(The Center Square) – Dane County in Wisconsin is stopping the clock on large artificial intelligence data center projects.
The county board last week approved an 18-month pause on large data center projects. That pause involves a stop order on all zoning permits for large projects for the next 18 months.
“Following review by the Zoning and Land Regulation Committee, the resolution was narrowed to apply only to hyperscale data centers, defined as facilities that use at least 5,000 servers and occupy at least 10,000 square feet of floor space,” the county said in a statement. “Smaller data center infrastructure is not affected.”
Dane County is not the only county in Wisconsin with a ban on large data center projects. Manitowoc County also has a ban. County leaders there unanimously approved an 18-month pause on large projects back in April. Brown County discussed a pause, but ultimately decided not to vote.
The city of Madison approved aone-year ban on large data center construction last month.
“Communities across Dane County are watching this issue closely, and there is real concern that proposals could move forward before we have the information needed to properly evaluate them,” County Board Chairman Patrick Miles said in a statement. “Pressing pause is the responsible step. It protects our communities while we do the work to understand what hyperscale data center development would mean for our land, our infrastructure, and our residents.”
Miles said the county will look to answer questions about the “environmental, economic, health, and safety implications of data centers.”
Miles also said the 18-month delay will allow other counties and communities to decide how they are going to handle data centers of their own.
“This is a regional question as much as a local one,” he said. “I hope our partners in cities, villages, and towns with their own zoning will look at taking similar steps so that no community in Dane County is left without the benefit of this research.”