Louisville Attorney Cliff Ashburner speaking on behalf of the developers at Thursday's Planning Commission meeting.(Roberto Roldan / LPM )The Louisville Planning Commission approved revised development plans for a data center near Shively following a tense public hearing Thursday.More than twenty pe ople spoke in opposition to the hyperscale data center being proposed by developers Poe Companies and PowerHouse Data Centers. Citing concerns about pollution and the facility’s expected drain on local water and electricity supplies, the residents asked the commission not to approve the project.The new site plans show seven buildings, including warehouses for data servers, an office and a small guardhouse. The plans differ little from the ones the city approved last summer, adding a couple additional properties and increasing the warehouses from one story to two.Commissioner William Fischer was one of six votes in favor of approving the proposal. He said the Planning Commission could only base its decision on whether the project met the standards in the city’s Land Development Code.“We’re not voting on whether [artificial intelligence] is going to continue,” he said. “We aren’t voting on some of the bigger issues you came up here with. As a matter of fact, they are above what we are doing.”Just one commissioner voted “no” on the project.Louisville’s current regulations on data centers in its Land Development Code are vague and were written before modern hyperscale data centers existed. Protesters against the proposed Camp Ground Road data centers surrounding Steve Poe, center, one of the developers on the project.(Roberto Roldan / LPM )The Camp Ground Road data center project has moved through the process under the label of a "telecommunications hotel,” which isn’t concretely defined. The code allows data centers to be built on land zoned for heavy industrial use without rezoning, which would bring a higher level of scrutiny. That includes hyperscale data centers, which are increasingly courting pushback from residents and environmentalists in cities and towns across the United States.Louisville planning officials held a series of public meetings last year to inform a new set of regulations, but a draft has yet to be published. And any future rules changes won’t impact this project.Some residents noted the lack of up-to-date rules in their comments to the Planning Commission.Chickasaw resident Eboni Neal Cochran said the city’s existing regulations are “so lax that new developments will … exacerbate the risk and harm that already exists in Rubbertown.”“If we allow the data center to be built before we have the most protective laws in place, we run the risk of industry setting the standard, and we know that industry will not be protective of health and safety,” she said.Many speakers also expressed concern about the potential environmental impacts of the project, including how it may affect the power grid.The plans show the Camp Ground Road data center will have an on-site substation to meet its energy demand. Each warehouse storing the servers and network equipment will also have a dedicated diesel generator, in case of a sustained power outage.According to the developers, the data center is expected to draw down 400 megawatts of power. That’s equivalent to the monthly power consumption of about 400,000 homes.Kendra Isham, a member of the Louisville Party for Socialism and Liberation, said during public comment that many LGE customers in Louisville are already struggling to afford the utility company’s repeated rate hikes.“And yet, we’re being asked to welcome some of the most energy intensive development on the planet right here,” she said.Isham said residents will ultimately foot the bill for the increased energy demand from data centers. And she said she was angry Kentucky is offering tax breaks to developers.“We’re angry because millions of dollars in tax incentives are being offered to the wealthiest developers, like [developer] Steve Poe, in a state where we’re told there’s not enough money for basic needs like SNAP, TARC and JCPS,” Isham said.Poe, the CEO of Poe Companies, sat in the audience during the meeting, surrounded by protesters holding signs that read, “Stop Steve Poe’s war on the West End!” A rendering of the proposed data center on Campground Road in west Louisville.(Courtesy Poe Companies)Poe declined comment as he quickly left after the vote, with one resident yelling expletives at him and his team.Cliff Ashburner, an attorney representing the developers, told the commission that LGE and Louisville Water have assured them they can meet the demand of the proposed data center.Ashburner said the decision to locate the hyperscale data center in west Louisville was a practical one.“The property is zoned for the heaviest industrial uses that we allow in our community,” he said. “There also is a power line, a trunk line, the highest level of energy, running directly through the site … It has nothing to do with the surrounding community.”Ashburner repeatedly reminded commissioners they had to base their decision on local code.The project will not need approval from Metro Council before moving forward. Asked by a reporter after the meeting if construction would start soon, Ashburner said he did not want to comment. ...read more read less