The city of Port Washington Common Council on Tuesday approved an agreement with the Town of Port Washington that would clear the way for the city to annex about 1,900 acres for a proposed data center.
The town approved the agreement earlier Tuesday.
City officials recently were approached by developers from Houston-based Cloverleaf Infrastructure who indicated that the site, which is adjacent to I-43 near Lake Drive, would be well suited for the construction and operation of a data center.
Now that it has an annexation agreement with the town, the city can move forward on infrastructure improvements and modifying zoning codes for the data center project.
Cloverleaf would eventually identify a company to assume ownership of the site, then build and operate the data center. Infrastructure costs will be borne by that company, along with additional power generation or water use costs. The Port Washington project is Cloverleaf’s first publicly discussed project.
“This agreement represents an important next step on a proposed project that would provide significant benefits to our residents,” said City of Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke IV. “We thank our colleagues at the Town of Port Washington for having the foresight to recognize this opportunity. For the city, this project can provide long-term resources for our schools and emergency services while relieving some of the burden on residents who currently bear 80% of our property tax levy. And it can do so without the pollution, noise or traffic you might see with other kinds of projects. We will continue to explore this opportunity, providing regular updates and listening to our constituents throughout the process.”
