Louisville data center plan advances after unanimous vote

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A hyperscale data center planned for Louisville took a step forward Wednesday when a city panel approved the development plans.

The 4-0 vote by the Development Review Committee marks the only vote needed for the project envisioned on 150 acres on Camp Ground Road near Shively that already is zoned for the industrial use.

Opponents spoke during a public hearing at the Old Jail Building downtown, raising concerns over energy, environmental, noise and other issues that have gained traction as the tech warehouses have expanded in the U.S.

The Louisville committee's approval was in stark contrast to a fight in neighboring Oldham County over a proposed data center there. Residents fiercely opposed a planned $6 billion project on farmland, forcing developers to scrap that location and choose another one.

Data center site — The campus on Camp Ground Road just west of Shively would be under construction this year and in use by 2026. *(WDRB Photo)*
Monica Harkins

Among several key differences between the two projects are the governmental approvals needed in each place.

In Oldham County, the Project Lincoln proposed off KY 53 sought an exemption to build on agricultural land not zoned for a data center.

In Louisville, the joint venture between Louisville real estate firm Poe Companies and Virginia-based PowerHouse Data Centers has secured land near the Rubbertown area already teeming with industrial operations.

And perhaps most importantly, because the Louisville project doesn't need new land-use approvals, the development committee simply needed to decide if the proposal met the city's land code. It did, the members decided.

Ashanti Dallas, who lives in the Chickasaw neighborhood, referenced Elon Musk's xAI data center in Memphis that reportedly faces legal action for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.

"The odor is terrible, and people are having respiratory issues as a result of a data center, of a plant, being placed in their neighborhood," she said. "I want to know what safeguards will you put in place so that those things aren't replicated here."

Cliff Ashburner, the developers' attorney, responded by saying that concerns about air quality and noise are "really concerns about the backup generators." (Ashburner, a prominent land-use lawyer, also is representing the Oldham County group.)

"The kinds of power issues that would cause those generators to come on would be significant," he said. "It would be a situation where the power plant is no longer producing power, or there was some catastrophic situation where the the lines actually came down.

No end user for the Camp Ground Road site has been named.

This story may be updated.

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