As elected officials for Village of Caledonia consider rezoneing property to make way for a Microsoft data center, new details about the construction timeline have emerged.
As a condition to the rezone, Dewberry Engineering, which is the company planning to construct the complex for Microsoft, must acquire all the property by Dec. 31, 2026, according to the village plan commission materials for the Sept. 29 meeting.
If approved by the plan commission, it would rezone about 244 acres of land from agricultural, rural residential and low-density residential to light industrial.
“Most parcels within the proposed area are currently vacant and are used for growing agricultural crops,” according to the Plan Commission report. “One parcel currently has an existing home and is occupied. This resident granted the applicant authority to request to reclassify the land use and zoning district of their property.”
For the village’s part, if approved, it would have to extend public sanitary sewer and water facilities to the area, construct “necessary storm water facilities,” amend the village’s water and sewer utility district boundaries, amend the village’s sanitary sewer service area, road extensions and/or vacations.
The developer would also reimburse the village for costs related to the data center development.
The applicant has until Dec. 31, 2035, to comply with the conditions, otherwise the rezoning will become null and void.
Village President Tom Weatherston has stated offers have been accepted on the land and those purchases are contingent on the land being rezoned.
If the plan commission votes to approve the rezone, the item then goes before the fully village board to be voted on at the Oct. 14 meeting.
Specific details on what exactly will be built has not been released. However, preliminary plans included in meeting packet include three buildings, a power station, several stormwater retention ponds and transmission line corridors.
The exact plans could evolve over time as Microsoft assesses the usage for the property.
Microsoft is planning to build a backup data center to support its facilities in Mount Pleasant.
The company is nearing completion of its first data center in Mount Pleasant, scheduled to be fully online by mid-2026.
On Sept. 18 Microsoft announced a $4 billion expansion of its campus in Mount Pleasant to build another data center.
The company plans for that data center to be online in 2028.
This story has been updated with new information.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Timeline, other details revealed for potential Microsoft data center in Caledonia
Reporting by Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
