City-county councilors are considering tighter restrictions on data centers amid concerns over environmental damage, water consumption and rising utility costs.
The council’s Environmental Sustainability Committee met Jan. 28 to hear from experts and members of the public to help inform their policy decisions.
There are three active proposals for data centers in Martindale Brightwood, Pike Township and Decatur Township. All of the projects have faced intense opposition from neighborhood residents.
Councilors are weighing their options for how to regulate data centers, from enacting stricter zoning laws to beefing up reporting requirements for tech companies.
But one possibility in particular appealed to many of the residents in attendance.
“Hold off. Just stop it. Stop the games,” said William Boler, an eastsider who has experience working with artificial intelligence. “Figure out what you need to do to regulate the city.”
Boler wants to see the council pass a six-month moratorium, or temporary ban, on any new data centers in Marion County. He’s one of a growing number of residents fighting back against efforts by tech companies to build data centers here.
‘A wild west’
Data centers are locations that organizations use to store computing infrastructure and data. While not a new concept, the rise of cloud computing and artificial intelligence in recent years has led to increased demand for these energy-intensive hubs.
They strain power grids and require vast amounts of water. In fact, some data centers use as much water as a city of 50,000 people, said Rebecca TeKolste, climate and energy advisor for the Hoosier Environmental Council.
“We’re thinking about water scarcity, and the prices to ratepayers,” TeKolste said.
Her organization has concerns about a plan from Citizens Energy to draw as much as 8 million gallons of water per day from the Eagle Creek Reservoir to help power a technology park in Boone County, where Meta plans to build a 1500-acre data center.
Councilors say the plan “raises serious questions about long-term water security and affordability, environmental impacts and the use of eminent domain to construct new pipelines.”
TeKolste said the rapid growth of data centers, coupled with the lack of a clear policy framework at the state level as it relates to siting and zoning data centers, puts local communities in a difficult position.
“We’re operating today in sort of a wild west, without safeguards,” she said.
What’s next?
Councilor John Barth, a Democrat who chairs the Environmental Sustainability Committee, said councilors will consider “multiple ideas and concepts” moving forward.
While a growing number of cities are enacting moratoriums on new data centers, it doesn’t appear that Indianapolis will be added to that list.
Former council president Vop Osili, a Democrat who is running for mayor in 2027, recently said he’s working on a proposal that “provides guardrails” and “outlines prohibitions on where a data center might possibly go,” though he stopped short of calling for a moratorium.
“We are not a city that will be banning something like infrastructure,” Osili said at a City-County Council meeting earlier this month. “I think many of us look upon power and data centers as infrastructure in the very same way that we view power lines, telephone lines and sewer lines.
Upcoming public meetings
The council’s Parks and Recreation Committee will hear a presentation from the Eagle Creek Advisory Committee on Citizens Energy’s plan to draw water from the Eagle Creek Reservoir. That meeting will take place on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the City-County Building, 200 E. Washington St.
The city hearing examiner will hear a proposal for a data center in Martindale Brightwood on Thursday, Feb. 12.
A rezoning petition for a data center in Pike Township is expected to be heard by the city’s Metropolitan Development Commission at 1 p.m. Feb. 12 at the City-County Building.
The city hearing examiner is expected to hear presentations from Sabey Data Centers for their project in Decatur Township at 1 p.m. Feb. 26 at the City-County Building.
Want to keep up with the Environmental Sustainability Committee? Indy Documenters often cover these meetings. 📝 Read their notes.
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Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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