Study and Review Committee reviews draft Oldham County data‑center rules, asks staff for another draft

The Oldham County Study and Review Committee on a June 2025 meeting reviewed a draft ordinance (proposed section 2‑53‑40) that would regulate data centers countywide and asked planning staff to revise the draft and return with another version for further consideration.

The committee’s review came after three months of work by county planning staff; Ryan Fisher, planning staff, told the committee the draft is intended to define and control data centers “to minimize their impact on surrounding properties, ensure compatibility and promote sustainable development.” Fisher said the regulation is still a draft and remains subject to change at the committee, the planning commission and the legislative bodies.

Committee members and members of the public raised questions about technical thresholds, setbacks, noise, generator testing, decommissioning and public notice — issues Fisher said the draft attempts to address but that may require more detail. ‘‘Power and energy are not the same thing,’’ resident Stuart Robinson warned the panel during discussion of size and energy thresholds, saying the facilities can approach the scale of power plants. Resident Don Erler asked that transmission lines be buried and substations screened, saying, ‘‘They should all be underground and the substations should be fully screened.’’

The draft classifies data centers by size and electrical capacity and ties those classes to where the use would be allowed. Under the chart in the draft: small centers are 5,000–20,000 square feet with 1–5 megawatts; medium centers are 20,000–100,000 sq ft with 5–50 megawatts and would be limited to industrial zoning (I1, I2, IPD); large or…