A recently approved 60-day moratorium on accepting applications for data centers will help Logan County Board members become better informed and thoroughly review any proposals in the future, a board member told Illinois Times.
“We could use some more time. This is new,” said board member Michael DeRoss, a Lincoln resident. “There are people on both sides of the issue. This is not a done deal. We need to do a cost-benefit analysis.”
The 9-2 vote on the moratorium at the County Board’s Feb. 24 meeting was prompted by ongoing questions from the public about, and opposition to, a proposal by Miami-based Hut 8 Corp. to build a $5 billion, 500-megawatt data center on 200 acres of farm ground in Laenna Township near Latham.
The company said the project would create about 200 permanent, full-time jobs and more than 1,500 temporary construction jobs.
Some Logan County residents asked for a 90-day moratorium, but board members indicated they might extend the 60-day moratorium if they believe they need more time.
When Hut 8 was asked its reaction to the 60-day moratorium and potentially other delays in decision-making by Logan County officials, company spokesperson Gautier Lemyze-Young said in a March 17 email: “Hut 8 remains committed to working collaboratively with local stakeholders on the proposed Logan County data center, and we are encouraged by the opportunity to deliver meaningful economic and community benefits.”
Lemyze-Young added, “We will continue engaging constructively with local leaders and the community to support a thoughtful, transparent process.”
In Sangamon County, a different company, Dallas-based CyrusOne, hopes to receive approval from the Sangamon County Board on March 23 for its proposed 634-megawatt data center in a rural area southwest of Springfield in Talkington Township.
About 100 permanent, full-time jobs would be created, CyrusOne officials said, and the project’s accompanying increase in assessed valuation would generate $5 million to $6 million in additional property taxes for various taxing bodies.
The Sangamon board’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. March 23 in the BOS Center in Springfield. The Sangamon County Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-0 on Feb. 19 to recommend that the Sangamon County Board grant CyrusOne a conditional-use permit to build the proposed $500 million complex on 280 acres of farm ground in the 13000 block of Thayer Road. The ZBA vote on Feb. 19 followed a 4-5 advisory vote that same day by a County Board committee on a proposal for a six-month moratorium on any final zoning decisions for data centers, which failed.
Voting in favor of a moratorium were Republican County Board member David Mendenhall and Democrats Reggie Guyton and Linda Douglas-Williams. Voting against were Democrat Kevin McGuire and Republicans James Schackmann, Jeff Thomas, Greg Stumpf and Tom Rader.
County Board member Marc Ayers, who proposed the moratorium, said he had expected a favorable vote from the Zoning and Land Use Committee but plans to ask the full County Board to vote on the moratorium March 23.
Guyton said he and other County Board members don’t yet have enough information to make “informed decisions.”
Officials from Hut 8 and CyrusOne have defended their individual cost estimates, including Hut 8’s projection of up to $65 million in additional annual property taxes in Logan County.
Hut 8’s estimates of capital outlays and new property taxes are about 10 times higher than the estimates for CyrusOne’s data center, even though both centers would be roughly the same size.
Logan County Supervisor of Assessments Jennifer Bryant said she hasn’t received all the information she needs yet to verify Hut 8’s estimates. And Normal-based Strategic Economic Research LLC, which developed Hut 8’s economic impact estimates, didn’t respond to inquiries from Illinois Times.
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Both data center plans move forward
The Logan County Board is considering amending its zoning ordinance so that large-scale data centers like what Hut 8 has proposed could be allowed in an agricultural zone as a conditional permitted use, as is the case in Sangamon County, rather than having to change the zoning to industrial.
Such an option, adopted by the Sangamon County Board in July 2025, would give Logan County officials more of a say on details surrounding data center construction and related preparations, according to Allan Green, Logan County zoning officer.
The Logan County Board has hired lawyer Daniel Hamilton from the Springfield firm of Brown, Hay & Stephens to review the potential changes.
DeRoss said the board also is looking into hiring a consultant to analyze other issues, such as the potential impact of a data center on electrical system reliability and electric rates.
The soonest the Logan County Board could vote on the zoning ordinance changes would be in April or May, DeRoss said. Any consideration of Hut 8’s proposal, if and when the company refiles, could happen at the same time or afterward, he said.
Central Illinois construction trade unions have supported both data center projects. But there also has been vocal opposition to the data center proposals in Logan and Sangamon counties, with opponents airing a variety of concerns, including that the additional electricity demand associated with the centers would contribute to higher electric rates.
Both Hut 8 and CyrusOne said the water to cool computer servers housed at the centers would be cooled through “closed-loop” systems that recirculate water trucked in from elsewhere, so local water systems wouldn’t be overburdened.
At Green’s request, Hut 8 officials voluntarily withdrew their initial zoning application in December so the public could be more adequately informed after rumors, some of them false, spread on social media about the project.
The potential amendment to Logan County’s zoning law is modeled after Sangamon County’s changes except for one key section. Logan County is considering including a section on what would happen to a data center site if the site is closed down in the future. Sangamon County’s zoning ordinance doesn’t address that issue.
Under a section on “decommissioning,” a draft of the new Logan County regulations says an applicant must provide a detailed estimate of costs expected in the decommissioning process, as well as a bond or certified letter of credit in the amount of the estimate.
Hut 8 says on an informational web page on the project that it would comply with any decommissioning requirements imposed by Logan County “so responsibility would not fall on the county or local taxpayers.”
The Sangamon County Board paid for a legal analysis from the firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP that said decommissioning bonds and “related financial assurances” are common for renewable energy projects in Illinois and nationwide but not for “other types of commercial developments.”
Such arrangements for real estate developments other than those involving renewable energy would “reduce the county’s exposure to potential future costs and signal to developers and residents that the county takes end-of-life stewardship seriously,” the Taft report said.
“On the other hand,” the report said, “such a requirement will almost certainly increase upfront project costs, affect financing terms and adversely influence developer site-selection decisions.”
Someone like Don Hanrahan has caused real damage to this community with bait posts, fear‑mongering, and pushing windmills and solar panels as so‑called “green energy,” even though the full environmental and economic costs tell a different story.
Now Don Hanrahan is spreading more fear with false claims about data centers, despite relying on them every single day. You never disclose your Sierra Club activism or your role in amplifying these narratives.
This time, the public is paying attention, and accountability is coming. Enjoy the data center in Pleasant Plains — the very projects you tried to scare people away from.