FRANKFORT, Ind. (July 22, 2025) – Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets confirmed the proposed data center project remains in its preliminary stages, with the city actively conducting “due diligence” to assess its potential impact on the community. Sheets emphasized that despite public speculation, no official agreements or paperwork for annexation have been presented to the City Council.
Mayor Sheets provided the update after Monday’s Utility Service Board meeting.
The Mayor highlighted that the city’s focus is on understanding the financial implications of the project, including how Indiana’s Senate Bill 1 (SB1) will affect the budget in the coming years, and clarifying the impact of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) area on land requesting voluntary annexation into the city. While finances are a significant consideration, Sheets noted that “it’s not all about the finances,” as the city is also evaluating other potential effects on Frankfort and Clinton County.
A specific parcel of land, already within Frankfort city limits and adjacent to Conagra, is a key component of the proposed development. The developer has successfully obtained a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to permit a data center on this land. This specific portion alone is touted as a $1.7 billion investment. Furthermore, the utility service board has issued a “will serve” letter for this site. Despite this, Mayor Sheets stated she doesn’t know if the developer would “even move forward” with just this parcel if the larger annexation request fails.
Sheets also made it clear that there has been “no talk of any abatements, any incentives” from the developer. She noted that the city conveyed “pretty well told to them from the beginning we’re not interested in that type of a thing”. This stance is influenced by a previous “long abatement” granted to Conagra.
Key points regarding the project’s current status:
* The city does not yet know the identity of the end user for the data center, whether it be a major tech company like Meta, Alphabet, Oracle, or Amazon.
* The land for the broader project has not yet annexed or heard before the city plan commission.
* A required fiscal plan as part of annexation has not been submitted to the council.
* Mayor Sheets expressed frustration with public perception that decisions have already been made, stating, “we have no official agreements, no official paperwork has come before the Council for annexation”.
The Mayor anticipates a clearer understanding of the project’s future direction “after city plan commission” hearing Wednesday, July 23 at 5:30 pm.
You can read the interview below. The interview was edited for clarity.
Clinton County Today: Can you give a brief overview of where the proposed data center project stands?
Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets: I’m doing my due diligence. I’m doing my research. I’m trying to figure out the financial impact on your city. And you know other things that this might make happen or not happen for a city.
So I think it’s important that people just realize that we are always looking out for the best of our community. Sometimes it comes a little more quickly than we expected and so I have a lot of work I’m trying to work on to make sure – like I said – we’re doing our due diligence. We want to make sure that we’re making the right decision.
CCT: The city council recently had a work session with Reedy Financial. What type of impact might this project have on the city’s budget?
Mayor: I think what we’re looking at right now, and the reason why we have Reedy at the work session was so that we can realize how SB1 is going to affect us not only next year, but the years thereafter.
And you know, we never know things could change, who knows, but I think that that’s what we’re looking at right now.
Also, part of that is a TIF area for the county. So I want some clarification on that. What effect will that have on the city as well? So there’s a lot of things to look at, you know, and it’s not all about the finances. It’s all sort of the other things that could affect our city or our county depending on what happens with the annexation.
CCT: One part of the proposed data center is land that is currently within the city limit and is next to Conagra. The developer went in front of the BZA and asked for a variance so a data center could be placed on that land and received the variance. Could a data center be built on the land even if the request for the 700 acres received a negative recommendation from the city plan commission or the land fails to be annexed in by the city council? There’s still some options?
Mayor: Yeah, I guess there is. I mean, because they did get the variance. So right now that land is in the city. So, you know, it depends. Would they even move forward with it. I don’t know if they could move on into the next phase. I don’t know.
CCT: The developer stated that portion alone would be a $1.7 billion investment to the city, seems rather
significant, already inside the city, and it’s received its variance to put a data center there. The utility service board has given their “will serve” letter to it.
Mayor: I want to clarify something. There has been no, no talk of any abatements, any incentives. Nothing like that. They’ve never even asked that. I mean, but I think it was pretty well told to them from the beginning we’re not interested in that type of a thing, you know, right now, because as we know, Conagra, got a long abatement, a nice abatement. And so I think we’ve let them know right off – this is not gonna be the same situation here.
CCT: I would imagine it’s difficult to even say yes to an abatement when you don’t know who the end user will be whether it’s Meta, Alphabet, Oracle or Amazon. It’s hard to say who you’re going to work with.
Mayor: At this point we don’t even know and also it’s my understanding that that land has not been transferred over. I wish people would realize, they all have their opinion that we’ve already decided that we know it, but, we have no official agreements, no official paperwork has come before the Council for annexation.
They have to have a fiscal plan. None of this has come to the council at all. I mean, it’s in so much of a preliminary state right now, but everybody has all this stuff – ‘how we’re all lighting our pockets or how we know this or that’ – and we don’t.
After city plan, I think we’ll have a better idea depending on what they do.
