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St. Croix County committee adopts definitions and 12-month moratorium on medium and large data centers
Summary
The Community Development Committee unanimously approved definitions for small, medium and large data centers, removed cryptocurrency exclusion from the definition, and imposed a 12-month moratorium on medium and large data centers to allow ordinance drafting and public hearings.
The St. Croix County Community Development Committee voted unanimously June 18 to adopt zoning definitions for data centers and to impose a 12-month moratorium on medium- and large-scale facilities while staff and the committee develop ordinance language and hold public hearings.
Why it matters: Residents and elected officials said the county needs time to assess potential impacts of hyperscale data centers on water usage, electricity demand, noise, decommissioning and local infrastructure. The moratorium aims to give the county a predictable window to craft standards rather than react to individual proposals.
What the committee approved: Staff presented draft definitions that separate data centers into small (roughly up to ~500 kW / ~50 servers), medium (up to about 10 MW) and large (greater than 10 MW) categories, and proposed permit paths and design standards. The committee removed draft language that would have excluded cryptocurrency mining from the definition and agreed small-scale in-building server rooms would remain permitted uses while medium and large facilities are subject to a moratorium.
Public comment and concerns: Dozens of residents urged a moratorium; Steven Wedga told the committee, "A 12-month moratorium is needed. Six months is not enough time to research and educate yourself on the issues and garden data centers." Speakers and supervisors raised specific concerns: whether cooling systems would withdraw local water and return it to the watershed, how utility ratepayers might be affected by large power draws, noise from cooling and fan equipment, decommissioning and bonding for site cleanup, and the transparency of non-disclosure agreements tied to site selection.
Staff and supervision discussion: Jason (community development staff) walked through proposed thresholds and zoning pathways and explained the county's options: adopt a moratorium text, create design standards and conditional-use requirements, or adopt a zoning change and licensing tools to control location and operation. Supervisors requested maps of I2 (heavy-industrial) districts, asked staff to draft decommissioning and bonding requirements for larger facilities, and asked that towns under county zoning be briefed before a public hearing.
Decision and votes: The committee voted to adopt the definitions (with the cryptocurrency exclusion removed) and to impose a 12-month moratorium on medium and large data centers, with unanimous approval by supervisors present. The committee also agreed to revise the county's use table to remove self-storage conditional uses in R1 and R2 township zoning and to move conditional-use authority to the Board of Adjustment; that motion also passed unanimously.
Next steps: Staff will prepare an ordinance package and class-2 public-notice materials for public hearings (staff discussed an August public hearing window and a county board review in September if calendars align). The moratorium language in the ordinance terminates when the board adopts implementing amendments or rescinds the moratorium earlier.
Context: Committee members said small, in-building server rooms and institutional servers (for schools, hospitals and county facilities) are not the target of the moratorium; the intent is to provide time to draft rules that would address large new hyperscale facilities that could have broad impacts on water, power and neighbors.
