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Chicago Tribune
29-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Data center opponents urge rallying residents for May 13 meeting in Porter County
Opponents of the proposed data center development in Union Township mobilized Monday. A forum at Wheeler High School brought about 50 interested people together to answer questions and sign up to canvass neighborhoods in advance of a May 13 meeting at the Porter County Expo Center. 'Really, we're here to organize and get people involved,' said Matt Carpenter, of Union Township. 'You can be creative in the way you get out and contact people,' he said. 'Don't wait for somebody else to do what you need to do,' urged Wendy Reigel, of Chesterton, who helped lead the fight against the data center proposed last year for The Brassie, a former golf course. 'Tell your neighbor what you're telling us,' Reigel urged. When canvassing, attitude is important. Carpenter offered pointers. Canvass in pairs for protection, he said. 'Hit your own neighborhoods if you can.' 'Do try to find some common ground to be relatable,' he urged. Wear Wheeler Bearcats attire and say things like, 'I'm the guy who walks these dogs. That's my wife whose truck you see all the time.' Be respectful of property. Don't park in their driveway, and don't walk on their grass, Carpenter said. Try to keep conversations to five minutes, and don't bring up politics, Carpenter said. 'This isn't about red or blue or independent.' If they disagree, just nod and smile, then move on to the next house, he suggested. 'What seems to be the most negativity we can bring in a positive manner,' one resident asked. 'Tell them to google Virginia, Loudoun County, Virginia, data center alley,' Reigel said. That area, in northern Virginia, has a high concentration of data centers with more in development. In Union Township, AXPK, LLC, has petitioned to build on two parcels totaling 800 acres. Sale of the parcels to AXPK is contingent on rezoning. AXPK wants a planned unit development, a zoning category tailor-made for the project, a common practice for many developments. The proposed projects are called Jeremiah A and Jeremiah B. The first is proposed for a 351.85-acre parcel at the northeast corner of County Roads 450 N and 750 W. John Loxas of Hammond owns that land. The second, owned by Johnson Sunnybrook Farm, LLC, and Ceres Cedar Creek Farm, LLC, of Hobart, is at the southeast corner of 450 N and 650 W, due north of Union Township Middle and High Schools. Kyle Duarte, of Union Township, put that 800-acre development in perspective. 'All of Ameriplex (in Portage) is under 400 acres,' he said. The data center being built in New Carlisle, which is on 220 acres, will use 500 backup generators, said Bryce Gustafson, an organizer with Citizens Action Coalition. 'The driver for the data centers is artificial intelligence,' to facilitate language learning, he said. 'That's when we started seeing these hyperscalers coming to Indiana.' 'I think every community should have agency in what they want in their community,' he said, despite actions in the Indiana General Assembly that would take away local decisions on issues like where to locate small nuclear reactors. That's an issue relevant to data centers because of their high demand for electricity and reliability. NIPSCO has asked the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to allow it to create GenCo, a separate company devoted to powering data centers. The Citizens Action Coalition opposes it, Gustafson said, saying it would essentially be self-regulated. NIPSCO's integrated resource plan suggests 3,900 gigawatts generated by natural gas plants to meet data centers' demand. In comparison, peak demand for other customers is 2.2 gigawatts, Gustafson said. 'We've never seen anything close to what's happening right now,' he said. 'All of us know there's going to be a power plant back there behind our schools,' a resident said. Data centers have previously been proposed for locations in Chesterton, Burns Harbor and Valparaiso, all of which have been shot down by opponents. Smaller data centers have proliferated in Indiana, including one at Ameriplex in Portage. 'We knew it was QTS data centers proposing this,' a resident said, citing a web page that gave brief details about a proposed site in Porter County. That web page has since been taken down. Gary Brown, a member of the Porter County Izaak Walton League, urged the Union Township group to be vocal at the May 13 meeting. 'It's not how loud you scream, it's how you tell your personal story.' 'We need as many people as possible to let the commissioners know it's not right to charge the zoning right by our schools to light industrial,' Marissa Barnes said. The Porter County Planning Commission will hear the proposal first and decide whether to recommend the project go forward. It's up to the county Board of Commissioners to make the final decision. So far, Commissioner Barb Regnitz has expressed her opposition, Barnes said. Commissioners Jim Biggs and Ed Morales have said they want to see the process go through before voting on it. Concentrate on residents in their districts – north county and south county, respectively – to pressure Biggs and Morales, Barnes urged.
