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WithdrawnWorseningRisk Index — Q1 2026

Google Data Center — Franklin Township, Indianapolis

Franklin Township, Marion County, Indiana

13/100

CRITICAL RISK

Trajectory: Five Indiana counties enacted data center moratoriums since 2025. Citizens Action Coalition called for statewide moratorium. HB 1333 (allowing DCs on agricultural land) died in committee.

Last updated 2026-03-29

Google assembled 467 acres of Indiana farmland through a shell company called Deep Meadow Ventures. The community found out. Protect Franklin Township collected 2,550 petition signatures, the Civic League organized hearings, and billboards went up across Indianapolis. Seventeen of twenty-five city councilors turned against the project. Google withdrew minutes before the vote.

Google's $1B project went from filing to withdrawal in 6 months. The MDC approved 8-1, but the City-County Council was 17-25 against — including all 6 Republicans.

Protect Franklin Township, led by Andrew Filler, ran a textbook opposition campaign: petitions, formal remonstrances, packed hearings, and coordinated council lobbying.

Five Indiana counties have enacted data center moratoriums since 2025 (Marshall, White, Putnam, Fulton, Starke). The Citizens Action Coalition is calling for a statewide moratorium.

HB 1333, which would have allowed data centers on agricultural land without local zoning approval, died in committee. The legislature will not override local opposition.

Inside this score

How the 100 points break down.

Each dimension is scored out of its own weight, and the four add up to the score. A higher score is a clearer market-level path; it is not a likelihood of approval for a parcel.

  1. Regulatory Riskweight 30
    3 / 30
    What it reads, and where it stops

    Measures zoning classification, approval pathway type (by-right, CUP, rezoning), moratorium status, and regulatory trajectory. Higher scores indicate clearer regulatory paths.

    Reads the written route and the stated direction of a market's rules as of the edition date. It does not read a particular parcel's zoning, and a rule recorded here can change at the next meeting of the body.

  2. Infrastructure Readinessweight 25
    10 / 25
    What it reads, and where it stops

    Measures utility capacity, grid interconnection availability, water supply adequacy, and infrastructure investment commitments. Higher scores indicate better infrastructure readiness.

    Reads the utility, grid, water and investment record for the market. It does not confirm capacity at a given site, and delivery timelines for power and water are separate from entitlement risk.

  3. Opposition Densityweight 25
    0 / 25
    What it reads, and where it stops

    Measures organized opposition groups, petition scale, public hearing attendance, political consequences (elections, recalls), and legal challenges. Higher scores indicate less opposition.

    Reads organised opposition that shows on the public record: groups, petitions, hearings, elections and legal challenges. A quiet record is not evidence of support, and a loud one is not a count of votes.

  4. Approval Timelineweight 20
    0 / 20
    What it reads, and where it stops

    Measures historical approval durations, number of sequential approval steps, legal challenges affecting timeline, and demonstrated fast-track capabilities. Higher scores indicate faster approvals.

    Reads how long recorded approvals have taken and how many sequential steps they needed. Past duration is a record of what happened, not a schedule for the next application.

3 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 13 of 100 · Critical Risk

Four dimensions that determine entitlement feasibility.

Regulatory Risk

30 pts

3/30

Full rezoning required from D-A/C-4/SU-43 to C-S. Flood overlay zones added independent regulatory complexity. Three sequential approvals needed: MDC hearing examiner, MDC commission vote, and City-County Council.

Score: 3/30. Full rezoning required from dwelling-agricultural to commercial-special. Three sequential approval bodies. The council call-down process gave a single district councilor the power to force a full vote — and he used it.

Infrastructure Readiness

25 pts

10/25

AES Indiana serves the area with 3.9 GW across three plants. A single hyperscaler could ramp up by 1 GW. AES stated it has electricity for currently proposed DCs but may need gas turbines by 2030.

Score: 10/25. AES Indiana has 3.9 GW capacity, but a single hyperscaler could consume 1 GW — over 25% of total. AES stated it may need to build a new power plant. The utility is now building a 1,200 MW substation in Morgan County — 30 minutes away.

