In Warrick County's Draft Data Center Rules, the Setback Clock Starts on Vote Day

Warrick County's proposed data center ordinance keeps server buildings at least 300 feet from homes and other "sensitive receptors." The draft limits that protection to receptors "existing on the date of final legislative DC-O approval." It also leaves out any map of where a data center could go. If you are pricing acreage or a build site in outer Warrick County, those two details tell you more about the rules than any of the headline numbers. The county will take public comment on the draft on Monday, November 2.

The document is labeled "PROPOSED – PUBLIC HEARING DRAFT" and "Not Adopted – Subject to Revision," so everything below describes the text as it stands for that hearing. You can read the full draft ordinance yourself, and it's also linked from the county's Area Plan page.

The Clause That Fixes the Date

Most coverage has focused on the distances. The trigger date gets less attention. Here is the draft's own wording:

No Data Center building shall be located within three hundred (300) feet of a Sensitive Receptor or residential zoning district existing on the date of final legislative DC-O approval... Later establishment of a Sensitive Receptor shall not, by itself, render an approved and compliant project component nonconforming; site-specific protections may be imposed through the final legislative action.

The draft defines a sensitive receptor as a residence, residential zoning district, school, licensed child-care facility, hospital, nursing or residential-care facility, park or recreation area, or place of worship.

The minimum distances are counted from whatever exists on the day commissioners approve a specific site. A house finished the following spring doesn't push an approved project back. That later house could still get protection, but only if commissioners write it into that project's approval.

In a built-out subdivision, this hardly matters. In outer Warrick County, plenty of buyers are purchasing raw land, splitting off acreage, or planning to build in a year or two. For them, the date a house goes up decides which side of that clause they land on.

The Zoning Map Won't Answer the Question

Buyers usually handle a worry like this by checking zoning: find the industrial parcels and keep your distance. The draft limits how far that check can take you.

The ordinance creates a "Data Center Overlay," or DC-O, district. A data center would need land zoned both M-2 General Industrial and DC-O, and M-2 by itself isn't enough. Data centers are expressly excluded from M-1 Light Industrial.

That sounds like a narrow gate. But the draft describes DC-O as "a floating overlay district" that "is not pre-mapped," and says outright that "no geographic eligibility area is established." It also lets land that isn't zoned M-2 today "seek M-2 rezoning and site-specific DC-O mapping concurrently."

The county links a GIS map from its Area Plan page, and today's zoning tells you what a parcel can be used for now. Under this draft, though, the zoning designation that actually matters for a data center doesn't exist anywhere until commissioners vote it onto a specific parcel.

What the draft offers in place of a map is a process. A data center can't be approved as a special exception or through any other Board of Zoning Appeals shortcut. The Area Plan Commission holds a hearing and makes a recommendation, which "is not final project approval." On unincorporated county land, the Board of Commissioners makes the final call. Even meeting every technical standard "does not create a right to DC-O zoning."

The protection comes from public votes on individual sites, and each of those votes carries a date that matters for anyone building nearby.

The Distances, and What They Measure From

Here are the draft's main spacing rules, in the order the ordinance lists them:

The noise limit is also set at homes and other receptors. Sound from the project couldn't exceed 55 dBA or 65 dBC at a sensitive receptor or residential zoning boundary. At other campus boundaries the limit is 65 dBA or 75 dBC. If the sound carries a prominent tone, the dBA limit drops by 3. Backup generators are exempt from those limits during a genuine utility outage, but scheduled testing is not.

The draft also bans "once-through" cooling for routine operations and requires a review of water demand. It calls for a decommissioning and restoration plan, reviewed every five years and backed by financial assurance as far as state law allows.

The two largest distances in that table, the 300- and 500-foot setbacks, count only the homes and other receptors in place on the approval date.

Two Proposals, Two Ends of the County

The ordinance isn't written for any one project, but two have already come forward.

