Logan County officials could take action in May to change local zoning requirements to both accommodate developers of large-scale data centers and protect the public.
The Logan County Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. May 8 at Oasis Senior Center at 2810 Woodlawn Road in Lincoln to consider nonbinding recommendations to add requirements for data centers in the wake of interest 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 meeting could set up a final vote by the Logan County Board on the new zoning rules later in May. A 60-day moratorium that the County Board approved on the acceptance of zoning applications for data centers ends this week.
Michael DeRoss, a Lincoln resident who sits on the 12-member, all-Republican County Board, told Illinois Times that the moratorium was designed to help board members become better informed and thoroughly review any proposals in the future.
“We could use some more time. This is new,” DeRoss said. “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, the Hut 8 proposal.
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 at the time 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: “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.”
About 100 people demonstrated their opposition to the Hut 8 project during an April 20 rally organized by Logan County Indivisible outside the Logan County Courthouse in Lincoln. Opponents of the potential project have tended to outnumber supporters at Logan County government meetings in recent months.
DeRoss said county officials will “pay attention” to the views of their constituents, though he added, “It’s just being pushed by the Democratic Party of Logan County.”
Lincoln resident Ronda Shelton, chairperson of the county’s Democratic Party, said the party hasn’t taken a stand on the data center, and there are Democrats on both sides of the issue.
Shelton said she opposes the Hut 8 proposal and noted that a man wearing a shirt supporting Republican Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign spoke out against the proposal at the rally.
“This is not about politics,” Shelton said. “It is really about community.”
Shelton said critics of the proposal have various reasons for opposing it: Some object to prime farm ground being taken out of production while others worry that the additional electricity needed to power the data center and artificial intelligence applications it will support will contribute to more increases in electric rates. Still others worry that the center could put local water supplies in jeopardy and would cause unwanted disruptions in rural life, she said.
In Sangamon County, a different company, Dallas-based CyrusOne, received approval from the Sangamon County Board in March for its proposed 634-megawatt data center in a rural area southwest of Springfield in Talkington Township.
About 100 permanent, full-time jobs will be created, CyrusOne officials said, and Sangamon County officials said the project’s accompanying increase in assessed valuation would generate $5 million to $6 million in additional property taxes for various taxing bodies.
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.
The conditional use permit 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.
Central Illinois construction trade unions have supported both data center projects.
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. Hut 8 remains interested in resubmitting an application, DeRoss said.
The potential amendment to Logan County’s zoning law is modeled after Sangamon County’s changes but includes more details. For example, Logan County is considering including a section requiring an applicant to have a financial plan for 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.
There were well over 100 people that came, signed the petition saying no to the data center, and either stayed for the speeches or left. The fact that DeRoss calls out the Democrats is showing his abject political bias. The objection to the data center has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with our love and respect for Logan County and the residents. The vast majority of people are AGAINST this invasive build. A recent informal FB poll showed over 450 people were AGAINST the data center with only 11 (yes, eleven) people in favor. Board members need to listen to their constituents and vote as the vast majority decrees.