The city council for Cave City voted Monday night to approve a one-year moratorium on data center applications, allowing local leaders to enact zoning regulations on the industry which the city currently doesn’t have.
A Barren County community rooted in tourism from nearby Mammoth Cave National Park has taken an initial step toward rejecting data centers.
The city council for Cave City voted 4-1 Monday night to approve a one-year moratorium on data center applications.
But the 12-month pause didn’t satisfy some residents who don’t want a data center, period.
“I’d like to make a motion for a permanent ban on data centers in this county, anywhere in the Mammoth Cave region," shouted one person in the raucous crowd of opponents.
Council member Leticia Cline, who's leading efforts for a moratorium, called for a committee to be formed to allow more community discussion.
“Everyone has questions and we need to stay on top of this. This is something we can’t sleep on," said Cline. "The one thing I’m afraid of is the meeting being shut down before we get to pass the moratorium."
Cave City’s current zoning laws don’t specifically address data center development, and local leaders say the temporary ban will allow new regulations to be created while further researching the impact of data centers have on local utilities, landowners, and the environment.
“The problem is, we all use data, but it 100% is not right for our region, not just because of Mammoth Cave, but because of agriculture, the fact we have only four square miles, so you’re talking about the majority of our city being taken up by data centers," Cline told WKU Public Radio.
The proposed ban would be modeled after a similar one adopted last year in Meade County. For the moratorium to become law, a second vote is required, which is scheduled for Wednesday at 5pm.
In another move, the council held a final vote opposing new zoning rules pertaining to the use of water and electricity, and limits on data centers near residential areas. Most members said the regulations didn’t go far enough.
The vote followed Mayor Dwayne Hatcher’s recommendation to the Joint City-County Planning Commission that they maintain data centers as a permitted use on land zoned as heavy industrial.
“If they can promise certain criteria the citizens of the city would be comfortable with, then they could be a conditional use property, but by no means should any data center ever be a permitted use property," added Cline.
If zoning regulations allow data centers as a permitted use, local government would have little to no control over how they would operate.
There are currently no specific data center projects proposed in Cave City, but local leaders say they’ve been approached by developers.
