Fargo agrees to end annexation process of Applied Digital land, Harwood still needs to vote on agreement

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — The land where Applied Digital is building a $3 billion AI data center will not be annexed by Fargo.

City commissioners voting 5-0 tonight to accept an agreement with the City of Harwood to stop the process of annexing around 300 acres of land between the two cities.

Construction is well underway on the data center being built by the Texas-based company.

It was approved by Harwood City Council in September.

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney explained the process behind pursuing the land and why the city is now backing off.

“The legal advice was to do an annexation so we could have better leverage with Applied Digital to talk about infrastructure issues with the new project. I think what happened is Applied Digital wouldn’t come to the table so that made it difficult. And discussing with the mayor of Harwood, I feel that we can make more progress now because he’s willing to negotiate and work with us,” said Mahoney.

The agreement still needs approval by the Harwood City Council.

Commissioners also agreed to walk back a staff decision to not broadcast public comments.

There was a public outcry when the change was announced two weeks ago.

They also voted to make Ian McLean the new city attorney, taking the spot of Nancy Morris who will continue as an Assistant City Attorney in a reduced capacity.