WRIGHTSTOWN (NBC 26) — When Travis Coenen, the Wrightstown village administrator, needed help amending the village zoning code, he sought advice from an unlikely source: a principal development manager for Cloverleaf Infrastructure, a firm that works to develop new data centers across the country.
"Parin, can you send the zoning you used in other communities so I can get it on our zoning code rewrite," Coenen wrote.
The email was just one of many exchanged between Coenen and managers of Cloverleaf going back to at least January. They were obtained by a public records request by residents opposed to a future data center and verified by NBC 26 News.
In an interview, Coenen also confirmed the emails, saying Cloverleaf reached out to him first. He said it was his job to explore all options and possibilities for the village.
Cloverleaf has previously pursued building a data center in northeast Wisconsin. Most notably in Greenleaf, where neighbors rallied against the project earlier this year.
One email, dated Jan. 9, is from Coenen to two Cloverleaf managers.
"If possible, could you provide the general location where you anticipate the facility may be situated?" Coenen wrote. "This would allow me to develop my presentation strategy and contribute any insight that may be helpful."
Travis Armistead, from Cloverleaf responds: "We have a few leads which hopefully land us fairly close to the Village of Wrightstown’s border."
In another email, Armistead sends Coenen a white paper on data center development written by the Urban Land Institute. He says the paper is intended to "educate local stakeholders on the development process."
"I already read this and forwarded it to our board while the Greenleaf controversy was going on," Coenen responded. "We will strategize on a better plan for Wrightstown as I see both Greenleaf and Kewanee (sic) have not gone well."
Coenen was apparently referencing Cloverleaf's attempts to develop data centers in those locations before popular resistance shut the efforts down.
In a village meeting earlier this month, several Wrightstown neighbors pushed back against the idea of building a data center in the village.
This is a developing story. NBC 26 Reporter Kyle Langellier will have the complete story at 6 p.m.
