At the Monday Nov. 9 meeting, the Warrick County Commission voted to table their ordinance to regulate data centers.
This came after the Area Plan Commission voted not to support the ordinance at their previous meeting and residents continued to raise concerns.
Counties Warrick, Posey and Vanderburgh are developing Date Center ordinances. They’re starting with moratoriums and using either experts or an appointed panel to study existing data centers and ordinances.
Before the vote, Warrick Commissioners listened to dozens of public comments about the ordinance.
One was resident Pamela Trickey. She wants the newest commissioner who just won her election to have a say in this ordinance, versus making the decision without her.
“The person who's coming in has to live with the things that have been in place,” Trickey said, who also ran for the open seat, but didn’t win. “The commissioners have 90 days to approve these recommendations for the ordinances. So my request is that you take those time until the new commissioner comes in.”
Trickey, like many commenters, felt the measure as presented is too broad and lacking "teeth" to limit large projects and made the county vulnerable to things like excessive noise or unforeseen drains on water or energy.
The Commission, whether President Sarah Seaton or Attorney Clifford Whitehead, addressed the need for specificity, saying tighter, more direct regulations would be prompted by the project itself, and be written into any agreements between the owner and the county.
But in the end, no one on the commission supported a motion to adopt the proposed ordinance. They agreed to table it for two weeks
“I'm happy with the decision they made,” said resident Jennifer Hanor. “I think the ordinance needs to be to the point, and not so vague. So I'm glad to see that in two weeks we'll be at it again.”
They’ll try to address resident concerns and allow commissioner-elect Stevens to have a voice in the process.
Ryan Statman with consumer watchdog group Citizens Action Coalition had felt the process lacked public input. However, he liked this decision.
“I think it's a good start, but … I think that (they) need to open the process up a little bit more and take your time with it because it will affect generations of Warrick County residents and generations of Southwest Indiana residents, and it's important that we get it right and not get it quick.”
Residents also urged clauses for local union labor to build data centers.
In the end, the motion to table was brought by Commissioner Stacey Franz who saw wisdom in the residents’ concerns.
However, she said new revenue streams like data centers — must be explored due to reduced state funds. Senate Enrolled Act 1 will reduce property taxes for residents, but also revenue for municipalities to afford basic services like police and fire departments.
“Even the city of Boonville, they get $6.4 million a year, and in 2028 they're going to be cut to $2.4 million. So we're going to be losing $4 million dollars,” she said. “So we have to think of that as a community. It's not us against you. It's not one idea over another. We are a community, and we need to work as a community.”
Franz proposed a one-month moratorium, but it was amended to two weeks and passed unanimously.
According to the commission and CenterPoint Energy, the county only has the capacity to support one large data center project.
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