LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Mayor Craig Greenberg signed a six-month moratorium on new data center project Friday afternoon.
This comes after Louisville Metro Council approved the ordinance Thursday night. However, getting to that vote wasn't easy. Spectators at the meeting often cut in and shouted during discussion.
"What I'm not going to do is negotiate with a Marxist mob," said Anthony Piagentini (D-19) during the heated meeting.
One person was kicked out the room for lewd remarks shortly after Brent Ackerson threatened to remove him.
The measure ultimately passed 24-1. Councilman Stuart Benson (D-20) cast the only no vote.
"The data centers have to have clean electricity," Benson said. "They can't make just enough. They have to make more. And when they make more, where's it go? If they're hooked to our grid, it goes into our grid and we get the cheap electricity."
Before the final vote, council members also considered extending the moratorium to a full year. That amendment failed in a 10-15 vote, leaving the pause at six months.
This means the Louisville Metro Office of Planning won't accept or process any new data center proposals for 180 days. The ordinance also closed a loophole that would prohibit a development from putting a data center in an existing building.
However, the pause could end sooner if Metro Council approves permanent data center regulations. Those permanent regulations have been in the works for months.
The Planning Commission first proposed regulations in June that would ban hyperscale data centers larger than 500,000 square feet. It would also limit future data centers to industrial areas and require developers to meet standards meant to protect neighborhoods, infrastructure and utility customers.
Then, after reviewing over 3,600 public comments, the city proposed even stricter rules that most notably would require any large-scale data center to be built at least 500 feet away from "sensitive uses," including existing homes, hospitals, nursing homes, child care centers and schools.
It also comes as a new data center is being proposed on Kramers Lane.
Dermody Properties submitted plans to convert a newly built warehouse into a data center on Tuesday. Piagentini did not like how close the proposal was submitted to council's vote.
"I think that's shady," Piagentini said. "I think that's weird, and I think it should stop."
The building was originally approved as a distribution center in 2024. Neighbors said construction on the warehouse recently wrapped up.
Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins, who represents the area, said she learned about the plans shortly before the moratorium vote.
"I got a phone call saying that an application had been submitted with those addresses in my district," Hawkins said. "And it was very disheartening right before this moratorium."
The moratorium will affect plans for that proposal. However, it won't stop every data center project already in the works.
The moratorium will not apply to the proposed 1.6 million-square-foot hyperscale data center along Camp Ground Road near Rubbertown.
That project has put Greenberg and his administration under pressure from residents opposed to the development. Protesters interrupted Greenberg's weekly news conference last month with a banner reading, "STOP Steve Poe's Data Center."
"Greenberg, Greenberg you can't hide. We need you to pick a side," the group yelled before leaving the room.
The Camp Ground Road data center is expected to eventually use roughly 400 megawatts, enough to power about 400,000 homes.
Louisville has hosted four public meetings since the end of July to hear more from the public on the proposed regulations. Residents could attend any of the sessions and speak up for three minutes.
The proposed regulations still need to be advanced by the Louisville Metro Planning Commission before heading to Metro Council for consideration.
Click here to view the full proposal.
This also comes after Gov. Andy Beshear drew a line on Kentucky's data center boom at the state level. He said the executive order he signed last week sets strict new ground rules for tech companies wanting to build in the commonwealth.
Data center companies must prove that their project will not impact utility costs. It also prohibits electric companies from raising prices to cover the cost from data centers.
Companies still need to pass through zoning and other regulations before they're built.
"The executive is fully enforceable," Beshear said Thursday. "And if you don't believe it, watch me. Watch what happens when we move forward. Watch how these companies present these plans as they have to, and watch the actions of the various agencies."
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