A principal data center would be barred in M-1. M-2 zoning alone would not permit one: the site must also receive a site-specific DC-O map amendment, and the measure says eligibility or meeting minimum standards does not guarantee approval (M-2 and DC-O zoning are both required).

Approval would require a site-specific zoning process: Area Plan Commission review and recommendation, followed by a legislative decision by the Board of Commissioners for unincorporated county property. The legislative body may deny the request even if application and technical minimums are met (the legislative body may approve or deny).

Applications must describe the entire functionally integrated campus and reasonably foreseeable full buildout, with extensive technical materials on matters including power, water, generation, noise, geotechnical conditions, roads, emergency response, permits, and decommissioning. Separate parcels, phases, affiliates, or utility accounts cannot be used to avoid campus-wide disclosure (the application shall identify the entire Data Center Campus).

The County may obtain independent expert review. Any broader project-specific cost recovery must be through a separate lawful reimbursement agreement; the ordinance does not make that agreement a condition or consideration for zoning approval (the County may obtain independent review).

Before the zoning vote, the final Project Envelope Schedule, Project Standards Schedule, and any material commitments relied on for approval must be presented with objective limits. Later material changes to those schedules or commitments cannot take effect without the legally required modification process (final schedules and all material terms).

Setbacks and buffers include a 100-foot setback for data center buildings and 200 feet for specified intensive outdoor components from an external campus property line; from existing Sensitive Receptors or residential zoning, the corresponding setbacks are 300 and 500 feet. The ordinance also requires a 100-foot landscaped or screened buffer from Sensitive Receptors or residential districts and 50 feet from public-road rights-of-way, subject to stated exceptions (setbacks and buffers).

Operational noise is limited to 55 dBA or 65 dBC at Sensitive Receptors or residential zoning boundaries, and 65 dBA or 75 dBC at other external campus boundaries, with a 3 dBA reduction for a prominent discrete tone. Emergency backup generation during a bona fide outage or emergency is exempt from those numerical limits only for the necessary duration; testing remains subject to applicable standards (project-attributable operational sound).

Exterior lighting must be shielded and directed to limit spill and glare; ordinarily it may not exceed 3,000 Kelvin, and illumination is capped at 0.5 foot-candle at Sensitive Receptor or residential boundaries and 1.0 foot-candle at other external campus boundaries (project-attributable illumination).

Once-through cooling is prohibited for routine heat rejection. The project must use water-efficient cooling, and where water use is material to the zoning decision, an enforceable maximum peak-day demand—and potentially other water-use limits—must be established (Once-through cooling shall not be used).

Emergency backup generation is restricted to bona fide outages or emergencies and specified testing, maintenance, commissioning, and repair. It cannot be used for bridge power, routine load support, peak shaving, demand response, scheduled displacement of utility power, or routine grid export. Routine testing is limited to 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays; the final schedule may be more restrictive. Normal-operation generation requires express legislative evaluation and authorization to the extent local authority applies (routine generator testing).

Every data center campus requires a development plan after the M-2 and DC-O zoning is effective. The Plan Commission makes the final development-plan decision, and no Improvement Location Permit may issue before plan approval and satisfaction of other applicable prerequisites (No Improvement Location Permit shall issue before final development-plan approval).

A material expansion beyond an approved project maximum requires renewed legislative zoning review. Material modifications and other changes must follow the applicable amendment, variance, or commitment-modification process; only qualifying minor administrative changes may be approved administratively (A Material Expansion requires renewed legislative zoning review).

Operators must file annual compliance reports, address specified operating and impact information, retain required records, and allow reasonable County inspections. Acoustic testing is required for each material operating phase within 90 days after the defined representative condition is reached and no later than 12 months after material operations begin, with repeat testing in specified circumstances (annual compliance report).

The project must maintain a decommissioning and restoration plan, review it at least every five years and after specified material changes, and update or certify it. Financial assurance may be required to the extent authorized by law, with reassessment at least every five years and after material cost changes (financial assurance shall be reassessed).

