The Warren County Fiscal Court unanimously passed the final vote on regulations for data centers. 

The regulations include a land ordinance that requires a data center to be at least 1,500 feet from a residential district and 500 feet from a property line. The regulations also require a closed-loop water system and a mandatory decommissioning plan from the data center to ensure it is removed properly if abandoned. 

The Bowling Green Board of Commissioners approved the regulations last week, but did not approve a proposed moratorium, a six-month pause on any zoning and construction of a data center. 

“A lot of places are doing a moratorium, but again, it’s because they have no comprehensive planning and zoning,” Warren County Judge Executive Doug Gorman said. 

Bowling Green currently has one site available for a data center. The new regulations would require a public hearing and the purchase of additional property for any project to meet the standards. 

“There’s only one site that, even if anyone else wanted to, they would have to have a public hearing and buy more property to meet those requirements, and we did that on purpose,” Gorman said. “That is the way to limit significantly.” 

The Fiscal Court addressed a list of concerns compiled from community members at the informational meeting at the Knicely Conference Center on Tuesday and allotted time for members at the meeting to speak before the voting process. 

One of the larger concerns from the questions asked by the community was regarding noise pollution. The regulations currently have no ordinance explicitly targeting noise pollution, with the only restriction being the land ordinance not allowing a data center to be closer than 1,500 feet from a residential district. 

One Bowling Green resident, Janice Chumbler, stated her concern for health risks from air pollution being released by data centers. 

Chumbler originally lived in Paducah, Kentucky, near the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a former uranium enrichment plant. Chumbler has battled cancer in her life, along with many of her other relatives who lived near the plant for years. 

“I don’t want that to happen here, you know,” Chumbler said. “What can we do to improve the health of our community, not decrease it with some kind of data center that’s going to add a lot of pollution?” 

The Fiscal Court also announced the creation of a new department titled the Warren County Department of Public Safety. This department is a merger between the Warren County Fire Department and the Warren County Department of Emergency Management. 

Daily operations of each bureau will still be managed by dedicated personnel, such as the Deputy Fire Chief and the Deputy Director of Management Services for fire service operations and responsibilities of the Emergency Management Bureau, respectively.