Opposition Density

25 pts

0/25

Organized multi-group coalition: Protect Franklin Township (Andrew Filler) and Franklin Township Civic League. Change.org petition gathered 2,550+ signatures. 75+ remonstrators at MDC and hundreds at City-County Council. 17 of 25 Council members publicly opposed.

Score: 0/25. This is the most severe opposition outcome possible: organized multi-group coalition forced a strategic withdrawal before the vote. 2,550+ petition signatures. 75+ remonstrators at MDC. Billboards purchased across Indianapolis.

Approval Timeline

20 pts

0/20

Petition filed March 2025, withdrawn September 2025 — 6 months with no approval achieved. Full pathway would have taken 9-12+ months even without opposition delays.

Score: 0/20. Six months from filing to withdrawal with no approval achieved. The full regulatory pathway would have required 9-12 months minimum even without opposition.

What the record shows.

Deep Meadow Ventures LLC (Google) filed to rezone 467.66 acres from D-A/C-4/SU-43 to C-S in Franklin Township.

MDC Hearing Examiner Agenda, April 10, 2025

17 of 25 City-County Council members — including all 6 Republicans — publicly opposed the project.

Mirror Indy: Google data center draws opposition

Google withdrew the petition on September 22, 2025, minutes before the Council vote.

WTHR: Google Pulls Franklin Township Data Center Plan

Five Indiana counties (Marshall, White, Putnam, Fulton, Starke) enacted data center moratoriums between February 2025 and March 2026.

IBJ: 3 counties put moratoriums on data center projects

Who is organizing.

5 source recordshigh infrastructure

Protect Franklin Township — organized by Andrew Filler, led sustained campaign

Franklin Township Civic League — participated in hearings and opposition materials

Change.org petition gathered 2,550+ signatures

Citizens Action Coalition called for statewide moratorium

Billboards purchased across Indianapolis opposing the project

How it unfolded.

June 12, 2025

MDC hearing examiner heard the petition, continued to June 26.

August 20, 2025

MDC voted 8-1 to approve rezoning and forward to Council.

September 22, 2025

Google withdrew the petition minutes before Council vote.

Dates on the record

Dates on the record.

As of the 29 Mar 2026 edition

No date after the 29 Mar 2026 edition is on the record for Franklin Township.

Only dates that this market's own timeline gives. No outcome is named. The dated acts that have already happened are in the timeline above.

What could change.

Active risk factors documented in public record.

Full rezoning required with flood overlay complexity

Organized multi-group coalition with 2,550+ petition signatures

17 of 25 Council members publicly opposed

Five Indiana county moratoriums show statewide hostility

CRITICAL RISK — Score 13/100

Critical Risk. Google withdrew after supermajority Council opposition. Indiana moratorium wave makes the state increasingly hostile for agricultural-land data center siting.

From the record

What the public record holds for Franklin Township.

Each case file below is a verified public record with its sources attached; each note is a dated research note. They sit beside this market's score; they do not change it.

Sector page: Data centers

Get your site briefed before the surprises start.

Zoning posture, approval pathway, community risk, and comparable outcomes. The cited site-memo queue targets a delivery window confirmed at acceptance of the completed property submission. Complex or thin-record sites can take longer.

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About This Index

Published Q1 2026

RealClear gives real estate development teams cited entitlement research before they commit serious diligence spend. This index scores U.S. markets across four dimensions of data-center entitlement risk: regulatory complexity, infrastructure readiness, community opposition density, and approval timeline. It is market-level triage, not a parcel score. Submit a specific parcel and you get a reviewed, cited brief whose claims trace to primary sources.

Read the full methodology
20Markets Scored
15Index States
235+Source-Backed Claims

Ready to screen a property candidate? RealClear returns a reviewed, cited brief covering zoning posture, approval path, community posture, comparable outcomes, open questions, and next questions for counsel, civil, utility, or the local team. We confirm the delivery window when we accept your completed property submission. Complex or thin-record sites may require more research.

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