Carroll County, Kentucky, has signed off on one of the largest projects in its history: a hyperscale data center campus with a price tag above $16 billion. The Carroll County Fiscal Court approved a development and community benefits agreement for the campus at a special-called meeting, and some residents say the deal moved forward without their input.

Neighbors are worried about what comes next. Large data centers run cooling systems and equipment day and night, and residents were concerned enough about the constant hum that they played a recording of data center noise inside the courtroom. Opponents have also raised concerns about lost farmland, rising electricity costs, and the absence of zoning protections to control where and how a project this size gets built.

County leaders say the agreement guarantees new tax revenue and local protections. If so, those protections should be written down, enforceable, and easy for every resident to read, not left to trust.

The Carroll County Fiscal Court should adopt county zoning rules before any construction begins. It should set binding noise limits with independent monitoring and real penalties. It should protect working farmland from being swallowed by the campus, and it should press for safeguards so local families don’t end up covering the project’s power needs through higher utility bills. The full agreement should be posted publicly so residents can see exactly what was promised.

Carroll County families are the ones who will live next to this campus for decades. They deserve a real seat at the table before the bulldozers arrive.

Sign the petition to demand enforceable protections for Carroll County residents before the first building goes up.