Data Centers: Daily Notes | April 28, 2026

Denver Council moves toward moratorium; Killeen and Rochelle both reject data center proposals; Ohio petition drive aims for constitutional 25 MW cap.

Data Centers: Daily Notes | April 28, 2026
Photo by sergey raikin / Unsplash
Your daily digest of Data Center regulatory shifts and decisions.

At A Glance 🔽

  • Denver City Council introduces a one-year moratorium bill; vote expected May 18.
  • Killeen, TX planning commission denies ONMINE's $30 million data center permit.
  • Rochelle, IL council unanimously rejects Midwest Power Investors' 48-150 MW data center.
  • Calhoun, GA passes preemptive moratorium through July 27 with no active proposals on file.
  • Middlesex Township, PA planning commission recommends approval of data center plans; board votes May 6.
  • Adamstown, MD residents file judicial review challenging 99 diesel generators at Amazon's Bauxite I campus.
  • Box Elder County, UT tables Kevin O'Leary's 40,000-acre, 7.5 GW "Stratos Project" over Great Salt Lake water concerns.
  • Niles, OH residents collect signatures for a constitutional amendment capping data centers at 25 MW statewide; need 413,000 by July 1.
  • Indianapolis, IN holds forum on DC Blox's $2 billion, 150-acre project; fewer than 40 permanent jobs.
  • Piedmont, OK residents push back on data center rezoning, citing aquifer and water pressure concerns.

Denver, Colorado

Denver Announces Moratorium on New Data Centers
Mayor Mike Johnston today joined members of City Council in announcing it intends to file a moratorium on new data centers in Denver.

Denver City Council introduced a bill to halt all new data center construction for up to one year while the city drafts its first-ever zoning rules for the facilities. Denver currently has no regulations governing data center energy use, water consumption, noise, or placement.

🔗26-0431 A bill for an ordinance authorizing a moratorium on data centers.

Council members Darrell Watson and Paul Kashmann introduced the bill. The moratorium would not affect the facility already under construction, since its permits were approved under existing zoning. A second reading and public hearing are scheduled for May 18, with an anticipated effective date of May 21.


Killeen, Texas

Killeen's Planning and Zoning Commission denied a conditional use permit for a $30 million data center proposed by ONMINE on roughly two and a half acres on S. Fort Hood Street.

🔗PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION; APRIL 27, 2026

The company described the facility as a "virtual power plant" and said it would not draw municipal water. The City Council will vote on whether to move forward with the project in June.


Rochelle, Illinois

Data Center Q&A - City of Rochelle IL
Public Meeting Tuesday, November 18th | 6-7:30pm | City Hall – 420 North Sixth Street, Rochelle Available Capacity• Rochelle currently has over 90 megawatts (MW) of additional electric capacity available …

Rochelle City Council rejected a data center proposal from Midwest Power Investors LLC and New York-based LFF Industrial.

The facility along Steward Drive would have required at least 48 megawatts initially, with later phases expanding to 150 MW. The city had approved a zoning ordinance for the site in March 2025 and was expected to vote on the proposal in March 2026, but postponed. Mayor John Bearrows said before the vote that he could not support the project and asked the council to join him.


Calhoun, Georgia

Calhoun's City Council unanimously passed a preemptive moratorium on data center applications through July 27.

Possible Data Center Site on Hwy 53, between Brookstone Subdivision and Fair's Auto | Gordon Gazette

City Attorney Brandon Bowen said the pause will allow officials to draft ordinances with public hearing requirements. Mayor Jimmy Palmer told the crowd that no one on the council has been approached about a data center. Concerned residents filled Monday's meeting, driven by social media posts about potential projects.


Middlesex Township, Pennsylvania

Middlesex Township's planning commission voted to recommend approval of data center plans, sending the decision to the board of supervisors for a final vote on May 6.

Developers said the plans are still early drafts and committed to not affecting a nearby creek, maintaining unused land with vegetation, and reducing lighting by 50% after certain hours. Residents raised concerns about construction blasting rattling their homes, with one saying their house is on blocks and they worry it could slide down a hill. The board of supervisors will make the final decision.


Adamstown, Maryland

A group of Adamstown-area residents filed a legal challenge to a state air quality permit authorizing 99 diesel-fired backup generators at Amazon's Bauxite I data center campus near Ballenger Creek Pike and Mountville Road.

🔗MDE Judicial Review

The petition for judicial review argues the Maryland Department of the Environment failed to consider health impacts from diesel particulate matter. The campus sits just over a mile from Carroll Manor Elementary School. The filing alleges MDE did not mandate HEPA filtration for the school's HVAC system, require real-time air monitoring, or impose noise mitigation, despite residents requesting those conditions at a December public hearing attended by roughly 100 people. MDE said the generators are prohibited from operating as a primary power source and may only run during emergencies, testing, and maintenance.


Box Elder County, Utah

Box Elder County commissioners tabled action on the "Stratos Project," a 40,000-acre data center campus proposed by Kevin O'Leary's O'Leary Digital and Alpine-based West GenCo, at a sometimes raucous special meeting filled with critics concerned about the Great Salt Lake.

Potential boundary areas of the Stratos' Project | Military Installation Development Authority

The project, developed in cooperation with Utah's Military Installation Development Authority (MIDA), would require 7.5 gigawatts of power generated on-site, likely through natural-gas-fired plants supplied by the Ruby Pipeline. MIDA said the project supports military readiness and national defense missions. At full build-out, it would create 2,000 permanent jobs and generate $108 million annually in county tax revenue. Critics argued the facility would worsen conditions for the already-struggling Great Salt Lake. Developers said the data centers would use closed-loop cooling systems and only a fraction of secured water rights. The commissioners will take up the matter again on May 4.


Niles, Ohio

The Proposed Amendment
We, Ohioans, aim to keep the future of our state in our own hands. This proposed amendment to Ohio’s Constitution will do that. Read the full text here... FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT Article II, Section 36a. Prohibition of Construction of a Data Center (A) The construction of a

Residents in Niles are collecting signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment that would cap data centers at 25 megawatts statewide in Ohio.

Organizer Kristin Pishotti said the proposed 300 MW data center in neighboring Weathersfield Township would be 12 times larger than what the amendment would allow. Supporters need 413,000 valid signatures from 44 counties by July 1 to qualify for the November ballot. The amendment would not ban data centers outright but would restrict their size.


Indianapolis, Indiana

Preliminary rendering of the data center

A City Council member hosted a public forum on DC Blox's proposed $2 billion data center on South Kitley Avenue at the Pennsy Trail on Indianapolis's east side.

Indianapolis Project
Tell Us What You Think DC BLOX Thunderbird Data Center in Indianapolis Notice of Public Hearing Metropolitan Development Commission The meeting date has

The 150-acre project would be built in two phases with three buildings. Developers said it would create 600 construction jobs but fewer than 40 permanent positions. DC Blox said it would use a closed-loop water system and cap sound at 65 decibels. The property is already zoned for heavy industrial use, so the project requires approval from the Metropolitan Development Committee rather than the full City Council. A public hearing is set for June 11.


Piedmont, Oklahoma

Piedmont residents told the City Council they do not want a data center in the city, with multiple speakers raising concerns about the aquifer and water pressure.

Residents said the city already struggles with water pressure and argued a data center would make it worse. City staff visited a data center in Georgia and reported the facility used 7,500 to 10,000 gallons per day. One resident requested that Beltline's rezoning application and a related amendment to the future land use map, which would affect 2,400 acres near farms and homes, be removed from the May 4 zoning and planning commission agenda. No official decision was made.


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