Emmet County’s Board of Supervisors has unanimously adopted a one-year moratorium on new data center developments. Supervisor Lisa Hansen of Armstrong, chair of the board, says the county now has time to investigate the issue.
Hansen says the county has not been contacted by a company planning to build a data center in Emmet County, but residents are raising questions about a data center’s use of water and what would happen during a drought.
Emmet County officials are currently working on an ordinance governing the placement of solar panels in areas outside of cities and towns in the county. Hansen says the one-year moratorium gives Planning and Zoning officials and the board of supervisors time to complete that project, then develop guidelines for a data center ordinance.
