Case studies

What communities have actually won — and lost

Documented outcomes from six moratorium fights, four benchmark CBAs, and every hyperscaler's documented pattern of concession. If you want to know what's realistic to ask for, this is where to start.

Moratorium outcomes

Six real cases; the categories reflect what the community ended up with, not what was originally proposed.

Groton, CT — Permanent limits adopted

A one-year pause turned into a permanent size cap

Groton's Planning and Zoning Commission adopted a one-year moratorium on data centers over 5,000 sq ft in June 2022 — and spent that year writing rules rather than letting it lapse. After a final public hearing in June 2023 the town adopted data center regulations, effective that July, capping data center buildings at 12,500 sq ft. Hyperscale campuses typically run 150,000–350,000 sq ft, so the cap excludes them by size instead of by argument. The moratorium was only the mechanism; the size cap is what holds.

Peculiar, MO — Project blocked

The town deleted 'data center' from its zoning code

Peculiar had already cleared the way for Diode Ventures' $1.5B Harper Road Technology Park by adding a 'data center' definition to its light-industrial zoning code. After hundreds of residents from Peculiar and neighbouring Raymore turned out against it, the Board of Aldermen voted unanimously in October 2024 to strike that definition back out — blocking the project without ever passing a moratorium. Removing a permitted use is a quieter tool than a ban, and here it was a faster one.

Cheyenne, WY — No protections

Council rejected a pause with a 3,200-acre expansion already moving

Microsoft announced a 3,200-acre expansion of its Cheyenne campus in April 2026, and Wyoming DEQ approved permits for 30 gas-fired engines plus emergency generators. On May 27, 2026 the city council voted 8–1 against a 12-month moratorium after three and a half hours of public comment — supporters raising water and noise, opponents raising jobs and tax base. The ratepayer question is being handled through Black Hills Energy's Large Power Contract Service tariff, under which Microsoft pays directly for the infrastructure it needs, rather than through anything the city negotiated. No community benefit agreement appears in the reporting.

Prince William County, VA — Political shift

Voters removed the board chair; the courts voided the rezoning

In 2022 a board majority led by Chair Ann Wheeler rezoned more than 2,000 acres of farmland for the Prince William Digital Gateway. On June 20, 2023 Wheeler lost the Democratic primary to Deshundra Jefferson, who had campaigned against large-scale data centers. The board approved the rezoning 4–3 that December regardless — and it was the courts, not the ballot box, that ended it: the rezoning was voided on appeal and a developer withdrew, effectively killing the project. Statewide, Virginia voter support for new data centers fell from 69% in 2023 to 35%. Elections changed who was in the room; litigation changed the outcome.

The Dalles, OR — Mixed outcome

Google funded the water system — and its share of the water kept climbing

Under a 2021 agreement Google paid roughly $28.5M toward upgrades to The Dalles' water treatment and storage, including an aquifer storage and recovery system it later handed to the city, and bought and donated 3.88 million gallons/day of water rights from a closed aluminium smelter. What the deal did not include was a cap on Google's own draw. When The Oregonian sued for the usage records, the city spent 13 months fighting disclosure before settling — and the records showed the campus using about 29% of the city's water, rising to roughly 40% (some 550 million gallons a year) by 2025. Infrastructure money is not the same protection as a volume limit. This is the case that shows the difference, and the reason to put a cap in writing.

Mesa, AZ — Permanent limits adopted

Zoning rules instead of a moratorium: setbacks, height caps, sound study

With 15 data centers built, approved or proposed on roughly 1,500 acres in six years, Mesa's council introduced zoning controls 6–0 and adopted them in July 2025. Data centers are now allowed only where the council specifically authorises a Planned Area Development overlay on industrial land, and each must sit at least 400 feet from residential, stay under 60 feet tall, screen its mechanical equipment, and submit a sound study. Water cooling was argued in council — Councilwoman Jenn Duff pushed to restrict it during drought — but did not make it into the adopted rules. Worth reading as a list of what a council will grant without a moratorium, and what it won't.

