'We choose our citizens': County board bans data centers in unincorporated Lake County until mid-2027

The Lake County Board voted this week to impose a temporary data center moratorium as they research the topic further, which comes just a week after Grayslake village officials granted the first building permit for the T5 @ Chicago IV data center campus in Grayslake, allowing construction to begin on an 800,000-square-foot facility, as the 472-acre development could see more than 10 million square feet of buildings. | Provided Rendering The county board on Tuesday voted to ban new data centers from being approved in unincorporated Lake County until May 2027, with one board member saying, 'We choose our citizens.' The Lake County Board approved the ordinance Tuesday morning amending Chapter 151 of the county's Code of Ordinances, which establishes the moratorium and also creates a legal definition of a data center. The ordinance is in effect immediately. Any data center proposed after Tuesday will not be considered by the county until the moratorium expires. The moratorium is set to lift on May 11, 2027, but could be earlier if the county board adopts data center regulations before then. The ordinance defines a data center as a facility, or part of a facility, that houses computer or network equipment, servers, appliances and the associated mechanical, electrical, cooling and backup power infrastructure used to collect, store, manage, process and transmit digital data. The definition covers both standalone buildings and multi-building campuses and specifies that data centers are distinct from general industrial, office or warehouse uses. The Lake County Board voted this week to impose a temporary data center moratorium as they research the topic further, which comes just a week after Grayslake village officials granted the first building permit for the T5 @ Chicago IV data center campus in Grayslake, allowing construction to begin on an 800,000-square-foot facility, as the 472-acre development could see more than 10 million square feet of buildings. | Provided Rendering The moratorium applies only to unincorporated Lake County, which falls under the county board's zoning authority. It does not affect data centers proposed or approved inside municipalities, including the T5 Data Center Campus in Grayslake that has drawn months of harsh opposition from residents. Lake County has not received any proposals to develop a data center in its unincorporated areas, county officials said. The county board began the process of pursuing the moratorium in June when it approved a resolution directing the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals to hold a public hearing on the proposed text amendments. The amendment process can take months so the county paired the resolution with a temporary administrative deferral allowing the Planning, Building and Development department to pause review of any data center applications for up to 120 days. The deferral, which would have run through October 7, automatically ended with Tuesday's vote and was replaced by the moratorium. The zoning board of appeals held its public hearing on August 18 at the Lake County Central Permitting Facility in Libertyville. Residents packed the meeting room and hallway and two hours of testimony was taken. More than 1,000 additional comments were submitted through an online form. The zoning board voted 6-0 to recommend the amendments. The Lake County Board voted this week to impose a temporary data center moratorium as they research the topic further, which comes just a week after Grayslake village officials granted the first building permit for the T5 @ Chicago IV data center campus in Grayslake, allowing construction to begin on an 800,000-square-foot facility, as the 472-acre development could see more than 10 million square feet of buildings. | Provided Rendering The county board's Planning, Building, Zoning and Environment Committee unanimously recommended approval on Wednesday, which sent the measure to the full board for Tuesday's vote. County staff will use the time to develop definitions, zoning classifications, performance standards and review procedures for data centers. District 16 Lake County Board Member Esiah A. Campos said the action provides an important opportunity for the county to strengthen its regulations and ensure residents have a meaningful voice in decisions that directly affect their communities. 'We are taking pressure from every side of this issue, but at the end of the day, we choose our citizens,' Campos said. 'People deserve to know what is being proposed in their own backyard before decisions are made not after. We need stronger regulations, greater transparency, and a process that informs and engages residents from the very beginning,' Campos said. The board member said the rapid growth of data center development raises important questions about land use, energy and water demands, infrastructure, noise, environmental impacts and the character of surrounding communities. 'This moratorium gives us the time to put the right protections in place. Economic development is important, but it cannot come at the expense of transparency or public trust. Our citizens should never feel like they are the last to know about something that could fundamentally change the community where they live,' Campos said. The vote comes after the T5 Data Center Campus in Grayslake, which the Grayslake Village Board approved last year following public hearings, has received intense scrutiny recently from residents. The campus covers up to 472 acres and up to 10.1 million square feet across several buildings along Peterson Road between Alleghany Road and Route 83 with an electrical demand of approximately 1.55 gigawatts. A lawsuit filed on July 31 by Lake County residents names the Village of Grayslake, T5 Data Centers, LLC and Alter Asset Management Company as defendants. It asks the court to declare the village's approvals invalid, void the development agreement between Grayslake and T5 and permanently bar the village from issuing further permits. Grayslake granted its first building permit approval last week for the campus, allowing construction to begin immediately on an 800,000-square-foot building on the campus. Village officials said the permit marks the start of an expected $18 billion private investment projected to generate $1.4 billion in property tax revenue over 20 years, which was secured without local tax incentives or TIF subsidies.