Grow Clinton recently hosted a podcast with representatives of QTS, which has proposed a controversial data center for the city.
The hourlong discussion, on Tuesday, Sept. 1, was hosted by president/CEO Andy Sokolovich, with Bill Micheel, QTS Regional Manager & Community Engagement Specialist, and Travis Wright, the company Vice President of Utility Engagement.
The goal of the interview was to capture developer responses to commonly asked questions and provide a platform to share information regarding their planned development, timeline, and opportunities to further engage the community. QTS is proposing a 1,100-acre hyperscale data center (estimated to cost $10 billion) between Clinton Municipal Airport, Valley Oaks Golf Course and Branden Hills residential area, Highway 30 and tributaries of creeks leading to the Mississippi River.
“We see Iowa as one of our favorite places to work, and Clinton really looks like a winner for us,” Wright said Tuesday. Currently building a data center in Cedar Rapids, QTS has had a good experience in Iowa, and he called it “a really welcoming community.”
“And so when we were looking around, we're finding places. There's a couple of things that are really high-level first stuff you look at when you're looking to put a data center. And it doesn't usually start with land,” Wright said. “It usually starts with things like utilities.”
“That's one of the first things we look at. We look at strong communities that understand big industrial projects, which I think Clinton really does,” he said. “We look for workforce that can support a big project like this. You can imagine a project that is a large data center might have somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 people working on it every day. And so there's a need for a great skilled workforce. And those are 2 of the things that we really look for: partnership with the community, the ability to get some really great skilled workforce, and access to utilities.”
QTS said their centers require several full-time employees once it opens.
“The economic impact was obvious, and it's a large construction site,” Sokolovich said. “Logistically, there was a tremendous amount of pre-planning and due diligence that went into figuring out the transportation routes, how these individuals get from point A to point B. One of the stories that I loved hearing was one of your original routes had 2 restaurants on it, and those 2 restaurants, they were surviving prior to the development, but once QTS came in and they realized that they were going to be packed breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
A multi-building campus
For Clinton, they’re planning a multi-building campus, he noted.
“We’re still in the process of figuring out what that looks like, but somewhere between 2 and 10 buildings likely, depending on what we could do here.”
QTS typically has over 40,000 construction workers building its centers around the country at one time, Wright said.
“And these are people that are not coming in and getting a temporary job as a construction worker. These are people who are starting careers in the construction industry, and they can go from being a laborer to a project manager to a project executive over a period of time,” he said. “It's fascinating to see that we actually have a workforce that will move from one job site to the next job site to the next job site because they're so ingrained in that, in that environment.”
Sokolovich said he’s been very impressed by the company, and went on a recent tour of their center construction underway in Cedar Rapids. He met a 19-year QTS employee originally from Clinton.
“He was not only excited about the product in Clinton for a number of reasons, but one in particular is he wants to move back to our community,” he said. “He's empty nesters, him and his wife. They want to move back to Clinton. They love it here, and this would be an opportunity for his career to transport him to Clinton where he can then eventually retire. And that's exciting. The other thing that was exciting is you guys have a very strong veteran group within your workforce, and I know that's something you're very proud of.”
“The jobs that are created outside of the actual construction project is fascinating to me,” Wright said. “Last time I was in Cedar Rapids, I was walking down the street and I happened to catch a guy who was coming out of a building and we started chatting as we were walking down the street. And he was with AC Hotels. They were building a new hotel in Cedar Rapids because the business was there and they were pretty excited about it.”
He noted that QTS data centers should not impact local water resources.
“If a data center is developed in the right way, it has very little impact on the water resources,” Wright said. “Ten years ago, when we were building data centers, we were putting in these big evaporative cooling towers. They just like a lot of the industrial facilities out there that used a lot of water. We actually went out to our suppliers in 2017 and said, we think this is a problem. We probably ought to go figure out another way.
“And what we would like to do— there was a trade-off. You can either use lots of water and less energy or lots of energy and less water,” he said. “And we came to our suppliers and said, we need to do both. We need to figure out how to use much less water and make it energy efficient.”
