Gage County NE 12-month data center moratorium (Sept 16, 2026)

Gage County, Neb. Board of Supervisors — 12-MONTH MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTER PERMITS approved WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2026, SUPERSEDING the 8-month moratorium the board adopted August 5, 2026. THE DURATION HISTORY IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THIS ENTRY AND RUNS IN THREE STEPS: (1) the GAGE COUNTY PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION RECOMMENDED 18 MONTHS in June 2026; (2) the BOARD ADOPTED 8 MONTHS on August 5, 2026, less than half the recommendation; (3) the BOARD SETTLED ON 12 MONTHS on September 16, 2026. The source states expressly that “The county already had an eight-month moratorium in place, while the Gage County Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended an 18-month moratorium,” and that “Supervisors ultimately landed on 12 months.” SCOPE AS NOW REPORTED IS PERMITS — the August posture recorded here was the halting of acceptance and processing of CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS AND SPECIAL USE PERMITS; the September reporting says “data center permits” without re-enumerating, and NO CHANGE IN SCOPE IS ASSERTED. STATED RATIONALE, Supervisor EMILY HAXBY: “We don’t have any regulations in place currently for data centers, and we do need to take the time to make sure we have them in place prior to receiving a permit” — the code-silence diagnosis recorded at Sauk County WI 18-month data center moratorium (2026), Clayton OH 365-day data center moratorium (2026), Palm Springs Data Center Moratorium (2026) and Newport NC data center moratorium (2026). COUNTER-ARGUMENT ON THE RECORD, Supervisor REX ADAMS, favouring the shorter term: “I believe the soonest we get regulations in place, the better off we are and not drag it out.” THAT IS THE MORATORIUM-LENGTH TRADEOFF STATED BY A DECISION-MAKER: additional months buy drafting capacity but dilute the deadline pressure that forces drafting to conclude. It is the counterweight to the statutory-ceiling analysis recorded elsewhere in this dataset (Minn. Stat. § 462.355 subd. 4 and § 394.34, 12 months; Wisconsin 12 plus one 6-month extension; Cal. Gov. Code § 65858, 45 days plus 10mo15d plus 1 year), where the question is whether a term is TOO LONG to defend. Gage County is the case where the board argued a term could be too long to be USEFUL. expires_date 2027-09-16 IS COMPUTED as 12 months from the September 16 approval and is NOT stated in the source; whether the 12 months runs from September 16 or from the August 5 original adoption IS NOT STATED and the later date is used as the conservative reading.