Lexington residents are concerned over plans for a proposed data center development near New Circle Road despite a recent moratorium enacted by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council.
Last week, the council unanimously voted to pause data center development through Oct. 31. It also directed the planning commission to create a zoning amendment to set countywide regulations on data centers.
The council made those decisions after data center company DartPoints announced earlier this month it had purchased a north Lexington property formerly owned by Lexmark. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports DartPoints cannot operate the center because it did not apply for the necessary city approvals before the moratorium was enacted.
If construction moves forward after the moratorium ends, DartPoints plans to expand on an existing data center space in order to accommodate cloud and AI computing, expanding power usage from 20-30 to 70 megawatts.
In response, city leaders held a public forum Monday night at The Lyric to discuss potential data center development and allow residents to voice their opinions.
“That announcement caught many of us by surprise,” District 1 council member Tyler Morton said. “Just like you, [the council] found out via media outlets.”
Speakers Monday included Lexington government officials, who spoke about the city’s response to such development. They were joined by the Kentucky Resources Council.
Ashley Wilmes, of the Kentucky Resources Council, presented a model ordinance for communities that includes regulations on where the facilities can be constructed, design standards and limits on energy use.
“I encourage you all just to look at it and use it in a way that works for this community,” she said. “It's just really a good starting place, I think, for identifying what some of those local issues are and some of the things to address.”
Monday, residents expressed concern over negative environmental effects, noise pollution and utility increases. Some argued the temporary moratorium isn’t enough and called for a permanent halt to such development.
“Simply regulating use to be less painful or less dangerous is not sufficient,” said Noah Cornett, who leads Lexington’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. “Folks, for the first time in my life, we have a truly bipartisan issue that we can work on together to keep these things the hell out of our community.”
Others argued pollution from data centers would harm the Bluegrass region’s unique offerings.
“There are two things that we're known for here in Kentucky that they always bring up: horses and bourbon. And both of those are extremely impacted by any sort of mismanagement of wastewater,” resident Daniel Morgan said.
The city’s planning commission expects to have its first draft of a data center zoning amendment in the coming weeks. A public hearing on the amendment is scheduled for July 30.
