DeForest Village Board Expected to Reject QTS Data Center Petition

DeFOREST, Wis. (WMDX) – After months of heated public meetings, it seems a data center will not be coming to DeForest. 

In a statement posted to the village website, staff said “village staff have determined that QTS’s data center proposal is not feasible in DeForest. Village staff have recommended to the Village President to reject the annexation petition.”

The Village Board meets on Tuesday, where it’s expected to say no to the proposal. According to the statement, village staff expect QTS leaders to then withdraw their annexation petition.

QTS Data Centers, based in Virginia, originally approached the town of Vienna about building a huge data center campus. It would take up more than 600 acres of land west of the Interstate, near County Highway V. Eventually that campus would have about 15 buildings that would be leased out to other companies. 

In Vienna, residents and town leaders were not immediately on board. QTS then reached out to leaders in DeForest, and asked DeForest to annex that same property from Vienna. 

If that plan was successful, DeForest would reap the tax benefits of the data center. That would also mean the DeForest Village Board would be in charge of approving the project. 

Residents started coming to village board meetings. An overwhelming majority said they did not want a data center in their backyard. A small number supported the project because it would create thousands of construction jobs. 

Still, even a business owner who would benefit from the data center project said the data center isn’t worth it. 

“As much as I want my employees literally to work five miles down the road from my shop, I don’t want this here. Period,” said Sarah Ripp, who owns a trucking company. “There’s no ifs, there’s no ands, and there’s no buts about it.” 

At that same meeting, another resident said the community isn’t on board. 

“We are ripe for the picking. I don’t envy QTS,” Dan Jansen said. “It’s a tough sell to a community of Midwesterners who generally have pretty good fertilizer detectors.” 

Earlier this month, the state Department of Administration said they don’t believe the annexation is in the public’s best interest. They don’t have the power to approve or deny projects, but they evaluate annexation proposals. 

The DeForest Village Board will meet Tuesday, February 3 where they’re expected to reject the annexation proposal. Village staff said after that, they expect QTS to revoke their annexation petition.