Posey Tables Data Center Rule Changes

Posey County commissioners tabled proposed Uniform Development Ordinance amendments on data centers and industrial noise at their Nov. 4 meeting and scheduled the language for reconsideration Nov. 17, Posey County Radio reported. The hearing drew another packed house of residents concerned about noise, utility costs and water quality, the station said.

Commissioner Greg Newman told Posey County Radio that the ordinances would apply to any data center seeking to locate in the county and that commissioners want clearer wording before they finalize the rules. Area Plan Commission staff member Joe Marvel told commissioners in a Nov. 2 cover letter that the APC had already passed UDO amendments and that he worked with county officials on public concerns about construction noise and water-well testing.

Draft noise standards posted for the meeting would apply to post-construction operations in I-1 and I-2 districts, not to construction itself. Marvel's letter said exempting intermittent construction noise would keep the ordinance focused on continuous operating sound. The clean noise draft sets a minimum base noise measurement of 45 dBA and would limit operating noise to that base plus 5 dBA, never above 65 dBA.

On water wells, Marvel wrote that earlier drafts mixed a hydrogeologist-set testing radius, a five-mile radius and adjacent-property language. The clean draft requires applicants that use wells to submit hydrology testing, pay for county third-party testing, fund adjacent-well tests when requested, and cover documented mitigation, with site-specific modeling of at least one mile.

The data-center draft would allow facilities only as special exceptions in industrial zones — Data Center Minor in I-1, and Data Center Major or Minor in I-2 — with setbacks of at least 1,000 feet from a residential dwelling on adjacent agricultural or residential land and 500 feet from other listed adjacent zones. The APC would act as hearing officer on special exceptions and would review special development plans.

The discussion came less than a month after Amazon Web Services hosted an Oct. 22 open house on a possible Posey County data center, Posey County Radio reported. Coverage by 14 News and the Posey County News said AWS has identified farmland east of Mount Vernon as one potential site while making no final selection.

The county calendar lists a commissioner meeting for Nov. 17, with no agenda posted as of Monday. A legal notice published in the Posey County News set the Nov. 4 UDO hearing for 9 a.m.