The Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development released draft zoning rules Tuesday that would regulate where data centers can be built in Marion County, how close they can sit to homes and how much noise they can generate.
The draft rules would create a new category for data centers, which currently aren’t covered by any zoning definition in the county.
The proposal caps noise at 65 decibels at the property line, requires a 200-foot buffer between data center buildings and residentially zoned land, and limits backup generators to emergency use — with testing banned between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The rules come as data center projects face growing pushback in Indianapolis over energy use, water demand and impacts on neighborhoods. Residents argue that data centers are much different from traditional industrial developments.
Developers would also have to submit a “will-serve” letter from utility providers such as AES Indiana and Citizens Energy Group verifying that electrical and water capacity is available. Developers would also be required to file an operations plan detailing cooling, water discharge, noise mitigation and decommissioning.
Zoning regulations
Read the draft zoning regulations for data centers here
Virtual information sessions
Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 30 - 12 - 1 p.m.
Register here
The department will hold two virtual meetings next week, and residents can submit comments on the city’s website. The City-County Council will vote on final approval.
Data centers are large facilities that house the computer servers behind cloud computing, streaming services and artificial intelligence. Because those servers run constantly and generate significant heat, the facilities can draw enormous amounts of electricity and water.
Critics say rules are too weak
Throughout the zoning process for the proposed data center in Decatur Township on Marion County’s southwest side, Pat Andrews, chair of the Decatur Township Civic League’s Land Use Committee, criticized city leadership for not creating a specific zoning classification for data centers.
"This was deliberate to deprive us of our rights," Andrews said after the Metropolitan Development Commission’s March 18 vote approving the Sabey Data Centers development.
Ben Inskeep, program director at Citizens Action Coalition, a consumer and environmental advocacy organization in Indiana, told WFYI the draft ordinance fails to include “meaningful protections to residents of Indianapolis, while establishing a clear pathway for more data centers to come to Indianapolis.”
Inskeep said the draft ordinance still allows data centers to generate high levels of noise, doesn’t place meaningful limits on where they can be built — including near neighborhoods, schools or parks — and still allows the use of diesel generators.
While critics including Inskeep have called for a moratorium on new data centers, Indianapolis City-County Council members — including former Council President Vop Osili, a Democratic candidate in the 2027 Indianapolis mayor's race — have not publicly backed any effort to halt development entirely.
Instead, some officials have pushed for more oversight and community input.
Councilor Jesse Brown introduced a proposal in January calling on developers to engage transparently with residents — without non-disclosure agreements — and to pursue Community Benefit Agreements. “The City-County Council would prefer to avoid the need for a total moratorium on all data centers,” the proposal said.
“We are not a city that will be banning something like infrastructure,” Osili said at a City-County Council meeting earlier this year. “I think many of us look upon power and data centers as infrastructure in the very same way that we view power lines, telephone lines and sewer lines.”
Farrah Anderson is an investigative health reporter with WFYI and Side Effects Public Media. You can follow her on X at @farrahsoa or by email at fanderson@wfyi.org
