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Data centers in Linn County, Iowa: 2 projects mapped
Two hyperscale data centers are under construction in the Big Cedar Industrial area at the southwest edge of the Cedar Rapids area: Google's campus is in Cedar Rapids itself, and QTS's neighboring campus is in the adjacent city of Fairfax. In December 2025 the city council unanimously approved a revised QTS agreement, and no one spoke at the public comment period. The revision caps the campus at seven phases, each a building of at least 300,000 square feet representing a $250 million investment. QTS will pay $300,000 per phase into a community betterment fund. In July 2026 Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell defended both projects against residents' claims of kickbacks. She said the city is giving the companies a 15-year tax break and will still collect about $25 million a year in property taxes during it, rising to about $55 million afterwards. "We need those projects here whether we want to admit that or not," she said. She said water modeling by Black & Veatch, using worst-case drought conditions from the 1980s, found the city could sustain the projects. Asked about secrecy, she said: "Never signed an NDA, a nondisclosure agreement." KCRG had obtained two nondisclosure agreements the city signed, one with Google and one with QTS, and reported that the copies were signed by the city manager and the utilities business manager. "No kickbacks, no lined pockets," O'Donnell said.
Google's next campus was planned for rural land outside Palo, beside the Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa's only nuclear plant. Google signed a 25-year agreement in October 2025 to buy most of the plant's power once it restarts. That plan prompted the Linn County Board of Supervisors to spend about seven months writing what Inside Climate News called one of the most comprehensive local data center ordinances in the country, adopted on February 18, 2026. It created an exclusive data center zoning district, 1,000-foot setbacks from residential zoning, and noise and light limits. It also required a water study and a water-use agreement with the county, and a community betterment fund. "Why has Linn County, Iowa, become a dumping ground for soon-to-be obsolete technology that spoils our landscape and robs us of our resources?" asked Dorothy Landt of Palo at the first reading. Supervisor Brandy Meisheid's answer to developers was: "If it's too high a price for them to pay, they don't have to come."
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Google did not come. On February 26, the same day county staff told it the board would accept its economic terms, Google said it would instead seek annexation of the site into Palo. Board chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt said Google had told her it planned to need 12 million gallons of water a day from the Cedar River. "Google has decided to bypass the protections that we put in place in our ordinance," she said. Palo wrote its own rules: its ordinance defers water regulation to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, drops the county's mandatory water-use agreement, and lets the company redact information it deems confidential. The council passed it 4-1 on July 20, 2026, with Doug Hanover voting no. "We have one shot at this in one ordinance, and it needs to be solid," resident Shelly Jacobus told the council. Council member Eric Van Kerckhove argued: "Right now, we have an opportunity to be in the lead. Opportunities like this do not come along often for small communities like Palo, and they do not come twice." Mayor Bryan Busch said Google, not the city, would have to request annexation, and that nothing was set in stone.
By then Linn County had begun an 18-month moratorium that pauses all applications in its data center zone. At the same time, it directed staff to consider allowing data centers as an accessory use to a nuclear plant. Planning director Charlie Nichols said: "It's hard to say it's not project-specific because there is only one nuclear plant in Iowa." Elsewhere in the county, developers approached Fairfax and county leaders about a three-square-mile area near Morgan Creek. Residents formed Save Morgan Valley. "If they build 2,000 acres of data centers, I won't be here still," said homeowner Jon Lee. Fairfax Mayor Jo Ann Beer said construction traffic had already become her residents' first complaint. On July 14, 2026, the Fairfax City Council passed a moratorium 3-1 with no expiration date. Its sponsor, Dan Wozniak, said of how long it would last: "That might be tomorrow, it might be 10 years from now."
Data center projects on record in Linn County
Grouped by the town each site sits in. The report above may name projects that have no record here yet.
Cedar Rapids1
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Cedar RapidsCedar Rapids | Under construction | Not reported |
Fairfax1
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QTS Cedar RapidsFairfax | QTS | Under construction | 1,050 MW |
Where this comes from
The reporting above was written from these. Open one and check it yourself.
Moratoriums and bans in effect
Pauses on new data centers covering this area.
| Place | Type | Started | Ends | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linn County | Moratorium | Jul 1, 2026 | Jan 1, 2028 | Record off site ↗ |
Zoning limits on data centers
Rules short of a pause: setbacks, noise caps, permit requirements and district limits.
| Place | Type | Started | Ends | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linn County | Zoning limits | Feb 18, 2026 | No end date | Record off site ↗ |
Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.