We applaud Linn County for taking the steps to propose a moratorium on data centers in the unincorporated areas of Linn County for the next 18 months.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors already had a solid ordinance about data centers that they passed after significant feedback from members of the county, especially on outlining the need for knowing the impact on water and resources before a project moves forward.

That hasn’t stopped corporations like Google from moving forward with data center projects in the area, one of which involves the community of Walker. The city of Walford was recently approached about annexing a data center into their community, as a way to again sidestep the restrictions as laid out in Linn County’s ordinance. The mayor posted about the request on Facebook on July 2.

“The city council had a discussion at both the May and June council meetings and concluded that it is not in the best interest of the city to annex land into the city limits to accommodate such a request,” mayor Randy Bauer wrote. “We also discussed adopting a data center moratorium, but because there is no available land within the city limits and the city can deny annexation requests, Walford effectively has a data center moratorium. The city has also had discussion with Linn County regarding development of what is called a Fringe Area Agreement with Linn County to at least have a seat at the table as the county considers development near Walford. Linn County has similar agreements with a number of other cities in Linn County.”

The City of Mount Vernon has also taken no action on establishing a moratorium on data centers, noting the proximity to a river or needed water source is likely not enticing these projects here.

We understand why supervisor Sami Scheetz voted no on the measure, because the ordinance already in place does put in a number of restrictions to protect the county and property owners.

But with a developer trying once again to find a way around the county’s restrictions of that ordinance by annexing into a city again, it seems prudent to place a moratorium in general in the county moving forward as this continues investigation.

As we stated earlier this year, the impact of data centers is something that will impact all the communities in Linn County moving forward. Right now, we’re seeing roadways backed up due to traffic from construction on some of those data centers towards the west end of the county, as well as more full campground sites at Palisades Keplar from some of the workers. Impacts to the water resources for the county are something that needs to continually be watched.