Daviess County Fiscal Court gave final approval Thursday evening to a one-year moratorium on data center applications. That gives the county time to draft zoning regulations for the industry and study the potential impact of data centers on the community.
Daviess County is off the table for data center developers, at least for the next 12 months.
The Fiscal Court unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on applications and permits during a meeting Thursday night.
Local resident Madeline Payne spoke to commissioners before the vote.
“With the amount of water they’ve taken from communities all over the country, how they have made local communities’ utility bills skyrocket, it would be a great thing if you vote for the moratorium," Payne said.
The ordinance, which went into effect immediately, requires zoning regulations to be updated to bring more local control to data center development.
Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen said the ordinance doesn’t prevent the city of Owensboro from moving forward with data centers.
“It’s my understanding the city has a separate set of rules and under our zoning laws they can do what they please," Castlen said. "The most recent thing where that was in play was when the state allowed medicinal marijuana. We set up our rules and they set up their rules.”
County Attorney John Burlew offered the same legal opinion when the ordinance was brought up for first reading in a May 14 meeting.
"Owensboro has the power to regulate zoning within the city, so they can do what they want in that regard," Burlew advised.
Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson said last week he wouldn’t allow a data center as long as he was in office.
Daviess County joins a growing list of local governments taking preemptive moves to stop data center construction.
The city council for Cave City recently passed a one-year moratorium on data center projects.
