Ground near a Kosciusko REMC substation northwest of Pierceton was approved for rezoning by the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission during its meeting Wednesday.
KREMC requested the commission's approval to rezone ground located west of the substation from an agricultural district to an Industrial II district. The property is south of U.S. 30 and north of East Washington Road.
Local attorney Steve Snyder attended the meeting on behalf of KREMC, who is planning to build a computer data center to place near the substation. He said the 4.86 acres of land in question would solely be used for the center and a small office area. Snyder noted there would be very minimal traffic, with only a couple employees at the site for monitoring the center.
"This area will be completely fenced, protected and secure," said Snyder. "The key is to locate very close to an adequate power supply source, and this is the logical location."
Snyder also noted there is adequate right-of-way to the west of the property for potential relocation if the site is affected by future plans with the U.S. 30 corridor.
Dean Collier, enterprise risk manager with Megawatt, said their business model includes them internally owning some of the units for their own computing use.
"We're not renting them out on a daily basis or anything," said Collier. "If we have a client that has machines, they would host those machines at our site. We would just run them for them."
Collier estimated the project's timeline would be around three to four months.
The commission approved sending the request with a favorable recommendation to the county commissioners at their Oct. 22 meeting.
The APC also discussed a petition for a preliminary plat approval for a residential area on the east side of Dewart Lake, north of Oswego. Donald Harder owns a 1.92-acre tract of ground on the south side of EMS D15 Lane, north of EMS D16C Lane.
During an Aug. 13 Kosciusko County Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, Harder's petition for a variance was approved. He requested permission to allow for the creation of a tract of land with less than the minimum requirements of frontage and access by an ingress/egress easement, when the ordinance requires 50 feet of ownership.
Laura Kaufman, Harder's attorney, said the Harder family have owned the property for generations and are seeking to split it into a two-lot subdivision.
"Their plan in dividing it was to be able to sell off a section to essentially allow them to afford to keep their half," said Kaufman.
County Surveyor Mike Kissinger said easements are horrible if they're the only access to a property.
APC Vice President Kevin McSherry expressed concern with emergency vehicles' access to the property. He made a motion for approving the preliminary plat, requesting the APC's concerns be taken into consideration as matters are finalized. The APC approved McSherry's motion, with Kissinger opposing.
The commission also received information about a corridor study related to CR 1300N, with the study evaluating infrastructure possibilities between Syracuse and Milford. APC Director Matt Sandy said the study would be utilized as an addendum to the county's comprehensive plan. Once the study is presented to the Kosciusko County Commissioners, a public meeting for community feedback will occur.
The APC's next meeting is at 1 p.m. Nov. 6.