MORGAN COUNTY — Morgan County now has a second section of land zoning for a data center.
The Morgan County Commissioners, who met Monday morning, voted 2-1 to rezone around 158 additional acres of land near Monrovia for a data center. The land is located in the 1500 block of Keller Hill Road.
Commissioners Don Adams and Bryan Collier voted to change the zoning while commissioner Kenny Hale voted against it, saying he wanted to wait and see how the first 390-acre parcel was developed.
The vote came after more than two dozen people spoke out against the rezoning request.
History of requests
Last year, the county was approached by a technology company — widely reported to be Google — that wanted to convert hundreds of acres of farmland into a data center campus.
By January, it came before the county in hopes of rezoning a little over 390 acres of land just outside the town limits of Monrovia.
The company named their request “Project Louie” and had an unknown number of officials, both elected and appointed, to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
The county plan commission held a meeting on the request in February before a standing-room-only crowd of overwhelming opposition. Nevertheless, the plan commission gave it a favorable recommendation.
The commissioners then, again over objections of residents in the affected area, approved the rezoning.
At that time, there were indications this may not be the final request for rezoning land in the area.
Current request
About a month ago, it was announced the tech company wanted to rezone another 158 acres of land next to the previous rezoned land for a data center.
The county plan commission held a special meeting Sept. 29 to hear the request. That meeting lasted for around two and a half hours as residents expressed their displeasure with the request.
The plan commission gave it a favorable recommendation in a 5-2 vote. Commission members Joe Crone and Jason Maxwell voted no on the request. Commission members Terry Brock, Michelle Jones, Duston Frye, Melanie DePoy, and Bill Rumbaugh voted for it. Members Kenny Hale and Brian Patrick were absent from the meeting.
The request came up before the commissions on Monday morning.
Speaking for the applicant was attorney Joseph D. Caldron, from Indy-based law firm Barnes and Thornburg.
Caldron repeated what he had said at previous meetings. There were a number of questions the still unnamed company needed to answer.
One of those questions was the way the project would be cooled, by water or air.
Another question was the amount of power the project would need.
There were other questions concerning noise from the equipment, traffic concerns and property values.
Residents speak
The meeting room at the county administration building was filled with people, many of whom were there because of the rezoning request.
More than two dozen people signed up to speak.
They were given three minutes each to speak to the commissioners.
They repeated their concerns, concerns they had expressed at earlier meetings, to the commissioners.
- Concerns were expressed that this was “phase II” of Project Louie. They wanted to know how many more “phases” are planned.
- One of the biggest concerns was how the project was to be cooled — by water or air. At one point in the discussion, an engineer for the project said at max capacity, the data center could use between 1 and 3 million gallons of water per day “per building.” The first phase of the project includes five buildings, which could translate to 5 to 15 million gallons of water a day. Residents said they were on wells, and they were concerned the company would lower the water table so low their wells would dry up. They wanted to know who would pay to redrill them.
- The air-cooled option — once a common approach but used less and less as high-power-density equipment requires liquid cooling — brought concerns about noise. When it was learned the company may use air to cool the equipment, there were concerns about the noise that equipment would make. They wanted to know who would enforce any noise restrictions put on the business.
- Several people said they were told their property values would suffer by the center being located next to or close to them.
- There were concerns about how the company would dispose of the water from the center. Not only was sewer water a concern, but the water used to cool the equipment caused concerns.
- A repeated question from residents was the lack of information on the company and their future plans in the area. They were concerned that other locations for data centers had more information, such as the company building it, than was given to county residents.
- One resident said there were eight signs on Keller Hill Road that said “No Trucks.” He wanted to know who will pay for the damage done to the road.
- Several people said the jobs created by the center would be extremely technical and would require extensive training. They felt no one from Morgan County would qualify for a job there.
- There were several comments on the amount of taxes the company would pay. People felt that between the county and the state, the company would not be paying for their upkeep.
Several commented on the project as being “bad business. One person cited a line from Star Trek “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
They asked the commissioners to either deny the request or table it until they can get more answers.
Several people said they felt the commissioners had made up their minds, and nothing they said would change them.
A representative from the county’s soil and water department told commissioners the department had not been included in the technical meeting held to review the projects. He said they had concerns about the projects.
The vote
Before the vote, Hale explained why he was not at Monday’s plan commission meeting. Hale said a family member was in the hospital, and he felt he needed to be there. Hale said he was told about some of the comments being made about him on the internet, which he felt were unfair.
Hale said he had a reason for voting the way he will.
Commission Collier made a motion to approve the request, and Adams seconded it. They voted for it while Hale voted against. After the vote, Hale said he did not support the request because he wanted to give them a chance to be good neighbors before approving more requests.
In other business
- They approved a memorandum of understanding between Morgan County Coroner Mike Ellis and the coroner of Hendricks County. The agreement allows either coroner to ask for assistance during times of emergency.
- They approved the county dispatch center applying for a $30,000 grant from the state to update the county’s GIS system.
- The approved the county prosecutor to apply for a $15,000 grant to pay for the county’s program to stop violence against women.
- They approved the county’s court services agency to apply for a $39,000 grant to pay for the county’s court appointed special advocate program.
- They approved on first reading the updated county employee handbook. The county has updated the handbook to meet current requirements. The handbook will have a second reading later this month, and if approved, will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
- They approved allowing the county to apply for a $1 million Community Crossing Grant to help blacktop around 14 miles of county roads.
- They approved the design of the update to Centennial Road. The road will be updated due to the construction of the new elementary school, and is expected to be widened and with a roundabout installed.
The next scheduled commissioner meeting is Monday, Oct. 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the county administration building, 180 S. Main St. in Martinsville.