Each site-specific approval must set objective Project Failure events and applicable exclusions or extensions. If a failure event is finally determined, the County may pursue removal of DC-O and restoration of the prior zoning classification, subject to any hearing or legislative process required by Indiana law (objective Project Failure events).

A development-standard variance for a data center would face additional findings: the difficulty must be peculiar to the property and not materially created by project choices; feasible alternatives must be unavailable; the relief must be minimal and not materially impair the requirement’s protections. A variance cannot enlarge the project envelope or override a separate commitment (additional findings).

A site-specific DC-O overlay may be requested throughout the area governed by the ordinance, but only on M-2 property and only with legislative approval; M-2 zoning alone does not authorize a data center. DC-O is a floating overlay district.

A principal data center would be considered through the legislative zoning process rather than requiring a project-level special-use, conditional-use, or similar BZA approval. The BZA retains its lawful role in development-standard variances and administrative appeals. shall not be processed as a special exception.

Applicants may submit development-plan-level materials for preliminary technical review while zoning is pending, then incorporate unchanged materials into the formal post-zoning application. The preliminary submission is not itself a formal development-plan application or approval. may incorporate unchanged plans.

A project may be built in phases within its approved Project Envelope. The Executive Director may approve qualifying minor administrative changes, provided they stay within the approved limits and do not materially increase off-site impacts; a Material Expansion still requires legislative review. may approve a Minor Administrative Change.

Project-specific substantive standards and limits must be objectively established before the final legislative vote; later staff review may verify compliance but may not create new substantive zoning standards. Post-zoning development-plan review is limited to objective conformity and cannot reconsider whether the data-center use should be allowed. shall be established before final legislative approval.

A Sensitive Receptor or residential zoning district established after the final DC-O approval does not, by itself, make an already approved and compliant project component nonconforming. Later establishment of a Sensitive Receptor.

Emergency backup generation during a bona fide utility outage or emergency is exempt from the ordinance’s numerical noise limits for the duration reasonably necessary to address the event. Routine testing and other operating conditions remain subject to applicable project-specific standards. exempt from these numerical noise limits.

The draft prohibits principal data centers and campuses in M-1 zoning. In M-2, they would be allowed only if the site also receives a site-specific DC-O overlay; M-2 zoning alone is not enough. Not a permitted use in M-1.

Obtaining DC-O would require a site-specific zoning-map amendment, an Area Plan Commission hearing and recommendation, and a final legislative decision. The draft says data centers cannot instead obtain project-level approval as a special or conditional use from the BZA, and meeting application requirements does not guarantee approval. Legislative zoning decision.

Applicants would have to disclose and review the entire functionally integrated campus and its reasonably foreseeable buildout; parcels, phases, affiliates, or separate utility accounts cannot be used to avoid that review. Piecemeal applications.

The application would require extensive project and impact materials, including full-buildout plans, utility coordination and capacity information, water and noise studies, traffic and emergency-response plans, and decommissioning and financial-assurance plans. The County could obtain independent expert review; broader project-specific cost recovery would require a lawful reimbursement agreement. Required application materials.

Before the zoning vote, the legislative body would have to consider final, objective project-envelope and standards schedules and the proposed written commitment. Commitments would have to be executed and recorded before final development-plan approval or an Improvement Location Permit, whichever comes first. Before final legislative approval.

Every data center would require development-plan review regardless of acreage. Formal development-plan review could occur only after M-2 and DC-O zoning took effect, and no Improvement Location Permit could issue before final plan approval and satisfaction of other prerequisites. Every Principal Data Center.

The approved project envelope would set enforceable maximums and operating scope. Exceeding a designated maximum—such as electrical demand, campus area, building count or area, generation, BESS, or water demand—would require renewed legislative zoning review; administrative approval alone would not suffice. A Material Expansion requires renewed legislative zoning review.

The draft sets minimum separation distances: data center buildings at least 100 feet from an external campus boundary and 300 feet from an existing Sensitive Receptor or residential zoning district; specified intensive outdoor equipment at least 200 feet from a campus boundary and 500 feet from those receptors or districts. It also requires a 100-foot buffer from Sensitive Receptor or residential-zoned property and a 50-foot buffer from public-road rights-of-way, subject to stated exceptions. No Data Center building shall be located within one hundred feet.

