CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — Champaign County placed a year-long pause to any new large data center projects Thursday.
Dozens of residents pushed for the 12-month moratorium, while others ask the board to say no to large data centers completely.
"I urge the board not to shorten the moratorium, and even take a more bold stance, and continue to have critical and important conversations about how we can stop hyperscale AI data centers in our community," said one resident during public comment.
Several larger scale data centers have been proposed in other central Illinois counties. The moratorium applies to facilities greater than 10,000 square feet. The proposal was initially reduced from a year to 9 months, but county board members rejected that change after public comment.
"If the project is as good as people claim it is for us, it will still be good in 12 months instead of just 9 months," said another resident during public comment.
Many residents said 9 months is not enough time to make new rules for new data center projects. Advocates explained Champaign county's current zoning ordinance does not address the size and environmental impact of the larger projects that are being proposed.
"The new data centers we're seeing are hundreds of megawatts. And so, when you increase the scale like that, the rules that we had for the little ones weren't all that concerned about water use. We're concerned about energy use. We're concerned about noise in the same way," said Andrew Rehn, Climate Policy Director for Prairie Rivers Network.
Even the youth felt inspired to speak out.
"We do not need AI. We have intelligence ourselves," said one young kid during public comment.
This moratorium prevents new large data center projects from moving forward while the county works to update its zoning laws.
Copyright 2026. WAND TV. All rights reserved.
