Murray’s City Council on Thursday passed a moratorium on data center project permits applications – for just one week.
This decision comes after Murray Mayor Bob Rogers previously told WKMS the city wouldn’t consider a moratorium for fear of legal repercussions.
Officials in the Calloway County seat have been exploring implementing new zoning regulations specifically tailored to data center projects. At Thursday’s meeting, Rogers said the city based its draft off of model language provided by the Kentucky Resources Council, an environmental law and advocacy organization.
Currently, the draft ordinance of proposed data center regulations is with the Murray Planning Commission, an appointed body that oversees building and land use issues. After a hearing earlier this week, the commission voted to review public feedback and revise the draft to include some of those suggestions.
The commission intended to revisit the data center zoning regulations draft at a meeting on June 23. However, on Thursday evening, Rogers urged the planning group to pass the ordinance as written – along with all of the public comments it received – at its next scheduled meeting on Tuesday. The mayor said that would allow for the city council to have its first reading of the data center zoning ordinance at a special-called meeting next Thursday.
There have not been any applications submitted for a permit to build a data center within Murray’s city limits. Rogers said the one-week moratorium is an effort to shorten the time between the issuance of a data center zoning ordinance and any possible permit applications being submitted.
One data center is already active in Calloway County, outside Murray’s city limits. Soluna brought the 25-megawatt Project Sophie data center – one of the 37 operating in the commonwealth – online in 2021.
