Plainfield Village Board Extends Moratorium On Data Centers

PLAINFIELD, IL — Almost 180 days have passed since the Plainfield Village Board voted for a moratorium on data centers and warehouses, and trustees voted Oct. 5 to extend the pause.

Trustees voted unanimously on the continuation, the same way they voted in April.

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The pause was intended to temporarily halt the receipt of applications for, the processing and approval of, and the issuance of permits for data centers and warehouses primarily used to store computing infrastructure. The moratorium has allowed village staff to prepare a new Unified Development Ordinance to address the land use, infrastructure and regulatory needs of data centers.

The UDO update is not completed, so an extension of the moratorium was necessary. The village is aiming for the update ordinance to be ready in late winter or early spring.

RELATED: Data Center Moratorium Imposed In Plainfield After Unanimous Village Board Vote

Mayor John Argoudelis, on the other hand, told Patch the moratorium will likely be extended again in the future, though "what we didn't want to do was put a 'forever ban' on data centers."

"There is a lot of uncertainty as to this rapid drive to develop data centers," he echoed in a Facebook post, "and from a practical standpoint ComEd doesn't have the power to supply half of the ones approved (I was advised directly from ComEd). So we are content to wait and see what develops."

He continued: "I do believe there are serious questions as to how much we really need (I think like all markets people see dollar signs first) and I do believe they will become much more efficient in time needing less land, power and water. We're content to wait it out."