JANESVILLE — A new nonprofit group named Rock County Neighbors for Responsible Development is pressing Rock County municipal governments to enact 18-month moratoriums that would freeze new hyperscale data center proposals here.
The group led a public event Thursday night at Blackhawk Technical College that drew hundreds of local residents.
Alongside a moderated public comment session the group filmed to allow residents to say what they think about at least three data centers no proposed in Rock County, Neighbors for Responsible Development beat the drum for data center moratoriums, with some of the organizers calling for specific action now.
Residents sign petitions at an event held Thursday at Blackhawk Technical College by grassroots nonprofit Rock County Neighbors for Responsible Development. The group is pressing for municipalities in Rock County to place an 18-month moratorium on data centers. — Neil Johnson neil@gazettextra.com
The group frames the issue as one of local control over environmental and land-use protections for residents who live near land where data centers are now being proposed in Rock County.
Shelley Strommen, a Town of Rock resident and an in-residence day care operator, is among organizers of the grassroots Neighbors for Responsible Development. She said the group and individual residents have formally asked for data center moratoriums from multiple towns in Rock County, but the towns have ignored the requests.
“The lack of action is concerning,” Strommen said. “We’re specifically asking the Town of Turtle, the Town of Janesville, and the city of Janesville to place this issue on their next meeting agenda for discussion and action. Our position remains the same. Protections must come before proposals.”
The event comes amid a backdrop of continued talks between municipal and county officials with developers who are eyeing potential projects in the Towns of Beloit, Turtle and Janesville, and at the former General Motors site in the City of Janesville.
City of Janesville administrative staff are asking the City Council on Monday to grant a 60-day extension on a letter of intent with brownfield developer Viridian Partners over a possible land sale and development agreement for an 800-megawatt data center project at the 240-acre former General Motors site.
The city and Viridian have been engaged in a due-diligence period since November 2025, when the council approved the initial letter of intent for the possible data center.
Beloit City Council Vice President Yusuf Adama was one of a number of elected local officials who attended the event Thursday, which the Neighbors’ group called a “People’s Public Hearing.”
Adama, also a member of the Neighbors group, criticized some recent public comment sessions local governments have held on data center prospects.
He said the sessions tend not to line up with work schedules of regular people, and if local government processes are opaque or intangible to citizens, it undercuts trust.
“We see that that the communication between people and the elected officials they’re supposed to represent has also been eroded, and we need to strengthen that amount of trust and protection, too,” Adama said.
Tim Kienbaum, Community Development Director for the Town of Beloit, attended the Thursday event. Kienbaum was gathering information for the town’s administration to help gauge public sentiment.
Kienbaum said the town still does not have any official proposal for a data center development on file. A data center prospect initially brought to the towns of Beloit and Turtle came from shell company Cambrin, LLC.
Kienbaum said he disagrees the town has been withholding a chance for public comment. He said right now, there’s nothing new the town knows about.
“At this point, we haven’t pushed it onto an agenda to give it an open forum because we really don’t have information. We still have not gotten a preliminary (data center) proposal,” Kienbaum said. “As we’ve expressed, there will probably be four public hearings that would have to be scheduled for (proposals and permits) to go through by the time you are talking about zoning changes and lot combinations.”
The Town of Beloit data center prospect could involve hundreds of acres of private land on the east side of the Rock River, directly across from Alliant Energy’s power plant in the Town of Beloit.
The prospect has changed hands to another developer, California company Panattoni, which is also eyeing hyperscale data centers in Michigan and Ohio.
On Monday, Panattoni hosts two forums: An invite-only breakfast, and a public open house being held later in the day at Garden Prairie Intermediate School.
Panattoni says it intends to show some details of its plans, and in an invite to residents and the press, it urges people to attend and “get involved” in its plans.