Operational noise limits would apply at receptor and property boundaries, with a 3 dBA reduction for prominent tones; emergency backup generation during a bona fide outage or emergency is exempt only for the necessary duration. Project-specific noise methods and standards must be fixed before final approval. Exterior lighting is also limited, including 0.5 foot-candle at Sensitive Receptor or residential boundaries, 1.0 foot-candle at other campus boundaries, and generally a 3,000-Kelvin maximum. Project-attributable operational sound.

Once-through cooling would be prohibited for routine heat rejection. Where water use is material to the zoning decision, the approved envelope would have to set an enforceable maximum peak-day water-demand parameter and may set additional water-use limits and operating controls. Once-through cooling shall not be used.

Emergency backup generators could operate only for outages or emergencies and specified testing, maintenance, commissioning, repair, or compliance needs—not for routine load support, peak shaving, demand response, or routine grid export. Normal-operation generation would require express legislative evaluation and authorization to the extent local zoning authority applies. Routine testing would be limited to 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays, with potentially stricter project-specific limits. Routine generator testing shall occur only.

Operators would have annual reporting duties, and the County could inspect property and review relevant compliance records, subject to law and safety requirements. Each material operating phase would also need acoustic testing within 90 days of reaching a defined representative operating condition and no later than 12 months after material operations begin, with repeat testing in specified circumstances. Annual compliance report.

Changes that materially alter the project's impacts or profile would require the applicable review process; the Executive Director could approve only qualifying minor changes. Ownership, operator, control, or end-user changes generally require notice at least 30 days in advance when practicable, or within five business days afterward if advance notice was not practicable. Material Modifications.

Projects would need a decommissioning and restoration plan, reviewed at least every five years and after specified material changes. To the extent Indiana law authorizes it, approval or an agreement would require financial assurance for those obligations, reassessed at least every five years and after material cost changes. Financial assurance sufficient to secure decommissioning.

The site-specific zoning action would set objective project-failure events and time periods, such as missed approval or construction deadlines or prolonged cessation of operations. After a final determination, the County could pursue removal of DC-O and restoration of prior zoning where permitted by law; reversion would not erase accrued decommissioning, restoration, reporting, or other obligations. Objective Project Failure events.

The draft would make development-standard variances harder to obtain for data centers: among other findings, the BZA would have to determine that the difficulty was not materially created by project choices, cannot reasonably be avoided through feasible alternatives, and that the requested relief is the minimum necessary and does not bypass separate legislative limits. The BZA shall not grant a development-standard variance.

An applicant may seek M-2 rezoning and DC-O overlay zoning together, if applicable law and required procedures allow. Approval remains discretionary, and M-2 zoning alone creates no entitlement. “may be processed together”

Applicants may submit development-plan-level materials for preliminary technical review while the zoning petition is pending, then incorporate unchanged materials into the formal post-zoning application. This can avoid repeating submissions, but the preliminary review is not an approval. “may incorporate unchanged plans”

Construction may proceed in phases within the approved Project Envelope, subject to phase-specific approvals and requirements; the envelope itself does not automatically approve future phases. “may proceed in phases”

The Executive Director may approve a Minor Administrative Change without a new legislative zoning action if it stays within the approved limits and standards, is not a Material Expansion or Material Modification, and does not materially increase off-site impacts. “may approve a Minor Administrative Change”

The ordinance does not require BZA project-level approval to establish a data center, apply DC-O, or approve an expansion; those are legislative zoning matters. Development-standard variances may still be available, subject to additional findings and applicable law. “No BZA approval is required”

Post-zoning development-plan review is limited to objective conformity with the approved project documents and requirements; it cannot reconsider whether the data-center use should be permitted. “shall not reconsider the legislative decision”

A zoning violation or change-control determination does not automatically terminate or forfeit M-2 or DC-O zoning; enforcement and any zoning change must use procedures authorized by law. “No violation automatically terminates or forfeits”

Ownership or Operator changes do not themselves expand the project or release binding obligations, but successors remain subject to the zoning and continuing obligations that bind them under applicable law. “Transfer does not itself expand”