After Change, Yankton County Data Center Petitions Don’t Meet Goal
A petition to place a data center measure on the ballot in Yankton County, South Dakota, failed to collect the required number of landowner signatures. The county's Planning and Zoning Commission continues to work on a data center ordinance while operating under a six-month moratorium on new data center developments.
An effort to place a data center measure on the ballot in Yankton County, South Dakota, has fallen short of the necessary signatures. According to State's Attorney Tyler Larsen, the petition, which gathered 1,342 signatures, was subject to a different legal section requiring signatures from landowners rather than residents, a threshold it failed to meet.
Sam Hummel, Chairman of the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission, confirmed that the petition did not meet the requirement and would need to be resubmitted in its entirety. He assumed petitioners would attempt to collect new signatures, and the P&Z Commission would keep this in mind as they continue their discussions on data center regulations.
The Yankton County P&Z Commission is actively developing a new data center ordinance, drawing inspiration from models in Minnehaha County and North Dakota. The county is currently under a six-month moratorium on data center development, allowing time to finalize adjustments to its zoning ordinance.