Community town hall to be held on proposed data centre in Fergus
Posted Sep 15, 2026 07:44:08 AM.
As Centre Wellington councillors look to potentially move forward with a temporary pause on data centre development, one group is hoping to change the minds of those against the controversial sites.
SPUR Innovation has pitched a plan for a new data centre on 865 Gartshore Street in Fergus.
The 25-acre space was previously home to the former Wolverine Tube copper-tubing plant and now sits vacant.
A community town hall is planned for Saturday, Sept. 19 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the SPUR Park location on 2240 University Ave E in Waterloo.
The RSVP page noted “everyone is welcome – including people who think this is a bad idea. Especially them.”
SPUR claims the site in question is already built for the grid capacity, water infrastructure, and industrial zoning needed for a data centre and they would not be a “new industrial burden.”
“We are cleaning up a contaminated site that has sat vacant for years, repeatedly broken into and stripped for copper, and turning it into something safe and green: environmental remediation, local food, high-tech jobs, and real recreation and resources for the community’s youth where there is now only a fenced-off hazard,” said the group.
“Concern about new data centres springing up on green fields or next to homes is fair. That is not what this is.”
The conversation around data centres has been in the spotlight in Waterloo Region and beyond this summer.
Cambridge Council unanimously passed a motion last month, which in part asked staff to look into where future data centre development could go in the city, and how to best prepare for it.
A regional staff report on the impacts data centre development could have on the local economy and environment is also in the works, set to come back to Regional Council by early 2027.
A decision on a potential data centre development pause in Fergus and area is set to be discussed at Centre Wellington Council on Sept. 24.
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