Commission Endorses Milwaukee Data Center Moratorium After Fiery Hearing

Data center. (CC0)

A proposed data center moratorium for the City of Milwaukee received its first endorsement Monday, but only after nearly two hours of discussion on the proposal’s legal limits and testimony for and against it.

The proposal would prohibit construction of new data centers for up to one year.

Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic said AI and data centers have become some of the public’s hottest issues.

“That’s what this is all about. Listening to what the people wanted,” said Dimitrijevic. “What’s happening is technology is moving at such a fast speed. We’re in an interesting time to live right now. Government can’t keep up, but we’re being asked to, though, and we need to rise to that occasion.”

She framed the proposal as a “pause” and not an end to data center development. The pause, she said, would allow the city to craft zoning regulations to respond to the energy and water use of data centers, as well as their design and noise impacts.

“This is not us closing the book,” said Dimitrijevic. The moratorium would be rescinded after one year or after a zoning framework is adopted, whichever comes first. The alderwoman has already introduced a draft framework, but the proposal has yet to move through the public hearing process.

Department of City Development Planning Manager Tanya Fonseca said the moratorium is a “stopgap” measure because the current zoning code doesn’t even define what a data center is. The proposal has the support of Mayor Cavalier Johnson and his administration.

A number of the individuals who spoke in support of the moratorium, including Stacy Smiter and Mabel Lamb, also showed up to oppose the redevelopment of the vacant Midtown Center Walmart, 5825 W. Hope Ave., into a mixed-use facility with a library, self-storage complex, affordable housing and a 19,000-square-foot data center. Dimitrijevic’s proposed data center zoning regulations, developed before the proposal was revealed, wouldn’t have affected it because it was under 20,000 square feet.

Support for a moratorium is far from unanimous.

Joel Roberts, a tech entrepreneur who founded Shepherd Traffic and a doctoral student at UW-Milwaukee, said data centers would provide the city tax revenue and that a number of facilities already existed in the city, like the Forest County Potawatomi Community‘s data center at 3135 W. Highland Blvd. “We’re not morons. We’re smart. We can do this,” he said.

But the general manager of the Potawatomi data center, Data Holdings CTO Ryan Brooks, said he supports the moratorium. “It is a public data center, not a hyperscaler. It has been here operating in Milwaukee since 2013. We have about 80 customers,” said Brooks. Unlike the billion-dollar “hyperscale” campuses that Microsoft, Oracle and others are building, Brooks said the Potawatomi facility is modest in scale, solar powered and a good neighbor.

A pending amendment to the proposal, listed as being offered by Ald. Robert Bauman, would exempt Potawatomi from the moratorium. It previously appeared in the council’s legislative file but is no longer included. Potawatomi did not respond to an earlier request for comment on the proposed exemption.

Letters in opposition to the moratorium were submitted by Andrew Davis of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and Chris Mambu Rasch of Building Advantage.

“The city should reject the moratorium and instead act promptly through its existing public-review process to establish clear, predictable and enforceable standards that address community concerns without sacrificing economic growth, job creation and Milwaukee’s regional competitiveness,” wrote Davis in a letter to the council.

“Rather than implementing industrywide pauses or reverting to overly restrictive de facto bans, the Common Council should use the special use or conditional use zoning process. A formalized special use review ensures the city can rigorously evaluate legitimate concerns — such as energy grid capacity, noise, sustainability and neighborhood compatibility — without shutting the door on high-value, responsible development,” wrote Mambu Rasch.

But many supporters spoke to concerns about unknown impacts.

“We need a pause. What we can’t do is approve development when we don’t know what the impact would be,” said Metcalfe Park Community Bridges Deputy Director Melody McCurtis. She said if development was allowed to occur immediately on land already zoned for heavy industrial use, it would disproportionately impact Black and Brown residents because of where that land is located.

Ald. Alex Brower said the economy has become a “techno-nightmare” and he’s committed to working to address the resulting issues.

After more than an hour of public testimony, acting Commission Chair Allyson Nemec and Commissioner Ranell Washington thanked all of the participants for presenting a wide range of viewpoints. The commission voted unanimously for the moratorium. Commissioners Stephanie Bloomingdale and Catrina Crane were excused from the meeting.

The proposal next heads to the Common Council for review. In addition to Dimitrijevic and Brower, the proposal is cosponsored by Sharlen P. Moore, Bauman and Russell W. Stamper, II.

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