Sangamon County Approves CyrusOne Data Center Near Morgan County Line

The Sangamon County Board voted 17-10 on April 7 to approve CyrusOne's conditional-use permit for a 636-megawatt data center campus in Talkington Township, clearing 280 acres of farmland along Thayer Road for six industrial buildings and setting off a new round of questions for communities across the Morgan County line.

The site adjoins the Double Black Diamond solar farm, the $800 million Swift Current Energy project that already sprawls across both Sangamon and Morgan counties. That shared geography matters: the Ameren high-voltage transmission lines that drew CyrusOne to the location are the same lines feeding the solar farm, and the water supply for the proposed campus connects directly to Waverly Lake.

CyrusOne's approved plans call for trucking water from the Apple Creek Water Cooperative, which draws from Waverly Lake, into a closed-loop cooling system for the campus. To offset that draw, the company has pledged to fund dredging of the lake, arguing the work would extend Waverly Lake's life as both a water source and a recreational site. Opponents have raised broader concerns about the impact of a large industrial water draw on a regional supply that already serves communities on both sides of the county line.

The power demand is staggering by regional standards: 636 megawatts is enough electricity to power between 120,000 and 420,000 homes. Critics have pointed to data centers nationally as contributors to utility rate increases; CyrusOne says the Ameren grid can absorb the load.

On noise and air quality, neighbors of CyrusOne's Aurora facility have filed documented complaints about diesel backup generators. The company's answer in its Sangamon County filings is that the Talkington Township site will be positioned farther from residential areas than Aurora, that noise will meet Illinois Pollution Control Board standards with acoustic consultants confirming compliance before construction starts, and that backup generators run primarily for maintenance tests and genuine emergencies under EPA-regulated emission controls.

The economics look more favorable on paper than the distribution suggests. CyrusOne projects more than 500 temporary construction jobs over the multi-year build, roughly 100 permanent operations positions, and approximately $6 million in annual property tax revenue, with no local tax breaks requested. Named taxing districts receiving shares include the North Mac School District, the Virden Fire Protection District, Talkington Township, and Lincoln Land Community College. None of the named beneficiaries sit in Morgan County, though the North Mac district's reach toward Waverly means some local institutions could see indirect gains.

Not everyone accepts the tax revenue promise at face value. Resident Jim Applegate warned the board before the vote that large corporations regularly use depreciation to reduce actual payments. "These are massive, for-profit companies and avoiding taxes is a great way to increase profits," he said.

With county approval secured, CyrusOne now pursues building permits, utility agreements, and state environmental review. Opponents are pushing for Illinois legislation that would standardize siting rules for facilities of this scale. Public hearings on utility upgrades and intergovernmental agreements between Sangamon and Morgan counties are the next decision points, and they are the ones most likely to determine whether the campus's full 636-megawatt footprint stays within Sangamon's borders or spreads its infrastructure costs westward.