Harwood North Dakota Voters Reject Stricter Development Oversight

Harwood residents voted 325 to 105 against a proposal to implement tighter regulatory checks for large-scale projects, including data centers, on November 3, Newsweek reported.

The decision makes this North Dakota community an outlier. While voters in 40 of 41 local contests tracked by Ballotpedia moved to limit or oppose data center expansion, Harwood was the sole exception to the national trend of increasing scrutiny.

The rejected amendment would have required qualifying large-scale developments to undergo independent professional reviews of technical data, hold public hearings, and provide written findings backed by substantial evidence before receiving city approval.

The debate in Harwood is anchored by a $3 billion AI data center currently under construction. According to Business Insider, the facility being built by Texas-based Applied Digital is roughly equal in size to 17 football fields.

The project, which moved forward after the city council rezoned 320 acres from agricultural to light industrial use in September 2025, is expected to employ approximately 200 people. Business Insider notes this workforce would represent about 20% of Harwood’s total population.

Harwood North Dakota Voters Reject Stricter Development Oversight — Photo: businessinsider.com

While the November measure would not have impacted the existing Applied Digital site, it was designed to govern all future large-scale construction projects.

Residents who supported the amendment expressed frustration over the speed of local industrial growth. Mike Swartz, a 47-year-old resident who advocated for the proposition, told Business Insider that many in town felt “blindsided” by the pace of the current project.

“We are the people that have to live with this type of industry as a neighbor,” Swartz said.

Swartz noted that the current data center project moved from announcement to the start of construction in just 21 days, leaving many residents feeling they lacked sufficient influence over decisions affecting their community.

44 Towns Said No. This One Said Go — Harwood's Data Center Vote

Other residents, such as 59-year-old Mark Coolidge, also supported the measure, according to Business Insider. The debate reached a point of high tension, including a city council meeting where sheriffs ejected anti-data-center protesters.

Harwood Mayor Blake Hankey opposed the amendment, arguing that the proposed requirements would have been financially burdensome for a city of Harwood’s size. He maintained that the proposal was not a specific referendum on data centers but rather a measure that could have hindered any large business seeking to develop in the area.

Hankey also addressed the speed of the Applied Digital deal, noting he had signed a non-disclosure agreement to ensure the project stayed in Harwood rather than moving to nearby Fargo. “Had I not, that data center would almost certainly be in the city of Fargo right now, without any kind of sales tax or property tax for our community,” Hankey told Business Insider.

The tension between rapid economic development and local oversight is reflected nationwide. As major tech entities seek infrastructure to power AI, they face growing resistance regarding water usage, electricity costs, and environmental impacts.

The Harwood vote stands in sharp contrast to the broader results of the November 3 elections. An analysis by Ballotpedia found that voters across 10 states confronted questions regarding the expansion of infrastructure for cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

While most communities used the ballot box to apply the brakes to the data center boom through bans or zoning requirements, Harwood’s voters chose to maintain the existing regulatory framework.

Applied Digital did not respond to a request for comment regarding the election results.