Google Data Center — Franklin Township, Indianapolis
Franklin Township, Marion County, Indiana
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.
- Regulatory Riskweight 303 / 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.
- Infrastructure Readinessweight 2510 / 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.
- Opposition Densityweight 250 / 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.
- Approval Timelineweight 200 / 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
Dimension Breakdown
Four dimensions that determine entitlement feasibility.
Regulatory Risk
30 pts
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
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
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
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.
Key Findings
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, 202517 of 25 City-County Council members — including all 6 Republicans — publicly opposed the project.
Mirror Indy: Google data center draws oppositionGoogle withdrew the petition on September 22, 2025, minutes before the Council vote.
WTHR: Google Pulls Franklin Township Data Center PlanFive 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 projectsOpposition Profile
Who is organizing.
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
Timeline
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.
Known Risks
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
Recommendation
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.
Sources
Claims cited.
MDC Hearing Examiner Agenda, April 10, 2025
primaryMarion County Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 735
secondaryWTHR: Google Pulls Franklin Township Data Center Plan
secondaryMirror Indy: Google data center draws opposition from Indianapolis residents and 17 councilors
primaryChange.org petition: Halt the Proposed Data Center Land Development in Franklin Township
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.
Case files in Franklin Township
- Indianapolis data-center rezoning withdrawn before council adoptionData centers · Indianapolis, Indiana
Case files elsewhere in Indiana
- Hardy Hills received a state certificate and limited jurisdictional reliefEnergy · Indiana, Indiana
Notes about Franklin Township
- Shell companies used to buy silence; now they buy suspicionJurisdiction Data · 18 Jun 2026
- When a pause wants to be a statute: Starke County and the permanent-ban tellJurisdiction Data · 9 Jun 2026
- Two Indiana data centers, one state, opposite timelinesJurisdiction Data · 21 May 2026
- The opposition files paper now: inside the new resistance playbookJurisdiction Data · 8 May 2026
- Franklin Township: how a billion-dollar data center died in the public recordJurisdiction Data · 8 Apr 2026
- From a 4-1 vote to a $14 million judgment: the entitlement-to-dollars bridgeJurisdiction Data · 5 Apr 2026
Notes about Indiana
- The moratorium is contagious: how data-center pauses jump county linesJurisdiction Data · 2 Jun 2026
- Power is the second vote: the approval your zoning win doesn't coverJurisdiction Data · 10 May 2026
- The cost of a data center is not in the land or the shell anymoreJurisdiction Data · 13 Apr 2026
Sector page: Data centers
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