Regulating data centers is front and center in Madison

The city of Madison held a virtual public information meeting on its data center moratorium late Wednesday afternoon — a moratorium that buys the city staff some time to amend its zoning code to regulate future data centers, especially proposals to develop the increasingly controversial hyperscale data centers.

Following an informational presentation in which city staffers outlined the process for enacting a land-use ordinance to regulate data centers, Christie Baumel, deputy mayor for housing and sustainability, and other city officials fielded questions from the public and indicated there would be several more opportunities for public input as 2026 unfolds.

While the ordinance will cover data centers of varying sizes, much of the attention focused on regulating the large facilities that accommodate artificial intelligence applications but also can strain energy and water use, emergency services and air quality.

“We realize that our regulations don't reflect current best practices and how this industry is evolving,” Baumel said. “We needed time to update our code to make sure we're managing the potential impacts the best that we can.”

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RSK: 10,000 sf is small for a data center....and I think it would take a year to get all approvals to build something larger. What I do like is the data center would have to supply its own power source.