Scope
Madison Ordinance ORD-26-00002 (Legistar File 91135) creates Madison General Ordinances section 28.140, a temporary moratorium on zoning certificates for data centers and telecommunications centers over 10,000 square feet as a principal use. The moratorium lasts twelve months after the ordinance takes effect or until a zoning amendment on data centers or telecommunications centers is adopted and takes effect, whichever is earlier.
- Geographic scope
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Jurisdiction
- Local
- Authority type
- Local government
- Issuing authority
- Madison Common Council
Dates
- Adopted
- 13 January 2026
- Effective
- Effective date not stated in the source
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- Twelve months after the ordinance's unprinted effective date, or when a zoning amendment on data centers or telecommunications centers takes effect, whichever is earlier.
- Source document
- The source page states no document date
- Last checked
- 1 October 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
The Madison Common Council unanimously adopted ORD-26-00002 on 13 January 2026, and Legistar lists an enactment date of 24 January 2026. The ordinance temporarily stops the city from issuing zoning certificates for data centers and telecommunications centers over 10,000 square feet as a principal use. It lasts twelve months from its effective date or until data center zoning amendments take effect, whichever comes first. The effective date is not printed, so no end day is computed.
What this does not establish
- The saved text is version 1 of the Legistar file, which Legistar shows as the adopted version.
- Dane County's separate hyperscale resolution is a different instrument by a different government.
- On 23 September 2026 the Legistar file still showed four history entries ending with adoption on 13 January 2026, and a Legistar Web API title search found no data center or telecommunications center zoning amendment introduced or adopted, so the early-end condition had not been met as of that day.
- The city’s current implementation page reports no final action at the 29 September 2026 framework discussion. Its internally inconsistent calendar endpoint is not used to compute an expiration date.
Unresolved questions
- When the twelve-month term ends, or whether zoning amendments take effect first.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- No related action is recorded.
Sources
https://madison.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7777877&GUID=3C3FE74A-BFCE-467F-AA7B-CBA5A2BF59FC
- Current city implementation update current official status reviewed 1 October 2026