Port Washington moves forward with new data center

PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — Port Washington could soon be home to one of the largest data centers in the U.S.

At a common council meeting Tuesday night, city officials approved an annexation of over 500 acres of land to rezone it for the project.

What You Need To Know

Port Washington could soon be home to one of the largest data centers in the U.S. At a common council meeting Tuesday night, city officials approved an annexation of over 500 acres of land to rezone it for the project

Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke said this is what’s known as an I-3 Data Center District. It could expand to four to eight data centers in the next decade

An online petition was created in April opposing the data center. As of Wednesday at 6 p.m., it had 854 signatures. The petition’s description shares how the center would be "catastrophic due to the loss of residential homes, farmland and a nearby migratory preserve, as well as the millions of gallons of Lake Michigan water it would consume"

Ted Neitzke is the mayor of Port Washington. Neitzke said the project will benefit the community.

“We felt very comfortable with this type of a partnership, because it would not impact the environment as much, it would not impact traffic, we would not have to do as much infrastructural pieces,” said Neitzke.

He said this is what’s known as an I-3 Data Center District. It could expand to four to eight data centers in the next decade.

Neitzke said bringing a data center to Ozaukee County started just over a year ago when Port Washington was not chosen to be a potential site for a microchip plant.

At Tuesday night’s common council meeting, some residents, including Caleb Tydrick, shared why they’re against the center.

Tydrick lives just a mile away from the proposed site.

“In terms of the amount of end users have been proposed to take from Lake Michigan, I think it would impact the city in terms of the municipalities water systems and then obviously power transmission in general as well,” said Tydrick.

An online petition was created in April opposing the data center. As of Wednesday at 6 p.m., it had 854 signatures.

The petition’s description shares how the center would be "catastrophic due to the loss of residential homes, farmland and a nearby migratory preserve, as well as the millions of gallons of Lake Michigan water it would consume."

“As far of being supportive of migratory patterns and environment,” said Neitzke. “We will actually be likely increasing the forest, the tree canopy out there. We will be putting things to mitigate sound and other components. And they will not be using millions of gallons of water a day in the city of Port Washington. Those are assumptions made by other projects across the county and is inaccurate.”

Besides the environmental concerns, opponents are concerned about the impact on the community’s charm.

“I do know it will change the city. Whether I can say it’s better or worse,” said Tydrick. “I think that’s inappropriate to say. I certainly don’t think it would improve the charm of the town and the things I love about Port Washington.”

City leaders said they should know who the end user of this data center will be in the next few weeks and will share that information with the public in the next few months.