Benchmark CBAs — what similar communities won

Community	Developer	What they won
Loudoun County, VA	Multiple	Declined abatements and taxed data centers instead: the FY2027 budget puts them at roughly $1.3B — about 45% of all county tax revenue — on ~4% of commercial parcels. The benchmark for what a jurisdiction with market power can simply refuse to give away Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05
Groton, CT	Multiple	A hard size cap, not a cheque: data center buildings limited to 12,500 sq ft in the zoning adopted June 2023, after a one-year moratorium. Hyperscale campuses run 150,000–350,000 sq ft, so the cap excludes them by geometry rather than by argument Source 1 · Source 2 · verified 2026-08-05
Los Lunas, NM	Meta	A water agreement with terms: the March 2025 village agreement with Greater Kudu LLC (Meta's filing entity) guarantees up to 3M gallons/day but suspends supply in a declared Stage 3 water emergency. Meta also funds eight Rio Grande watershed restoration projects, ~172M gallons/year Source 1 · Source 2 · verified 2026-08-05
Morrow County, OR	Amazon (AWS)	Fees in lieu of taxes, negotiated in the open: ~$40M over 15 years across five new data centers in exchange for enterprise-zone abatements worth an estimated $1B (2023). Cited here as a benchmark of what a payment-in-lieu deal looks like — including how much is forgone to get it Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05
The Dalles, OR	Google	Infrastructure money, but no cap — the cautionary benchmark. Google paid ~$28.5M toward city water treatment and storage and donated 3.88M gallons/day of water rights, yet nothing limited its own draw, which reached ~40% of city supply by 2025. Ask for the volume limit in writing, not just the capital contribution Source 1 · Source 2 · verified 2026-08-05

Every one of these happened before final approval. Timing is the leverage.

How each hyperscaler negotiates

Documented concessions and the pattern behind them. Use these to anchor your ask to what the same company has already agreed to elsewhere.

Google

Negotiation pattern: Negotiates through PR-friendly commitments — water stewardship pledges, community grants — but its documented concessions came under permit leverage and records-transparency pressure, not goodwill. Shell LLCs and confidentiality are standard practice until approvals are locked, so forcing early disclosure of water and power demands is where the leverage is. (Strategy read, not a sourced fact.)

The Dalles, OR (2021-24) — Paid ~$28.5M toward city water treatment and storage, including an aquifer storage and recovery system later transferred to the city, and donated 3.88M gallons/day of purchased water rights. Note what is absent: no cap on its own draw, which reached ~40% of city supply. Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05
The Dalles, OR (2022) — Dropped its fight to keep water-use records secret after The Oregonian sued; the city had spent 13 months resisting disclosure before settling. Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05

Microsoft

Negotiation pattern: The most willing of the hyperscalers to accept design and transparency conditions, and the one whose own published commitments give you the most to hold it to. Use its zero-water design as the floor of the ask: it has already built it, so 'evaporative draw is unavoidable' is not available to a developer proposing otherwise. (Strategy read.)

New builds (2024) — All datacenter designs from August 2024 use chip-level closed-loop cooling consuming zero water, avoiding >125M litres/year per facility. Announced Dec 2024; sites online from late 2027. Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05
Quincy WA / San Antonio TX (ongoing) — Runs cooling largely on recycled, reused or non-potable water — 74% in Quincy, 79% in San Antonio — rather than potable municipal supply. Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05

Amazon (AWS)

Negotiation pattern: The hardest bargainer on taxes, and the one most likely to hold an abatement rather than pay. Where communities have extracted terms, it has been through payment-in-lieu deals negotiated before approval — leverage sits entirely with whoever controls the next permit. (Strategy read.)

Morrow County, OR (2023) — Agreed to pay ~$40M in fees over 15 years across five new data centers, in exchange for enterprise-zone abatements estimated at $1B. Read both halves of that trade before citing it as a win. Source 1 · verified 2026-08-05

QTS

Negotiation pattern: Blackstone-owned and growth-driven, so entitlement delay is a real cost and timeline pressure is genuine leverage. But Prince William is the cautionary case: proffers offered late in a contested rezoning were judged too late to evaluate, and the rezoning was later voided on appeal. Get proffers recorded as binding conditions early, or they are worth nothing. (Strategy read.)

Prince William County, VA (2023) — Added proffers during the contested Digital Gateway rezoning — additional public space and strengthened power-line placement language — after 24 hours of public comment. Staff and some supervisors said the amendments came too late to assess; the rezoning was voided on appeal in 2026 and the project died. Source 1 · Source 2 · verified 2026-08-05

CoreWeave

Negotiation pattern: A GPU-cloud pure-play that leases space inside partners' buildings (Core Scientific, Digital Realty, Switch, etc.) rather than owning sites outright. That means the developer on a community's permit may be the landlord, not CoreWeave — but CoreWeave's contracted power draw is what drives the load. Leverage sits with whoever controls the next lease or power allocation, and CoreWeave's aggressive growth timeline (NASDAQ IPO March 2025, $12B+ contracted revenue backlog) makes delay costly. Its proposed acquisition of Core Scientific (~200 MW HPC hosting deal, Jul 2025) would consolidate landlord and tenant — watch for that closing. (Strategy read.)