I was in Port Washington, Wisconsin, last week, and just a few miles north of that small town, I saw a frightening scene: a roaring jumble of heavy trucks, and cranes, blue tarp surrounding miles of fencing, harsh lights, security guards at the entrance gates, and a broken-up, dirty road that was closed to all traffic but those heavy trucks.
It was a data center construction site, just one mile from Lake Michigan and covering nearly 700 acres of what had once been a family farm. When I asked people who live in Port Washington what they thought of the data center being built, their faces closed, and I heard “I don’t like it,” When I said I was from Rockford, where a data center might be built, their faces hardened, and they said: “Don’t let them do it.”
One couple, who had lived there for 80 years, told me how it all happened: “First they bought the land—it had been a beautiful farm. Then they annexed it to the city. Then they made it a TIF district. And they did all this without telling us.”
That sounded familiar. South of Rockford: First they found the land that was a beautiful farm. Then they annexed it to the city. Then they made it in a TIF district. And they did all this without telling us what they were doing. And then they said they that it was a done deal.
In fact, it is NOT a done deal. Rockford has the authority, under Illinois law, to regulate land use and zoning. NOWHERE within the text of any Rockford zoning ordinance or in any annexation agreement does it say that a data center is a permitted use. Our voices will be heard:We will not let them do it.
