TL;DR

  • Data centers support users globally, but their impacts on land, electricity, water, tax base and environmental resources are experienced at the local level.
  • Communities should incorporate digital infrastructure into comprehensive planning before individual development applications arrive.
  • Responsible planning should account for data centers as well as fiber routes, network nodes, substations, transmission infrastructure and other systems supporting the digital economy.
  • Effective governance requires early community engagement, transparency, regional planning and consideration of a project’s full lifecycle.
  • The OIX Digital Infrastructure Framework is designed to help municipalities proactively evaluate digital infrastructure needs and development considerations.

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By Ilissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations

We talk about “the cloud” as though it exists somewhere above us: intangible, limitless and disconnected from the physical world. Of course, it isn’t.

The cloud is buildings, servers, fiber, substations, cell towers, transmission infrastructure, cooling systems, land, power, water, and increasingly, communities trying to understand what all of this means for them. That reality was at the center of the Data Centers and AI panel I recently participated in at IGF-USA 2026 in Philadelphia.

Moderated by Daniel Castro, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the discussion included Tana Fitzpatrick of the University of Oklahoma, Chris Amato of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, Maya Schmidt of Third Way and me, Ilissa Miller, representing iMiller Public Relations and the OIX Digital Infrastructure Framework.

Daniel framed the issue well from the outset: data centers support users around the world, but their impacts: land, electricity, water, tax base and environmental considerations are experienced locally.

So the question isn’t simply whether we need data centers. The question is how we govern their development.

Plan Before the Application Arrives

My position is that communities shouldn’t be forced to figure this out one development application at a time. Digital infrastructure needs to become part of comprehensive community planning.

That means identifying appropriate land uses for different types of data centers, but it also means looking beyond data centers to fiber routes, network nodes, substations, transmission infrastructure and the other systems communities will need to participate in an increasingly digital economy.

Not every data center belongs everywhere. And not every community needs the same infrastructure. But communities should understand their needs before a developer arrives with a proposal.

That’s one of the reasons we developed the OIX Digital Infrastructure Framework: to give municipalities a way to proactively understand these issues rather than continually reacting to them.

Start With the Community

Tana Fitzpatrick added an incredibly important dimension to the conversation: tribal sovereignty.

Federally recognized tribal nations are governments, not simply another community stakeholder. As Tana explained, engagement shouldn’t begin by asking what land, water, energy or other resources a tribal nation has that a project might need.

It should begin by understanding what that nation and its community actually want. Her question was wonderfully simple: What does being a good neighbor look like? You can read more about her work at the University of Oklahoma Native Nations Center here.

Look at the Regional Picture

Chris Amato brought the planning perspective from Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where communities are already confronting multiple proposed developments.

His perspective reinforced something I believe strongly: site and setting matter.

Brownfields, existing industrial properties and adaptive reuse may offer very different opportunities than greenfield development. Communities also need to evaluate infrastructure capacity, workforce benefits, environmental resources and net fiscal impact — not simply the large investment number announced with a project. You can read more about the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission here.

Make the Benefits and Responsibilities Tangible

Maya Schmidt of Third Way focused on another important component: ensuring communities have the information and leverage necessary to negotiate effectively.

Transparency, community engagement, infrastructure costs, tax contributions, workforce development and community benefit agreements can all be part of that conversation. You can read Maya’s Third Way data center research here.

I would add one more element: the entire lifecycle. What happens if ownership changes? Do commitments made to the community transfer to the next owner? What happens when equipment becomes obsolete? What are the decommissioning responsibilities? What happens when better technology becomes available?

Responsible development can’t end when the permit is issued.

Social License Starts With Listening

Ultimately, perhaps the simplest takeaway from our discussion was this: Developers need to listen before they propose. And, they need to start that listening process much sooner than they think.

Go into the community. Meet people. Understand their concerns. Learn what they value. Then demonstrate how that input changed the project. As I said during the discussion, development needs to become of the community, for the community and by the community.

The data center industry has an opportunity right now to redefine how large-scale infrastructure development happens in America. Not by dismissing opposition, and certainly not by assuming every project belongs everywhere. But by planning earlier, listening better, being transparent and creating guardrails that communities and industry can understand together.

That isn’t simply better community engagement. It’s better governance.

Curious about what you missed? Not to worry, you can still view the live stream online here: isoc.live/21744.

Stay tuned for IGF-USA upcoming events: igfusa.us.