Huntingburg Planning Commission begins discussion on data center zoning regulations

Huntingburg’s Planning Commission took up the question of how — and whether — to regulate large-scale data centers at its recent meeting, with City Planning Director Paul Lake presenting a framework of considerations before any formal project arrives at the city’s door.

Lake told commissioners the city’s Unified Development Ordinance currently makes no mention of data centers, creating a regulatory gap that could leave officials scrambling if a developer comes knocking.

“Rather than wait and react, let’s get ahead of this a little bit,” Lake told the planning commission, noting that conversations with the mayor and other community members have already begun on the topic.

Lake was careful to distinguish between the data centers Huntingburg already has — operated by banks and manufacturers for decades — and the large-scale commercial facilities now generating debate across Indiana and the nation. The city’s existing data centers, he said, are “quite a bit different from what you’re reading about or hearing about nationwide.”

His presentation centered on two core questions: which zoning district should be eligible to host a data center, and whether such facilities should require a special exception rather than being listed as a permitted use outright.

Lake recommended leaning toward heavy industrial zoning combined with a special exception requirement, meaning any applicant would need to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals and demonstrate they meet a set of defined criteria before receiving approval.

“It would be a permitted use only by special exception,” Lake explains, adding that this approach gives the community meaningful oversight without outright banning the facilities.

Among the criteria other Indiana communities are considering — and which Lake presents as benchmarks for discussion — are setback distances, noise levels, lighting plans, and utility consumption. A 500-foot setback from the nearest structure on an adjacent property appears frequently in recently drafted ordinances, though Marion County has adopted a 400-foot standard. A noise threshold of 55 decibels is another figure Lake flags as a common reference point.

However, the commission quickly identifies a practical problem with those standards when applied to Huntingburg specifically. Commissioner Sandra Kays asks how much heavy industrial land is actually available within the city limits and its two-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Lake told her he spent several hours over two days driving around looking at potential sites and found very few that would work. The primary candidate — property north of town — is 25% floodplain and sits on reclaimed ground, which Lake noted adds roughly 30% to construction costs due to the need for a floating foundation. A residential structure also sits nearby, complicating any 500-foot setback requirement.

“There’s really not much that’s going to be available,” Lake says, pointing to the floodplains that surround the community.

Commissioner Kays raised the question of whether agricultural zoning should also be considered, but Lake suggested the situation is no better there. Floodplain constraints affect agricultural parcels similarly, and he said there are “really not a lot of sites that are going to be conducive to something like that” across either zoning category.

The commission also discussed the issue of existing facilities that could fall under a new data center definition. Lake said those would be treated as legally established non-conforming uses — effectively grandfathered in — but Commissioner Kays pressed on what happens when one of those facilities undergoes renovation or expansion. Lake acknowledged that question, along with the challenge of setting thresholds that distinguish small-scale institutional data operations from large commercial facilities, as something that requires further legal and policy work.

“How do you do that without being arbitrary and capricious? That’s the problem,” Lake told the commission.

Commissioner Larry Fuesler raised the economic dimension of the debate, noting that data centers bring jobs, property tax revenue, and investment to communities. He asked whether any of Lake’s peers have taken a more welcoming stance toward the facilities.

Lake said the answer depends entirely on the community. He referenced the Wheatley Group report included in the commissioners’ packets — prepared for a 3-megawatt data center near Charlestown, Indiana — as a resource that examines both the benefits and impacts of such facilities in detail.

Lake also raised a concern he says is becoming common in data center negotiations: non-disclosure agreements. He tells commissioners that officials in Posey County, near Mount Vernon, are currently navigating a situation where elected representatives signed NDAs and are unable to discuss a potential project publicly.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t want to be involved in that,” Lake says.

On the question of aesthetics and visual impact, Commissioner Fuesler asked whether buffering requirements — berms, tree lines, and similar screening — have come up in discussions elsewhere. Lake confirmed the city’s Unified Development Ordinance already includes buffering standards between different zoning categories, but said the special exception process could allow the commission to go further. He pointed to the AES Crossvine Solar project as an example of a developer agreeing to exceed ordinance requirements as part of a settlement agreement.

Lake told the commission he plans to send additional materials over the coming weeks, including the current special exception application, the heavy industrial permitted uses sheet, and PDF summaries of recently drafted or adopted data center ordinances from other Indiana counties — primarily in the northern and central parts of the state.

He said the discussion will also move to the City Council over the next two to three months, though no formal direction to draft a new ordinance has been issued yet.

“We wanted to get this part of the homework done before we get to that step if possible,” Lake said.