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The Metropolitan Development Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a data center moratorium for Indianapolis through the end of 2027.
All six members of the Metropolitan Development Commission present voted “yes” on the measure after it was passed by the Democrat-led Indianapolis City-County Council and supported by Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.
The vote was the final step in a monthslong local discussion that followed a consistent drumbeat from anti-data center advocates calling for a pause, as well as deeper research, into the new technology.
The moratorium proposal also includes a requirement that the administration convene a committee of experts and community members. That consultation would include data center standards such as size, building height, sound levels, low-frequency noise, brownfield and other environmental concerns. A fiscal package introduced with Mayor Joe Hogsett’s budget proposal includes $150,000 to fund data center research.
Indianapolis joins a flurry of other communities in limiting data center development. The mayor of Louisville signed a six-month moratorium just last week, and Jeffersonville and Valparaiso have also passed similar proposals.
A moratorium acts as a temporary freeze on an action, in this case the development of new data centers. It is not permanent.
The three data centers that have already gone through the zoning approval process are exempt from the moratorium. Those projects are the DC Blox data center on the east side, the Metrobloks project in Martindale-Brightwood and Sabey Corp.’s project in southwestern Marion County.
The proposal was initially created by the Department of Metropolitan Development and the Metropolitan Development Commission to regulate the projects. But on July 10, Indianapolis City-County Council President Maggie Lewis announced that the body would instead pursue a moratorium.
The city legislative body voted Aug. 10 to advance the moratorium with just one member — Republican Michael-Paul Hart — against the measure. Several other Republicans joined the Democrat-led council in supporting the measure.
Hogsett said in a July 13 statement that he supports the moratorium and welcomes the additional time to have the conversation. At the same time, his administration is also supporting tax breaks for three data centers already through the zoning process.
Commissioners briefly debated making a change to the proposal, but ultimately passed it as-is.
Commissioner Brian Murphy said he was concerned that the proposal could prevent the developers of the data centers that predated the moratorium from receiving building permits. However, Department of Metropolitan Development leaders said that there would be no impact to the process for the three previously approved projects.
Representatives of the building trades, technology industry and economic development entities have opposed or expressed concerns about the moratorium.
Indy Chamber President Matt Mindrum said in a column last month that the moratorium “sends a message that Indianapolis is becoming less open to business.” He also said the moratorium “risks turning away billions in investment.”
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Now what are the anti data center people going to do with all their free time? I heard a guy on the circle saying just today “what’s their next protest. Running out of town billion dollar projects with huge tax revenuw and having $100 wheel taxes are stupid”. another guy said ” I wonder who the DSA will target next with their hate?”. I am just glad it is over and the healing can begin.
Sure you did, Matt.
Can someone translate Matt’s comment?
Gonna celebrate the good news with a nice glass of wine tonight, get a good night’s sleep, and wake up and go to work tomorrow
Not huge tax revenue.
yeah I was walking around and I heard a guy saying “Matt B is making up stories again.” and then another guy said “yeah it’s really weird, right?” and then a third guy walked up and said “why would he think that obviously fabricated unsourced quotes would be compelling to anyone?” and then all of us looked at the camera and broke the fourth wall.
Hopefully this gives city leadership time to realize that the one size fits all ordinance proposal is wildly inappropriate.
murray who do you work for? The city is doing the best they can in a tough time……all I do is post what people are saying
We’re people too, Matt. There are other opinions out there. In fact, you’re in strong minority on this one!
At least Michael P-H had the guts to say no.
Now that we have time for more ‘conversations’, maybe they can find the root causes of…. The CCCouncil has shown gutless faith in their own abilities, but of course they are all up for reelection next year and couldn’t face their constituents without a postponement of economic opportunities to quiet the hype crowd.
This is a nothing burger at best!!!!!!
Psssst…. Kevin, you might consider that you’re part of the hype crowd on this one.
I came across some useful research and real-world examples showing that data centers can be built responsibly without harming surrounding communities.
What makes this particularly useful is that much of the evidence comes from the University of Texas and local governments, rather than data-center developers themselves.
Here are the strongest points:
1. Round Rock, Texas — Actual Sabey Operating Data
This may be the most relevant example.
The City of Round Rock says it monitored the operating Sabey data center and measured approximately 2 million gallons of water use per year — roughly equivalent to only 15 single-family homes.
The city also requires closed-loop cooling for the proposed new facility.
This is particularly compelling because these are actual measurements from an operating Sabey facility, not projections from a developer.
Interestingly, the existing Sabey facility in Round Rock was also selected to house the University of Texas’s new “Horizon” AI supercomputer.
