CyrusOne Talkington Township (Sangamon) data center, Waverly, Illinois

CyrusOne's planned $500 million data center campus in Talkington Township, near Waverly in Sangamon County, Illinois, is now being fought in court. The Sangamon County Board approved it on April 7, 2026, by a vote of 17 to 10, letting CyrusOne build six one-story buildings of 250,000 square feet each on about 280 acres of farmland in the 13000 block of Thayer Road, a campus that would use about 600 megawatts once fully built. Waverly residents sued in July to overturn the approval.

Sangamon Circuit Judge Adam Giganti set an October 9, 2026 hearing on the county's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The plaintiffs, members of the Caruthers family, who have farmed in southwest Sangamon County for close to two centuries, and Cathy Bettis, owner of Joette Kennel, are asking the court to void the approval and grant an injunction against the project.

The lawsuit describes "an industrial facility of extraordinary scale," with an electrical load of about 634 megawatts and about 420 diesel backup generators, and argues the project fails the county's 50-decibel property-line noise limit, that the application was incomplete, and that it needed a rezoning rather than a conditional-use permit in an agricultural district. The county's lawyers want the suit dismissed, arguing the county "proactively researched potential issues" before approving it.

More than 60 people signed up to speak before the April vote, but comment was cut off after about a quarter of them had addressed the board, and some who shouted objections were escorted out. "Listen to the community," Maribel Cruz-Hine told the board. "Take more time for research." Board member Tracy Sheppard, who voted no, said "decisions of this magnitude must be made with full clarity." CyrusOne has not asked for local tax breaks and plans a closed-loop cooling system.

The plaintiffs had until September 25 to respond to the county's motion, the county until October 2, and Judge Giganti hears the motion to dismiss on October 9, 2026. The project still needs other permits, including one for construction.