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Rush County commissioners approve 90-day moratorium on data centers while UDO is finalized
Summary
The Rush County commissioners voted to impose a 90-day moratorium on new data centers to give staff time to finish a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and hold a public hearing on April 1; planning staff said the UDO already includes provisions for data centers.
Rush County commissioners voted at a meeting to enact a 90-day moratorium on new data centers while staff complete a Unified Development Ordinance that will set development standards for the county.
Planning Director Mike Holzback told commissioners that a steering committee is finalizing the UDO and that "we do have that data center, ordinances in there now." He said the county expects a public hearing on the UDO by April 1, after which the committee will forward a recommendation to the commissioners.
The presiding commissioner explained why commissioners wanted a pause. "To do our job, we need a little more time, and what we don't want is a company to sneak in and have no standards in Rush County to go with that center," the chair said, arguing that the moratorium would prevent development before local rules are in place.
A commissioner who led the discussion recommended the moratorium and moved the measure, saying, "I recommend ... a 90 day moratorium on any data center." The motion was seconded, put to a voice vote and declared carried; the chair said the moratorium is "being in effect for 90 days." The chair added that the temporary pause should prompt the Advisory Planning Commission and staff to complete the UDO and review neighboring counties' approaches.
Commissioners and staff described the UDO as a comprehensive update intended to move existing county ordinances into a single, user-friendly code. One commissioner said the update grew from a blight and minimum-housing initiative and will cover many topics — "signage, sidewalks, roofs" and other items beyond data centers — and noted the draft is extensive.
The transcript references a grant or program that helped fund ordinance updates and related neighborhood work; the exact program name as spoken in the meeting is unclear in the record. The UDO itself was described in the meeting as roughly 300 pages of consolidated ordinance text.
The moratorium will last 90 days and is intended to remain in place while the UDO process proceeds; commissioners did not specify additional enforcement details at the meeting. The county set the next procedural milestone as the April 1 public hearing on the UDO.
The meeting adjourned after the vote.
