The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors is beginning the process of updating zoning ordinances for solar fields and data centers as well as industrial crypo facilities and battery systems that store electricity from wind turbines.
A crypto mine is already operating near the town of Thompson, but concerns about data centers have been raised in neighboring Hancock County where a moratorium has been voted down twice. Susan Smith said she and the other Winnebago County supervisors aren’t starting from scratch. “We’ve been looking at the Greene County zoning ordinance as just kind of a base to see where we need to change it, fix it, add to it,” she said, “and so that’s part of the discussions.”
Supervisor Terry Durby indicated the ordinance will address issues like water usage. “We’re just kind of trying to get ahead of the game here and make sure we’re doing it right,” he said, “do all our research and protect everybody.” Durby said most recently-built data centers are using closed loop systems that recirculate water to cool the facilities.
Durby will propose that the ordinance include a reference to acceptable noise levels. “I was just looking at a decibel scale here and 60 to 70 decibels is a busy street or alarm clock. A hair dryer is 70 decibels,” Durby said. “We will put in here 65.” State law has noise restrictions for vehicle exhaust systems, but there are no statewide regulations for noise in cities or counties.
(By A.J. Taylor, KIOW, Forest City)