In DeForest, Wisconsin, residents organized as “No Data Centers in DeForest” after learning that village staff had been strategizing with QTS representatives and Alliant Energy since March 2025 — months before the October public announcement. The group started a petition to change a village ordinance, organized protests, and packed public comment periods at board meetings. On January 27, the Village of DeForest declared the QTS proposal “not feasible."
One day after that announcement, Wisconsin Watch reported that at least four Wisconsin communities had signed non-disclosure agreements with data center companies. In neighboring Menomonie, the city council had signed an NDA with a Delaware-registered company called “Balloonist” a full year before the public learned of a hyperscale data center proposal. Dunn County residents, following DeForest's model, pushed through a restrictive zoning ordinance in January. Organizer Blaine Halverson said large tech companies “are targeting communities that have weak zoning ordinances so they can steamroll them."