Scope
Wood County Ordinance #709 (Ordinance 26-9-2) requires the owner, operator or proposed developer of a Large-Scale Data Center anywhere in Wood County, including within cities, villages and towns, to give notice to the county Planning and Zoning Director, Administrative Coordinator and Corporation Counsel within thirty days of its first planning contact with a municipality, with information on location, design, operations, land use compatibility, infrastructure, environmental impacts and proposed mitigation. A Large-Scale Data Center is a project housing computing and networking equipment with principal buildings of at least 25,000 square feet, a contiguous tract of 10 acres or more and at least 5,000 servers. The county may review the notice and seek a mitigation agreement.
- Geographic scope
- Wood County, Wisconsin (all municipalities)
- Jurisdiction
- Local
- Authority type
- Local government
- Issuing authority
- Wood County Board of Supervisors
Dates
- Adopted
- 15 September 2026
- Effective
- Effective date not stated in the source
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The ordinance states no expiration.
- Source document
- The source page states no document date
- Last checked
- 23 September 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
Wood County, Wisconsin adopted Ordinance #709 at its 15 September 2026 board meeting. Developers of large-scale data centers (at least 25,000 square feet of principal buildings, 10 or more acres and 5,000 or more servers) must notify county officials within thirty days of first contacting a city, village or town about a project, and supply information on the project and its road, drainage, emergency-service, environmental and land-use impacts. The county can review the notice and negotiate a mitigation agreement. It is a notice and coordination rule; it does not itself approve, deny or pause any project.
What this does not establish
- Adoption on 15 September 2026 is taken from the County Clerk legal notice on the county website; the board minutes were not opened.
- The ordinance says it takes effect upon passage; Wisconsin publication requirements were not checked, so no separate effective day is stored.
- It does not regulate zoning in cities, villages or towns; it adds a county notice step.
Unresolved questions
None recorded.
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://www.woodcountywi.gov/Departments/Clerk/Ordinances/709%20-%20Data%20Center%20Notification.pdf