At least three Blackford County landowners have signed data center contracts, APC member says

Blackford County landowners have already signed contracts with data center developers, an Area Plan Commission (APC) member said Tuesday night.

There's already at least three contracts that have been signed in Blackford County that I know of.

Kerra Armstrong said it during a discussion of how long it will take the county to write rules governing data centers. The answer the commission's attorney gave was 60 to 90 days, at best.

The county has no data center ordinance today.

Earlier in the same meeting, an APC member asked what would happen if a developer walked in tomorrow.

APC member: "What would happen if someone came to Sam tomorrow morning and said, I'd like to have a data center [here]?"

Armstrong: "There's nothing we can do to stop it."

To clarify, County Commissioners passed Resolution 2025-10 on November 3, 2025. This resolution prohibits the permitting or construction of data centers in the county until an ordinance is in place. Resolutions, however, are not binding legally, unlike moratoriums. For further clarification:

• A resolution is a formal statement of a county board’s position or a routine administrative action. A resolution doesn’t create enforceable law. It carries no penalties and doesn’t bind the public.

• A moratorium is a temporary ban on a type of development. Indiana courts treat a moratorium as a zoning ordinance, no matter what the county calls it. That means it must follow the full zoning process under Indiana Code 36-7-4: certification by the plan commission, a public hearing, and adoption by the county’s legislative body. The county must also have an approved comprehensive plan on file first.

What the commission did

The Area Plan Commission voted Tuesday to put three ordinance amendments on its December 1 agenda, each proposing a moratorium — one on data centers, one on wind, one on solar. All three passed.

The votes schedule a public hearing where the commission will decide whether to recommend the moratoriums to the county's legislative bodies. Nothing is paused in the meantime.

Board attorney John Moynihan walked members through why their previous attempt did not work.

At its October 6 meeting, the commission requested Moynihan to draft resolutions intended to pause new energy and data center applications. Moynihan researched the question and reported back Tuesday.

Last time we had votes regarding resolutions, which would essentially call for a moratorium. So I researched that issue. You would not have the authority to adopt a resolution that would have the effect of a moratorium.

A moratorium requires amending the zoning ordinance, which requires public notice, a hearing, and approval from Hartford City, Montpelier, Shamrock Lakes and the county commissioners. The commission can only recommend.

Armstrong pushed back, arguing the commission could direct her office to pause permitting without changing the ordinance.

Armstrong: "A moratorium would change the ordinance. We're not changing the ordinance. We're changing the duties of the job... We're putting a pause on all of the permitting until everything is put back in place."

Moynihan: "In case law, they look at the intent of what you've done. So if you were to call it a resolution, if you called it anything else, and it's still at the end of the day, it acts as a moratorium, it would be challenged under that basis."

He told members that if Dick stopped issuing permits, "your chances of that being challenged by a company would be pretty significant."

The clock

Armstrong's remark about signed contracts came as she objected to the delay.

If we already knew this, I mean, I feel like we should have had a little more information before the meeting to push it a little quicker through the system, because now we're sitting here and we have several people jumping to sign contracts with data centers and whatnot. And so now we're sitting here trying to figure out how to make sure they have rules and guidelines, and we're going to be out another 30 days, at least.

Counting the trips through all four bodies, she put it at "60 to 90 days easily before it comes back to us."

Moynihan confirmed that anything filed before a moratorium takes effect would not be covered by it. Armstrong asked specifically about a wind application submitted recently, after word of the moratorium discussion got out.

Armstrong: "So what happens to the wind that filed the other day when they heard caught wind that we were putting a moratorium?"

Moynihan: "If they're [filed] before your moratorium going in place... this wouldn't have an effect on them."

The commissioners already hired someone

Moynihan told the commission twice that the county commissioners have proceeded with having someone outside the county draft the data center ordinance.

The commissioners had hired counsel to [draft] an ordinance regarding data centers... My understanding is that they've already hired counsel to draft the data center ordinance.

Economic development director Warren Brown recommended the Indianapolis engineering firm HWC Engineering for the job at the commissioners' September 8 meeting, at a cost of roughly $20,000. The Ledger has reviewed every commissioners meeting since. The subject never came up again. No vote to hire anyone to draft a data center ordinance appears in the public record.

Moynihan did not name who was hired, and prefaced the statement by saying it was his understanding.

The commission's own attorney said the commissioners cannot adopt it on their own.

Armstrong: "That's also not within their jurisdiction to oversee."

Moynihan: "It would go back to the APC. Under both your ordinance and under state law, it would go back to the APC."

Moynihan also described, in general terms, how developers approach counties.

"One of the issues with not having an ordinance... in each county you have to think, with the rise of data centers, what they're doing is they're asking their commissioners, because they know most counties are gonna be the final body to approve it."

"Nothing actually came to us"

Commission members said this is not the first time a moratorium has gone nowhere.

Jeremy Trant said the commissioners previously passed a resolution committing not to enter economic development negotiations until a data center ordinance was in place.

Their resolution said they would not enter into the economic development negotiations until a data center ordinance was passed. But then nothing actually came to us.

Armstrong said she had asked the commissioners directly.

They've been asked numerous times to pass moratoriums by different people and have not done it. I spoke at a meeting and asked for them to pass the moratorium, the commissioners, and they... would not answer me or speak to me or take a vote to put it in place.

Trant, who made the motion on data centers, said he had looked at how other Indiana counties handled it.

I have looked at two different counties... Cass County, Marshall County. And their ordinances on data center essentially says, here's the definition of data center. And then under that subsection, it says it is not an allowable use in the county. That is the extent of their ordinance.

He added: "I don't know a single person in the county who's in favor of something like that coming in, [given] the size of county and the rural landscape that we have."

Moynihan advised against a two-sentence ordinance, telling members they would need something more substantial to survive a challenge.

What happens December 1

The APC will hold a public hearing on all three proposed amendments. If it recommends them, each still needs approval from all four bodies, and any one of them can vote it down.

Moynihan told members a one-year moratorium is the safer term, citing a new state provision covering electrical generators, and warned that going longer invites constitutional challenges. He also told them to expect companies to look for grounds to challenge whatever passes.

When you put moratoriums in place, one of the things that renewable energy companies are going to do is try to find reasons to challenge those.

The Ledger has asked the county commissioners who was hired to draft the data center ordinance, when, at what cost, and under what authority, and has requested the contract and any related claims and correspondence.