The Town of Janesville is being eyed by a tech company for a possible new data center development.
A front page piece about the development appeared in the May 7, 2026 issue of The Gazette in Janesville. According to the story:
Doug Rebout, the chairman of the town’s planning and zoning committee, said that in April, the town received a letter from a tech company proposing the concept of a data center at the corner of North Polzin Road and West Fenric Road, on what is now farmland, near dozens of homes.
This would be a third data center under consideration in Rock County. The City of Janesville is looking at a data center proposal at the former General Motors site, and a private quarry owner in the Town of Beloit has been in talks with Meta, the parent company of Facebook, over a data center.
Rebout said the town and a data center developer have made no formal decisions.
State Rep. Ann Roe shared information about the concept to local opposition group No Janesville Data Center’s Facebook page that blew the whistle on the issue.
Roe told the Gazette her duty is to her constituents. She is learning about the data center prospect alongside the towns. She sees it as her role to provide any information she learns.
Roe said she gathered information from an undisclosed person who reached out to her office with limited information on a potential data center. Roe says she got enough info from costituents to allow her to “outline” the prospect. She says constituents indicate the plan is in early stages, and developers or the Town might not make major decisions for six months.
Roe’s outline indicates the project has no confirmed developer or finalized scope but that the project may involve Rock Energy Cooperative and Alliant Energy.
The outline also indicated American Transmission Company is conducting a feasibility study in part because the site is next to major transmission lines.
Melissa McCarville, Lead Communications Partner with Alliant Energy, declined comment about the letter and news of the prospect, instead sending The Gazette a statement. Rock Energy Cooperative did not respond to inquiries.
Jenny Hoople, organizer of social media group No Beloit Data Center and a new group, Rock County Neigh- bors for Responsible Development, shared to her Facebook page what appeared to be emails between a representa- tive from IGNIS Energy, and Andrew Baker the Director, Land Conservation, Planning, Economic & CommunityDevelopment for Rock County. IGNIS Energy is a geothermal company based in Houston, Texas.
The email asks Baker to be involved with a “pre-application process” with the Town of Janesville, and asked Baker to help IGNIS get in touch with Don Blakeny, the town’s clerk.
The Gazette has sent open records requests to the Town of Janesville and Rock County for documentsoutlining inquiries about data centers over the last six months. Hoople said on her Facebook page she attended Monday’s planning and zoning meeting. The meeting had no data center discussions, but someone brought up the prospect in public comment.
The town board said no one has signed non-disclosure agreements, and that they would hold information meetings with landowners. “These data center proposals will keep coming,” Hoople said in her post. “We need action at the state and county levels now to pause, to protect.”
Alyssa Capozziello, a volunteer with No Janesville Data Center, said the list of communities being eyed for data centers keeps growing. She expressed disappointment that no one community “is immune to the proposals.”
“In the absence of legislation and responsible development frameworks at the state level, citizens of each community have to find ways to protect themselves from development projects that take more from a community than they give back,” Capozziello said. She suggested communities being considered for data centers look for independent, outside guidance and keep in contact with their lawmakers.
