Proposed data center regs: ‘Difficult as possible, without banning’
Tippecanoe County APC committe gets first look at proposed zoning codes, faces a November deadline on new data center rules.
Support for this edition comes from Stuart & Branigin.
PROPOSED DATA CENTER REGULATIONS FOR TIPPECANOE COUNTY: ‘DIFFICULT AS POSSIBLE, WITHOUT BANNING’
Planners who spent the past year drawing up a proposed set of tight zoning regulations for hyperscale data centers development in Tippecanoe County said Wednesday that if the restrictions seemed tough, that was intentional.
So, why not go all in on a ban, as other Indiana counties have done?
“Not knowing what the state might do in terms of pre-empting bans (on large-scale data centers), we wanted to make this as difficult as possible, without banning it,” Amanda Esposito, Area Plan Commission assistant director, told the APC’s Ordinance Committee as she presented the proposal for the first time Wednesday.
The APC Ordinance Committee, the first step in rewriting the county’s zoning code, held off on sending the proposed rules to the full Area Plan Commission, opting to give the staff a month to make some changes suggested during an hourlong discussion Wednesday. Those are expected to return to the committee Sept. 2.
The county is working against the clock on this one.
Current zoning code definitions for data centers, installed in November 2025 as a stopgap measure to temporarily gum up the works of energy- and water-eating data center development, is set to expire in November.
That measure include a section that restricts large data center development to a single, rarely used I2/industrial designation.
Among the highlights from the proposal posted with the Area Plan Commission’s Ordinance Committee’s meeting agenda for next week:
Data center definitions: The code would differentiate between a “data center” and a “large data center.”
The regular version would include those that had gross floor area of 20,000 square feet or less and used less than 2 megawatts of energy. In the 2025 code, the county made room for smaller, less-intensive data centers, including ones already operated by local internet providers and firms providing internal data security for banks and other businesses. Those would be allowed to go into the commercial and industrial zones already in the county’s codes. The new proposal bumps up the size to quality as a smaller data center from a current 10,000-square-foot limit.
A “large data center” would be anything bigger than 20,000 square feet and using more than 2 megawatts of power, including “hyperscale” projects being proposed and built by proposed by Meta, Google, Microsoft and others. According to the proposed updated code, large data centers would continue to be restricted to the county’s I2/industrial classification. That was an intentional hurdle specified in the 2025 version, given that so little land is already zoned I2 in Tippecanoe County. That, planners said at the time, would force a developer to go through a minimum of three public hearings – one before the APC for a recommendation; a second with the county, a city or town board for a final approval; followed by a review by the Board of Zoning Appeals for special zoning exceptions required for large data centers – to get the proper zoning before construction could start.
Other requirements: Large data centers would face a host of expectations, even before getting to necessary votes, according to the new proposal.
Among them:
New large data centers would need to be separated by at least 20 miles from any other large data center. That would leave room, conceivably, for one large-scale data center in Tippecanoe County, if it could get zoning and other approvals.
Buildings at a data center site would require a 1,320-foot setback from all property lines. That’s a quarter-mile.
Large data center applications would need to include projections for energy usage and water consumption.
At least 80% of the energy consumed on a large data center site would have to come from renewable sources, such as wind or solar power.
Large data centers would have to use a closed-loop cooling system, which would cut back on the amount of water they’d require.
Developers would be required to host a public information session before submitting a special zoning exception application to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Those would have to include public notifications of nearby landowners and the news media.
The maximum allowed noise level outside a large data center would 45 decibels.
Large data center projects would require a decommissioning plan, similar to ones required for gas stations, car washes and oil change businesses in Lafayette and West Lafayette. According to the proposal, that would include removing all buildings, equipment and signage on the property.
During Wednesday’s hearing, several residents who were central to the zoning fight that scuttled plans for a 120-megawatt, 1,700-acre utility-scale solar project in western Tippecanoe County suggested making the data center rules even stricter than they were.
Among the suggestions:
Add stronger rules about lighting during construction, given concerns about work being done at a $10 billion data center Meta is building in the LEAP District in Lebanon.
Build in remedies for noise violations at data center sites.
Allow longer times for the county to check into an application to develop a data center and build in ways to make developers pay the bill for third-party reviews.
Katherine Sobieralski, a neighbor who lives near the proposed Rainbow Trout project and was part of a committee that studied the county’s recently approved solar regulations, encouraged the county to still consider a ban on data centers. She said the county was growing and doing well enough on the economic development front that it could afford to sit out this data center phase.
“It’s all over the national news, large data centers going here, there, and everywhere, and I don’t think I’ve seen a single news story about it that’s positive,” Sobieralski told the APC Ordinance Committee. “I don’t think that communities are welcoming these things with open arms. I don’t think that anybody sitting in front of me would necessarily want to live next to one. … You felt the pain in the last 18 months of controversial land uses with SK hynix and with solar, but I think the pain is going to be 10 times worse if you’re talking about somebody applying for a data center.”
Tom Murtaugh, a county commissioner who would have a say in the final data center regulations, agreed with Esposito, though, about offering a path to zoning approval, even if it was purposely difficult.
“What makes me nervous about a complete ban, is that as counties do that, it’s very likely the state will remove the ability for that decision to be made at the local level,” Murtaugh said.
What’s next: If moved along by the APC Ordinance Committee Sept. 2, the full Area Plan Commission could consider the proposal at its Sept. 16 hearing. An APC recommendation would go then to the Lafayette and West Lafayette city councils, Tippecanoe County commissioners and town boards in Battle Ground, Dayton and Clarks Hill.
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
PURDUE’S NEW AD: Purdue on Wednesday named Tommy McClelland, former AD at Rice University, to replace Purdue AD Mike Bobinski, who plans to retire at the end of 2026 after 10 years in West Lafayette. McClelland’s expected to be introduced at 11 a.m. Thursday press conference. You can watch a livestream here. Indianapolis Star reporter Nathan Baird had this look at McClelland: “What Tommy McClelland’s career shows Purdue is getting in next athletic director.” Veteran reporter Mike Carmin, writing at his Greater Lafayette Sports Report on Substack, had this: “10 questions facing Purdue, new athletic director Tommy McClelland.”
GAS TAX HOLIDAY ROLLS INTO ANOTHER MONTH: All those dire warnings to fill your tank before Friday? You can ignore them. Gov. Mike Braun issued a new executive order Wednesday that will continue to suspend state gas taxes that work out to be about 58.9 cents a gallon through Sept. 5. Braun first suspended gas taxes by executive order in May, under authority that appeared to be nearing its end. Braun had to come up with new reasons to keep the tax holiday going, outlined here by Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Tom Davies: “Braun announces new energy emergency, continues Indiana’s gas tax suspension.”
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kick the ball down the road on the gas taxes? Protect Republican seats in the General Assembly. Make cuts to various social programs. Get money from roadbuilding and repairs from other segments of the Indiana 'surplus". Continue acting like the hero on the side of the deluded masses. What war? What costs us drivers? Nothng to see here. Sleep Sleep ."Ain'g God Good to Indiana?"
Tom Murtagh is right. Anyone remember House Enrolled Act 1412? The state legislation that explicitly stripped Tippecanoe County of the power to ban retail dog sales? You think data centers might have more grifter friends in high places than puppy mills?
It's fine to play regulatory chess, but not with an opponent who keeps eating the pieces.