Logan County posts draft data center rules after standing-room public hearings

The county’s Planning & Zoning Document Center posted a draft Data Center Facility regulation package on Feb. 13, 2026 that "defines data center uses and sets application, site‑planning, utility, environmental, and decommissioning requirements." The posting follows a wave of public meetings that drew packed rooms and raised questions about zoning, utilities and public notice.

"It was standing room only Tuesday, Jan. 5, when the Logan County Commissioners held public hearings on proposed regulations for data center facilities, battery energy storage system and solar energy facilities recommended by the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission." At that Jan. 5 hearing commissioners agreed to "table approval of all three until their next business meeting on Jan. 20, at 9:30 a.m., to allow more time for public input and to make some of the changes that were suggested Tuesday." Commissioners also invited written and in-person feedback and provided contact channels for further input: brownellm@logancountyco.gov, jyahn@logancountyco.gov, jsantomaso@logancountyco.gov and 970-522-0888.

Separate, local filings show a proposed commercial-scale data center land request in Laenna Township, where a Miami-based company aims to rezone 250 acres from agricultural to industrial. The company identified in public notices seeks to build on parcels a mile west of Latham along a two-lane township road. Regional planning and zoning bodies scheduled public meetings to consider that rezoning: a Regional Planning Commission session at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at the Oasis Senior Center, 2800 Woodlawn Road, Lincoln, followed by a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 8 at the same address with extended public-comment time.

Allan Green, the county zoning officer, said the company was expected to provide more details in the following days and that an intermediary told him the center would create 100 full-time, permanent jobs and would rent space to technology companies for computer servers that power the internet. Legal notices for the rezoning appeared in online legal publications and listed four parcel numbers associated with the proposal.

Not all residents accepted the pace of the process. Franklin Rager, 32, of Latham told hearing organizers, "There’s a huge lack of public information. I’d like to postpone this for a few months." At the same time, county committee activity included discussions of allowing data centers as a special use in agricultural districts and buffer requirements, with a Zoning and Economic Development Committee meeting held Jan. 21 at the Logan County Courthouse in Lincoln.

Context matters: reporting on the rule drafting and moratorium activity is split between Logan County, Colorado and Logan County, Illinois. One county placed a moratorium on wind, solar, battery storage and data center projects beginning Oct. 9, 2025 so that revised regulations and fee updates could be developed; commissioners in that county have also discussed mural proposals for county fairgrounds and named Commissioner Jim Santomaso and America 250, Colorado 150 committee member Marilee Johnson in hearings. Other coverage documents the 250-acre rezoning and public hearings around Latham, Illinois.

The draft posted Feb. 13 and the standing-room hearings have left zoning officers and commissioners with outstanding questions about utility interconnections, environmental safeguards and decommissioning financial assurances. County residents and landowners who want their comments considered were directed to submit them via the listed county email addresses or by phone to 970-522-0888.