PALO, Iowa—There are two restaurants in Palo, not counting the chicken wings and pizza sold at the only gas station in town.
All three establishments, including the gas station, stand on the same half-mile stretch of First Street, an artery that divides the marshy floodplain of the Cedar River to the east from hundreds of acres of cornfields on the west.
During historic flooding in 2008, the Cedar River surged 10 feet above its previous record, cresting at 31 feet and wiping out homes and businesses well outside the floodplain.
Nearly 20 years later, those structures have been rebuilt, but Palo residents still worry about the river. Except these days, they worry that data centers will drink it dry.
In an effort to shield residents and natural resources from the negative impacts of hyperscale data center development in rural Linn County, officials have adopted what may be one of the most comprehensive local data center zoning ordinances in the nation.
The new ordinance requires data center developers to conduct a comprehensive water study as part of their zoning application and to enter into a water-use agreement with the county before construction. It also places limits on noise and light pollution, introduces mandatory setbacks of 1,000 feet from residentially zoned property, and requires developers to compensate the county for damage to roads or infrastructure during construction and to contribute to a community betterment fund.
“We are trying to put together the most protective, transparent ordinance possible,” Kirsten Running-Marquardt, chair of the Linn County Board of Supervisors, told the nearly 100 residents who gathered for the draft ordinance’s first public reading in early February.
But seated beneath a van-sized American flag hanging from the rafters of the drafty Palo Community Center gymnasium, residents asked for even stronger protections.