2. Closed-Loop Cooling vs. Evaporative Cooling
Fort Worth provides a useful comparison for a 100-acre development:
* Closed-loop data center: approximately 300,000–1 million gallons/month
* Evaporative-cooled data center: approximately 4–6 million gallons/month
* Residential development on 100 acres: approximately 2 million gallons/month
That is strong evidence that modern closed-loop cooling can dramatically reduce the water concerns commonly associated with data centers.
3. University of Texas — Water Research
UT Austin has published a detailed technical white paper examining data-center cooling technologies, freshwater consumption, recycling and water requirements.
Its research explains why modern liquid/direct-to-chip and closed-loop cooling systems can substantially reduce municipal-water demand compared with traditional evaporative cooling.
4. University of Texas — On-Site Power
UT has also published research specifically examining on-site power generation for data centers, including:
* Grid-connected generation
* Isolated generation
* Behind-the-meter generation
This is useful in addressing the argument that every new data center necessarily creates an immediate burden on the existing electrical grid.
5. UT Bureau of Economic Geology
The Bureau has a broader research initiative devoted to sustainable data-center development, including energy, water and infrastructure issues.
Again, the value here is that this is university research rather than industry promotional material.
6. Viridien — Brenham, Texas
There is also a smaller high-performance computing project in Brenham with information regarding its environmental and noise-control design. I would give this less weight because the information comes from the developer itself, but it can still serve as a useful secondary example.
Bottom line: The strongest argument isn’t that data centers have no impacts. It’s that modern data centers can be designed so those impacts are dramatically different from the older facilities people often picture when they hear “data center.”
The Round Rock example is particularly powerful because it involves Sabey itself, an operating facility, independently reported water consumption, closed-loop cooling, and a major University of Texas AI computing application.
That seems much more persuasive than relying simply on projections or promises about what a future facility might do
Slop
These are useful examples, and I agree that we should not treat every data center as though it uses the same cooling technology or has the same environmental footprint. Round Rock’s experience appears to demonstrate that closed-loop cooling can dramatically reduce direct municipal-water consumption.
But it does not resolve the question facing Indianapolis. Sabey’s Round Rock campus is being built in phases, and the reported 2-million-gallon figure is not accompanied by enough information about occupancy, average electrical load or computing utilization to tell us whether it represents a fully operating facility at its eventual scale. Horizon’s presence also does not establish that it operated throughout the period measured.
Similarly, on-site power does not eliminate energy impacts; it changes their form and location. The fuel source, emissions, noise, transmission requirements and continuing relationship with the grid still matter.
I therefore see this information as supporting the moratorium rather than disproving its need. It shows that Indianapolis should distinguish among technologies and establish measurable, enforceable standards for water use, energy supply, noise, emissions, disclosure and future expansion. A temporary pause for that work is not a declaration that all data centers are unacceptable. It is an effort to ensure that any developer claiming the benefits of newer technology is legally required to deliver them and that the city evaluates the actual facility being proposed, rather than relying on an example from another market.
+1 John
Data centers will be built. The City’s DMD could help matters immensely by conducting the research that Matt B. just posted and determine the negatives (noise, diesel fumes, electricity consumption and water for cooling equipment). Then, drill down on the developers and.say “try again” and come back with positive solutions to mitigate the negatives. Drive a little harder bargain so to say, DMD. If a data center is approved, then the City zoning and code enforcement departments should “police” the facility operation, for strict compliance with the commitments. As such, data centers could be successfully built in site-appropriate locations. A couple key caveats would be the data center owner and operator should provide engineering proof that their electrical consumption can be acquired from the local electrical utility and be required to pay demand charges for any extra electricity usage. Residential and light commercial users should not be surcharged in any way. Same goes for water consumption. Perhaps several water wells should be drilled to satisfy the water requirements (can hear it now from the data center owner, “Oh, that would be a enormous first cost for us, that’s just not feasible according to our proforma calculations)”. Cry me a river, too bad!!! And just an aside by the way, the proposed data center at the former Ford factory site is not within the Irvington neighborhood boundaries. Check the maps at DMD.
Patrick, the purpose of the moratorium is to do exactly what you suggested. It’s only the pro-data center folks who act as if this is meant to stop all data centers, forever.
I was told by a friend that it was clear for those who listened to the previous public hearings for DC Blox, Metroblocks and Sabey that the anti data center gang will not be happy with any data center getting built in the city regardless of concessions and recommendations offered by the new blue panel committee. Another friend was saying that the anti folks will come with their red signs and rudely disrupt and scream and yell like they always do. It’s some sort of plan of attack they say. A third friend said that The Decatur lady was asked by commissioner Lyle at one hearing “ what could the data center developer offer you to make you happy”. Her answer was “not build”. Don’t be fooled. But what do I know. There are not open minds coming to public meetings and clearly posting on boards. In my opinion it’s very clear.
Matt if your friends told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?
Michael N, yes he would!!!
The Luddites are in control…
Hell yeah, the Luddites were on the right side of history