Google’s Sneaky Trick to Sidestep an Iowa County’s Data Center Zoning Rules
News ClipMother Jones·Linn County, IA·3/6/2026
Google is seeking to bypass data center zoning rules recently adopted by Linn County, Iowa, by annexing the land for its proposed campus into the city of Palo, which is two miles away. This would free Google from the water-use and economic agreements that Linn County developed for unincorporated areas with input from the company's representatives. The Linn County Board of Supervisors says this workaround is "fundamentally wrong" and that Google is trying to find a local government that will ask for less.
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Gov: Linn County Board of Supervisors, Palo city officials
Google is seeking to bypass data center zoning rules in Linn County, Iowa by annexing its proposed campus into the nearby city of Palo. This would exempt the project from the county's water-use and economic agreements, which Google representatives were involved in developing. Linn County officials are criticizing the move as an attempt to bypass their "pro-growth and pro-community" regulations. The city of Palo plans to adopt its own data center zoning code, which is expected to be more favorable to Google than the county's rules.