Indiana

Buying Land in Henry County, Indiana

Seat New Castle, along I-70 in east-central Indiana. Henry County zones through its own Planning Commission for unincorporated land, and in the past two years has approved a major data center near Knightstown and hosts two utility-scale solar farms -- genuine land-use change for a county that was, until recently, a fairly typical agricultural county.

County Zoning Covers Unincorporated Land Only

Generally favorable

The Henry County Planning Commission zones unincorporated county land. New Castle, Knightstown, Spiceland, and Sulphur Springs each maintain their own separate municipal zoning.

A Large Data Center Was Approved Near Knightstown

Case-by-case / verify locally

Henry County Commissioners approved a Planned Unit Development for a 500-plus-acre data center near Knightstown in January 2026, after a contested rezoning process. See our dedicated zoning page for this county for details.

Two Utility-Scale Solar Farms Are Sited in the County

Case-by-case / verify locally

The Bellflower and Greensboro solar projects both involve leased Henry County farmland. See our dedicated page on wind and solar leasing for this county if you're evaluating land near either site.

Zoning: the Planning Commission covers unincorporated land -- the towns zone themselves

Henry County administers zoning for unincorporated territory through its own Henry County Planning Commission, based out of the county government offices at 1201 Race Street in New Castle. The City of New Castle and the incorporated towns of Knightstown, Spiceland, and Sulphur Springs each maintain separate, independent elected governments with their own zoning authority -- county ordinances generally don't apply inside those municipal boundaries. That split matters for Henry County specifically because some of the county's most consequential recent land-use decisions, including the Knightstown-area data center covered below, ran through the county's own Planning Commission and Board of Commissioners rather than a town government, since the project site itself sits in unincorporated territory near, but not inside, Knightstown.

A buyer should confirm which government actually controls a given Henry County parcel before assuming either the county's or a nearby town's zoning rules apply -- particularly near Knightstown, New Castle, or any other incorporated boundary, where a parcel just outside town limits can look deceptively similar to one just inside them on a map.

A large data center, approved after a contested fight -- see our dedicated page

Henry County spent roughly fifteen months working through a proposal from Surge Development LLC (with GM Development) for a data center covering more than 500 acres near State Road 109 and I-70, close to Knightstown. The county's Planning Commission tabled an initial rezoning vote in October 2025 after heavy resident turnout, approved the rezoning in November 2025, and the Board of Commissioners cast the final approval vote for a Planned Unit Development in January 2026 -- with one commissioner casting the lone dissenting vote after reporting that more than 80% of the constituents who'd contacted her wanted her to vote no. See our dedicated zoning topic page for Henry County for the full timeline and what it means for land near the site.

This kind of large-footprint industrial approval on formerly agricultural land is a genuine departure from Henry County's historical land-use pattern, and it followed the same broader shape seen in several other Indiana counties recently -- public pushback, a tabled first vote, then eventual approval with conditions attached through the PUD process rather than a simple up-or-down rezoning.

Solar leasing: two utility-scale projects -- see our dedicated page

Separately from the data center, Henry County hosts two utility-scale solar developments built on leased farmland: the 173-megawatt Bellflower solar farm, which spans both Rush and Henry Counties and has been fully operational since early 2023, and the Greensboro Solar Center, a 100-megawatt project with 30 megawatts of battery storage being developed by a NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary with power sold to NIPSCO, expected to begin operations as early as July 2027 and reported to generate roughly $23.5 million in additional revenue for the county. See our dedicated wind-and-solar-leasing page for Henry County if you're evaluating land near either project or considering a lease offer of your own.

For a buyer not directly involved in either project, the practical takeaway is that a meaningful share of Henry County farmland already carries, or sits near, a long-term solar lease -- worth checking specifically if you're purchasing agricultural acreage anywhere in the eastern half of the county.

Septic and other departments to know

For a standard on-site sewage system, the Henry County Health Department (1201 Race Street, New Castle) handles permitting under the statewide 410 IAC 6-8.3 rule, with a soil test from a certified consultant required up front; the department's published fee schedule runs from $50 for connecting to an existing system up to $225 for new construction, with the department turning around a Technical Specification Data Sheet within 48 hours of receiving your soil-test results and completed application.

Given how much active land-use change Henry County has seen recently -- the Knightstown data center and two solar leases, on top of ordinary agricultural turnover -- a buyer anywhere in the county's eastern half should check current zoning status and any pending rezoning petition directly with the Planning Commission rather than assuming an older plat or listing reflects the current picture.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Henry County's Planning Commission structure and the Knightstown data center's timeline are confirmed across multiple independent Indiana outlets (Indiana Public Radio, Fox59, WTHR) plus small east-central Indiana papers (Rushville Recorder, Batesville Leader, Brookville American wire republication), so those specifics carry reasonably high confidence. The Greensboro Solar Center's capacity, acreage, and revenue figures come from a public Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission filing and The Courier-Times of New Castle; Bellflower Solar's capacity and status come from Lightsource bp's own project page. This research pass caught and excluded two cross-state contamination risks: search results for a Henry County data-center ordinance and a Henry County RWE wind-turbine/Alternative Energy Overlay rewrite both used the phrase "Board of Supervisors," which Indiana counties do not use (Indiana uses an elected Board of Commissioners plus a County Council) -- the data-center-ordinance material traced to Henry County, Virginia (wdbj7.com, wsls.com, cardinalnews.org, henrycountyva.gov) and the wind-turbine material traced to Henry County, Iowa (wind-watch.org); neither is reflected on this page or its standalones. Direct WebFetch to henrycounty.in.gov was not attempted, so current zoning-department contact details should be confirmed directly.

Verify directly with: the Henry County Planning Commission for zoning verification and current status of the Knightstown-area data center PUD, and the Henry County Health Department for septic permitting

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Henry County

Direct WebFetch access to henrycounty.in.gov was not attempted in this research pass, so several department details reflect search-indexed content rather than a full verbatim read -- confirm current staff, hours, and fees directly before relying on this page for a specific parcel.

Planning & Zoning