Data centre consultation / Municipalities
Data Centre Engagement · Municipalities and CountiesData Centre Consultation for Alberta Municipalities
A council answers to the people who live there, whatever the project turns out to be.
An independent voice for residents and ratepayers
A municipality weighing a data centre application answers to residents and ratepayers, and its communications need to stay independent of the proponent's from the first announcement to the final decision.
The proponent brings its own engagement program, its own materials and its own messages, and files its participant involvement record with the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) in its own name. The municipality needs to build a separate narrative from council's role and from what residents have a right to know about the decision in front of them. Residents should be able to tell at a glance which information comes from the municipality, so the municipality needs its own information page, its own notices, its own inquiry line and its own record of what was heard.
Residents should be able to see what was asked, what the answer was and how the decision got made.
A data centre application puts a municipality in unprecedented territory. The attention can reach well beyond the region to provincial and federal levels, and residents bring questions about water, power and the gas supply to council even though other regulatory authorities decide them. The municipality needs its own narrative and spokespeople in place before the application is public, with a public record that starts at the same time. Waiting until the attention arrives means building all of that while the questions are already coming in. The other regulatory authorities involved are set out on our data centre community consultation page.
The timing trap
An application moves through the organization one department at a time. Planning reviews it, engineering reviews it, and administration prepares the report that goes to council. Every step follows the process, and months pass while it happens. Residents see none of that until the file reaches a public agenda, so what lands with them is a project that appears to have come out of nowhere. The municipality has a complete record showing it was not sudden. By the time the conversation turns to how to explain the project, the sense of surprise has already formed.
Disclosure that keeps pace with the file is what prevents this, and it starts well before the report is written.
What is different about a data centre application.
Attention well beyond the region
A data centre application can draw provincial and federal interest along with local attention, and the municipality is asked to comment on a project it has not finished reviewing. Setting out the municipality's own story and perspective, and naming who speaks for it, before the first public mention keeps the municipality speaking in its own voice.
Enhanced public engagement on a data centre application
Statutory notice and a public hearing are the minimum the Municipal Government Act requires. Enhanced public engagement is the work that sits on top of them, so residents understand what is being proposed, what the municipality decides, what it does not, and how they can take part.
reVerb helps municipalities meet a standard of disclosure and transparency that resonates with the people who live there. That work runs alongside the communications, planning and administration teams already in place, and inside the processes the municipality already follows. Nothing here replaces an existing program or commits the municipality to a particular format.
What it looks like is different in every municipality, so reVerb builds the approach around the application, the council and the community. Common components on data centre projects include the following.
The municipality's own narrative
Council and administration set out the municipality's own story and perspective on the application, grounded in its role and its accountability to residents and ratepayers, before the first public mention.
Spokesperson and media preparation
Council and administration agree who speaks for the municipality on each subject and prepare for media and public questions.
Independent municipal materials
A municipal information page, notices and plain-language materials give residents a source separate from the proponent's.
Resident inquiry line
People staff the inquiry line and inbox, and every question is tracked until it is closed.
Structured ways for residents to take part
Where a municipality wants a standing channel into the process, that can be a citizen working group or another format suited to the community, alongside preparation for the statutory steps the application triggers.
What we heard reporting
Submissions and answers are logged in a record council can rely on at second reading and on appeal.
Public commitments register
Commitments made to the community are published with a named owner and a way to raise a concern.
Media and issues monitoring
Coverage and online conversation are tracked through data centre media monitoring, so emerging issues reach council early.
Municipal District of Greenview No. 16
reVerb has been supporting the MD of Greenview since July 2026 with the high media coverage and controversy around the proposed Wonder Valley campus on the Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG) by O'Leary Digital.
Municipal data centre questions, answered.
How can reVerb help a municipality with a data centre application?
Does our municipality need outside support?
When should we call?
Is communication not the proponent's responsibility?
We handle development applications all the time. Why treat this one differently?
This project could be good for our community. Do we still need this?
The best time to start is before the application arrives.
If council or administration is weighing a data centre proposal, we would like to hear where things stand. Every engagement starts with a discovery call, so what we bring back is built around your municipality.
Or call 1.833.711.3114