Good morning, everyone.

Welcome to the Planning Building Zoning and Environment Committee on September 2nd, 2026 at 1030 a.m.

In addition to being able to attend in person, remote attendance has been made available to the public via Zoom at the link on the agenda.

This meeting is being recorded through Zoom.

Per county rules and the open meetings act, attendance via remote means is permitted for qualifying reasons as long as the majority of committee members are physically present.

We do have a quorum today.

We have been notified in advance by member Paul Frank that they request to participate electronically due to a qualifying reason, which is work.

Okay.

We are good.

Okay.

Um member Campos, can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

Okay.

Can I get a roll call, please?

Chair Altenberg.

Here.

Member Campos.

Member Frank.

I can see Oh, he's here.

He's online now.

Okay.

Knessek?

I'm here.

Thank you.

Uh Bishop Peterson is here.

Member Schlick is absent.

Member Wasick.

Okay.

We are good.

Um we are going to do public comment in a few minutes.

Um I had some remarks before we start.

Good morning, everyone.

Like many of you in this room, I have concerns about the impact of data centers on our community and on our environment.

I am aware of concerns across the country of data centers seeking extensive tax breaks and exploiting valuable resources without appropriate regulations.

The county needs time to prepare and educate ourselves on the potential impacts of various data centers so that we can protect our residents from the potential financial and environmental impacts of the data centers.

Today we will consider a moratorium that will allow our staff to do the necessary research so that we can protect our residents and that any environmental impacts are mitigated.

As a county board member, I care about ensuring that we have clean air, clean water, and a resilient and sustainable county now and in the future.

Okay.

So we are going to welcome Eric Wagner and Krista Barkley Braun.

And they are going to be talking about the possible moratorium.

Oh, I need a motion, please.

Motion by Member Wassex, second by member Campos.

Good morning, Eric Wagner, Director of the Planning, Building and Development Department of Lake County here with Krista Brown, Deputy Director.

We are here to discuss proposed amendments to chapter 151 of the Lake County Illinois Code of Ordinances to impose a temporary moratorium on data centers.

So I'll begin with some background.

Following that action, following the authorization by the BPB and Z PBZE committee, I implemented a temporary administrative deferral or hold on all data center applications in unincorporated Lake County.

Per the Lake County Code, that temporary administrative deferral is effective for a maximum of 120 days, or at such point that the Lake County Board takes final action on the proposed moratorium text amendment.

That temporary administrative deferral expires on October 7th, which is prior to the October board meeting, hence the need to proceed to the county board in September for action next week so that we can avoid an expiration of the temporary administrative deferral before a moratorium is to begin.

So on August 18th, the Zoning Board of Appeals did conduct its public hearing on the proposed amendments and recommended unanimously to approve the proposed moratorium text amendments.

And so the matter now is before the PBNZ BBZE committee.

So I'll turn to the amendments themselves.

The purpose of establishing this temporary moratorium is specifically to allow time for staff to conduct best practices research into data center regulation and draft uh proposed amendments pertaining to the regulation of data centers in the unincorporated parts of Lake County.

This moratorium would, if adopted, would not affect any proposed developments in the municipalities.

It would only be in effect for the unincorporated areas.

In a nutshell, the text amendment accomplishes two things.

First, it defines data centers, and second, it establishes a temporary moratorium for data centers in the unincorporated area.

So I'll spend a couple minutes kind of going through the actual text itself for the committee and for the public here.

In the proposed amendment, a data center is defined as a facility or portion of a facility which houses computer or network equipment systems, servers, appliances, and associated mechanical, electrical, backup power storage, and/or generation and cooling infrastructure for the purposes of collection, storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data.

Ancillary office security or utility structures customarily associated with data center operations may be included as part of the use.

The term includes facilities operated as standalone buildings or as part of a larger multi-building data center campus and is distinct from general industrial office or warehouse uses.