Champaign County, IL Data Centers & Crypto Mining: Data Center Zoning & Siting (2026)

Champaign County's Zoning Ordinance treats a DATA CENTER, defined in Section 3 as a centralized location for computing and networking equipment, as a special use rather than a use permitted by right. Section 5.2's Table of Authorized Principal Uses marks DATA CENTER for special-use treatment only in the AG-2 Agriculture, B-4 General Business and I-1 Light Industrial districts, footnoted to flag the current development moratorium. A property owner must obtain a special use permit from the Champaign County Board before building.

Once a special use application is filed, Section 6.1.3's Schedule of Standard Conditions imposes site-specific requirements on every DATA CENTER. First, the location must be approved in writing by the fire protection district that would serve the site. Second, the petitioner must give the Department of Planning & Zoning a written explanation of the facility's security features as part of the application record. Third, if the data center is built alongside a PV SOLAR ARRAY, the array must sit next to the solar inverter and as far from property lines and neighboring dwellings as good engineering practice allows.

Because Illinois county zoning authority extends only to the unincorporated area, these siting rules bind data centers built outside Champaign, Urbana, Rantoul, Savoy and Mahomet; a facility inside any of those cities is governed by that city's own code. Any approved siting is also subject to the Section 5.6 development moratorium, which currently blocks new data centers of 10,000 square feet or more of processing area regardless of district.