Louisville Metro Planning and Zoning Committee Meeting - October 6, 2026

The Louisville Metro Planning and Zoning Committee met on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, in Council Chambers and by video teleconference, beginning at approximately 1:03 p.m.; the tentative minutes record the call to order at 1:04 p.m. Chair Andrew Owen (D-9) presided, with Vice Chair Scott Reed (R-16) attending virtually. A quorum was present. The tentative minutes roll call lists Shameka Parrish-Wright (D-3) as present, but the recorded vote on O-281-26 lists her as absent; the transcript indicates she arrived later during the meeting. Josie Raymond (D-10) was excused. Non-committee council members present included Tammy Hawkins (D-1), Ken Herndon (D-4), JP Lyninger (D-6), Jonathan Joseph (R-12), and Anthony Piagentini (R-19). The committee recommended one zoning ordinance for approval, held two pending ordinances, heard invited expert testimony on data center regulation, and adjourned without objection at 2:58 p.m. No public comment period was held.

Pending Legislation

O-281-26 - Zoning change at 211 South 41st Street (Case No. 25ZONE0142) - Brian Davis of the Louisville Metro Office of Planning presented the Planning Commission's recommendation. The approximately 0.1-acre property, located in Metro Council District 5, is currently zoned R-5 and would be rezoned to R-7 to make an existing residential triplex compliant with zoning law. No exterior changes are proposed. The applicant's neighborhood meeting was held August 27, 2025, and the Planning Commission held a public hearing September 3, 2026, voting 5-2 to recommend approval. The committee voted 6-0 to recommend approval, with Owen, Reed, Benson, Ruhe, Hudson, and Batshon voting yes; Raymond was excused and Parrish-Wright was absent for that vote. The ordinance was sent to Old Business for the full Metro Council meeting on October 15, 2026. Council Member Donna L. Purvis (D-5) is eligible to vote on this zoning change. The statutory action deadline is December 12, 2026.

O-282-26 - Closure of unnamed rights-of-way near Old Manslick Road (Case No. 26STRCLOSURE0025) - This ordinance would close unnamed portions of right-of-way directly south and southwest of Old Manslick Road, containing approximately 39,500 square feet. The item was held in committee with no vote. The statutory action deadline is March 24, 2027.

O-251-26 - Land Development Code amendments regarding data centers (Case No. 25-LDC-0014) - This ordinance remained held in committee with no vote. The statutory action deadline is March 10, 2027.

Special Discussion: Massive Data Center Experience - Robin Palm, AICP (ID 26-1517)

Robin Palm, planning administrator for the Village of Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin, described his community's experience with a large data center buildout. Palm noted that Microsoft's Fairwater campus, which opened in June 2026, is about 1.5 million square feet. The first phase included four data centers totaling about 4 million square feet; 15 more data centers were approved in January 2026, bringing the total pipeline to about 12 million square feet with a projected total assessed value of $23 billion. For context, the village's total assessed value in 2017 was about $3.4 billion.

Palm explained that the Foxconn project, which originally promised 13,000 jobs, set up the land, infrastructure, and zoning that later attracted Microsoft. Foxconn is now expected to reach 2,000 permanent jobs by 2030. Microsoft currently has about 400 employees at its first completed building and another 400 expected at the second building, which Palm said exceeded initial job expectations. Microsoft did not request new incentives and later returned a $5 million incentive to the village, an amount Palm described as about one-quarter of the village's operating budget. At the January 2026 approval, Palm said the largest public contingent was union members from the local engineering and workers union supporting continued construction jobs.

Palm recommended forward-looking, predictable zoning standards and clear decision points, warning that opposition often escalates after approvals are vested. On impacts, Palm reported noise complaints from the neighboring community of Sturtevant, though his own unscientific visit to the site found the closest housing development about one-half to three-quarters of a mile away. The operator requested 30-foot sound walls even though the village's code allowed 10-foot walls in industrial districts, leading the village to amend its code to allow taller walls when needed to meet sound ordinances. Palm emphasized that low-frequency noise is difficult to measure with standard dBA meters and recommended separating noise standards by octave and frequency.

