Iroquois County Zoning Board of Appeals recommends one-year moratorium on new data centers and warehouses

The Iroquois County Zoning Board of Appeals voted on March 31, 2026, to recommend adoption of an ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium of up to 365 days on the acceptance, review and approval of new data center and warehouse development applications in unincorporated Iroquois County.

Staff member read findings of fact supporting the proposed moratorium, citing statutory authority and a set of infrastructure and public-welfare concerns: "the county finds that current electrical infrastructure may be insufficient to support projected growth without impacting residential reliability," staff said, and noted that high-density data centers can require substantially higher power densities than typical industrial uses.

The staff presentation also raised water-use concerns, saying high-density centers often rely on evaporative cooling and that "the cumulative impact of such…