When a data center comes to town: Local zoning & the small-town boards deciding the controversies

The attention-grabbing headlines about data center laws normally contain big national political figures. Kathy Hochul implemented the first statewide moratorium in July. Greg Abbott paused all new data center projects during a statewide audit. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a bill for a nationwide pause on development.

But while these announcements make big splashes, most data center decisions come down to figures you’ve never heard of. Tammy Hendrix and Robert Jacobson voted to approve a 4.6 million square foot campus in Lyon County, Nevada. Mark Kara and Michael Rodriguez were among the seven residents who rezoned residential land in Indiana to support a new Amazon facility. And Jen Zink and Tom Hammond were among the players who blocked a 575-acre project in Michigan tied to OpenAI.

Governors get headlines, but it’s rare that the decision comes down to them. So far, the real motion has come from ordinary Americans wielding one unglamorous but fundamental tool: zoning.

Most U.S. counties have no rules for data centers

Most Americans have a patchy understanding of how a data center gets built. Some major company — a real estate developer, an AI company, or a tech hyperscaler — comes into town and buys up land. They bring in construction workers and connect the data center to the grid. Then it begins operation.

This story misses several steps that can make or break a data center. The main one is nobody’s favorite topic: local zoning rules.

Before you can build anything on a plot of land, you need to know how the land is zoned. And this zoning depends almost entirely on local laws: towns and counties deciding what can be built and how. Where zoning exists, every construction project, from apartment buildings to factories, must comply before it gets approved.

But most counties have never written rules for data centers. Of the 3,000+ counties in the US, only about 7% have specific zoning for these facilities. The next most common approach is to lump them into an “industrial” category alongside warehouses and food processing plants — but that only covers another 1% to 2% of counties. Most counties either lack zoning authority (21%), haven’t adopted a zoning code (15%), or have never addressed data centers in their zoning code (40%).

That last category is the keystone in the data center fight. When a developer wants to build a data center, they file for permits with the local planning office. But, since it’s often the first data center to ever enter the locality, both the developer and local officials are normally flying blind.

Historically loose rules aren’t enough, so councils are taking control

Campbell County, Virginia had never built a data center before September 2025. Its zoning code gave these facilities by-right usage in industrial zones, meaning they didn’t need a vote or public hearing. If they conformed to the guidelines, construction could just begin.

That was the plan for the developer who wanted to build a 57-acre data center along Richmond Highway in 2025. The only obstacle was a small restriction on the property, which they asked the local government to remove. After the county’s planning commission unanimously recommended the application for approval, locals pushed back in letters, Facebook posts, and county meetings. Facing the backlash, the Board of Supervisors overrules the commission to deny the rezoning, 5-2.

Supervisor Jon Hardie felt they needed better structure. In October 2025, he moved to amend the zoning code to require special use permits for all data centers. That step would require a public hearing for every proposed project and incorporate local feedback. The motion was shot down unanimously by the other board members, 1-6.

Meanwhile, the developer found a new way to build, despite the denial. They submitted three scaled-back site plans that complied with the existing rules. County staff found the new plans compliant.

Neighbors appealed, insisting they had a right to object, but the developer had followed the rules. In January 2026, the same board voted 5–2 to let the project move forward.

The back-and-forth was clearly untenable. In May, Supervisor Matt Cline, who had voted against Hardie’s special use proposal seven months prior, put it up for a vote again. This time, it passed unanimously. In Hardie’s words, the board changed after the pushback “because it is you, [the locals], that we represent, and it is you that we work for.”

Campbell County is one of the 128 counties that rewrote their rules in the first half of 2026. Most of these changes aren't bans; they add shape and guidance to a previously unclear process. Campbell's new permit requirement doesn't forbid data centers, but rather guarantees public hearings. When a hyperscaler wants to build in a town with data center zoning, they’ll know better what they need to do — and be less surprised by opposition.

Hundreds of counties are changing the rules

The trendline is clear: more counties are figuring out how to zone these projects. If this year's pace holds, 470 to 660 counties, or 15% to 21% of the country, will have proposed or passed data center zoning by the end of 2027. Those decisions will come down to individual county commissioners and town councilmembers — normally ordinary folks, often elected by just a few thousand voters.

What those codes might look like is hard to say. The counties with existing guidelines take very different approaches. Some, like Campbell, are giving locals more of a say. Others are passing moratoria to pause construction. Here at Spark, we’ve partnered with our friends at POSH Energy to compile a report on what’s live and what options decision-makers have when a new developer comes knocking at the door. If you’d like to read it, send us a message.

Campbell County learned the hard way: by the time a data center shows up, it's too late to write the rules. 128 counties are writing theirs now. Hundreds more will follow.

Want to dive into the nuances in any county or township in America? Reach out to Spark to learn about our stakeholder intelligence and community sentiment reports, available in every jurisdiction.