Town of Beloit WI data center moratorium resolution (2026)

Town of Beloit, Wis. (Rock County) — RESOLUTION calling for a 12-MONTH data center moratorium, approved 4-0 by the Board of Supervisors on MONDAY, JULY 20, 2026. STATUS IS `proposed` DELIBERATELY: the source states the Monday vote was THE FIRST OF THREE OFFICIAL STEPS \u2014 the town must still (a) HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING and (b) DRAFT AND APPROVE AN ORDINANCE. A resolution calling for a moratorium imposes no restriction; only the ordinance does. Wisconsin town moratorium procedure requires the ordinance, and a reader taking the resolution as the operative measure would record a restriction that does not exist. TRIGGER: a proposed $1 BILLION DATA CENTER CAMPUS spanning the TOWNS OF BELOIT AND TURTLE, advanced by PANATTONI DEVELOPMENT CO.; an overflow crowd attended the July 20 meeting to speak against it. THE COST REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT REFUSAL IS THE SUBSTANTIVE ACTION AND IS RECORDED HERE BECAUSE IT IS LITTLE UNDERSTOOD: earlier in July the board unanimously instructed staff to draft the moratorium resolution ON THE SAME DAY IT REJECTED A COST REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT with the California company behind the campus. Developers routinely offer to fund a small municipality's consultant, engineering and legal review of a large application \u2014 costs a town of this size cannot otherwise bear. Accepting creates a reviewed application and an expectation of process; REFUSING declines the funding rather than entering a review the town judged it could not control, and is the clearest available signal that the town does not intend to permit the project. The TOWN OF TURTLE took the same two steps. TOGETHER the two resolutions appear to put at least a one-year halt on the Panattoni proposal, since the campus spans both towns and requires both. ROCK COUNTY CLUSTER, documented more fully on Town of Janesville WI data center moratorium (2026): Janesville, Beloit, Turtle and the Town of Rock were all approached, and Rock County and the City of Janesville were weighing their own measures.