leaders are currently advertising for legal representation ahead of their next regular meeting on Oct. 20. State regulators with the North Dakota Public Service Commission are also preparing for an Oct. 23 public hearing in Casselton regarding Geronimo’s related $249 million battery storage project.
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