Owen County commissioners have temporarily blocked new data center development while the county works on permanent regulations.

Commissioners unanimously approved a one-year moratorium Tuesday evening.

Officials said no company has proposed building a data center in Owen County, but Commissioner Norman Warner said the county wants to establish rules before that happens.

"No one that I know of has asked to put one in Owen County yet, but we're going to try to get out in front of this with this moratorium, which gives us a year to figure ourselves out, to do a little more research," Warner said.

The moratorium prevents new data center development for a year while the Owen County Plan Commission works on potential regulations.

It also prevents property from being rezoned during the moratorium when the intended future use is a data center.

Read more: Indiana counties increasingly turn to local restrictions as data center development grows

Owen County Building and Planning Administrator Heather Huntington said that provision was included after officials looked at what has happened in other counties.

"Data centers in other counties that had moratoriums have come in and also rezoned land because the moratorium didn't prevent that," Huntington said. "This moratorium includes language that prevents the rezoning of land for the intention of developing a data center in the future."

Huntington encouraged the county to use the moratorium rather than immediately pursuing an outright ban.

She said a permanent regulatory ordinance could better protect the county if state officials eventually limit local governments' ability to prohibit data centers.

"If these citizens genuinely want protection, you are better to put a moratorium in place, take your time, do your research and work on a good, basic, well-worded regulatory standard for development as a whole," Huntington said.

A draft regulatory ordinance is already being developed and is about 13 pages long, according to Huntington. She said officials are considering provisions including limits on the size or acreage of developments.

The Plan Commission will continue working on the regulations before making a recommendation to county commissioners, who would have final approval.

Officials emphasized that work is expected to begin immediately rather than waiting until the moratorium approaches its expiration.

The commissioners approved the moratorium without opposition, drawing applause from people attending the meeting.

Commissioners also said Spencer had approved a similar moratorium the previous night and Gosport was considering one.