HARRODSBURG, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Mercer County resident is organizing opposition to potential data center development ahead of a public meeting scheduled for next week.
Dr. Diane Floyd, who moved to the county in 2020, has started a Change.org petition that received more than 700 signatures in less than a week opposing any construction of a data center in Mercer County.
"We're still working on getting organized," Floyd said.
Floyd is part of a citizen action group preparing to attend a joint Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at the fairgrounds on February 18.
Public comment from the community will take place at the 5 p.m. meeting on February 18 after presentations on data centers, including one from a data center consultant hired by the joint Planning and Zoning Commission.
"Our data center consultant is going to show up and have a beautiful presentation with all sorts of bells and whistles about what a great thing this would be for Mercer County," Floyd said.
While Floyd supports growth in the county, she thinks a data center is a bad idea due to "the detriment it will have on our precious farmland" and "the potential future impact on tourism."
The exact location of a possible data center in Mercer County remains unclear.
"There was a post on LinkedIn five months ago by JLL Properties and the person who actually posted, their name is Sean Reynolds, so JLL is a group out of Chicago and they were actually asking for investors to invest in this property that was already marked in the LinkedIn Post and also had our power grid lines in the post requesting investors," Floyd noted.
"We don't know the radius of potential environmental impact and what kind of infrastructure is already there," Floyd said.
Floyd expressed concern that community leaders may have already made up their minds about the project.
"Most of the community leaders already have a pretty formed decision," she said.
With nine days until the public hearing, Floyd is encouraging community participation.
"The more Mercer countians that show up to this meeting, the more likely we are to be heard and taken seriously," Floyd said.
After LEX 18 reached out Monday, the Joint Planning and Zoning Commission, Industrial Development Authority and Judge Executive Sarah Steele did not respond to requests for comment. There's a Mercer County Fiscal Court meeting at 10 a.m. Monday.
