ST. CHARLES 鈥 The City Council on Thursday called for a special council meeting, set for Friday afternoon, to consider banning data center building projects for one year.
The moratorium would give city officials 鈥渢ime to evaluate the potential effects of data centers, research best practices, and consider changes to the zoning code,鈥 city documents say.
St. Charles City Councilman Vince Ratchford said he sees the moratorium as necessary.
鈥淎s data centers continue to evolve and expand nationally, it is essential that our zoning code and development standards keep pace,鈥 Ratchford said.
The decision comes days after the City Council heard from more than 50 speakers, many of them opposed to a now-scuttled 440-acre data center that a developer had hoped to build along Highway 370 in north St. Charles.
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On Thursday, resident Scott Stratton-Henderson, who organized a signature petition to block the project, called the moratorium 鈥渁 good step in the right direction鈥 in rebuilding the public鈥檚 trust in the city council.
鈥淭heir credibility is definitely shot,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd there is a lot of mistrust right now, and they are going to have to work really hard to get that trust back with the public.鈥
Hundreds of residents have come to recent meetings with lists of concerns, from construction dust to energy use to wildlife impacts to water pollution. Several worried diesel fuel the data center said it needed to power backup generators could contaminate nearby wetlands, farms and the city鈥檚 drinking water. Conservation agencies worried that the data center posed 鈥渋rreversible threats鈥 to the environment.
Susan Cordani, left, reacts to the comments made by supporters of the now-scuttled data center in St. Charles. Cordani was among hundreds of residents who attended the Aug. 19, 2025, council meeting.聽
CRG, the local developer on the project, said a 鈥淔ortune 100鈥 company would have used the sprawling complex of five 285,000-square-foot warehouses, but declined to identify the company.
City officials, including St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer, had said they couldn鈥檛 identify the company because they had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the developer.
This frustrated many residents.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 put lipstick on this pig,鈥 Patricia Semke, a St. Charles resident, said at a meeting Tuesday.
鈥淪t Charles residents deserve clarity as to who the company would be who is going to use this data center,鈥 she continued.
CRG, the development arm of construction giant Clayco, had said the data center would be built over the next decade on property that is between Harry S Truman Boulevard and Huster Road.
The proposed moratorium is sponsored by all 10 members of the St. Charles City Council, who will meet at 2 p.m. Friday in St. Charles City Hall.
The moratorium would pause the acceptance of any zoning change applications for data centers or the issuing of any building permits for data centers.
Ratchford, the councilmember, said he hopes city staff will use the time to study the potential impact on infrastructure, the environment, and the character of the surrounding neighborhoods in St. Charles.
The meeting will include a public comment period, according to the agenda. If approved, the moratorium would go into effect Aug. 22.
