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Residents urge water, noise, farmland and public‑review safeguards in Maysville data‑center debate
Summary
Residents, conservationists and local attorneys pressed the planning commission for explicit water‑use reporting, stronger noise limits and setbacks, protections for prime farmland, and procedural safeguards ensuring public review of development plans before any zoning changes are adopted.
Residents, environmental groups and citizen lawyers used the public comment period to press the Maysville–Mason County planning commission for enforceable protections tied to any zoning text amendment for data centers.
Janet Harrison, a Mason County resident and member of local groups, urged protections against eminent‑domain pressure, stronger setbacks, annual water‑use reports and safeguards to prevent aquifer contamination. She told the commission she had been told the project was being designed with dry closed‑loop cooling but asked for specific, verifiable water‑use figures and lined holding ponds if any industrial wastewater would be stored on site.
The Kentucky Conservation Committee representative recommended that the ordinance require detailed environmental and environmental‑justice impact assessments and stronger local restrictions on diesel backup generators, citing health risks from particulate emissions and concerns that federal or state standards alone may be insufficient. The committee noted national calls for moratoria on new data centers until better oversight is assured.
Attorney Hank Graddy, representing a community group, recommended ordinance changes to preserve public participation and prime farmland: require conditional‑use permitting or a critical‑infrastructure overlay with numeric limits on how much county land may be reclassified, add setbacks (he proposed 500 feet generally and 1,500 feet from sensitive uses), and make community benefit agreements binding and enforceable.
Other residents demonstrated the sound levels they expect could be perceptible in nearby homes and urged that the commission adopt noise limits and low‑frequency monitoring that go beyond simple decibel thresholds.
Supporters of the amendment argued that modern data centers are low‑traffic, enclosed facilities that can fund infrastructure improvements, create construction and operations jobs and expand the tax base, but Commission staff and members were asked to present stronger, specific ordinance language if commissioners are to move forward.
The hearing was recessed for the night and scheduled to continue the next evening.
