Valparaiso IN open-ended data center moratorium (2026)
Valparaiso, Indiana — City Council Unanimously Adopts a Data Center Moratorium With NO FIXED EXPIRATION DATE, Running Until the Plan Commission Finishes Revising the Unified Development Ordinance (2026)
Valparaiso, IN · City of Valparaiso, Ind. — data center moratorium with no fixed expiration date (2026)
- Status
- In effect
- Took effect
- September 1, 2026
- Applies to
- Developers proposing new data centers in Valparaiso, for the duration of the Plan Commission's UDO review
- Enforced by
- Valparaiso Plan Commission / Valparaiso City Council
Valparaiso City Council unanimously approved a moratorium on new data center development, effective immediately — and it carries NO FIXED EXPIRATION DATE. That is the distinguishing feature, and it is rare. Almost every local measure in this dataset states a term: forty-five days, six months, a year, eighteen months, three years. Valparaiso instead tied the moratorium's life to a DELIVERABLE: it holds new data center proposals while the city's Plan Commission reviews and recommends changes to Valparaiso's UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE, and ends when that work is done. There is a real argument for structuring it this way. A fixed term creates a deadline the city may miss, after which either the pause lapses with no rules in place or the council must extend it — and extensions are where moratoriums run into their statutory ceilings, as officials in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nevada have each said on the record elsewhere in this record. Tying the pause to completion of the ordinance removes that cliff. The corresponding risk is the mirror image: an open-ended pause with no external deadline has no forcing function, and it is precisely the shape a developer challenging a moratorium as indefinite or arbitrary would attack. Indiana's own practice matters here, and the located source does not address whether an open-ended municipal moratorium is sound under Indiana law. Valparaiso is in Porter County, which also contains Portage — whose Technology Campus district ordinance is the most numerically detailed instrument in this dataset.
Who is protected: Valparaiso residents in Porter County, Indiana
Legal detail
City of Valparaiso, Ind. (Porter County) — MORATORIUM on new data center development, approved UNANIMOUSLY by the City Council on a Monday night and TAKING EFFECT IMMEDIATELY. THE DEFINING FEATURE: THE MORATORIUM DOES NOT INCLUDE A FIXED EXPIRATION DATE. It holds new data center proposals while the city's PLAN COMMISSION REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDS CHANGES to Valparaiso's UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE (UDO), and is tied to completion of that work rather than to a calendar. THIS IS UNCOMMON AND CUTS BOTH WAYS. IN ITS FAVOUR: a fixed-term moratorium creates a cliff. If the drafting is not finished when the term lapses, the city either loses the pause with no permanent rules in place or must extend \u2014 and extension is exactly where statutory ceilings bind, as three officials have stated on the record in this dataset: Isanti MN 12-month data center moratorium (2026) (Minnesota, 12 months maximum AND contingent on proving staff are actively drafting), Bellevue WI 12-month data center moratorium (2026) (Wisconsin, 12 months plus one 6-month extension) and Henderson NV rejects data center moratorium, pursues code changes (2026) (a city attorney: defensible 12 to 18 months). Tying the pause to the deliverable removes the cliff entirely. AGAINST IT: an open-ended prohibition has no external forcing function on the municipality, and indefiniteness is precisely the ground on which developer plaintiffs attack moratoriums \u2014 Raeden v. Gibraltar MI data center moratorium challenge (2026) challenges a ONE-YEAR moratorium in federal court, and NJ developer litigation against municipal data center bans (2026) pleads that officials acted arbitrarily and exceeded their authority. Minnesota's statutory condition that staff be demonstrably working on an ordinance exists to address the same concern from the other direction. WHETHER AN OPEN-ENDED MUNICIPAL MORATORIUM IS SOUND UNDER INDIANA LAW IS NOT ADDRESSED by the located source and is the material open question on this entry. INDIANA CONTEXT: Porter County also contains PORTAGE, whose Technology Campus district ordinance (Portage IN Technology Campus district data center rules (2026)) is the most numerically complete municipal instrument in this dataset \u2014 55 dB, 65 ft, 500 ft residential setback, and a 50 MW / 500,000 sq ft hyperscale trigger. Nearly a third of Indiana counties had moved to restrict data centers by July 2026.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Valparaiso, IN |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Stronger |
| Enacted | September 1, 2026 |
| Citation | City of Valparaiso, Ind. — data center moratorium with no fixed expiration date (2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | New data center proposals are held while the moratorium runs; no fixed end date |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| News report | Valparaiso approves data center moratorium with no set end date — Inside INdiana Business |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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