WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WISCONSIN · DATA CENTERS
Archive item · Events of September 16, 2026
What happened: The Wisconsin Rapids Plan Commission voted 7–0 on September 16 to recommend that the city council deny DC Rapids LLC’s conditional use permit for a data center at the former paper mill site, WSAW’s Adam Mueller reported.
Claim: Neighborhood organizer Kaitlyn Federwitz told WSAW the permit application “is incomplete.”
Check: The city’s own review supports that description: staff identified 33 deficiencies. The city has posted the application, sound studies and staff reviews on a public project page, where it also says it has no legal or financial partnership with the developer.
Concern: Noise, public health and fairness to ratepayers. Local union members supported the construction jobs the project could bring.
Outcome: A recommendation, not a final decision. The council vote has not been scheduled, the developer can reapply, and the city is drafting a data center moratorium that could apply first.
Location Decision takeaway
Reusing a closed mill is an attractive pitch, but brownfield status does not substitute for a complete application. Posting sound studies and staff reviews publicly, as Wisconsin Rapids did, lets a community argue about evidence rather than rumor.
Original reporting: Adam Mueller, WSAW, September 16, 2026.
About this item: Contested Ground items are sourced and written by AI from the credited reporting and public records linked above, following Location Decision’s editorial standards. We publish them to track disputes over what America builds and to inform Location Decision’s broader editorial analysis. They are not independent reporting by our staff.