Shelby County Plan Commission moves up August meeting on data center ordinance with moratorium deadline approaching

It is going to take another scheduled meeting for a proposed data center ordinance to be passed on to Shelby County Commissioners.

Tuesday was the first time for the Shelby County Plan Commission to hear from the public and discuss a proposed ordinance setting controls on any proposed data centers that might try to locate in the unincorporated portions of Shelby County.

As pointed out before and during the Tuesday meeting before about 50 people at Breck Auditorium at Shelbyville High School, the ordinance does not involve the data center that has been discussed by the City of Shelbyville.

After hearing from members of the public, including some members of the committee that drafted the ordinance, the Shelby County Plan Commission adopted changes in its upcoming scheduled meetings in an effort to meet the timeline for the end of a six-month moratorium that was adopted by the county’s commissioners to allow time for the ordinance to be created.

The Shelby County Plan Commission will again meet on July 28, a regularly scheduled meeting, to try and reach more specific definitions on items within the ordinance and discuss any other concerns regarding the document. The intent is to have a plan commission vote at a meeting that is being moved up to Aug. 12 to send along the commission’s recommendation, favorable, unfavorable, or not, to the commissioners. The commissioners could then vote on the ordinance ahead of the end of the six-month moratorium deadline of Aug. 23.