Jefferson Proving Ground Data Center, Madison, Indiana

The Ford family of Dupont wants to build a data center campus on 549 acres of the old airfield at the former Jefferson Proving Ground, outside Madison in Jefferson County, Indiana. The development plan filed with the county planning and zoning office in February 2026 shows nine buildings totaling 7,175,657 square feet, built in phases over three to four years, and the family says the campus would create about 300 full time jobs and pay about $60 million a year in property tax, more than double the county's $29,718,559 budget for this year. The company that would build and run the campus has not been disclosed; the Fords own the land and say they have asked for no tax abatements.

Building inspector Josh Cline approved the application on February 25, 2026, judging it sufficiently similar to uses already permitted in the heavy industrial zone, such as chemical processing and hazardous storage; classed that way, the project needed no public notice. Neighbors appealed, and on May 20, 2026, the Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously denied the appeal after a hearing that ran more than five hours, finding the data center fits within the zoning. Attorney Laureen White, representing appellant Debra Jones, argued that "the proposed data center campus is not simply a warehouse, not simply a research facility, not simply an office, and not simply manufacturing."

Resident Elijah Chandler of Madison asked at a County Council meeting, "Can they guarantee us no rate hikes in the county? How much water will they use?", while Jack Hartwell, who lives half a mile from the site, said, "The county needs this money. It needs roads, it needs bridges. It needs it for the schools." Dean Ford, who bought the land after the Army closed the proving ground on September 30, 1995, told the zoning board the company "will rebuild the roads, rebuild the sewer, rebuild the water, rebuild all electric inside JPG containment area," and the family says the buildings would use closed-loop cooling from the existing JPG water tower with no groundwater drawn. After the ruling, organizers said Daniel Ford had stayed away from a town hall citing death threats against his family, and Jill Koren of Jefferson County Concerned Citizens said, "I feel like the whole ethos of a data center of that scale is very counter to what we care about most here in Madison and Jefferson County."

On September 1, 2026, the county Plan Commission voted 5 to 3 against starting work on a data center moratorium, even though 63 of 64 written submissions had asked for one. Commission president Warren Auxier said a pause would change nothing at the proving ground: "A moratorium would have no impact on the JPG data center because a development plan has already been submitted." With the zoning appeal denied and no moratorium in place, the development plan already has county approval and no further public hearing is scheduled; Chandler, an opponent of the project, is running for a County Council seat.