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Residents tell county board to protect rural landscape, urge data center moratorium be upheld
Summary
Public commenters urged the board to maintain an 18‑month moratorium on data centers, warning development can bulldoze rural landscapes and asking the board to preserve agriculture and dairy land rather than convert it to data infrastructure.
During public comment, residents appealed to the County Board to preserve the county’s rural character and support an expanded moratorium on data centers.
Bob De Joule of the Town of Mishicot told supervisors that last month’s meeting drew standing‑room attendance in support of a moratorium and thanked the board for extending it to 18 months. He criticized an amendment he called the "pedabyte amendment," saying the moratorium already applies only to data centers and that the change needlessly complicates protections for other businesses. "We are America's dairyland and we have June dairy month coming up and we should remember America's dairyland, not America's dataland," De Joule said.
De Joule urged the board to consider the visible effects of data centers elsewhere, pointing to Port Washington as an example where rural land was leveled and housing was displaced. He asked supervisors to prioritize long‑term preservation of farmland and rural character for future generations.
The board earlier had allowed public comment on the topic and subsequently closed the public comment period before proceeding to the consent agenda.
