The La Salle County Board is considering what data centers will need to do before coming to the county.
After discussing data centers at a recent Committee of the Whole meeting, the committee decided to vote on a water survey and study at the next county board meeting before making any decisions on data centers within county limits.
Bryan Dose (D-Ottawa) advocated for a water study and survey to crystallize the county’s water situation before considering any further action.
“I beg this board to please pursue paying for a water study, and not issuing or doing anything with AI data centers until we know exactly whether we have the water sources available to do so,” he said.
Dose described the water studies as meta-analyses assessing water quality and quantity, with the last two conducted in 2006 and 2016.
Board member James Reid (R-Sandwich) pointed out at the April 20 meeting that the water data centers consume can only be recycled as wastewater, although that was just one of Reid’s objections to any data centers in La Salle County.
“I don’t care how we write it,” Reid said. “I’m going to vote against every data center that comes near La Salle County.”
He mentioned the energy and water consumption, noise disturbance, land commitment and lack of economic advantage as key reasons why he is opposed to data centers.
Brian Gift, director of the La Salle County Land Use Department, said that he drafted a data center-specific ordinance that could be discussed at the next county board meeting. The committee opted to prioritize the county water study and survey beforehand.
La Salle County Attorney Jeremiah Adams pointed out that a potential act from state legislators, the POWER Act, could narrow the conditions for data centers that the county would have to consider for its ordinance.
“The Act would put a lot of guardrails on the application process and give the local municipalities or local populations an ability to create advisory boards that enforce what are essentially contracts between the data center and the local community that they have that they can enforce,” Adams said.
Currently, the only avenue for data centers to be allowed in La Salle County is through a special-use industrial permit.
Adams said that the application process for a data center, given the impending state legislation, acts as a de facto moratorium for the county.
“You could take official action, like some of the municipalities have, at a full board meeting if you wanted to, but in reality, the process is going to take a while, so the juice may not be worth the squeeze,” he said.
Gift said that the power grid of ComEd and Ameren was likely not ready to support data centers within the county as-is, which could deter potential developers from considering La Salle County for projects, giving the La Salle County board time to refine its process for if and when developers seek approval.
“A lot of times, it is easier to have something in place before the development comes to you,” he said.