Caledonia data center proposal advances despite opposition

CALEDONIA, Wis. (WAUK) – A packed meeting and three hours of public comment ended with Microsoft one step closer to building in the Village of Caledonia.

The plan commission voted 5-2 Monday night in favor of rezoning 244 acres for a proposed data center.

There were so many people who showed up to testify or observe that the village hall parking lot couldn’t handle all the cars. Caledonia Detective Chad Zoltak stood in the employee lot, waving to people to park on the streets. 

“Thank you for asking,” he added as he pointed Civic Media to the adjoining parking lot down the road. “Not everyone has been so nice.” 

Residents of the Village of Caledonia  have listed a number of concerns with the plan: water usage, rising electricity costs, skepticism over jobs numbers, noise and traffic issues, concern over big corporations. And they lined up inside to give hours of public comment over those issues.

“What I’m against is where it’s located, that it’s in Caledonia, which is a rural area,” says James Spodick, a retired construction worker who has lived in Caledonia since 1992. 

Spodick says he’s not against data centers in general, but he calls this plan a “land rush.”

“The reason people move to Caledonia is because it’s rural…when Microsoft comes in, this opens a huge door. We’ve got a multinational, global, corporation that’s moving into little Caledonia, Wisconsin,” he told Civic Media in the parking lot outside village hall. 

Spodick says he’s considering starting a recall petition of Village President Thomas Weatherston. And asked whether the project echoed Foxconn, he says,  “I think it’s the same story. It’s corporations coming and looking for resources and looking for small towns. And hoping they can get away with it without people pushing back.”

Spodick is an independent, and a member of HOT Government, a group that contends “to hold public officials and institutions accountable” but has also circulated election conspiracy theories. He says that opposition to data centers appears to be a way to work across traditional political lines. 

“I think people are waking up to the fact that we have to protect what we have as humans, no matter what your persuasion is…. We have to live here together, and we have to work here together. And I think that’s the real issue.” 

Erica Steib is a Milwaukee-based organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. She’s part of a network of organizers pushing against data centers not only here but along Lake Michigan.

“When people need water to sustain themselves, and when farms need water, now we have these mega data centers. Electricity costs are going to go up,” she says.

Steib was there with others from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, including Keith Jones, a software developer with a background in computer engineering. He questions the value of artificial intelligence in general. 

“AI generally gets overhyped and underperforms. A lot of people use it as a fun toy, but when you try to use it for legitimate purposes, you end up getting wrong, often dangerous advice that can actually get someone hurt,” Jones says.

“Even from a standpoint of a usefulness as a service, does it justify the power it needs? The land it needs? I just do not think it does. It is not worth the cost in any sense.”

The Village Plan Commission wrapped up a little before 11 p.m., with a final vote of 5-2 to rezone the land. The decision now heads to the full village board on Oct. 14.

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