Luther Board Agenda includes items calling for a Data Center ordinance and moratorium

A Saturday publication of the agendas for next Tuesday’s Luther Board of Trustees meetings revealed a couple of items about data centers; however, LRN has confirmed that there is NOT an application filed with the town by Beltline Energy for its controversial project teased a year ago. 

Whether the application is ever filed from Georgia’s Beltline Energy, or any other company, a proposed ordinance to be considered during Tuesday’s meeting will help guide the process for the Town of Luther.

Click here for the agenda, generally sent on Mondays, if you did not receive it via email from the town’s notification system. Note, most meeting materials such as the data center items and the proposed Luther budget are included in the file that includes the Town Board agenda, so keep scrolling.

The data center-related items are:
14. Consideration, discussion, and possible action to approve an ordinance amending the zoning ordinance to establish a Specific Use Permit process for data centers.
15. Consideration, discussion, and possible action to approve a moratorium on the rezoning for and issuance of building permits for data center, large load users, or other large-scale industrial projects.

Trading brief emails during a busy weekend, Town Manager Rian Harkins shared a little background on the items. 

About Item 14, he said,  “The SUP ordinance is similar to what Yukon has previously passed. It was drafted by staff after seeing so many discussions around the community.”

The proposed ordinance, in part reads:

“The Board of Trustees finds that data centers can create substantial impacts related to electricity demand, water use, traffic, noise, lighting, building scale, and compatibility with surrounding land uses.The purpose of this ordinance is to ensure that data centers are reviewed through a specific use permit process so that the Town may evaluate site-specific impacts before approval.”

In considering an application for a specific use permit for a data center, the Town may consider whether the proposal:

• Is consistent with the Town’s comprehensive plan and zoning intent.
• Is compatible with surrounding uses.
• Adequately addresses access, traffic, and emergency response.
• Adequately addresses electric service, backup generation, water demand, drainage, and utility capacity.
• Minimizes adverse noise, lighting,visual, and environmental impacts.
• Provides sufficient setbacks, screening, and landscaping.
• Meets all other applicable local,state, and federal requirements.

The proposed ordinance also lists conditions of approval:

• Limits on building placement, height, and massing.
• Screening, buffering,and landscaping requírements. Restrictions on outdoor storage.
• Noise and lighting controls.
• Limitson generator testing hours.
• ‘Traffic management and access requirements. Water conservation or reuse measures.
• Decommissioning,abandonment,or site restorationconditions.

The proposed ordinance lists application requirements, typical of other SUP permitting:

• A site plan.
• A description ofthe proposed operations.
• A utility impact statement.
• Traffic and access information.
• A drainage and stormwater plan.
• A noise and lighting mitigationplan.
• Any other information requested by Town staff to evaluate compatibility and public welfare.

Moratorium like OKC

Regarding Luther’s agenda Item 15, Harkins said, ”The moratorium request was from residents and based on recent actions of a similar nature by the City of OKC.”

Approved by the OKC City Council on April 21, 2026, “The (OKC) moratorium immediately halts the acceptance of new applications, the processing of, and the issuance of rezoning requests and permits related to the construction or expansion of data centers through the end of 2026, (or earlier if amendments to the City’s Zoning Code regarding data centers are approved by City Council.)”

“The temporary pause on new data centers will give the City more time to understand how they affect our community’s resources, such as energy use, water demand and land use,” Oklahoma City City Manager Craig Freeman said. “This brief pause ensures we move forward strategically, so future projects align with our community’s needs and support sustainable, long-term growth.”

The letter submitted to the Luther Board of Trustees, with ten signatures, states in part: “We feel it is only prudent and responsible to learn from the results of the Oklahoma City moratorium and take the same action but extend it past December 31 to at least March 1, 2027, to have additional time to review the information provided by the Oklahoma City evaluation and the measures and regulations implemented. Since Luther does not have the resources to do large impact studies this is the perfect opportunity for Luther to learn from Oklahoma City and see if the town of Luther can utilize some of the same information Oklahoma City evaluates and consider whether implementation for some of the same measures Oklahoma City decides to adopt can be applied to Luther.”

A similar citizen’s petition calling for a data center moratorium in Luther circulated a year ago.

Time to Talk Budget

Other items at Tuesday’s Regular Meeting of the Luther Board of Trustees include a first look at the new fiscal year budget set to take effect in July 2026, and the total is about $70,000 less than the current budget, at just under $1.4 million. The revenue picture is largely the same, except no grant revenue is budgeted which accounts for the overall lower budget number. The largest portion of municipal revenue comes from sales taxes and use (internet sales) taxes on dollars spent locally (or shipped to us at addresses within town limits). The town projects at least $50,000 in monthly sales tax revenue. The monthly average of Luther sales taxes for the first 11 months of the current fiscal year is about $59,000.

For context, here’s a quick snapshot of the monthly collections reported by the Oklahoma Tax Commission for May 2026 for Luther and surrounding municipalities from smallest to largest. 

May 2026 Sales Tax

• Luther: $53,670  (2025 $58,824) Rate: 4%
• Arcadia: $58,017 (2025 $59,654) Rate: 4%
• Wellston: $68,974 (2025 $52,686) Rate: 4%
• Jones: $155,277 (2025 $122,796) Rate: 5%
• Harrah: $327,462 (2025 $392,257) Rate: 4%
• Guthrie: $831,373 (2025 $773,682) Rate: 3.75%
• Choctaw: $983,135 (2025 $758,111) Rate: 5.25%
• Edmond: $7,393,587 (2025 $7,105,267 Rate: 3.75%

May 2026 USE Tax (internet sales at the same rate)

• Wellston: $11,312 (2025 $12,847)
• Luther: $24,803 (2025 $19,101)
• Arcadia: $25,005 (2025 $34,087)
• Jones: $71,841 (2025 $79,419)
• Harrah: $87,673 (2025 $95,117)
• Guthrie: $121,019 (2025$172,503)
• Choctaw: $232,591 (2025 $160,652)
• Edmond: $1,512,870 (2025 $1,642,561)

Meeting Space Refresh

The May 12, 2026, Town Board meetings will be at 7 pm at 108 S Main, Luther. Attendees will walk into a “refreshed” space made possible by generous donations of lumber, trim, labor, money, and paint as well as volunteer hours from several local businesses and others. This is “Phase One” of the project, ready just in time for meeting week. Thanks especially to Trustee Cindy Taylor, who spearheaded the project. 

Return of the Pride Alumni Weekend, Third Saturday Market, and a Parade

The Return of the Pride alumni weekend is Friday and Saturday. Find the details here. Highlights include the Saturday morning downtown market that coincides with Luther’s Third Saturday market – with more vendors, music, and festivities – and a parade at 10 am.

Editors’s Note: This article was updated at 8:30 pm to include additional information about the proposed ordinance, the citizens letter, and the proposed town budget after your editor belatedly discovered the materials conveniently included in the agenda notice after publishing the first version. (I had planned to ask for the copies on Monday, but had them all along!)

Luther Alumni “Return to the Pride” May 15 – 16