Iowa county adopts strict zoning rules for data centers, but residents still worry

PALO, Iowa—There are two restaurants in Palo, not counting the chicken wings and pizza sold at the only gas station in town.

All three establishments, including the gas station, stand on the same half-mile stretch of First Street, an artery that divides the marshy floodplain of the Cedar River to the east from hundreds of acres of cornfields on the west.

During historic flooding in 2008, the Cedar River surged 10 feet above its previous record, cresting at 31 feet and wiping out homes and businesses well outside the floodplain.

Nearly 20 years later, those structures have been rebuilt, but Palo residents still worry about the river. Except these days, they worry that data centers will drink it dry.

In an effort to shield residents and natural resources from the negative impacts of hyperscale data center development in rural Linn County, officials have adopted what may be one of ...