Fort Wayne City Councilman seeks to enforce local guardrails over data centers
Fort Wayne’s proposed one-year data center moratorium failed in a 4-4 City Council vote. Councilman Scott Myers then successfully urged the city’s plan commission to begin drafting zoning amendments that would establish boundaries and other guardrails for data centers, amid concerns about Google’s planned facility, generators and neighborhood impacts.
A proposed one-year moratorium on data centers in Fort Wayne failed last week after the City Council vote ended in a 4-4 tie. Councilman Scott Myers opposed the nonbinding ban, saying it could send a hostile message to businesses and potentially conflict with state agencies, but acknowledged residents’ concerns about large facilities near neighborhoods.
Myers, who also serves on the Fort Wayne City Plan Commission, requested that the commission begin developing a data center amendment to the city’s zoning ordinances. The proposal would create criteria and location boundaries for future facilities, as the city currently has no specific data center zoning rules. The effort follows community concerns about the size and generators at a Google data center site within city limits. The recommendation passed 7-1, while council members Jeff Paddock and Russ Jehl continued to support a moratorium. Myers hopes the amendments will be approved by the plan commission by the end of March 2027.