In January, the Madison Common Council paused new data centers over 10,000 square feet for up to a year so the city could write rules specifically for them. That pause is scheduled to end by January 24, 2027. Earlier this fall, city planners released a draft framework that would keep hyperscale campuses out of Madison, which is the right call. It would also allow large, warehouse-sized data centers of 50,000 to 100,000 square feet in industrial districts outside the transit-oriented development overlay, subject to a map that has not yet been finalized.
The draft itself admits these facilities would be loud. It requires solid screening walls around mechanical equipment and emergency generators, plus a noise mitigation plan. Rules like that are written for neighbors who will have to live next to the noise. Those neighbors should get a say in where the facilities go before the map is finalized.
We should be able to dream bigger than data centers for our communities.
I’m currently raising kids in this city. I’ve worked more than one job to pay the bills and watched the rent go up until we had to move. I know what it feels like when city government decides something about your block and nobody asks you. Later, on the Dane County Board, I saw the same thing from the other side of the table: it’s easy to make decisions for people when they aren’t in the room. I worry this process risks repeating that pattern.
Madison has a notable history of environmentalism. It says it wants to protect its lakes and air, put people ahead of corporations, and undo a long history of systemic racism and classism. Yet when I look at the proposed map, I worry about reinforcing those inequities on the north, east and south sides of town.
The city’s own FAQ says Madison cannot regulate how much water a data center uses, how much power it draws, where that power comes from, or what it does to your electric bill. But the city can regulate land use, along with concerns such as noise, lighting and stormwater. We should use those tools with intention.
On October 16, state officials announced more than $218 million in federal funding for the Hiawatha West project to connect Madison and Milwaukee by train. State matching funds and operating support are still needed, but reconnecting Madison to Milwaukee and Chicago would open new opportunities for residents, workers, students and businesses.
The city’s passenger rail study identifies Johnson Street Yard, near East Johnson and First streets and the Madison Public Market, as a backup station location if its preferred Monona Lakefront site proves infeasible.
The Johnson Street Yard corridor is also a potential site for large data center zoning.
The question is worth asking: how can we preserve opportunities for housing, transit and local businesses? A Johnson Street station could bring more people to nearby businesses and is accessible to the current east-west BRT line, as well as the future north-south BRT line. Should we use this area to invest in a transportation hub, or should we use it to build large data centers? These are questions worth asking and discussions worth having.
I’ve been talking to and listening to people across Madison, and what I hear is that we all want basically the same things: a safe place to live for us and our families to live and grow. What I’m not hearing is that anyone wants data centers. We do want our elected officials to listen to us.
The city has a public meeting coming up – including on next Tuesday, October 27 at 5:30 p.m.,
Those opportunities are not enough. If you’re like me and juggling soccer practice and homework with late shifts – joining a meeting can be impossible.
City officials need to hold town halls in the neighborhoods that could be affected, at hours people can make, before the council votes. Nothing about us without us.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway should ask the Common Council to extend the moratorium past January 24, 2027, so those neighborhood discussions can happen before the rules are adopted. This isn’t about who’s mayor. A data center built next year could still affect its neighbors in twenty years, whoever holds the office.
I believe in a Madison that doesn’t sell out its residents and its neighborhoods to corporations. We deserve a city government that puts housing, transportation and education first, and the people of Madison deserve a say in what gets built next to them.
We can take more time to get this right, or a generation to live with getting it wrong.
