Google has withdrawn a proposal for a 468-acre data center project in Franklin Township, Indiana.

The decision, made yesterday (September 22), pre-empted a planned vote by the Indianapolis City-County Council on a rezoning request. The council was expected to deny the application.

A second hearing regarding the rezoning request could take place on October 6 if the company does not submit a formal withdrawal of its petition, the council said.

A proposal for the data center was submitted by Google-affiliated Deep Meadows LLC in March 2025, with the hyperscaler being confirmed as being behind the project in July 2025. Franklin Township, where the facility would have been built, is located in Marion County, southeast of Indianapolis, where most of the state's data centers are located.

Had the rezoning request been granted, site plans suggested that Google would have built four buildings on the land, situated along I-74 and Post Road. The company would have also received tax cuts for 10 years.

Dubbed 'Project Flo,' the data center was given approval by the Metropolitan Development Commission, which voted 8-1 in favor of the development going ahead in August. However, local residents had raised concerns about the potential environmental impact of the data center and the lack of transparency around the project, particularly when it emerged that City-County Council member Michael-Paul Hart had signed an NDA to keep details about the data center confidential – Hart said he did this in order not to be shut out from discussions regarding the facility.

It was previously reported that around 60 protestors gathered outside a meeting on September 8 when the council last met to discuss the proposal, with the majority of council members also speaking out in opposition to the project.

At yesterday’s meeting, local news outlet WFYI Indianapolis reported that “hundreds of cheers erupted in the packed council chambers” when it was announced that Google had withdrawn the rezoning request.

However, despite the apparent victory, Andrew Filler, organizer of the protest group Protect Franklin Township, said the group was “going to be vigilant” as Google has the option to refile the rezoning petition in three months.

“We're going to protect our homes and keep our community game built up,” he said.

In response to a request for comment from DCD, a spokesperson for Google said: "We have withdrawn the rezoning application for the proposed data center development in Franklin Township. While we are disappointed that this project is not moving forward, we look forward to continued opportunities for growth in the state."

Elsewhere this week, despite widespread local opposition, Google was granted permission to build on protected wetlands at its $2 billion Project Zodiac data center campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Prior to the request being granted, local residents made multiple requests for a public hearing to be held, but were only provided with a 30-day period during which they could publicly submit comments – the vast majority of which were opposed to the application being granted.