Vilas County officials are considering a temporary 12-month moratorium on the development of new data centers, battery energy storage facilities, and large-scale solar operations to give local planners time to research and draft comprehensive safety and land-use regulations.

A public hearing on the proposed ordinance is scheduled for Sept. 23 at 9 a.m. at the Vilas County Courthouse, giving residents and community stakeholders an opportunity to provide input. Following the public comment period, the Vilas County Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the proposal at its Oct. 27 meeting.

According to the draft ordinance, Vilas County currently lacks local zoning regulations governing the location, construction, or operation of digital data hubs and utility-scale energy storage facilities. County leaders are seeking the temporary pause to analyze potential secondary effects and establish consistent regulatory standards to safeguard public health, safety, property values, and local natural resources under Wisconsin state law.

Planners outlined a range of potential community and environmental risks stemming from unmonitored industrial technology projects, including unique and specialized fire hazards associated with battery energy storage systems and server emergency power infrastructure. They also highlighted concerns regarding heavy noise and vibration from facility cooling units, increased light pollution, air and water quality degradation, heightened stormwater runoff from expansive impervious surfaces, and potential traffic disruptions during facility construction and operation.

Under the proposed measure, a data center is defined as a facility primarily dedicated to storing, processing, and transmitting digital data while housing servers, power generation equipment, and mechanical cooling systems.

A battery energy storage system (BESS) encompasses electrochemical resources designed to receive, store, and discharge electricity into the electrical grid. Additionally, covered solar energy systems (SES) include commercial collection arrays, panels, substations, and electrical transformers that convert solar energy into thermal or electrical power.

If enacted, the moratorium will temporarily freeze the acceptance, review, or approval of development permits for 12 months. The draft ordinance provides specific exemptions for solar installations measuring one acre or less, ordinary facility maintenance and repairs, emergency utility restoration work, and existing projects that already hold valid county zoning or conditional use permits.

Vilas County is enacting the measure under statutory authority granted by Wisconsin Statutes §§ 59.02(2), 59.03(2)(a), and 59.69.

Oneida County 1-year ban in place

Oneida County last month passed its own one-year ban on new data centers across most of the county to give officials time to create regulations on how to handle them.

The moratorium is effective for one year, but can be extended if the process stretches beyond that timeline.
WXPR reported that there are not any known plans for a data center in the county, but the board wanted to be prepared and have ordinances in place should the topic arise.

The moratorium does not include the unzoned areas of Sugar Camp, Monico and Enterprise, nor the City of Rhinelander which does its own zoning.