“The entire facility now, if you had a 100-megawatt data center, which is a pretty good-sized data center, uses about as much water as 5 homes,” Wright said. “It's pretty benign in its water use. usage. It uses the water for the office space, toilets, sinks, landscaping watering, things like you would normally see in any other office building, but the operations themselves don't consume water.”
The increased electricity usage costs also will be borne entirely by QTS.
“And with that 345-kilovolt line coming to us and Alliant constructing substations and increasing the availability of quality electric service within our region, that ultimately makes us more attractive to other large utility users,” Sokolovich said.
“It's important for economic development, which as a world I come from, to attract other companies, you need, of course, available land, you need water, wastewater, and power,” Micheel said. “And having excess of those, or one or more of those, is imperative to attracting additional companies to invest in your community.”
“That is one of our community commitments. We pay for the energy costs of our data centers so they don't increase,” he said.
“We do not just accept every project that comes into our office and say, yeah, the Clinton's where you want to be,” Sokolovich said of Grow Clinton. “There is a very strict process of due diligence and research that's conducted by us as economic development practitioners. In meeting with QTS for the first time, again in February of 2026, there was a lot of discussion. Obviously, you're looking at privately held land served by private utilities, and you are a private investment company in QTS looking to build a data center.”
Five-hour ordinance review
The City Council Committee of the Whole met later Tuesday, Sept. 1 for five hours at Eagle Point Lodge to hear comments about the proposed ordinance. At the request of Mayor Scott Maddasion, members of the Steering Committee of Clintonians Against Data Centers (CADC) were included in the meeting's discussion of the ordinance.
CADC says the Sept. 1 meeting demonstrated why continued public involvement is essential. “We support meaningful public discussion and a transparent process in which residents have an opportunity to understand the proposal, ask difficult questions and weigh the long-term consequences before decisions are made,” according to a Thursday release.
They support the 1,500-foot setbacks suggested by the city Plan Commission, since the property borders homes and farms. During the discussion of the definition of sensitive receptors, Councilmember Janet Turpen said, “I like what the group here had added within there for the living area and grazing area of livestock, considering the location.”
CADC steering committee member Jeff Chapman said at the meeting: “This isn't just for the now. This is for the future when all of us are gone. We have to think outside that box. You're boxing yourself in right now. This shouldn't be a battle of wills. This should be us working together for the best for your citizens in case you do decide 'I want to buy up your farmland.'”
No city financial incentives sought
Micheel said QTS is not seeking any financial incentives or tax breaks for building in Clinton.
“That's something we're very interested in talking about, other ways we can support the community as well,” he said, noting their projected property tax revenue to the city will be significant.
“So it helps, it contributes immediately. And in addition to that, we really try and integrate ourselves into the community through conversations, understand what other priorities are there, what other needs are there, can we chip in and help?” Micheel said.
“Locally in Cedar Rapids, we just announced a $5 million grant in partnership with Iowa Workforce Development, the IBEW, University of Iowa, and some of the high schools for training programs for electricians," he said.
"We are doing about $300,000 a year to help reforest the city of Cedar Rapids after the derecho, working with private landowners to provide trees and with some local nonprofits to do that as well. So obviously those are priorities in Cedar Rapids, but, you know, in Clinton, what are the priorities? What's important to the community? And those are conversations that will occur, once we really get rolling.”
QTS agrees with most everything the city has proposed in the data center ordinance, he noted.
“Ultimately, we are interested in working with the community to solve problems and challenges,” Micheel said. “We're really cognizant of aesthetics and working with communities where it makes sense to do some buffering, whether that's berms or vegetative buffering, that sort of thing. And we learn from every project that we do and carry those lessons forward, to the next project.”
Sokolovich said that true to his group’s name, he wants to see this community grow and prosper.
