Dunn County PRD discusses large development projects including data centers

COUNTY OF DUNN MENOMONIE, WISCONSIN

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

In accordance with the provisions of Section 19.84, Wisconsin Statutes, notice is hereby given that a public meeting of the Dunn County Planning, Resource, and Development Committee will be held on Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 8:30am in Room 60 at the Dunn County Government Center, 3001 US HWY 12 East, Menomonie, Wisconsin. The building entrance for meetings is on the lower level of the Government Center and will be open 30 minutes ahead of the meeting start time. Items of business to be discussed or acted upon at this meeting are listed below. A video recording of the meeting will be available for subsequent viewing on the Dunn County YouTube channel at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/@dunncounty1854

Members of the public who require assistance in accessing the meeting, please call (715) 231-6505. Upon reasonable notice, the County will make efforts to accommodate the needs of disabled individuals through sign language, interpreters, or other auxiliary aids. For additional information, or to request the service, contact the County Human Resources Manager at 715-232-2429 (Office), 715-232-1324 (FAX) or 715-231-6406 (TDD) or by writing to the Human Resources Manager, Human Resources Department, 3001 US HWY 12 E, Suite 225, Menomonie, Wisconsin 54751.

AGENDA

1. Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 8:30 AM

2. Call of the Roll

All Committee Members were present

3. Approval of the Minutes – October 1, 2025

Approved

4. Public Comments Related to Items on the Agenda

None

5. Public Comments - Comprehensive & Farmland Preservation Plan Update (data center)

Three emails were received regarding the data center. Eleven people signed up to comment. Speakers were asked to keep their comments to 3 minutes. Some speakers asked that the Committee impose a moratorium on data centers. In general, speakers repeated much of the information that has already been presented at other meetings. (concerns about water use, noise, lights, electric use and the need to increase electric rates, the effect on land values and the destruction of the natural beauty of Dunn County, most jobs will not be local and or fail to appear at all. Lastly the secrecy associated with the project.) New information is mentioned below:

Terry Siebold stated she sent the Committee a YouTube video to review, and, in the video, it stated that allowing one data center leads to more data centers. It doesn’t stop and leads to a crisis.

Adam Accola from the county’s Economic Development Office said that any actions the county takes would only apply to towns, not the city of Menomonie. The reasons data centers are looking at Wisconsin is that the state has tax incentives for data centers, low unemployment, and an educated workforce. The County needs to be strategic about investments and look at opportunity costs, work proactively and set clear review criteria.

Despite the fact that any actions taken by the county would not affect the city of Menomonie, two speakers spoke strictly of what has happened in Menomonie:

Peter Gruetzmacher said the City of Menomonie "screwed us". He cited the timeline of events and how the people in the know kept the citizens in the dark for over a year, and when people found out about it, they tried to stop it. All city council members met with Balloonist, but were not given any information as to who they were meeting with. Heard that companies are already bidding on the steel needs for the data center. People say five years of construction workers at bars and restaurants is good, but it isn’t long term. It isn’t good enough.

Menomonie Mayor Randy Knack said he has never been in favor of the data center. He thought the vote on the center would be close and he could veto it. He took a stand on the train car storage lot development and got that stopped. He supports a county moratorium. He will do anything he can do to stop this and wishes the city would have taken this action.

6. Public Hearing: None

7. Staff Reports:

A. Register of Deeds monthly report – September update. Highest real estate sales all year. Monica Berrier asked if the public can be notified of any large land transactions. The response was that anyone can sign up to receive notices.

B. Environmental Services monthly department reports – Slow month.

C. Review Proposed Land Use Division Fee Schedule – The county is busy with zoning permits. 28 new building permits and 20 sanitation permits were issued. A random Biennial Sanitary Field Audit was conducted in September. State Wastewater Staff accompanied Zoning staff to routine inspections. Staff met all requirements of the Field Audit.

Items were then addressed out of order as the Chairperson felt there would be more time needed on item 8, so it was addressed last, and item 10 was discussed before this discussion below.

8. Items placed at the request of the Chairperson:

   A. Discussion of the County government’s roles, responsibilities, and policies guiding the planning, review, and regulation of large-scale development projects

The chairman stated the intent was to begin understanding what the current roles are. He asked Tammy Traxler, Zoning & Planning Administrator to look at this. Diane Moorehouse asked why legal counsel was not present. A representative was present but was in the back. The head of legal arrived at the meeting shortly thereafter.

