Eau Claire County Begins Work On Data Center Moratorium
administration committee unanimously approves motion to begin legislation process less than a month after Chippewa County passed its own 12-month moratorium
The Chippewa Valley first found itself pulled into the national conversation on hyper-scale data centers when the city of Menomonie was approached for such a project in 2025. Wisconsin already has three hyper-scale data centers underway – worth some $46 billion – even as state legislation and public sentiment continue to shift.
Closer to home, that proposed Menomonie project – which Volume One first tied to potential end-user Meta in August 2025 – is now “on pause” while the City Council continues work on the first data center-specific ordinance (referred to as the I-4 ordinance) in the Chippewa Valley.
Just weeks ago on Aug. 11, Chippewa County passed a 12-month moratorium on new data center development.
As of this morning, Eau Claire County has officially begun moving forward on its own hyper-scale data center moratorium.
During the Eau Claire County Committee on Administration meeting on Sept. 8 – which followed previous meetings where large-scale data center developments and the County’s current lack of guardrails for them were discussed – members unanimously approved a motion to start forming its moratorium.
Preceded by six public comment speakers in favor of a moratorium, County Administrator Jon Johnson shared the Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA) had distributed official guidelines related to “how you can move forward when it comes to feasibility of ordinances, land use agreements, operator agreements” and more regarding these large-scale data center developments.
Now with that guidance in hand, Johnson and Eau Claire County Corporation Counselor Sharon McIlquham will begin work on the moratorium legislation before presenting to the County Planning and Development Committee, he told Volume One.
“The moratorium is a way of pausing any possible large scale data center applications from coming into our system,” Johnson said.
Eau Claire County Committee on Administration Unanimously Passes Motion to Begin Moratorium Legislation, Sept. 8
As worded in Eau Claire County documents, per executive administrator“Motion by Supervisor Wilkie directing Corporation Counsel in conjunction with the Wisconsin Counties Association’s guidance to develop a resolution for an enactment of a Data Center moratorium.”
Committee member Greg Banchy said he is not necessarily for or against these data center developments – the conversation is larger than that.
“Again, I'm not taking a stand (for or against) data centers. I mean, I have my own view on that but that's not really the discussion today,” Banchy said.
“The discussion is, what do we as a county board need to do to ensure that we are adequately representing our constituents,” he continued. “Not just for now, but as was pointed out in the public comment, in the future – 'cause once (one of these developments) goes forward, backing out of it ain't gonna happen.”
Johnson said if and when the County moratorium goes into effect – which could happen as soon as October, McIlquham said during the Sept. 8 meeting – the moratorium would likely see additional updates in the future “to better protect Eau Claire County.”
The committee also noted an upcoming educational event on data center development, "Exploring Data Centers: Impacts & Planning Considerations," being held from 7:30am-2:30pm on Sept. 29 at the Eau Claire Event District (5775 20th Ave., Eau Claire). The event's intended audience is municipal staff and economic development professionals ($25/person).
Eau Claire County Moratorium Would Not Impact City of Eau Claire, City of Altoona or Village of Fall Creek
Importantly, only those towns, villages and cities which have adopted Eau Claire County zoning would adhere to the hyper-scale data center moratorium. Those include the Towns of Union, Washington, Fairchild, Seymour and others.
The Cities of Altoona and Eau Claire and the Village of Fall Creek have not adopted Eau Claire County zoning – each of those communities have their own zoning codes.
None of those three communities have approved their own moratoriums or data center-specific legislation like Menomonie's I-4 ordinance.
However, the City of Eau Claire Sustainability Advisory Committee has been discussing the topic of large-scale data centers since at least August 2025. In June 2026, the committee moved to recommend a one-year moratorium to City Council and is still working on its policy recommendations.
No official policy proposal has been introduced at city council as of early September.
This is a developing story. Learn more about the Eau Claire County and City of Eau Claire boards, commissions and committees online. View the Wisconsin Counties Authority's "Guide to County Regulation of Renewable Energy and Data Center Projects 2026" in full online (PDF).
