Champaign County Board to vote Thursday on data center moratorium

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - The Champaign County Board will vote Thursday on whether to approve a moratorium on large data center development for at least 90 days.

It will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Shields-Carter Meeting Room of the Bennett Administrative Center in Downtown Urbana.

The action comes as current ordinances covering data centers were designed for small centers. But in the past year, data centers have grown in size and scope.

“These are the size of industrial parks,” said Climate Police Director at Prairie Rivers Network, Andrew Rehn.

If passed, Prairie Rivers Network said the moratorium will allow time for the board to research and adopt an ordinance regulating data center development within the county.

Data centers can use a substantial amount of water for cooling. So a new set of ordinances will likely focus on water use. The main source of drinking water in Champaign County is the Mahomet Aquifer.

Two data centers were recently approved by Illinois county boards, in Sangamon County and near Joliet.