Cave City says land owner never filed data center plans at center of lawsuit
A hearing is scheduled for July 20 on the company’s request for a preliminary injunction that would temporarily block enforcement of the moratorium while the lawsuit proceeds.
CAVE CITY, Ky. — Cave City is asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit over its data center moratorium, arguing the company behind the proposed project never submitted a valid development plan in the first place.
Attorneys for Cave City, the Cave City Council and the Joint City-County Planning Commission contend Kentucky Industrial Alliance LLC filed only a two-page application, not the development plan required under city ordinances, and therefore has no legal standing to challenge the moratorium.
Kentucky Industrial Alliance filed the lawsuit in Barren County on June 8, alleging Cave City unlawfully adopted a one-year moratorium on data center applications and that the Joint City-County Planning Commission failed to process its development plan application.
Brennan Crain
A hearing is scheduled for July 20 on the company’s request for a preliminary injunction that would temporarily block enforcement of the moratorium while the lawsuit proceeds.
In a motion filed June 29, attorneys Aaron D. Smith and Josie F. Keusch of the Bowling Green law firm English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley argue the lawsuit should be dismissed because Kentucky Industrial Alliance has not suffered a legally recognizable injury.
Central to the city’s argument is its claim that the company never submitted an actual development plan.
According to the filing, Kentucky Industrial Alliance submitted only a two-page application form on May 11 but did not include the required development plan, engineering drawings or other supporting materials required under Cave City’s development plan ordinance.
“Plaintiff did not just fail to include each ‘development item’—it failed to submit any development plan whatsoever,” the motion said.
Because the city argues no valid development plan was ever filed, attorneys contend the company cannot claim the subsequent moratorium prevented its proposal from being considered.
The motion further argues Kentucky Industrial Alliance acquired no vested rights simply by purchasing property, entering into an option agreement with a prospective data center developer or paying application fees.
It says Kentucky law requires more than a proposed future development or an incomplete application to establish a legally protected interest.
As a result, the city argues Kentucky Industrial Alliance lacks standing to challenge the moratorium or seek a declaratory judgment invalidating the ordinance.
The Joint City-County Planning Commission echoed many of the same arguments in its response filed July 1.
The commission acknowledged receiving a development plan application but stated no development plan accompanied the filing. Because of that, it argues no public hearing on the proposal was required and asks the court to dismiss the claims against the commission.
Brennan Crain
The commission also told the court it intends to take no further action on the application until the litigation is resolved.
Kentucky Industrial Alliance has argued the moratorium unlawfully halted its proposed data center project after it had already submitted its application and invested millions of dollars assembling land and preparing the property for development.
In a separate but related case, another lawsuit filed June 30 challenges Cave City’s annexation of approximately 245 acres into the city limits. The annexed property is part of the proposed data center development and has become another front in the ongoing legal dispute.
