(BEAVER DAM) An overflow crowd of people from Beaver Dam and beyond packed the Common Council chambers Monday night to voice their opposition, often emotionally, to the sprawling data center under construction on newly annexed land on the city’s north side.
The Beaver Dam Common Council approved the data center through a series of actions, notably approving the creation of a tax incremental district in November 2024, and a development agreement in December 2024.
But opposition to the data center has only begun to coalesce in recent weeks. An informational meeting was held on Oct. 22. People who testified at the council’s regularly scheduled informal public hearing Monday night blamed the delayed response on the secrecy they say has shrouded the project.
“These large decisions being made behind closed doors really makes the people who have made these decisions kind of untrustworthy,” said one speaker.
Other speakers expressed concerns about the track records of data centers elsewhere around the United States.
“Skyrocketing electricity bills, loud noise all the time, low water pressure, poor air, water, and food quality, and a loss of value on their homes, up to 50 percent,” said another speaker.
Leaders of the data center opposition have formed a Facebook group, which now counts no fewer than 750 members. Although construction on the data center is well underway, many in the group have expressed hopes the project can still be stopped. Their next meeting will be Wed. Nov. 5 at the American Legion Post 146 in Beaver Dam.