“And I do feel like data center development has been unnecessarily scrutinized, again, due to some really bad players back in the day that created a lot of the stories that you continue to read on social media as they continue to expand and just inject themselves everywhere,” he said. “But in working with I've been working with you guys since February. I've been impressed by the level of professionalism, the due diligence, but more so, even your willingness to take care of every problem.
“Because it's going to be a large construction project, it's going to require due diligence,” Sokolovich said. “We're going to have to pivot from time to time. But in what I've seen in Cedar Rapids is you've been willing to fix every problem, no matter how small or how large it has been.”
“That's part of our company culture and we really want to partner with the community to solve any issues as they come up,” Micheel said.
A hot topic in town
“But it's become quite the topic here in our community,” Sokolovich said of data centers. “And anytime we can leverage a platform like this podcast to allow you, like the horse's mouth, to share what you're going to do and be held accountable for those things, and even support the drafting of an ordinance, which, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe you've ever in QTS's history have engaged a community in that way.”
“Not to this level,” Micheel said. “I think most communities were either working off of an existing ordinance or were— and then potentially making some amendments, drafting a set of use-specific standards from scratch, at this stage is something that I think is relatively uncommon.
“And again, excited and willing to work with the community. And, quite frankly, from our perspective, this is a conversation for the community to figure out not only how is this ordinance going to impact a potential QTS project, but how does Clinton address data centers at large?” he added. “It needs to consider a broader range of projects than just ours. And so, that's really a conversation for the community. Yes, we submitted our input, and we're around to answer questions if that's something that the community is interested in.
“We are going to be much more present in the community after this ordinance has been adopted, after the community has made a decision on how they want to address the industry at large,” Micheel said.
Sokolovich said it’s been overwhelming for the community and Grow Clinton, to spend countless nights reviewing reports, ordinances, and making public comments about the process.
“We're not going to make everybody happy. At the end of the day, there will not be 100% buy-in, but we are making sure that we are safeguarding the community ultimately and ensuring that we have a positive outlook on what this development could do for us, both financially as well as for future employment opportunities,” he said.
“And that's what we are paid to do. At the end of the day, we don't have a vote here at Grow Clinton, but we do have a level of influence with those elected decision makers who depend on us to provide them with information as well.
“And I believe we've done that very effectively. But you guys have been great in providing me information as well as other third-party, non-biased resources that have come to us and shared their feelings regarding data center development,” he added.
Largest infrastructure development ever
“We as a country are in the middle of the largest infrastructure development project in the history of humanity, and that can be pretty uncomfortable,” Wright said. “It's larger than the rail system in the 1800s. It's larger than the interstate freeway system and more impactful than either of those as well. It's going to be a little overwhelming for communities in the beginning.”
(You can watch the Tuesday podcast at the link below:)
“But the thing to remember is that QTS is a company of people with good hearts, with high moral values, and grit,” he said. “And we are going to enter into our projects, all of our projects including Clinton, with open communication, opportunity for people to make their voices heard. We're going to engage with community organizations and we're going to be responsive to these questions and concerns.
“And for us, that partnership is the most important thing for us,” Wright added. “Making sure that we're supporting workforce development, pathways into technology careers, investing in local initiatives. I mean, things like that really make a difference here. And one thing I just want to make sure that I'm clear is that our philosophy is that there— it's not a standard to simply avoid negative impacts. The standard is to ensure communities are materially better off because a community like Clinton has chosen QTS to invest there.”
Ordinance comments Tuesday
Among other CADC steering committee comments at Tuesday’s council meeting were:
● Stephen Figg: “I work in technology, have for 17 years. This is what I do for a living. Technology grows about every six months. So what we're doing here today is based on what's being currently built. But who's to say that in two years from now, they can't cram the same equipment, same processors, same whatever inside of a smaller footprint, say a 50,000 footprint, but they still pull the same amount of power because that's their load. So, we have to think about that, too. As technology grows, these ordinances have to grow, too.”
