The data center fight in New Albany, Indiana
As of October 1, 2026, New Albany, Indiana has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Jul 16, 2026; documented end date 2027-07-16).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Up to 1-year moratorium on data center campuses over 100,000 sq ft, citywide and in the 2-mile fringe planning jurisdiction. Proposed by Mayor Jeff Gahan on Jun 9, 2026, advanced by the Plan Commission Jun 23, and adopted unanimously by the Common Council Jul 16. Study covers infrastructure, utility costs, environmental effects and neighborhood character, feeding into the city's Comprehensive Plan. No company had applied in New Albany at adoption — proactive, driven by regional pressure from the Louisville-area boom (Meta's ~700,000 sq ft facility at River Ridge in neighboring Jeffersonville, and a proposed Shadow Lake Business Park project in Charlestown)
SourceNews
read 2026-09-02
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
Recent news
9 stories tracked since 2026-06-09 across 4 outlets. 9× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. Most recent: “New Albany Housing Authority says recent federal inspection found 'limited' deficiencies | Indiana” (News and Tribune, 2026-07-16).
- New Albany Housing Authority says recent federal inspection found 'limited' deficiencies | Indiana
- City council pauses data center development in New Albany for 1 year
- New Albany City Council approves 1-year pause on new data centers
- New Albany enacts one-year ban on new data centers per Mayor's request
- New Albany Plan Commission recommends city council proceed with data center moratorium
- Upland Brewing purchases Floyd County Brewing Company in New Albany
- New Albany's mayor asks for moratorium on new data center development
- PRESSING PAUSE ON DATA CENTERS: Mayor Gahan Asks New Albany Council for Moratorium on New Data Center Development
- Gahan calls for moratorium on new data centers in New Albany
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 9 headlines archived.
Where the decision gets made
New Albany Common Council — City ordinances, including the data-center moratorium; zoning ordinance updates following the Plan Commission's study
Meets: Regularly scheduled meetings begin at 7:00 p.m.; exact day-of-week recurrence not confirmed from the page content retrieved (see agenda archive for the current schedule)
Where: New Albany City Hall, Room 100 (Council Chambers), 142 E. Main Street, New Albany, IN 47150
Public comment: Questions about a specific meeting's public-comment process should be directed to the City Clerk in Room 114
812-948-5336 · website
Read from the official page on 2026-09-02. Meeting details change — confirm before you go.
Who votes on it
| Name | Role | Phone | Recorded stance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Dickey | Council President | adickey@cityofnewalbany.com | (812) 786-5895 | not recorded |
| Elaine Murphy | Council Vice President | emurphy@cityofnewalbany.com | (812) 944-3527 | not recorded |
| Don Unruh | Council Member | dunruh@cityofnewalbany.com | (502) 494-2194 | not recorded |
| Stefanie Griffith | Council Member | sgriffith@cityofnewalbany.com | (502) 645-6256 | not recorded |
| Jennie Collier | Council Member | jcollier@cityofnewalbany.com | (812) 987-3324 | not recorded |
| Greg Phipps | Council Member | gphipps@cityofnewalbany.com | (812) 949-8317 | not recorded |
| Chris FitzGerald | Council Member | cfitzgerald@cityofnewalbany.com | (812) 913-5989 | not recorded |
| Louise Gohmann | Council Member | lgohmann@cityofnewalbany.com | (502) 389-6926 | not recorded |
| Scott Blair | Council Member | sblair@cityofnewalbany.com | (812) 697-0128 | Voted for the moratorium (unanimous 2026-07-16 vote) but publicly voiced concern during the meeting that prohibiting data-center development could inhibit growth for companies with an existing presence in New Albany |
From the locality's own roster page; "not recorded" means no public statement is on file, not neutrality.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Indiana.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Indiana briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Indiana
- Clarksville (3 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Jeffersonville (4 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-08-04
- Clark County (13 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Dearborn County (75 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-25
- Warrick County (80 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-07
- Fayette County (99 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-05-18
- Indianapolis (Marion County) (104 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-12-31
- Putnam County (110 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-17
All 23 tracked actions in Indiana are on the state page.
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.