Elkhart City Council to go forward with data center moratorium after unanimous vote

ELKHART, Ind. -- It was a resounding ‘yes’ to move forward with a moratorium on data center proposals from both Elkhart city council members and the residents who took the podium at the Elkhart special city council meeting on Thursday.  

The vote, turning out to be a unanimous 9-0 decision, will now put a pause on data center and battery energy storage facility applications through December 31, 2027.  

For Elkhart city council member, Aaron Mishler, this moratorium will serve as a time for research, not just on the direct effects of data centers, but also the amount of attention it could possibly take away from other city businesses.  

“The public has a lot of concerns,” Mishler says. “Be it sound, be it water usage, be it power usage, be it setbacks. Personally, I worry about a drain on potential labor in the area. If all your construction workers are building one thing, this means that other small and large businesses must delay their projects until that’s completed.”  

Mishler added that this moratorium will only be in play for the city of Elkhart, not the county or any other surrounding areas because of jurisdictional control.