JANESVILLE 鈥 The town of 糖心Vlog传媒 plans to set a public hearing within the next month to vet a proposed 12- month, township-wide moratorium on data centers 鈥 but they鈥檙e still not sure exactly where they鈥檇 host the hearing.
Town of 糖心Vlog传媒 officials are now looking for a venue bigger than 糖心Vlog传媒 Town Hall. They say they鈥檙e seeking space with room for as many as a few hundred people.
As data center proposals continue to emerge publicly in Wisconsin 鈥 many being plotted out on large swaths of land in rural townships 鈥 the towns discussing the proposals are getting hit by big crowds, with neighbors and anti-data- center activists, turning out in droves for town meetings.
At the town of 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 cozy Town Hall building off County A, a group of more than just a few dozen people attending a public meeting fills up the board room, leaving standing room only and a crowd sometimes spilling out the front door.
In June, the town board at its regular meeting had a public comment session that drew 200 people, most who spoke in opposition of a data center prospect that town officials say they still don鈥檛 have a formal proposal for.
Town Chairman Bruce Schneider said people who鈥檇 showed up for the June meeting, some who鈥檇 come out for more mundane, road or fire protection-related discussions, were crowded out to the vestibule and out onto the parking lot outside Town Hall.
鈥淭hey were stacked up outside. I don鈥檛 ever remember seeing so many people at a meeting. We had no idea so many people were going to show up,鈥 Schneider said.
Township residents had come to sound off on a data center prospect by a developer that鈥檚 eying an undisclosed parcel of land off Polzin Road in the town of 糖心Vlog传媒.
And they weren鈥檛 alone. At the Town of 糖心Vlog传媒, board meetings like a meeting Monday, in which the town board voted unanimously to slate a draft data center moratorium for a public hearing at a location to be determined, it gets crowded enough that town residents are watching town proceedings from the hallway.
And while the board meetings roll, there鈥檚 action outside Town Hall, too.
Jolene Churchill is a resident of the town of Center 鈥 one town over from the town of 糖心Vlog传媒, although her residence is less than a mile from the land where residents believe a data center is proposed.
Monday night, Churchill had a trunk full of anti-data-center signs, a petition she was collecting signatures for, and a card table she鈥檇 set up to take payment for signs, buttons and other merchandise she was selling.
鈥淲e see this camel getting its nose under the tent in the town next door to us,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want it. We don鈥檛 want our water stolen or our land stolen. We want it stopped from the outset.鈥
Meanwhile, at the meeting going inside Town Hall, residents and other attendants weren鈥檛 shouting, but they were clamoring with questions. They pressed the town officials, peanut-gallery-style, to read a copy of the draft moratorium aloud before the town board voted on it and sent it to the town planning and zoning committee for a public hearing, likely to come in August.
Schneider read the draft moratorium out loud during the meeting, even though the town鈥檚 legal counsel said it wasn鈥檛 mandatory to do so.
Then, a town zoning board official in the crowd scurried back to the clerk鈥檚 office to print out dozens of copies of the draft moratorium to hand out to the crowd 鈥 a move aimed at appeasing those in attendance as a few groups of people seated in chairs began to grumble.
Schneider said the town having active interest by a data center developer has drawn more people to Town Hall for meetings than he鈥檚 ever seen. He鈥檚 been on the town board since 1994.
He said bigger crowds feel nerve-wracking for him and other supervisors who aren鈥檛 used to such crowded town meetings.
{div}鈥滻t鈥檚 a lot different than normal times where it鈥檚 just road and fire department issues, and one person with one comment on something. Something like this that pops up is just way out of the norm,鈥 Schneider said. 鈥淚t puts a little more stress on a guy.鈥 {/div}
The town is eyeing a one-year moratorium that would freeze any data center projects on any parcel of town land, but it would not preclude other developments, according to a draft read Monday.
It鈥檚 worded similarly to 18-month moratoriums being enacted in towns and cities and in some counties throughout Wisconsin, although it鈥檚 more limited in its proposed timeline. The draft faces a planning and zoning public hearing, and it needs a recommendation by the committee first before it could go back to the town board for final consideration later this year.
The town brought the draft based on resident feedback to the town board.
Schneider and other town officials say that given the larger crowd sizes, the town wants to make sure it鈥檚 got a venue big enough for a hearing on the proposed moratorium to house anybody who wants to speak.
He said it could take a couple of weeks to settle on a time and a suitable venue.
Schneider said he keeps thinking back to one person at an earlier meeting, one of the few he said got 鈥渞owdy鈥 during discussions over the data center prospect. He understands the man鈥檚 core concern.
鈥淗is tone of voice got a little loud,鈥 Schneider said. 鈥淏ut he just wanted more room for more people to be in the board room, that鈥檚 all.鈥