Data centers have been the subject of heated debate in communities around the country — including in Wisconsin. Tech companies build the huge warehouses to process, store and transmit the digital information that travels through the internet.
The buildings hold row upon row of computers that require massive amounts of electricity to run and to keep the equipment from overheating. Data centers used to train AI models need even more power.
In the last few years, there’s been a proliferation of proposals to build more data centers. But there’s also been pushback from people concerned about their impact.
That’s what’s happening in Port Washington, Wisconsin, where city leaders stand squarely on one side of the data center debate. They believe it will provide a much-needed infusion of tax dollars and boost local businesses.
Mayor Tim Neitzke says Port Washington wrote a special zoning code to guide negotiations with a Colorado company called Vantage to build its 672-acre data center.
“So while the company itself has a very large footprint, the tradeoff is these huge environmental victories for our community,” Neitzke says.
The data center site is made up of more than 100 individual properties — some homes, some farms — that Vantage purchased. Neitzke drives onto what he calls 60 critical acres that will be conserved and restored.
“All of this forestation will be maintained and cleaned,” Neitzke says.
Wetlands will also be restored on the parcel. Neitzke says that work will not only support habitat but also help mitigate flooding downstream in Port Washington.
Neitzke says the zoning code also helps address light and sound pollution on the data center campus.
“What the boundary would look like around the property, that it has to have an 8-foot berm. There have to be 2,300 trees planted around the site so it’s forested. So when you drive down the interstate, you know, in 10 or 15 years, you don’t even see it because of the mixed forestation,” Neitzke says. “We put in lighting standards. We heard about sound, so we put in really high standards around sound, that within 150 feet of the data center, it had to be less than 70 decibels.”
At its core, Neitzke sees the data center as a critical infusion of tax dollars for Port Washington.
“So people will ask me, what keeps me up at night? It’s not the data center. It’s what if we don’t have development? What happens to the high school I graduated from? What happens to the quality of our roads? And we’ve been keeping it together on a shoestring,” Neitzke says.
Union carpenter Jonathan Abraham spoke out in favor of Port Washington’s data center plan at a city planning commission meeting late last week.
“Some types of construction will never return. This offers a new path for skilled trades people who are just trying to enter the workforce and for journeymen like myself to finish off our careers,” Abraham says.
But everyone else who spoke believed the risks outweigh the benefits.
Andrew Dellinger, a father of two, told city officials the data center doesn’t serve the character of the community.
“Tax revenue does not fall back into my wallet or into my paycheck that I need to pay for my family’s well-being with. I moved to Port Washington not to live next to a data center. I moved here because it’s a small town and you guys should really reflect on who you’re representing here,” Dellinger says.
An undercurrent of environmental concerns flow through the data center debate. Critics say the facilities require vast amounts of electricity that will drive up both pollution and costs to residential consumers.
Medhavi Ambardar, chief scientist with the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory based in Port Washington, will be watching how birds are affected by the data center’s construction and operation.
Ambardar is keeping tabs on the abundance of birds along the interurban trail. “It’s very birdy here,” Ambardar remarks.
The data center will run east of the path.
“Human habitation and development is going to continue, so how can we do this in a way that at a bare minimum is not going to harm birds and other wildlife but even better support them,” Ambardar says.
She and several conservation colleagues passed along recommendations to Mayor Neitzke who passed them along to Vantage. Meanwhile, other data centers are on the horizon in Wisconsin. Microsoft is building one in Mount Pleasant. The company recently abandoned plans to build a facility in Caledonia near We Energies’ Oak Creek Power Plant after resident outcry. But Microsoft could find another location in southeast Wisconsin.
