Fort Wayne City Councilman Russ Jehl withdrew his request for the creation of a data center task force Tuesday night.
That came after Councilwoman Rohli Booker introduced ordinances that would put a year-long moratorium on construction of data centers, as well as creating an advisory committee.
Jehl introduced his proposal for the task force in June, citing a number of concerns.
"We had a leadership vacuum when it comes to data centers," he said as he withdrew that ordinance. "We don't have that vacuum anymore."
He called Booker’s new moratorium ordinance “brilliant” and said there is a need for bipartisan leadership on this issue. He said she was the right leader on the issue, and in the right district of the city.
There is an existing data center in Booker's southeast side sixth district.
During Tuesday night's council meeting, Jehl said his vote in favor of the original Google data center was now indefensible, with no evidence that money from the land sale had gone into projects in the southeast side.
Booker's moratorium ordinance would not affect the existing Google data center.
Booker’s other ordinance would create a “Community Infrastructure and Environmental Review Commission.”
That commission would serve as an advisory and fact-finding body” to look at proposed “major resource-intensive developments.”
Both ordinances will come up for a vote in the next few weeks.