Chicago Tribune
26-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Porter County plans May 13 town hall on data centers proposed for Union Township
Porter County officials gave an overview at Tuesday's Board of Commissioners meeting of what residents should expect from next month's town hall on the proposed data centers in Wheeler. Mike Jabo, Porter County director of development and stormwater management, planned to release the town hall structure via the media well before the May 13 date, but the crowd at the meeting spoke out against the centers for the second meeting in a row and requested the plan as did Commissioner Barb Regnitz, R-Center. Jabo explained that under the county's unified development ordinance, a neighborhood meeting is an optional step in the petition process. 'We feel very strongly, with a project of this size and scope, a neighborhood meeting is important,' he said. The town hall will take place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, at the Porter County Expo Center and will be hosted by the Porter County Plan Commission. It is the body that will hear the formal petition from AXPK, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, on behalf of the property owners who would transfer ownership upon adoption of the ordinances. Jabo explained that the format will be similar to the town hall that was held at the Expo Center several years ago regarding a proposed solar farm in Malden. A dais seating the plan commission and its staff will head the room and a table will be set up for AXPK as presenter. There will be sign-in sheets for members of the public who wish to speak. While formally it will not be a question-and-answer format, with the petitioner expected to respond, Jabo and Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, said it is an opportunity for AXPK to hear all the questions and concerns of the public, and to come prepared to answer them at the first public hearing held by the plan commission at a later date. 'They can pose questions, yes,' Jabo said of the public at the town hall. 'The thing is so huge, there will be lots and lots and lots of questions.' The areas in question are currently zoned rural residential. The plan commission will formally hear the petition and make either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation to the Board of Commissioners, who would need to pass ordinances to amend the county's UDO approving a planned unit development. The proposed projects are being called Jeremiah A and Jeremiah B. Jeremiah A is proposed for a 351.85-acre parcel at the northeast corner of County Road W 450 N and County Road N 750 W owned by John Loxas of Hammond. Jeremiah B is proposed for 434.46 acres owned by Johnson Sunnybrook Farm, LLC and Ceres Cedar Creek Farm, LLC, of Hobart, at the southeast corner of W 450 N and N 650 W due north of Union Township Middle and High Schools. During the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting several people, including some who spoke at the April 1 meeting, again expressed concern over the petition. 'What keeps us up at night is not knowing what that process is,' said Amy Ketchum. She asked officials to walk the audience through the petition approval process. Jabo said it's a combination of confirming the petitioner has met Indiana Code and Porter County's UDO. First, he said the plan commission will hold a public hearing during which the public can make comments that the plan commission must address. At that point, it can vote to make a recommendation for or against the application or it can continue the meeting. Once the plan commission has made a recommendation one way or the other, the Board of Commissioners will have up to two meetings. Commissioners can approve or deny the request at the first meeting. Officials can't say how long the process will take. 'The answer is we don't know,' said Porter County Attorney Scott McClure. 'Mr. Jabo's department needs to determine when the application is completed. That sets the timeline in motion.' Ketchum looked up from her phone and told the board about breaking news from Kosciusko County. 'While we've been sitting here, that county denied it. They considered it heavy industrial.' 'I actually know the commissioners there, so guess who I'm calling?' Biggs replied. It's the industrial aspect that has protesters most concerned as Union Township school children would be separated from the southerly proposed site by a railroad track. Union Township retired pediatric nurse Cheryl Johnson mentioned extremely low-frequency magnetic fields and studies showing their potential link to childhood leukemia. 'I have tagged the toes of little children,' she said. 'Have you seen a child die of leukemia?' One young mother, who asked to be identified only as Jennifer S., cried through her entire statement, speaking of her two kids, one of whom is five. 'She's going to be there for 13 years,' she said of her daughter's school career. 'She's going to get a full dose.' Opponents of the centers are organizing swiftly. Yard signs have been distributed for weeks. An informational meeting for people to ask questions and get involved is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Wheeler High School, Door D.
