Voters Pass Anti-Data Center Referendum Positioned As National Model
A town of 12,000 people just north of Milwaukee passed a first-of-its-kind referendum to restrict data center development after local officials approved a controversial $15B campus planned by OpenAI and Oracle.
Residents in Port Washington, Wisconsin, voted by a 2-1 margin to restrict future data center development in their town, according to unofficial results reported by Politico. It is the latest sign of growing backlash against data center development in some corners of the country, with at least three other municipalities set to vote on restrictions.
The referendum forces local officials to obtain voter approval before awarding developers lucrative tax incentives and comes after a failed effort to recall Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke after town officials approved the campus.
Vantage Data Centers is set to build the planned 1.3-gigawatt project as part of the Stargate program, the White House-backed push to build out artificial intelligence megaprojects. It is set to generate 70% of its energy from zero-emissions sources and add 2 GW to Wisconsin's power grid, with the developers funding any electrical infrastructure upgrades, according to Oracle, which also promised “no increase to local energy bills.”
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, a regional business group, filed a lawsuit looking to block the referendum in January on the grounds that it violates state law, which gives opponents of the new rules around incentives a legal route to try to freeze the result as the case proceeds, according to Politico.
There is a growing wave of community pushback to data center development that has led developers and tech giants to push to win approval for projects from town and city councils as residents push to organize against the developments.
At least two other developments facing local backlash advanced along the approval process in just the last week. In central Ohio, the Ashville Village Council voted Monday to approve a project from EdgeConneX after denying an annexation that would have allowed the hyperscaler to build a larger project.
Dozens of residents gathered in Daleville, Virginia, this week to strategize about how to block a development proposal from Google, the local CBS affiliate reported Tuesday. Virginia is one of the country’s data center hot spots as developers and tech firms rush to build the infrastructure to power AI adoption.
As of January, 99 of the 770 planned data centers across the country were being contested. Roughly 40% of projects that face sustained opposition get canceled, according to climate and energy publication Heatmap.
At least 11 states have proposed some legislation to restrict or ban data center development since late 2025, with Maine on track to become the first state to ban new development outright, Axios reported.
Another dozen states have tried to tackle the issue with restrictions addressing environmental concerns, consumer data or the cost of energy. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced legislation to pause data center construction nationwide.
Locally, residents of Monterey Park, California, are set to vote in June on whether to indefinitely ban data center development in city limits, according to Politico. A rural Michigan town will decide in August whether to overturn a local ordinance that cleared the way for a data center development.
In Janesville, Wisconsin, residents are set to vote in November on a measure that could nix plans to convert a General Motors assembly plant into an AI factory.
Opposition to data center development reportedly turned into outright political violence this month. Multiple shots were fired into Indianapolis City-Council Member Ron Gibson’s home, and a handwritten note reading “no data centers” was left under his doormat in a late-night attack after the city’s leaders voted 6-2 to approve a rezoning measure that would make way for a data center, The New York Times reported.
