Northern Illinois community votes down data center proposal

The Rochelle City Council in Ogle County, Illinois, unanimously voted down a data center proposal Monday night, rejecting a plan for a 75-acre facility on the city's southern edge. The proposal, from an unnamed New York-based real estate company, had been tabled on March 23 before the council's 7-0 vote to reject it. Rochelle, a community of about 9,500 people, already hosts three smaller data centers. The decision in Rochelle comes amidst a broader trend of communities in Illinois and Wisconsin resisting data center developments. In Wisconsin, residents in Cassville recently utilized zoning regulations to block a $1 billion data center proposal. Similarly, the Menomonie city council passed an ordinance in September to exclude data centers from its "warehousing" definition following public opposition to a $1.6 billion data center. DeForest officials also decided against a $12 billion data center in January due to annexation requirements for farmland. Meanwhile, in Rock County, Wisconsin, the City of Janesville is in negotiations with a Colorado company for an $8 billion "digital campus" on a former General Motors site. Opponents in Janesville have secured a referendum for the November ballot that, if passed, would require voter approval for major development projects. The legal impact of this referendum on the Janesville project remains uncertain. The Town of Beloit officials also signed a pre-development agreement in early 2025 with a Delaware-based company for a potential data center on a 430-acre site, though no formal proposals have been filed. In Rockford, Illinois, a California-based company is exploring a potential $12 billion data center near the Chicago-Rockford International Airport.