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Harmony leaders favor transparency, indicate city should avoid NDAs for data-center talks
Summary
At a joint planning session April 15, city officials and community members agreed the City of Harmony should prioritize transparency and indicated they do not support the use of non-disclosure agreements for data-center projects; the direction will be forwarded to Planning & Zoning.
The City of Harmony's joint planning bodies agreed April 15 that transparency should guide negotiations over future data-center projects, and participants indicated they did not support the City entering non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with prospective developers.
Katrina Hurley, the contracted facilitator, framed the session as "the final joint planning session in the data center ordinance development process" and led a discussion of confidentiality versus public trust. Community attendees raised concerns that NDAs could limit knowledge about which developers are involved and erode public confidence. Through discussion, "the board members indicated that they did not support the City entering into NDAs for data center projects," and the group asked staff to forward this position to Planning and Zoning for formal consideration.
The decision is procedural direction rather than an ordinance amendment; Planning and Zoning will consider whether to include an NDA prohibition or restrictions when the draft ordinance is legally prepared and formally reviewed. The meeting record shows the group prioritized transparency while acknowledging that NDAs are common in economic development, but that data centers' scale and community impacts warrant a different approach.
