Indy data center moratorium unanimously approved

Driving the news: The commission voted 6-0 in favor of language drafted earlier this month by the City-County Council to pause data projects through 2027.

• The amendment had the full support of Department of Metropolitan Development staff, who have been working since April to craft guidelines for such projects.
• This gives the city additional time to assess data center impacts alongside residents and industry experts to adopt permanent zoning regulations.

State of play: Most of Wednesday's discussion focused on the three data centers previously approved by the MDC.

• Commissioners sought clarity about the impact an approval would have on the forward motion of the Sabey data center in Decatur Township, the Metrobloks project in Martindale-Brightwood and the DC Blox development in Warren Township.
• Residents, meanwhile, wondered why the commission couldn’t retroactively apply the moratorium to those projects to stop them or bring them in line with future zoning rules.

How it works: Those projects will see no interruption with the moratorium in place.

• The approved language also doesn’t stop groups interested in projects targeting 2028 and beyond from engaging in discussions.

The other side: The only voice to speak against the moratorium Wednesday was City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, who made the appeal that the city would be in a better position in the long run if a set of standards was put in place now.

• “Effectively, what this is doing is putting a pause on it until there’s a new city council in place,” he said. “What we’re going to have is a group of developers that are going to come in and be a lot smarter on this topic than a new group of councilors."

In response, Councilor Dan Boots said he respected his colleague’s position but quickly reminded the commission that Hart was the sole dissenting vote in a moratorium moved forward by the council in a 23-1 vote.

• “The lion’s share of the council is for the moratorium,” Boots said.