A temporary ban on data centers in Indianapolis is one step closer to reality after a City-County Council vote August 10 moved the proposed moratorium forward.
Indianapolis city-county councilors voted 23-1 in favor of the measure to cheers from the packed Public Assembly Room. Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, a Republican representing the southeast side, was the lone no vote. Hart instead offered a wide smile to the crowd.
The ordinance, passed with the support of Mayor Joe Hogsett and sponsored by Council President Maggie Lewis, will ban any new data centers until no later than Dec. 31, 2027, but the new law does not change the fate of the three data centers approved earlier this year.
The moratorium represents a rare win for data center activists who have packed meetings and held dozens of rallies against the facilities. Yet, they sat powerless as three projects were approved this year alone.
The moratorium still needs the approval of the Metropolitan Development Commission, a board of real estate experts appointed by the Council and mayor. The soonest the MDC could vote on the proposal is Aug. 19, a Department of Metropolitan Development spokesperson said.
The ban replaces a set of regulations DMD employees crafted to address holes and create guardrails in the city’s zoning code, which currently does not include any mention of data centers. City development staff will need to write a set of regulations to go into effect when the ordinance expires.
The moratorium is scheduled to expire shortly after the 2027 mayoral election, meaning Hogsett or a newly elected city leader would decide how the city will address future facilities.
Going against his colleagues, Hart, who became a man of the people when he successfully fought off a Google data center in Franklin Township last year, said he worries the data center issue will get passed to the next City-County Council following next year’s city-wide elections. The moratorium will likely have no impact on developers looking to bring data centers to Indianapolis, he said. Rather, he thinks developers will prepare blueprints in anticipation of when it will lift.
.”It doesn’t mean that they stop,” Hart said.
Residents who have protested several data centers for more than a year have been calling for a moratorium instead of what they described as “weak regulations,” as several signs at Monday’s meeting read. But economic development officials and some city politicians say the centers could substantially boost the city’s tax revenue coffers.
For instance, a proposed center in Martindale Brightwood could add $1.4 billion to the city’s tax base, even after a generous tax abatement package worth up to $395 million, city staffers said in a report detailing the offer. Currently, the vacant lot, a former drive-in theater, generates $4,600 in property tax a year.
Though Hogsett did not publicly take a stance on the data centers while the projects underwent the zoning approval process, he supports tax breaks for projects in Martindale Brightwood, Decatur Township and the east side.
The ordinance passed despite opposition from local labor union groups, who are eager for the hundreds of construction jobs required to build the facilities.
With the moratorium, Marion County would join 19 Indiana counties who have implemented some sort of pause on such facilities.
Alysa Guffey writes business and development stories for IndyStar. Contact her at alysa.guffey@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Council moves data center moratorium forward, but it’s not final yet
Reporting by Alysa Guffey, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alysa Guffey, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
