MAHOMET – Mahomet officials have ended talks with a data center developer after facing backlash from the community, Village President Jason Tompkins announced Monday.
Officials had been in talks with Clean Cloud Energy, a data center developer based on the east coast, about a proposal to build a data center in the village as early as January.
“I have publicly opposed this project,” Trustee Bruce Colravy said in a statement. “I am proud of those in the community and surrounding area who spent time and energy standing in opposition to it. They have made a difference.”
In a press release, officials said questions and concerns from residents played a “significant role” in making this decision.
“Our responsibility is to carefully evaluate potential developments and determine whether there is a path forward that serves Mahomet’s interests,” Tompkins said. “Listening to our residents is an essential part of that responsibility.”
The press release states officials are still committed to attracting commercial development and expanding the village’s commercial tax base, but they will focus on opportunities that align with the community’s priorities and long-term interests, which does not include data centers.
Champaign County currently has a one-year pause on data center development, but it does not apply to development within Mahomet.
The data center moratorium ends next spring and was put in place to allow a task force to develop new guidelines for future large-scale projects in the county.
Many residents have called for the county to outright ban data centers, but some county officials say they lack the authority to do so without home rule. An effort to put home rule on the November ballot was thwarted in August by a bipartisan group of board members, saying they lacked information to make an informed decision on the issue.
State lawmakers have not enacted data center regulations thus far, but Gov. JB Pritzker has called on legislators to take up the issue in the November legislative veto session. In the meantime, he paused the state’s data center tax incentive and released a framework to regulate data centers.