The Champaign County Board has enacted a 12-month moratorium on development of new, large-scale data centers.
The proposal began as a yearlong moratorium before the county’s Environment and Land Use Committee voted earlier in April to make the the pause last nine months instead. The county board reversed that decision Thursday night after hearing from dozens of community members who advocated for a full year-long moratorium.
Andrew Rehn, director of climate policy at the Prairie Rivers Network, was among those supporting the longer pause on data center projects. Rehn is a member of the data center task force Champaign County created in February to develop zoning and permitting standards for unincorporated areas.
“If it’s 12 months and we do finish in nine months and we were wrong that we didn’t need the full 12, the moratorium ends once we finalize the ordinance,” he said.
Data centers hold servers that transmit data and require large amounts of electricity and water to operate. Across the country, these facilities have transformed rural landscapes, filling them with humming buildings that use gallons of water every second.
The measure temporarily bans construction of data center facilities with at least 10,000 square feet of processing area.
More than a hundred residents attended the meeting to speak in favor of the moratorium.
Board member Emily Rodriguez introduced the amendment to revert the moratorium back to 12 months.
“I’m asking this for several reasons,” she said. “The biggest one is that we’re hearing staff does not have the capacity to do this in nine months. That weighs on me quite a bit.”
Residents concerned about water, energy use
Sixth grader Samuel Tomory told the board he is worried about the amount of water data centers use.
“We need the water from our aquifer,” Tomory said, “but we do not need AI [artificial intelligence].”
Champaign resident Elizabeth Kirby said she was concerned about the facilities’ environmental impacts.
“We have an energy crisis right now. We’ve been talking about energy,” she said. “We’re all, ‘let’s fight fossil fuels. Let’s get rid of fossil fuels,’ and yet, we’re building AI data centers so that they can summarize my email chains?”
Several residents said a 12-month moratorium would give the state enough time to pass potential legislation regulating data center development.
“Knowing whether or not that gets through the legislature I think is going help shape where we go as a county on the moratorium,” Rehn said.
Urbana resident Amy Young said a shorter moratorium could lead to legal fights between the county and data center developers.
“Twelve months of due diligence is our legal insurance policy,” she said.
Some audience members representing local unions said a shorter moratorium would better suit the county’s interests.
“Nine months is reasonable,” Roofers Local 97 Business Manager Krissy Webber said. “It gives this board and staff the opportunity to develop clear policies, bring in the right expertise and put protections in place that protect the priorities of this community.
“Extending that to 12 months or leaving it open ended does not necessarily improve the outcome,” she added. “At some point, more time doesn’t mean better policy.”
Kevin Sage, President of the East Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council and a member of the county’s data center task force, also spoke in favor of the nine-month moratorium. Several residents shared concerns about data centers only creating temporary jobs in the community, but that’s not a bad thing, he said.
“When you’re in the construction industry, we all work temporary jobs. Every one of them is temporary,” Sage said. “I’m a pipefitter by trade. I have never been on a permanent job.”
With the 12-month moratorium in place, the data center task force will continue to meet to develop new guidelines for future large-scale projects in the county.