Dubuque County supervisors explore data center ban despite billion-dollar economic projections
The Dubuque County Board of Supervisors is considering a ban on data centers, despite projections of significant economic benefits. This decision follows overwhelmingly negative community feedback and comes while the county's Zoning Board is developing a data center ordinance. The county previously enacted a year-long moratorium on data center development in May.
The Dubuque County Board of Supervisors is exploring a ban on data centers, a move that comes even as a presentation highlighted a potential $6.2 billion local economic impact from a hyperscale data center, along with over $200 million in state and local taxes, 1,000 construction jobs, and 400 permanent positions.
Following overwhelmingly negative community feedback regarding data centers, the supervisors decided to write a letter to the county attorney to hire a consultant to investigate the feasibility of such a ban. This consideration is taking place during an existing year-long moratorium on data center development that the county passed in May. Concurrently, the Dubuque County Zoning Board is continuing to develop a data center ordinance, with its next meeting scheduled for the coming week.