Tammy Traxler started her presentation by explaining what defines a large-scale development. Counties must base zoning and land division decisions on an adopted comprehensive plan. Town Plans should align with or at least not conflict with the County’s plan. The county wants developments to be clustered near other developments, rather than scattered throughout the area.

Outside of the City of Menomonie the towns in Dunn County have 310 acres zoned heavy industrial between Downing and Boyceville. The current use is for salvage yards. There are 149 acres of Light industrial.

Zoning is the County’s regulatory mechanism. The Zoning Regulations spell out permitted principal uses. There are 370,458 acres in zoned towns in the county with 93.85% zoned agriculture and 2.19% zoned residential. Future challenges are the increasing scale and complexity of projects such as solar, data centers and CAFOs. The county currently doesn’t have authority over solar. There is a model ordinance out there that the county could review and potentially adopt.

A data center would need to be zoned heavy industrial. If a town does not have an area zoned for heavy industry, the land would have to be rezoned through the County process. While the County does do the zoning, the town still has a review process and makes a recommendation to the county. Data Center use  is not spelled out in the county zoning ordinance currently. The county would need to review other ordinances. A town in Michigan was sued as it was not specific enough. If a proposal comes in and the town says they don’t want to rezone, it can still go to the county for review.

What role can the county play, and how can it ensure the process is understood? For example, the state requires that places be designated for large animal operations. Is the county required to have places for heavy industrials? A need for salvage yards was identified in the county.

Board member Monica Berrier asked what would happen if a proposed data center wanted to build on land currently zoned heavy industrial. Tammy said that because the County ordinances don’t have a definition for data center currently, that transfer can’t happen, but the data center could apply to the courts.

Any moratorium is only for a maximum of six months. There was a moratorium on CAFOs 4 years ago for 6 months. But the State had preempted much of the decision-making, resulting in there being not much the county could do. Large-scale solar is similar.

Legal was asked about NDA’s and there was one recently in the county for a landowner that was considering selling. People want to know what is happening, but trade secret information can’t be shared. The County can consider clarifying in its regulations why and when an entity can have one. The County created an overlay map of where frack sand mining was possible. Is this something that needs to be done with data centers?

Frac sand mine areas can go back to the original use, but the expected lifetime of a data center is short, and the land will still be industrial. The City of Menomonie can put limits on water use. What about in the county? What is the county’s authority? State of WI (DNR) took authority over this. Monica Berrier says this is concerning to her. High-capacity wells are regulated by the state, no matter what. In conclusion, the County has several things to look at. Areas for further research have been identified. There were public comments at the beginning of the meeting. The County needs to continue its research and there is no further action the county can take today.

9. Consideration of Actions to be taken by the Planning, Resource, and Development

Committee:

None

10. Consideration of reports, resolutions, and ordinances to the County Board from the Planning, Resource, and Development Committee:

1. Resolution-Adopting the Dunn County Land Use Division Fee Schedule – Last updated 2021. Monica Berrier had questions about the Temporary Use Permits for RVs. Staff stated this hasn’t been monitored in the past. If people are living in an RV while building a house, that is OK. But there are situations where people are living in RVs year-round and welfare checks become necessary. Don’t have a good enforcement ordinance currently. Currently up to a 100 sq ft structure doesn’t need a permit. The proposal is to change this to 200 sq ft. The next step in the process is executive committee review and if approved then the proposal moves to the full board for approval.

Moved to approve, seconded, and approved to move the proposal forward to executive committee review.

2. Ordinance to repeal and recreate Section 7.6.04 - Register of Deeds fees – Changes include cleaning up the ordinance – eliminated discussion of a program no longer in existence. The fees apply to heavy users such as Title Companies. Last adjustment was in 2019. 15% increase plus increases in copy fees. The register of deeds had a Power Point presentation. Most fees are statutory. Increased search and copy fees in July 2025. The users can choose a plan that works best for them. This year, the budget and expenses will be about $68,000. If the revenue is greater than the expenses, there may be a bit of money that can be moved to the general fund. The 2026 budget is $82,000.

Moved to approve, seconded and approved to move the proposal forward to executive committee review.

11. Announcements:

Future meeting date and any agenda items: November 5, 2025