JANESVILLE A growing number of Rock County townships are examining data center moratoriums as tech companies eye land in the towns of Beloit, Turtle and Janesville.
In 1977, the county approved an ordinance on zoning that gave its towns local control on land-use decisions. County officials examining those rules have said that means if the county itself were to approve a data center moratorium, it would be advisory, not concrete.
As a result, the county has indicated the onus falls on the townships to determine whether theyll welcome developers or say no to them.
For now, a growing number are giving what appears to be a temporary cold shoulder, using moratoriums they say would give the towns more time to evaluate and build guardrails for complex, resource-intensive data center developments.
The Town of Janesville may soon decide on a data center moratorium. The town Planning and Zoning Committee is set to hold a public hearing at the Woodmans Center on Monday. A recommendation or tweaks coming out of that process would send the issue to the town board for consideration.
In April, the town received a letter from a tech company proposing a data center at the corner of North Polzin and West Fenric roads, which is now farmland.
The towns of Beloit and Turtle remain under public scrutiny for Project Cornmaze, a 2-million-square-foot data center off of Highway 51 proposed by California developer Panattoni.
Turtle Town Chair Roger Anclam faces a recall effort after he was one of three supervisors to approve a cost reimbursement agreement with Panattoni.
Of the remaining townships in the county, the towns of Milton, Fulton, Magnolia, Union, Porter, Avon, Newark and Milton all have responded to 69蹤獲 inquiries, detailing whether they have spoken with developers regarding data centers, and whether theyre working on data center moratoriums.
Those towns clerks and elected officials all said they have not had discussions with data center developers. However, some say theyre actively working on moratorium resolutions, while some say they are not.
Town of Milton Clerk Tiffany Chinn-Barsness is researching how nearby municipalities are handling data centers. She intends to report to the board her findings at an upcoming meeting.
The towns of Avon and Newark have apparently not been in contact with any data center developers, yet officials in both towns say theyre researching data center moratoriums but otherwise have taken no action on the issue.
The Town of Fulton is in the process of drafting a moratorium resolution. Clerk Laura Siclovan did not specify what length of time Fultons moratorium would run for, but she cited Wisconsin statute on development moratoriums, which she said limits such moratoriums to 12 months. She said the terms can be extended an additional six months, which ultimately gives the town an option for an 18-month moratorium.
Town of Spring Valley officials says they have not been approached on a data center but town officials say theyre hearing mounting concerns over data center development prospects elsewhere in the county, Town Clerk Dela Ends told The 69蹤獲 in an email.
Ends said the a Wisconsin Towns Association attorney gave the town legal advice to be proactive about the issue, and not simply hope that its farmland preservation zoning would be sufficient to protect the towns.
Ends told The 69蹤獲 the board plans to work on a resolution.
We will start with a resolution. It is definitely preliminary. Im sure the town has no intention of siting a data center, Ends said.
The town of Porter is crafting a moratorium resolution, officials said. The towns of Union, Magnolia have not seen interest by data centers and are not actively seeking moratoriums.
Rock County
Meanwhile, a resolution penned by Rock County Supervisor Philip Gorman aimed at limiting county staff from signing nondisclosure agreements tied to hyperscale data centers got a nod from the Planning and Development Committee. It goes before the countys Staff Committee Aug. 10.
The resolution defines a data center if it meets at least one of three qualifications:
- It has an average annual electricity demand of at least 50 megawatts;
- It has a building footprint of 100,000 square feet or more.
- It has combined total cost of construction or refurbishment, investment in enterprise information technology equipment, and computer software incurred within any 60-month period of at least $50 million.
The Planning and Development Committee voted against a Gorman-drafted resolution that would have required reports once between January and June, and then once again between July and December on NDAs.
Reports would have required who was in the agreement, the date in which it was signed, and a brief description of its context. No information would be included about trade secrets, bidding or other sensitive data.
The Staff Committee can vote on the resolution Aug. 10.
Gorman is a member of the Staff Committee. If the committee votes in favor of either resolution, it goes to the full board.