Fulton county residents react to data center moratorium

FULTON COUNTY, Ind. — With the 2-1 passing of a one-year data center moratorium Monday night, many in Fulton County are left with the question: What's next?

The area plan commission will now create a committee of seven to nine people with knowledge of local utilities and finances to develop a report during the year-long moratorium. The results of that report on whether or not a data center is the right fit for the community will then be presented to the area plan commission.

James Zimmerman, an Akron resident who created the Facebook group "No Data Centers, Fulton County" says the next steps should focus on putting new protections in the county ordinances when it comes to data centers.

That includes clarifications on setbacks, water and electric usage, noises ordinances and more.

The "No Data Centers" Facebook group currently has more than 2,600 members in a county of around 20,000 people.

ABC57 reached out to Decennial group, the data center developers behind the proposed project in Akron, to see what their next steps were now that a moratorium was in place. Our team received no response.