{"id":316779,"date":"2026-10-29T09:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T09:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316779\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T09:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T09:10:09","slug":"clinton-iowa-city-council-approves-first-reading-of-data-center-ordinance-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316779\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinton, Iowa City Council approves first reading of data center ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The city council in Clinton, Iowa held a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 27 regarding a<a data-ylk=\"slk:proposed ordinance governing data centers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wqad.com\/article\/news\/local\/clinton-city-council-combs-data-center-ordinance\/526-b07413a2-7cfe-4aee-889e-f421c8c7d0b2\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> proposed ordinance governing data centers<\/a>. The ordinance has become a hot-button issue for the community as developer QTS seeks to build a data center on about 1,100 acres on the west side of town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">An hour before the meeting, Clintonians Against Data Centers made their voices heard at a rally outside Eagle Point Lodge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I would say that our goal at this point is just to slow this process down,&#8221; organizer Celeste Robbins said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Robbins said her biggest aim is protecting her city from the worst impacts of data centers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;1,500 foot setbacks, livestock animals as a sensitive receptor and more strict, stronger language throughout the ordinance,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Another perspective from within the group came from a former city council member, Ed O&#8217;Neill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We need some work on both sides to come to a compromise,&#8221; O&#8217;Neill said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">O&#8217;Neill suggested the city offer space in an existing rail yard, about 1,300 acres split across the highway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Part of the compromise is we&#8217;re going to suggest that Grow Clinton gift that 500 acres that they got to QTS,&#8221; O&#8217;Neill said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Inside the meeting, Robbins argued the city is unfairly rejecting the group&#8217;s petition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I really wish the city would do the right thing because you got 1,500 signatures from your residents,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The petition proposed an ordinance prohibiting the operation of hyperscale data centers within a mile of anywhere people live or work. City Attorney Pat O&#8217;Connell said the petition couldn&#8217;t be accepted because it impacted zoning laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It has nothing to do with whether the initiative was a great idea or a bad idea or anything. It&#8217;s just not allowed by our initiative process in our charter,&#8221; O&#8217;Connell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">City council ended up approving the first reading. Councilmember Janet Turpin was the only member to vote against. The ordinance must pass two more readings before going into effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city council in Clinton, Iowa held a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 27 regarding a proposed ordinance&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-316779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}