LEE COUNTY – Lee County Supervisor Chair Ginger Knisley wants to push the accelerator a bit on shoring up data center language that could become a part of county code.
The county has already approved zoning ordinances around wind energy, solar energy and battery energy storage projects in the county. But in the wake of a proposed data center on Burlington Hill primarily out of Fort Madison’s east side city limits, and other rumored projects in Green Bay bottoms, Knisley wants conversations with the public sooner rather than later.
At Tuesday’s regular meeting Knisley said during her comment time that she was pushing for an expedited timeline and wants to have it wrapped up before the end of the year.
Since the county implemented a moratorium in June debate around the data centers has become emotional and frequent.
Residents turned out in force at a Fort Madison Planning and Zoning Commission meeting with an overflow crowd to express displeasure with the plans on the hill. Supervisors then moved their following board meeting to the Meller Family Health Center to accommodate a larger crowd, but only about 50 people showed up for a docile conversation.
Knisley said she has received commentary in support and opposition of proposed projects.
“I personally have been receiving citizen comments on both sides of the issue,” Knisley said. “I’ve been surprised that I’ve had several emails actually making the case for data centers. It’s been pretty interesting.
“I think it’s important that we look at all sides of this and go through the process. It will be a little bit grueling because of the timeline. But it’s important that we get it done and get it done within this calendar year.”
She said Alliant Energy has also contacted the county wanting to be involved in the process
Supervisor Garry Seyb said he’s had a couple phone calls from those involved in the project on the Fort Madison hillside.
“I expressed to them that these meetings would be coming and I encouraged them to be part of the process. They have some of the best practices.”
Supervisor Chuck Holmes asked if the county shouldn’t have a draft in place before the meetings so participants can help evaluate and contribute.
Knisley said she wants the first three meetings to be conversations around what an ordinance or amendment should look like. Then after the county creates a draft she plans on having three more town halls to discuss the draft.
Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission is assisting the county in creating the draft language.
“Regional planning’s a little nervous about the timeline, but I told them I believe in them,” Knisley said with a laugh.
The county held three meetings over the wind and solar ordinance several years ago, but Knisley said that was over six or seven months which is too long for this effort.
“Short timeline,” she said.
“There’s no shortage of information from every angle on that subject,” she said. “I am going to move us along very quickly and I’ve already apologized to Regional Planning and I’ll apologize to all of you, too, because I think we need to get this topic moving,” she said.
“We need public input, we need to draft an ordinance, and then get some more public input.
She said she’s asked Lee County Auditor Sherri Yasenchok to schedule the town hall meetings. Those meetings have been tentatively set for 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14, Monday, Sept. 21, and Thursday, Sept. 24 to be held in Donnellson, Keokuk and Fort Madison, not necessarily in that order. Locations are still to be determined.
In a related issue, the county also approved hiring Brown Winick Law Firm out of Des Moines to help the county navigate the legal issues of data centers and other economic development projects in the county, while also representing the county's best interests in any language or project proposals.
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