Residents press county for data-center moratorium; commissioners point to comp-plan and legal process

Dozens of residents urged Decatur County commissioners July 20 to consider a moratorium or ban on data centers, citing groundwater, farmland and environmental concerns, while commissioners said any moratorium requires formal drafting and legal review and that the comprehensive plan provides the county’s guiding policy review.

Chad Crowder (speaker 5) led the public push, telling the board he represented an online petition of more than 900 signatures and asking the county to set up a citizens’ committee to draft moratorium language. "This moratorium... would save farmers. It would save the water," Crowder said, arguing that data centers use water and can harm bees and wildlife.

Commissioners responded that the county cannot unilaterally block a city-approved data center inside Greensburg — that project was approved by Greensburg city government — and that any county moratorium would need an attorney-drafted ordinance to follow statutory requirements. One commissioner said the county already has an alternative-energy moratorium that required attorney work and statutory compliance before being adopted.

Several residents urged that the comprehensive plan include language discouraging or banning data centers as part of future municipality-and-county planning. Commissioners reiterated that the comprehensive plan is a guiding document (not an ordinance) and that public-review opportunities for the draft plan are the time to comment; they also said that ordinances can prohibit or allow uses but must be carefully drafted.

What happens next: no moratorium ordinance was drafted or adopted at the July 20 meeting. Commissioners said they will continue the comprehensive-plan revision process and that any moratorium would require legal drafting and a future vote.