Data center restrictions tracker · Illinois

Ottawa, Illinois: data center moratorium (2026)

Data snapshot 2026-08-15 · part of Pricing the Fear of Data Centers

Ottawa, in LaSalle County, Illinois, adopted a data-center moratorium on March 3, 2026. Its status in this snapshot is enacted.

The record reads: "Ottawa City Council established a 180-day moratorium on data centers across all zoning districts, the first such moratorium in the Illinois Valley. Mayor Robert Hasty cited the need for electrical, water, and sound guardrails before… (datacentertracker.org)."

Details

ActionClassStatusDateMW thresholdScopeSource
MoratoriumrestrictionenactedMarch 3, 2026not county-widedatacentertracker.org

Jurisdiction type: municipality. County: LaSalle County. Dataset: datacentertracker. Snapshot August 15, 2026; documented actions, not a census.

Elsewhere in LaSalle County

Illinois context

Illinois has 23 documented local actions across 21 jurisdictions in this snapshot. At the state level, the state has an incentive rollback (in force, June 5, 2026).

A town that says no to a data center gives up local tax revenue, not jobs: one large campus pays $2M to $90M a year depending on the tax regime, against roughly 50 permanent jobs. The parent piece prices it and lists the conditions that beat a ban.

Sources

Back to Pricing the Fear of Data Centers