Bell holds closed-door meeting with Saskatchewan landowners over AI data centre - BERITAJA

Answers are difficult to travel by. That’s what a group of concerned Saskatchewan landowners person learned.

The 7 families unrecorded instantly adjacent to the tract of Bell’s projected AI information centre, and they’ve been asking questions for months, receiving small successful the measurement of coagulated replies.

In a written missive to the assembly astatine the RM of Sherwood, Sask., the group writes, “At each shape of this process our concerns person been deferred, reduced, aliases ignored.”

They are not expressly opposed to the project, but they person concerns about really their value of life — and their spot values — will beryllium affected.

Doug McKell’s family has lived successful the area for adjacent to 150 years. He says that getting answers from the RM of Sherwood has been for illustration pulling teeth.

“We person the governance strategy successful spot truthful that these kinds of concerns should beryllium capable to beryllium handled done their regular process,” McKell said. “And for them to disregard that and not woody pinch america successful their normal fashion, everybody successful the area is very disappointment pinch that.”

The group says that, betwixt January and March 2026, they submitted 4 general requests to the RM of Sherwood Administration and Council. They were seeking binding conditions addressing noise, lighting, drainage, storm-water management, groundwater protection, and roadway management.

The first submission, made connected Jan. 29, is the only 1 that made it onto the nationalist record, posted connected the RM of Sherwood’s website. Their 2nd submission, made connected Feb. 8, was ne'er posted. Neither was the third, made connected Feb. 17, aliases the fourth, made connected March 4.

When the group’s first 3 submissions went unanswered, Doug McKell and others submitted a general title to the Ombudsman connected Feb. 25. The RM’s publically posted schedule for the assembly gathering connected Monday, March 16th shows that the Code of Ethics and an Ombudsman Complaint was discussed.

By Wednesday, March 18, 2 days later, 4 retired of 7 assembly members, including the Reeve and Deputy-Reeve, abruptly resigned. No logic was given.

On Friday, April 10, the province’s Ministry of Government Relations confirmed to BERITAJA that they had appointed erstwhile SARM president Ray Orb arsenic Reeve. Mitch Huber, Donna Strudwick and Judy Harwood were appointed to capable the different vacant assembly positions.

On March 25, McKell and the remainder of the group submitted different missive to the RM seeking a general solution directing assembly to see circumstantial binding conditions. They asked for a consequence wrong a week.

One week later, connected April 2, an executive summary for a improvement statement was publically posted connected the RM’s website. So far, it is the closest point they person gotten successful position of a response. On the surface, it seems to reside galore of the landowners’ concerns.

Regarding noise, the archive promises to “ensure that sound levels astatine the spot bound stay accordant pinch existing ambient conditions.” It goes connected to opportunity that roadway upgrades “will beryllium completed astatine the Developer’s expense” and that lighting issues will beryllium handled by “full-cutoff, dark-sky-compliant fixtures equipped pinch specialized house-side and backlight glare shields.”

But for McKell and the remainder of the group, promises are 1 thing. Binding conditions are another.

A missive from the group to the RM reads, successful part, “A bully religion process is not the aforesaid arsenic a binding responsibility and we cannot judge 1 successful spot of the other.” They are asking for measurable commitments pinch enforceable penalties for non-compliance to beryllium included successful the last improvement agreement.

On Tuesday April 14th, the group met pinch the RM’s of Sherwood assembly — including the newly-appointed replacement councilors — to talk their concerns and advocator for binding conditions. By almost each accounts, the residents near the gathering pinch a consciousness of optimism. They seemed pleased that the recently appointed councilors were earnestly listening to their concerns, and pleasantly amazed pinch the position put guardant by President of Bell AI Fabric, Dan Rink.

After things wrapped up Tuesday afternoon, Doug McKell said, “I deliberation moving forward, we’ll beryllium capable to activity pinch this… I deliberation they heard our issues and concerns, truthful that was positive.”

No commitments were made astatine the meeting, and it remains to beryllium seen if binding conditions will beryllium incorporated into the improvement agreement, which is group will beryllium reviewed connected April 20th.