Data centers in Meade County, Kentucky: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Meade County turned down its only data center proposal. In late September 2025, a filing asked to rezone about 135 acres of farmland near Ekron, at Joe Prather Highway and Garrett Road, from agricultural and residential to light industrial for an "IT infrastructure facility" that would run around the clock with up to 100 employees across shifts. Landowner Tommy Hobbs said the buyer's plans involved artificial intelligence, but neither he nor local officials would name the company. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted against recommending the rezoning, and the Fiscal Court voted it down in October 2025.

Neighbors objected at once. "If a place like this gets built and the value of the property plummets, and the water quality is diminished, and everything else like that ... we're gonna have to give up somewhere else and try again," said Lucas Kudrna, who lives on nearby Buck Knobs Road. Samantha Campbell, whose home borders the site, worried it would be "sucking the county dry." A Change.org petition gathered more than 2,800 signatures.

In January 2026 the county fiscal court adopted a one-year moratorium on new data center permits, running through January 2027, which now covers any future proposal in the unincorporated county.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.