St. Charles County data-center moratorium is active; no hearing listed by July 27

St. Charles County’s temporary moratorium on certain large-scale data centers is in effect, but the county’s latest reviewed council agenda did not list a public hearing date or a related implementation item.

The County Council approved Bill No. 5505 by a 7-0 vote on July 13, 2026. The moratorium lasts six months and applies throughout St. Charles County, including areas inside municipal boundaries, according to county materials.

What Bill No. 5505 does

The enacted moratorium temporarily pauses approval, construction, expansion or operation of covered large-scale data centers. It is a temporary measure intended to give the county time to study the issue; it is not a permanent county ban or a final decision on the industry’s future.

The county identified public health, water resources, electric utility infrastructure, environmental quality, noise conditions, and the health, safety and welfare of residents as study topics. Those are stated areas for review, not completed findings about data centers in St. Charles County.

What counts as a large-scale data center

County materials describe covered facilities using several thresholds. A facility qualifies if it would require more than 5 megawatts of electrical demand, occupy more than 100,000 square feet, or involve multiple buildings intended to function together as a data center.

The thresholds define the type of large-scale operation covered by the pause. The county has not identified a current data-center project under construction or awaiting approval in the records reviewed for this report.

Why the county action matters inside St. Charles

The county’s explanation says the moratorium applies throughout the county, including inside municipal boundaries. That makes the county action relevant to residents and property owners in the City of St. Charles, even though the city has its own zoning rules.

The county moratorium and the city ordinance are separate actions by separate governments. The county measure is a six-month pause tied to a study and future policy process. The City of St. Charles separately adopted Ordinance 26-042, which defines data centers in the city’s zoning code and prohibits them as a primary land use.

No hearing listed in the July 27 agenda

The July 27 County Council agenda was the latest reviewed agenda for this report. It did not list a data-center public hearing or a related implementation item, so that agenda did not publicly identify a hearing date.

That does not establish that no scheduling action occurred after July 27. It means only that the latest county agenda reviewed did not contain a date or related item.

For residents, the immediate consequence is a temporary limit on covered data-center activity while the county develops its record. Prospective covered projects cannot move forward under the moratorium during the six-month period. Municipalities and utilities may have a role in the county’s review because the stated study topics include land-use effects, water demand, power infrastructure, noise and environmental conditions.

The unresolved questions are when the county will announce its hearing or other public process and what policy, if any, will follow the moratorium. The July 13 vote established the temporary pause; it did not determine the county’s eventual long-term position.

Sources

• City of St. Charles July 2026 newsletter
• St. Charles County Connection: County Council Considers Six-Month Moratorium on Big Data Centers