Sauk County WI 18-month data center moratorium (2026)

Sauk County, Wis. — 18-MONTH MORATORIUM on data center proposals adopted by the COUNTY BOARD 27-1 on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2026. OPERATIVE SCOPE: temporarily stops the county from ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS or GRANTING ZONING APPROVALS for data centers IN AREAS UNDER COUNTY ZONING — which in Wisconsin excludes municipalities and, under Wis. Stat. § 59.69(5)(c), towns that have not adopted county zoning; the source does not enumerate which Sauk County towns are covered. PRE-EMPTIVE POSTURE, EXPRESSLY STATED: county leaders 'say they are not aware of any projects currently planned there,' and officials said 'the goal is to get regulations in place before a developer comes forward.' Supervisor WILLIAM KINSMAN told the board THE COUNTY CURRENTLY HAS NO SPECIFIC MECHANISM IN ITS ZONING ORDINANCE TO ADDRESS A DATA CENTER PROPOSAL; the moratorium gives staff time to research the developments and determine appropriate requirements. THIS IS THE SAME DIAGNOSIS recorded at Clayton OH 365-day data center moratorium (2026) (a data center admissible as a warehouse-type use under an undefined code), Palm Springs Data Center Moratorium (2026) (no data center definition in municipal or zoning code) and Forest Park GA 90-day data center moratorium (2026) (Digital Realty building by right for that reason) — code silence treated as exposure. THE PRE-EMPTIVE TIMING IS A LEGAL ASSET: this dataset records moratoriums defeated by vested rights where an application or agreement predated the pause (Rockford IL annexation agreement, Cle Elum WA 2002 development agreement, Salem pre-filed application, Lowell settlement, Athens site outside city limits). With no pending project, Sauk County has no equivalent exposure. DURATION FLAG — RECORDED AS A CAUTION, NOT AS A DEFECT FOUND BY A COURT: Wisconsin moratorium practice is generally understood as an initial term of UP TO 12 MONTHS WITH ONE 6-MONTH EXTENSION; an 18-MONTH TERM ADOPTED IN A SINGLE ENACTMENT sits at the outer edge of that framework. The same ceiling question is recorded against the Minnesota entries (Minn. Stat. § 462.355 subd. 4 / § 394.34, 12 months maximum) and against the multi-year terms elsewhere in this dataset. NO CHALLENGE TO THE SAUK COUNTY ORDINANCE IS REPORTED. expires_date IS COMPUTED as 18 months from adoption and is NOT stated in the source. ORDINANCE NUMBER NOT OBTAINED.