Ekron Data Center, Ekron, Kentucky

A plan to rezone 135 acres of farmland at Joe Prather Highway and Garrett Road in Ekron, Meade County, Kentucky, for a data center from PowerHouse Industries was voted down on October 14, 2025, the same day it was heard. The Thomas A. Hobbs Living Trust had asked to change the land from agricultural and residential zoning to light industrial for what the application called an IT infrastructure facility that would run around the clock and employ about 100 people.

So many people came to the planning and zoning commission's hearing at the Meade County Fairgrounds that it had to move to a larger building; more than 150 people signed up to speak, and none spoke in favor. Neighbors worried most about their wells: "They expel wastewater, which is going to go right in the ground and I'm going to pump it out. I'm on a well," said Donnie Dowell, whose property backs onto the site. "We are already struggling as farmers," another resident said at the hearing. "We don't need something else to fight against. A lot of farms use well water."

The commission voted unanimously to recommend denial, and the county's magistrates on the fiscal court, which has the final say, voted unanimously against the rezoning that same night. Bridget Blake, who lives across the street and started a Change.org petition against the project, said: "The last thing that we need here is a big AI data center that is not only gonna affect our utilities but our health." Trey Webb, the District 6 magistrate, wrote on the petition page: "The Fiscal Court has voted down the proposed construction, and the project will not be moving forward as originally planned."

Meade County's fiscal court then adopted a countywide moratorium on data centers, effective January 13, 2026 and running one year, giving officials time to write zoning rules before another data center proposal can come forward.