Although Champaign County is under a 12-month moratorium on new large-scale data centers, concerns about the location of a potential facility continue to grow among residents.
On July 13, 2026, the Champaign County Data Center Activities Task Force convened for its sixth meeting to discuss proposed requirements regarding backup generators, noise and vibration concerns and minimum separation distances for large data centers.
County officials have acknowledged they have heard of a proposed site southwest of the City of Champaign, but have said they will not disclose details of it because they have not received a formal proposal.
Thus, public concerns regarding the location of these data centers were a recurring point during the public comment section.
“Do you know where they plan on building this thing? Because I’d like to drive out there and look around,” Barney Bryson, a Champaign County resident who lives near High Cross Road and Kyle Street in Urbana, said during the meeting.
Bryson urged the task force to consider the environmental impacts of large data centers, citing examples from Mississippi and California, where facilities rely on numerous gas turbines and consume significant amounts of water. He expressed concerns about noise, power infrastructure crossing farmland, water availability, potential contamination and algae growth linked to wastewater discharge.
In response to his question, Aaron Esry, vice chair of the task force and a county board member, said one company previously explored a site near Rising Road in the southwestern part of Champaign — approximately two miles south and slightly west of an electrical substation. The proposal includes an approximately 300-acre development, officials said earlier this year.
Esry emphasized that no formal proposal has been submitted and no data center application is currently pending. He did not name the company.
“They came in, touched base one time, and met with five of us County Board members,” he said at the meeting. “We haven’t heard from them since, and we haven’t heard from the other company since. As of right now, there are no data centers that Planning and Zoning is sitting on, waiting for us to get these regulations in place. There are none proposed right now in the county at any size.”
Bryson said in an interview with CU-CitizenAccess.org that data center developers move silently:
“Well, that’s how [data centers] start. They test the water. Nobody says anything. Then they come back, and they ask the political people if they’re interested. They ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement. When you ask them anything about this, they can’t say anything about it. This is some kind of trick under the sleeve by the data centers.”
On April 23, Champaign County officials voted to establish a one-year moratorium on new data centers following “serious” inquiries into new developments in the county.
“If I were a betting person, I would bet that one of these companies is Meta,” Bryson said.
Meta and Constellation Energy announced a 20-year power purchase agreement on June 3, 2025. The agreement covers the entire 1,121-megawatt output of the Clinton Clean Energy Center, formerly the Clinton Power Station. It takes effect in June 2027, when Illinois’ Zero Emission Credit program expires.
“Why would Meta buy the Clinton power plant if they do not need power to generate their data center?” Bryson said.
Aurora ordinance stays the model
Champaign County Planning and Zoning Director John Hall said the task force the draft regulations before them were largely adapted from Aurora’s recently adopted ordinance, with modifications for Champaign County.
As part of that draft, Hall proposed a minimum 1,000-foot separation — or about three football fields — from residences for large data centers to mitigate noise and vibration.
Whether a 1,000-foot separation is enough was debated among the members, as data centers are reportedly known to use jet engine-like generators.
“That noise is going to travel over 1,000 feet, I would think. A thousand feet doesn’t seem like far enough to me,” said Kevin Sage, a member of the task force.
“The low-frequency noises can travel more than one mile, a few miles, depending on how the terrain is and how the wind is and other aspects. So I do feel that a 1,000-foot separation is really insufficient if it can travel a mile,” said Amy Young, a member of the task force.
Andrew Rehn, climate policy director at Prairie Rivers Network and task force member, suggested requiring independent noise and vibration testing after each phase of construction. He argued that large data centers are often built incrementally and compliance should be verified as projects expand rather than relying solely on preconstruction modeling.
I believe that no large data centers are the best option but we need some common sense injected into this debate. I think the best way to address this is from a health and safety standpoint and hear me out. This is a real danger that needs to be addressed. What if we are not able to stop them from being built?
What can be done?
Since the state refuses to step in the the county needs to setup.
One thing I am most concerned about here is that data centers like this spill huge amounts of infrasound. If these sites are built it will likely end up harming environment in addition to the surrounding community if the are not strictly regulated.
They need to be required to do things for decoupling/isolating buildings foundations and equipment from the transmission of sounds to the surrounding areas using elastomeric springs, floating slabs, and filled perimeter trenches. Install things on equipment like acoustical louvers, duct silencers and attenuators, or barriers.
Things like requiring pre-constuction environmental modeling can be required into the level of possible pollution emitted from the site(s) that include infrasound that will be emitted and then use that data for required mitigation during the construction phase. While also making requirements for routine environmental monitoring that includes infrasound leak detection and implament fines/punishments for deviations or damages caused.
To be honest the cost of the environmental studies and the installation of these mitigation measures will likely cause them to look elsewhere. But if they are built it will hopefully reduce the harm to the surrounding animals and people in the area. Plus have a way to check and hold them accountable/shut them down if it does not.
MW (Urbana)