Tuesday July 14th 10am - APZ Meeting (Data Center Presentation) and the Story of Essex

Good morning! 

The regular monthly meeting of the Supervisor of Assessments and Planning & Zoning Committee of the Ogle County Board will be held this morning, July 14, 2026 at 10:00 A.M. the Old Ogle County Courthouse, Third Floor County Board Room #317, 105 S. Fifth St., Oregon, IL.

Item 9: UNFINISHED BUSINESS (CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION): APZ Agenda
o Hearing Officer/Hearing Facilitator
o Data Center presentation

For those interested in why we still do not have our committee meetings uploaded to Youtube (like Lee County), please consider attending the County Facilities, County Security and Information Technology (IT) committee meeting at 1:00pm in Room 100 (Old Courthouse).  Their agenda is posted here: CFCSIT Agenda.  We have been in touch with the IT Director for Lee County during these past few weeks.  They use a business 
account through Zoom (an $18.33 per month subscription) and subsequently post those meetings to YouTube (for free).  What is the Ogle County Board’s excuse?  

Another meeting we would recommend attending is the Executive at 4:30pm (3rd Floor, Old Courthouse):
Executive Agenda.  An entity that you should all consider familiarizing yourselves with is LOEZ: Lee-Ogle Enterprise Zone.  (Please consider visiting their website: LOEZ.)

We also wanted to share the following investigative piece by Fox 32 led by Bret Buganski on the story of Essex, a Chicago suburb, not unlike communities in Ogle County: Data center fears grow after massive land purchases in Chicago suburb: 

The Brief
• "Essex residents are raising concerns after Constellation Energy purchased more than 700 acres near the village, fueling speculation about a possible data center.
• Community members are questioning land sales involving former village board members and want more transparency about Constellation's plans and the annexation process.
• Constellation says it has not selected a customer or finalized a project, while village officials say they are still reviewing the company's annexation request."

This highlights the same patterns we have born witness to here in Ogle County.  Constellation began sending engineers onto the property of its neighboring farmers’ and landowners’ without much explanation.  Then, the NDAs begin to circulate.  Then the lawyers start showing up at local meetings with local officials.  And then property begins to sell and…just more examples of Constellation “being a good neighbor”, or so they keep telling us.  

The residents of Essex deserve better.  We deserve better.  Our children deserve better.  The people of America deserve better.  

Hope to see you today.  Please continue to engage civically with civility.  And carpool if you can.