The data center fight in Howard County, Indiana
As of October 1, 2026, Howard County, Indiana has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Aug 18, 2026; documented end date 2027-08-18).
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
1-year permit moratorium in unincorporated Howard County, adopted unanimously (3-0) after the Plan Commission's nearly unanimous favorable recommendation. County Attorney Alan Wilson introduced it, saying the zoning ordinance doesn't cover data centers and stating plainly at adoption: "No one is coming. There are no applications pending." Commissioner Brad Bray volunteered to chair a study committee after public pressure; the pause may lift early once rules are drafted or be extended if needed. Separate from the City of Kokomo's own track, where the Common Council rejected a moratorium and is instead advancing a zoning ordinance for a 700-acre annexed industrial park (final vote expected Sep 14, 2026)
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
10 stories tracked since 2026-03-17 across 7 outlets. 6× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. 4× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. Most recent: “Kokomo-Howard County Public Library held its annual Friend of the Library trivia night Thursday” (Kokomo Tribune, 2026-09-18).
- Kokomo-Howard County Public Library held its annual Friend of the Library trivia night Thursday
- Kokomo data center ordinance falls short
- Kokomo council advances data center ordinance despite public opposition
- Kokomo council advances data center ordinance despite public opposition
- County adopts data center moratorium
- Kokomo considers zoning change allowing data centers on industrial sites
- BEN INSKEEP: Data centers unifying Hoosiers in opposition
- Howard County looking for data center moratorium | Across Indiana
- Howard County looking for data center moratorium | Across Indiana
- Kokomo Woman Killed In Three-Vehicle Crash In Howard County
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 10 headlines archived.
Where the decision gets made
Howard County Board of Commissioners — County zoning/permit ordinances outside city limits, including the data-center moratorium and any follow-on regulatory ordinance from the study committee
Meets: First and third Monday of each month at 4:00 p.m. (moves to the following Tuesday if the Monday is a holiday)
Where: Howard County Administration Center, 3rd Floor, Hearing Room 338, 220 N. Main St., Kokomo, IN 46901
Public comment: Public comment is taken at the regular commissioners' meetings; agendas and minutes are combined into a single meeting "packet" posted in advance, and live/archived video is available on the county's YouTube channel
webmaster@howardcountyin.gov · 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brad Bray | Commissioner (Board President as of prior term) | — | — | Voted for the 2026-08-18 moratorium and volunteered to chair the study committee tasked with drafting data-center regulations, after public pressure from Planning Commission President Cheryl Graham and candidate Lisa Washington |
| Jack Dodd | Commissioner | — | — | Voted for the 2026-08-18 moratorium; initially opposed forming a study committee but agreed once board support for one grew |
| Jeff Lipinski | Commissioner | — | — | Voted for the 2026-08-18 moratorium (part of the unanimous 3-0 vote) |
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
- Miami County (19 mi) — Enactedterm not documented
- Cass County (22 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Grant County (25 mi) — Enactedexpires 2028-03-16
- Boone County (35 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-06-15
- Fulton County (41 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-03-02
- White County (42 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-20
- Pulaski County (49 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-02
- Indianapolis (Marion County) (50 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-12-31
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.