Project Zora is in the north. 14 News reported in August that its developer controls about 1,200 acres of reclaimed mine land in northern Warrick County. At that time no site review had been requested and no application filed. The developer's studies covered environmental conditions, water use, power demand, noise and subsurface stability, and the county wasn't paying for them.

Project Alloy is in the south. 14 News reported on October 22 that it involves roughly 700 acres of Alcoa-owned land near the company's power plant. Only a portion of that land would be built on, and the rest would stay open as separation. The project is still in due diligence. Fuller plans aren't expected for county review until sometime in the first half of 2027.

According to that report, commissioners stress that the developers' claims haven't been independently verified. The county also hasn't determined whether water, electric, road and public-safety capacity would be enough, or whether taxpayers or utility customers would pay additional costs.

Public-safety capacity has come up before. At an August 11 special meeting, WNIN reported that Logan Beavan, assistant chief of the volunteer Lynnville fire department, said that even with mutual aid, the department doesn't have the staff to handle a fire at a large data center.

How the County Got to This Draft

The rules going before the Area Plan Commission on November 2 are the county's second attempt.

1. July 13, 2026: The Area Plan Commission held a three-hour hearing, with just under 200 people attending, on an ordinance it had spent six months writing. That version would have banned data centers over 40,000 square feet. WNIN reported that public comments were nearly evenly split, and the commission tabled it.
2. August 11, 2026: Commissioners voted unanimously for a six-month pause on data center development, according to 14 News. The ordinance also set up a committee to study the issue.
3. October 14, 2026: The current draft is dated "v2026.10.14 for 2026.11.02." It drops the size ban and replaces it with the overlay process.
4. October 16, 2026: Commissioners met with the Project Alloy team in a closed executive session. No vote was taken and no commitment was made.
5. November 2, 2026, 6 p.m.: Area Plan Commission public hearing at Friedman Park Event Center.
6. November 9, 2026, 4 p.m.: Commissioners' meeting, also at Friedman Park Event Center, to consider the commission's recommendation.

Commission President Sarah Seaton told 14 News the ordinance "gives us the ability to say, no, this probably isn't going to work well for us, or we think we have found one that might."

What This Changes for Someone Buying Land Out Here

If you're comparing build sites around Lynnville, Boonville, Elberfeld or the unincorporated parts of the county, the draft leaves a few practical points.

• A home that is already standing, or a residential zoning district already in place, counts toward the 300- and 500-foot distances for any project approved later.
• A home built after a site's DC-O approval gets whatever protections commissioners wrote into that particular approval. The fixed minimums don't automatically extend to it.
• Being outside today's M-2 parcels doesn't rule a site out, because the draft lets M-2 and DC-O be requested together.
• On unincorporated county land, every DC-O approval needs an Area Plan Commission hearing and a commissioners' vote, so any project leaves a public record well before construction starts.

If you plan to buy land and build over a long stretch, the gap between closing and finishing the house could matter under this draft. Commissioners can change any of these terms before adoption, so the November 2 and November 9 meetings are where the final rules get set. This post is general information about a proposed ordinance, not legal advice. If a decision of yours depends on how these rules apply to a specific parcel, check with a land-use attorney or the Warrick County Area Plan Commission.

Short FAQ

Does M-2 zoning by itself allow a data center under the draft? No. The draft says a data center "is not permitted solely by M-2 zoning" and also needs a site-specific DC-O designation.

Who makes the final decision? On unincorporated county land, the Board of Commissioners decides after an Area Plan Commission recommendation. Inside a participating town, that town's legislative body acts under Indiana law.

Has Project Alloy or Project Zora been approved? No. As of the October 22 reporting, Project Alloy was in due diligence with no commitment from the county. Project Zora had no application on file as of August.

If you're weighing a parcel or a build in outer Warrick County and want to know where it sits against current zoning and the dates that matter, talk with Pinnacle Realty Group. We'll go over the parcel with you, flag the public meetings worth following, and keep your search moving in our MLS-connected app while the county finishes these rules. Start your search with our local experts.