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Council discusses potential data center impacts and plans zoning rules
Summary
Council members raised concerns about Hopkinsville's water, electric and sewage capacity and directed staff to draft zoning and plan-review rules governing data centers and large AI facilities; staff said draft amendments and a public hearing are expected within months.
Hopkinsville council members used the June 2 meeting to discuss the city's readiness for potential data center and AI-related developments, focusing on infrastructure capacity and draft zoning rules.
Several council members asked whether companies scouting data-center sites had contacted the city and raised concerns that Commerce Park Two and other industrial areas may lack sufficient water, electric and sewer capacity to support large facilities. “From what I'm reading, we don't have enough water. We don't have enough electric. We don't have enough sewage,” one member said.
City staff member Tom Britain told council the plan review committee has been meeting for months and is drafting potential zoning amendments, describing a timeline that could bring a public hearing within the next couple of months and a text in place within 90 to 120 days. “We have been meeting for a couple of months. Plan review committee... we anticipate we'll have a public hearing on that within the next couple of months,” Britain said.
Council members discussed differentiating requirements by project scale — small, medium and large — and requiring applicants to address utility and water use, cooling infrastructure, and other site-specific demands. Staff indicated additional training and plan-review work had been done to understand data-center impacts.
No ordinance was adopted at the June 2 meeting; staff will return with draft text and a public-notice schedule for committee review and public comment.
