In its statement, Google did not specify how it planned to use the dirt. The Mountain View, California-based company opened its first data center in Iowa on 200 acres of land in the Lake Manawa area in 2009. The company then opened a second Bluffs data center on a 975-acre site about a mile east of the MidAmerican Energy plant that it is continuing to develop.

The complaints center on a tract of land west of Mineola, in northern Mills County, owned by Cory Leick, where the company has gotten dirt in the past. The complaints came to Google’s attention as Leick applied to the Mills County Zoning Board of Adjustment for a proposal to excavate a different site, a nearly 40-acre parcel roughly a half-mile southeast of the current dig. Four of the five members voted Tuesday to approve Leick’s proposal. The fifth member was Leick, who recused himself.

Leick said in an interview after the vote that Google was only one of many clients getting dirt from the first site. Others included the Iowa Department of Transportation, which used some of his dirt on various projects in western Iowa. Locals say trucks hauling tons of dirt from that site are often uncovered, leading to dust and rocks flying about on Barrus Road, a primary route out of town.

About 45 people attended the board meeting Tuesday evening. Several people spoke in opposition to granting Leick the permit, citing the performance standards laid out for special use permits, which do not allow projects that would lead to, among other things, “objectionable” noise and “discernible” vibration. Leick said he would work to meet performance standards.