Chicago Tribune
05-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Porter County residents protest Union Township data center proposal of nearly 800 acres
A standing-room-only crowd spilled out of the council chamber into the rotunda Tuesday morning to let the Porter County Board of Commissioners know its opposition to proposed data centers that would cover nearly 800 acres in Wheeler if approved. Planned unit development (PUD) applications were submitted to the county on Feb. 28 and were not part of Tuesday's board agenda; the Post-Tribune acquired the applications through an Access to Public Records Act request. Those voicing opposition did so predominantly on environmental grounds, particularly concerns over noise and water pollution, the safety of school children separated from the southerly proposed site by a railroad track, and the desire to make a decision sooner rather than later. Nearly two dozen people spoke against the application, starting with John Hunter, superintendent of Union Township School Corporation. He cited not only environmental concerns, such as pollution and noise, but said tax increment financing districts, or TIFs, would have negative impacts on the school district if approved. He said property values would also be affected. 'Residentially, we're going to lose about 10 square miles,' Hunter said. 'Why would we put an industrial area immediately adjacent to a school?' Residents in Chesterton, Burns Harbor, and most recently, Valparaiso, have opposed data center proposals on similar grounds. The areas in question are currently zoned rural residential, and the board of commissioners would need to pass ordinances to amend the county's unified development ordinance approving a PUD. The applications were submitted by AXPK, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, on behalf of the property owners who would transfer ownership upon adoption of the ordinances. The proposed projects are being called Jeremiah A and Jeremiah B. Jeremiah A is proposed for a 351.85-acre parcel at the northeast corner of County Road W 450 North and County Road N 750 West owned by John Loxas of Hammond. It is the more northerly of the two non-contiguous parcels and south of the landfill, and proposes an 80% impervious surface area. Jeremiah B is proposed for 434.46 acres owned by Johnson Sunnybrook Farm, LLC, and Ceres Cedar Creek Farm, LLC, of Hobart, at the southeast corner of W 450 North and N 650 West, due north of Union Township Middle and High schools. Architectural elevation plans show the buildings would be constructed of pre-cast concrete and pre-finished metal and aluminum composite panels, among other materials, and stand up to 120 feet tall, not including an additional maximum parapet height of 20 feet. Porter County Director of Development and Stormwater Management Mike Jabo said, 'The UDO's criteria is limiting to something less than that,' and said a building that tall would have to receive a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals. He couldn't speak to whether a 120-foot-tall building could cast a shadow onto adjacent property with an 80-foot setback. Proposed setbacks for the developments abutting residential areas would be 80 feet to the side and rear, and 100 feet in the front. Proposed setbacks from the nearby cemetery would be 100 feet on all sides. Setbacks from the property line to primary buildings proposed for all other settings are 50 feet on the side and rear and 80 feet in the front. Jabo said the height limitation is an example of the considerable scrutiny and back-and-forth the applicant will receive for its proposals. 'What they have proposed is nowhere near what we're going to see when they get to the plan commission,' he said. The Summary of Intent submitted by AXPK for Jeremiah B reads, 'The property is appropriate in large part based on its location which will have minimal impact on the community as a whole, and also due to its location in close proximity to existing utility services.' Every person who spoke against it disagreed that the impacts would be minimal. 'The proximity to three schools without land use studies is unacceptable,' said Angel Forystek, a Wheeler resident and mother of school-age children. Sandy Hill, who lives on County Road 650, said she has a friend in South Dakota who lives near a data center. 'He says it's 24/7 noise,' she said of the noise it puts off. 'He said you can turn the TV up as loud as you want and you can still hear it.' Under the category of noise standards, the application for Jeremiah A reads, 'Normal operation shall be mitigated through screening or muffling devices, such that the decibel level perceived at adjacent noise-sensitive land use is at or below 75 dB.' That's considered loud and equivalent to the noise level of a busy restaurant or loud radio. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says eight hours of exposure to 85 dB can damage hearing. The proposed ordinance for Jeremiah B exempts the noise maximum for 'construction, general maintenance/future construction and/or equipment or machinery used in emergency scenarios.' The tone eventually got heated between some in the audience and Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North. 'We did not ask for a data center to come knocking at our door,' he said. He told the crowd that while the board was there to serve them, it would not do to circumvent the application and due diligence process. Multiple speakers thanked Commissioner Barb Regnitz, R-Center, for making it known that she planned to vote against any proposed data centers, which she confirmed after the meeting. Jabo is in the process of setting up an informational meeting at the Porter County Expo Center to be run by the plan commission. AXPK would get to introduce its proposals and the public would get to ask questions. He expects the meeting to be in late April or early May.
