Monroe County, WI — Eighteen-Month Moratorium on Data Center and Battery Storage Zoning Permits
Monroe County, WI · Monroe County, Wis. Board of Supervisors resolution (2026-07-21); packet designation 07-26-04
Acting under Wis. Stat. § 59.69(4), the Monroe County Board of Supervisors enacted a moratorium on the receipt of applications for, and the granting of, all zoning-related permits for the placement or construction of Battery Storage Facilities and Medium and Large Scale Data Centers and related land use. Medium Scale Data Centers are defined as up to 3,000 square feet with power demand of 10 MW or less, including colocation facilities and potentially bitcoin or cryptocurrency mining; Large Scale as over 3,000 square feet with more than 10 MW. Small Scale Data Centers — single-organization onsite facilities under 500 kW with no crypto mining — are defined separately and fall outside the operative scope. A Battery Storage Facility is any site housing a collection of interconnected batteries designed to accumulate electrical energy from various sources for later use, so the measure is materially broader than data centers alone.
Technical detail
Up to eighteen months from the date of the resolution (approximately 2027-01-21 at the outer bound; no explicit expiration date is stated in the text), with the Board reserving the right to extend by separate action. The resolution expressly states it is not a 'development moratorium' as defined in Wis. Stat. § 66.1002(1)(b). Monroe County would otherwise permit these uses only under an Unclassified Use Permit.
Who is protected: Monroe County residents, while the Zoning & Sanitation Committee studies impacts and develops zoning regulations for these uses.
Who must comply: Monroe County zoning permitting bodies, which may not receive applications for or grant zoning permits for the covered uses; and any applicant seeking to site such a facility under county zoning.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Monroe County, WI |
|---|---|
| Level | County |
| Status | In effect |
| Protection strength | Moderate protection |
| Effective date | 2026-07-21 |
| Enacted | 2026-07-21 |
| Citation | Monroe County, Wis. Board of Supervisors resolution (2026-07-21); packet designation 07-26-04 |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · government use of AI |
| Last verified | 2026-07-26 |
| Official source | Monroe County WI Board of Supervisors, 2026-07-21 agenda packet — full resolution text (pp. 22-23) ↗ |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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