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Committee approves revised data-center zoning amendment for ZBA review after adding water and footprint safeguards
Summary
The Land Use & Transportation Committee approved a revised zoning text amendment for data centers—adding annual water-use reporting, coordination with fire districts, a 20% electricity-reporting threshold and a new preference to minimize facility footprint—then voted to publish it for a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing in June.
The Land Use & Transportation Committee voted May 5 to send a revised zoning text amendment on data centers to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a public hearing in June after adding clarifying requirements on water reporting and site compactness.
The amendment, as framed by the committee chair, seeks to give McLean County “meaningful oversight while preserving enough flexibility” to address a range of data-center projects, from small modular facilities to large AI-server farms. Committee members said the revisions sharpen review areas including water use, power demand, emergency planning, road impacts, noise and site compatibility.
The committee adopted two substantive additions during the meeting. First, the chair moved and the committee approved language requiring facility owners to provide an annual water-use report that includes average and peak demand, identifies water sources (including any groundwater withdrawals), and describes proposed water-conservation measures such as use of reclaimed or treated gray water for cooling. The amendment also requires an additional showing if the proposed water source includes withdrawals from the Mahomet Aquifer to demonstrate those withdrawals “will not adversely impact the aquifer surrounding wells or long term water availability.”
Second, members added a preference that operators “make reasonable efforts to minimize the physical and geographic footprint of the facility by maximizing the use of existing development — including rooftops and parking areas — before siting new clean-energy resources on undeveloped land.” The committee described that language as a nonbinding preference intended to guide developers toward compact siting, not an absolute prohibition.
Members discussed enforcement and practical effects: the county may require applicants to update local fire districts as a facility changes and can withhold occupancy or other approvals until safety and special-use requirements are satisfied. Committee members repeatedly noted limits to county authority: as a non-home-rule county, McLean cannot regulate utilities or ban lawful industries, but it can condition special-use approvals and request reporting to inform oversight.
The chair and staff said the revised draft responds to concerns raised nationally — including aquifer impacts, wastewater management and grid strain — and will position McLean County to address local impacts while state-level regulation evolves. The committee voted unanimously to publish the revised amendment for the June Zoning Board of Appeals hearing.
