Dane County data center moratorium on fast track
Dane County, Wisconsin, is rapidly advancing a proposed 18-month moratorium on hyperscale data centers, influenced by a similar measure in Manitowoc County and new state legal interpretations. This pause, heading for a June 4 county board vote, aims to allow an advisory committee to develop comprehensive zoning regulations for data centers. The moratorium would cover most towns but not cities, villages, or towns that have opted out of county zoning.
Dane County, Wisconsin, is expediting a proposed 18-month moratorium on hyperscale data center development, with a vote by the Dane County Board scheduled for June 4. The initiative, championed by Dane County Board Chair Patrick Miles, follows an initial belief that such county-wide moratoriums were prohibited by state law. However, after Manitowoc County successfully enacted a similar measure, Dane County's corporation counsel attorneys found a legal pathway.
The proposed moratorium, which was unanimously approved by a county committee on zoning and land regulation on May 25, is designed to provide the county's Advisory Committee on Data Centers sufficient time to research and develop appropriate zoning regulations for large data centers. This committee, formed last fall after a data center proposal in the town of Vienna, has been studying various impacts, including land use, environmental concerns, water usage, and energy consumption. Miles anticipates the committee's work will conclude by May 2027, with the county board needing to integrate data centers into zoning ordinances by December 2027.
If approved, the moratorium would apply to most towns within Dane County but would not affect cities, villages, or the six towns (Blue Mounds, Berry, Westport, Bristol, Sun Prairie, Springfield) that have opted out of county zoning. This highlights Wisconsin's complex land use system, where developers face a patchwork of regulations. The Dane County Towns Association has voiced support for the moratorium, citing concerns about losing town land through annexation due to data center proposals, such as those from QTS in Vienna/DeForest and Meta in Beaver Dam and near Janesville/Beloit.
The city of Madison, also in Dane County, independently enacted its own one-year data center moratorium in January 2026 to develop policy options and accurately count existing smaller-scale data centers. Madison's planning division director, Meagan Tuttle, confirmed that Cloverleaf, a start-up involved in large Wisconsin data center projects, is interested in siting a data center on Madison's far east side.