● Celeste Robbins: “This project has been going on for like 2 years, and we're just now approaching the time where we would talk about a development plan. I'm not seeing the harm in having a lot of information right up front for people to look at. Why wouldn't we want to know this stuff before spending taxpayer time investigating it and moving forward with the project when information upfront could help you decide right then and there, if it's going to be beneficial or if there are huge pitfalls, instead of moving it along, spending time on that, spending resources on that, and then finding out, x amount of time later, that there's a huge hole in the plan. I think having information upfront is very valuable.”
● Kevin Bradley: “Attorney Pat O'Connell did say that these things can be in an ordinance as well as the development plan. He did say there's been exceptions throughout the country where some of these things that would be a development plan are also in the ordinance. Again, you can defer that when it goes to the planning commission and saying we would put these into the development plan, but having it in the ordinance, it gives them an idea what's to be expected. So therefore again, planning commission has that opportunity to say 'we'll take this advisement' will give them a variance. It'll be applicable to the development plan when it happens, but it doesn't have to happen at this point, but having it in here now just gives them that heads up and a reminder it's coming.”
● Theresa Andrews: “What QTS had requested about allowing property owners to have that agreement that also runs with the property. So it is binding going forward. As far as some examples, the Virginia joint legislature audit and review commission in 2024, under their residential impacts chapter, said the further away a data center is from residential areas, the less likely it is to affect nearby residents. The Chester County and Montgomery County Planning Commission in Pennsylvania in 2026 said that the data centers may have profound impacts on their neighbors. Linn County has a 1,000-foot setback. The Shelby County Plan Commission has a 1,300-foot setback. Chester County which also has a minimum 1,000-foot setback from residential. So there's plenty of them that are larger. And again, depending on how long ago some of those statues were set, they didn't have these hyperscale data centers that they have now. They weren't building them in the capacity and the size that they are now. So some of those existing ordinances and setbacks could have been long before they were building them to this scale. It's only been the last few years that they've been building to this scale.”
● Ryan Wisor: “My frustration is this ordinance is meant to protect the citizens and our property. This isn't meant to conform so that we can fit a particular business in a particular piece of land. If this land doesn't conform to what they need, then this isn't the right piece of land for us to give up our rights. Our properties were there before any of this development came up. We shouldn't have to forgive our rights and our protections just because a company wants to move in and we need to conform to what they want.”
Lanie Lass asked for clarification to detail outside consultants, such as state geologist, state archaeologist, tribal nations who lived lightly with the land for thousands of years, and outside environmental experts.
As Mayor Scott Maddasion stated during the opening, “There will be other meetings for public comment. There'll be a public hearing on the ordinance once council deliberates and finalizes what ordinance they'd like to consider for a vote. So, there'll be public hearings there. There'll also be three readings of the ordinance on council meetings where audience comment is allowed at those business meetings as well.”
Celeste Robbins ended input by CADC by saying, “I would ask very kindly that you give serious consideration to what we put in here for amendments because we worked our butts off on this. These amendments are all going to be more protection for your citizens. So, I'd ask please consider this, before you consider the document you got from QTS, because they're not in it for the citizens. We are. We want you to be, too.”
CADC intends to keep speaking up about the potential impacts of the hyperscale data center development on Clinton’s people, land, water, power, roads, neighborhoods, environment and future economic choices. The City Council next meets on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. in council chambers.
They will have another work session on the data center ordinance Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. Refinement of setback distances, berm specifications, and community relations mechanisms are among the ordinance points to be considered.
Micheel said on Tuesday’s podcast that QTS is committed to the communities where it builds.
“We’re going to pay for the energy costs of our data centers. You know, we're not going to consume water after we initially fill the system,” he said. “We support the community and projects that are important to you, create good wage jobs and continue with openness and transparency, once our project really kicks off. And we're going to do what we say we're going to do in a community because that's our reputation on the line.”
Sokolovich said Grow Clinton’s role is to serve as a conduit between developers, the city and the public.
“I truly value what I do as an economic development practitioner because I am able to see opportunities sometimes that are difficult for others to see only through lived experience,” he said. “And regardless of, at the end of the day, what happens here, it's been great working with you guys and we'll continue to lobby on your behalf.”
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