Palm said the data centers receive power from the regulated utility We Energies rather than generating their own power. At full buildout, the campus could use about 25% of Wisconsin's pre-campus power supply. He noted statewide utility bills have been rising roughly 5-6% due to multiple factors, and he could not attribute the increase solely to data centers. Diesel generators are used only as a backup redundancy and are tested about once a month. The campus draws water from Lake Michigan, about six miles away, under approvals allowing up to 7 million gallons per day; Palm noted liquid cooling uses less water but more electricity. He also highlighted waste heat as a major planning opportunity, saying the Fairwater campus alone could heat the roughly 700,000 square feet of indoor water parks in Wisconsin Dells about 20 times over, or heat all homes in Racine County over the winter, if district heating systems were built from the start.

Special Discussion: Kentucky Resource Council Data Center Recommendations - Tom Fitzgerald (ID 26-1484)

Tom Fitzgerald, attorney and former longtime director of the Kentucky Resources Council, presented the KRC model data center ordinance and described research he conducted into best practices in Northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, and other locations. Fitzgerald described KRC as a nonprofit environmental legal aid organization that accepts no corporate or government money and typically represents communities downhill, downwind, and downstream. He said the model ordinance is not meant to be adopted in its entirety, but provides tools for local governments.

Fitzgerald stated that KRC's recommendations apply to all data centers, not just hyperscale facilities, because there is no accepted definition of hyperscale and because a facility's square footage does not necessarily correlate with its off-site impacts. He recommended performance standards based on the intensity of the use, requiring acoustical and vibration studies, monitoring, and mitigation; treating existing data centers as accessory uses; applying standards to new or expanded facilities rather than retroactively; and avoiding exemptions for telecom hotels. He also recommended creating a new data center zoning district and requiring a rezoning paired with a conditional use permit, rather than allowing data centers by right based on square footage. Fitzgerald cautioned that a categorical ban on facilities over 500,000 square feet would be harder to defend than a regulatory framework, and if the ban is retained, the ordinance should include fallback standards and legislative findings explaining its rationale.

Fitzgerald cited OstraGuard v. Microsoft, a federal class action filed in July 2026, alleging that low-frequency infrasound from Microsoft's Fairwater campus is causing off-site harm. He said standard dBA decibel measurements can miss low-frequency noise, and recommended using broader noise metrics, evaluating tonality and cumulative impacts, and requiring post-operation monitoring. He also said emerging peer-reviewed research associates chronic low-frequency noise exposure with elevated blood pressure and other physiological stress responses. He offered to provide peer-reviewed studies and a copy of the lawsuit to committee members.

Fitzgerald argued against concentrating data centers in existing industrial areas, noting that older industrial corridors such as Rubbertown and parts of Southwest Louisville already carry disproportionate environmental burdens. He stated that a new zoning district with a conditional use permit process would allow data centers to be sited countywide, but only after public review, rather than automatically placing them in areas zoned M-3. Chair Owen added that when the Planning Commission examined M-3 zoning, it was almost exclusively located in South and Southwest Louisville, which he said was not acceptable; a new zoning category would open other parts of the county to data centers, though not by right.

During discussion, Committee Member Shameka Parrish-Wright called for adding a health impact statement to the ordinance and said the committee should incorporate more of KRC's recommendations. She referenced high cancer, heart disease, and respiratory illness rates in West Louisville and Southwest Louisville and described the data center ordinance as a chance to avoid repeating past land-use mistakes. Council Member Tammy Hawkins asked whether the recommendations applied to all data centers and how consistency would be achieved; Fitzgerald said the rules would apply to new and expanded facilities, while existing nuisances could be addressed through existing nuisance law. Committee Member Jeff Hudson asked about health effects of low-frequency noise and comparisons to other industries; Fitzgerald said he would provide peer-reviewed literature. Committee Member Khalil Batshon questioned whether a new zoning district was simply another way to stop development; Fitzgerald responded that reasonable standards would not amount to improper outzoning. Vice Chair Reed asked about the village's decibel limits; Palm described octave-based limits that vary by zone and offered to share his code. Palm also advised that universal noise limits could be set through general police power and nuisance law, like speed limits, rather than through zoning alone.

Key Outcomes

• O-281-26 was recommended for approval by a vote of 6-0 and sent to Old Business for the full Metro Council meeting on October 15, 2026.
• O-282-26 and O-251-26 were held in committee without votes.
• The committee heard extended presentations from Robin Palm and Tom Fitzgerald to inform its ongoing work on O-251-26.
• Chair Owen said the next committee meeting will be held on October 20, 2026, and that he planned to distribute a topic-based agenda by the end of the week. He also said his office would collect any additional questions for Palm.
• The meeting adjourned without objection at 2:58 p.m.