Stopgap zoning code OK’d to slow large data centers, for now

As some residents call for a stronger moratorium, Area Plan Commission recommends narrowing the chances for massive projects for now to buy time to study regulations on AI-driven data centers

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STOPGAP ZONING CODE OK’D TO SLOW LARGE DATA CENTERS, FOR NOW

Those involved in zoning and planning matters in Tippecanoe County took a first step Wednesday to gum up the works for massive data centers looking to locate in or around Greater Lafayette.

A proposed addition to the zoning code that essentially erases easy, by-right access for a large-scale data centers in the county received a 15-0 recommendation from the Area Plan Commission, giving planners a year to study and formulate stricter, specific land-use rules covering the developments.

(Photo: Unsplash)

But there were calls for the county to go further and impose a ban on the proliferation on the warehouses of computer servers feeding the growth in AI technology, which have been increasingly railed on statewide for their massive drains on energy and water sources.

“I beg of you to consider the negative effects that data centers have on communities surrounding them, from rising electric bill to depreciating home value, higher taxes to poor water quality,” Stephanie Durr, a Lafayette resident, told APC members Wednesday. “Counties across Indiana are rejecting the allowance of data centers, and we must do the same.”

Short of an all-in ban or moratorium, the zoning code recommendation heading to Tippecanoe County commissioners and city councils in Lafayette and West Lafayette looks to make room for smaller data centers – ones already operated by local internet providers and firms providing internal data security for banks and other businesses – while slowing huge ones proposed by Meta, Google, Microsoft and others.

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Amanda Esposito, APC assistant director, said the county’s current zoning codes don’t define what a data center is. She said they would fall under a “computer programming, data processing and other computer related services” definition. As such, Esposito said, data centers would qualify to go in most commercial and industrial zones, meaning a developer could start building by just getting a permit without going through the public hearings and approvals that come with rezoning requests.

As an APC staff report read ahead of Wednesday’s meeting: “Obviously our 1998 zoning ordinance could not have predicted what advances in computer technology would end up asking of communities, but here we are.”

Tippecanoe County commissioners, already into a one-year moratorium and study of beefed-up regulations covering utility-scale solar projects, this summer asked county planners to look into data centers, too.

The proposal discussed Wednesday was intended to buy time for that review of data center regulations.

The proposal offered two definitions of data centers.