Wright County Officials Offer Clarification on Data Center Moratorium

Recent social media postings have gained traction regarding a public hearing scheduled for the May 19 Wright County board of commissioners meeting.

In a press release, officials say the public hearing is regarding a request from Wright County Planning & Zoning to implement an emergency moratorium on the acceptance of applications and construction of data centers.

Officials say this has been mistakenly interpreted as a potential avenue to delay a proposed data center in the City of Monticello.

Wright County has zoning authority in county townships and if the board of commissioners would approve the moratorium, it would have no impact on a planned data center in Monticello because cities have their own zoning authority.

Because of the confusion, officials released a statement on the county website, Facebook and X. That statement is below.

A Message from Wright County Administration:

There has been inaccurate information circulating on social media regarding the public hearing scheduled for the May 19 county board meeting to discuss a potential interim zoning ordinance that could create an emergency moratorium of up to 12 months on the approval and construction of data centers in Wright County.

This matter is being brought forth by Wright County Planning & Zoning, which has zoning authority in Wright County townships. If approved, this would have no impact on a planned data center moving forward in the City of Monticello because cities have their own zoning authority.

While the county is interested from hearing from residents regarding the proposed county moratorium, the discussion will not involve or impact the process moving forward for the proposed data center in Monticello.