LEESBURG - A meeting was held Tuesday at Clunette Methodist Church, Leesburg, to hear public comment on rezoning agricultural land and data center construction in Kosciusko County.
The church was packed with members of the community. Members of Keep Leesburg Rural, an eight-person committee formed by concerned area residents, spoke to and took comments from the crowd. The group has plans to go before the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission with these public comments April 2.
The concern is over a petition filed with the Area Plan Commission to rezone 160 acres of land, located near the NIPSCO substation at 3008 W. CR 700N, from Agricultural to Industrial-3 for the purpose of constructing a data center. It is not yet known what company is looking to build the data center or when.
The petition was filed by attorney Steve Snyder. In a public notice, the landowners involved were listed as Murphy Place, Timothy Polk and Polk Family.
"We don't have a site plan, we don't have a footprint, we don't have their water needs, we don't have their logistics needs as far as roads," said Gabe Ayers, member of Keep Leesburg Rural. "We're in just as much of a fact-finding mission as a protective one."
Ayers highlighted protecting agricultural land and residents' way of life as key points in their objection to the petition.
"The bottom line is we're trying to raise food, fuel and fiber to feed the world, to supply the world," he explained. "At the end of the day, we're looking at local support to keep this ground agricultural."
Recent legislation has opened the county up to the possibility of a data center being built. The Area Plan Commission amended an ordinance to allow data centers as exceptional uses in Industrial-3 zones at its Feb. 5 meeting.
The ordinance’s definition of a data center is “a location housing one or more large computer systems and related equipment concerned with building, maintaining or processing data and providing other data processing services.” The Kosciusko County Commissioners, who have the final say on rezoning, approved adopting the amendment Feb. 25.
Members of Keep Leesburg Rural presented their concerns to the data center, as well as some research into the topic. Main points included loss of farm land, demand on the water supply, increased electricity bills and the possibility of blackouts.
Jared Templin pointed out the Kosciusko Comprehensive Plan emphasizes the importance farmland and said Indiana has lost "nearly 550,000 acres of farmland since 2010."
Karen Templin explained she had spoken to Dr. Nate Bosch at the Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams and Tritium Inc. hydrologist Todd Feenstra on water use.
Data centers require huge amounts of water to keep their systems from overheating. The data center's demand for water, where discharge will be released and how fast water can be recovered after use is not yet known.
"If it doesn't (recover) within 24 hours, then you see a depleting system in the water supply," she said, quoting Feenstra.
The rezone area is located near the Yellow River, Tippecanoe River and Turkey Creek. Discharge from the data center could potentially overwhelm parts of these water systems, Karen Templin said.
Raegan Templin stated a hyperscale data center requires 2 megawatts per acres and Indiana generates only about 27,000 megawatts, putting it at a "20% energy shortfall."
"NIPSCO serves 480,000 customers and they want a 22% rate hike, this is $32 ... more monthly per household by September 2025," she added, arguing lower-income families would be at higher risk for disconnection, over the 13% who were disconnected last year. The increased demand for electricity could also "tip scales, risking blackouts."
"Jobs or prestige from a data center don't justify plugging Hoosiers into a deeper energy crisis," Raegan Templin concluded.
A number of the attendees asked additional questions and voiced their opinions against the construction of a data center.
Jeanette Stookey asked how the data center would affect air quality and the health of cattle on nearby farms.
Prairie Township Trustee Julia Goon asked if the assessed value of the data center's land might raise property taxes for the surrounding landowners.
Several attendees suggested a data center be built on non-agricultural land in the county instead.
In response, Sam Beer pointed out the NIPSCO substation is a "huge attraction" because of its electrical capabilities.
Ayers said he is not totally opposed to data centers, but there could be a "better place than right in the center of irrigated, productive farmland."
Near the end of the meeting, Area Plan Commission Vice President Kevin McSherry stood and spoke to the crowd.
"We haven't heard a lot of facts yet, but I don't know of anyone on the board that stands to gain anything," he said. "This is a big decision, it weights heavy on me. Personally, I'm losing sleep over it already, and I've got until April 2."
He advised community members to remain orderly and avoid being repetitive at the APC meeting. He also suggested Keep Leesburg Rural get an attorney.
"Why can you not ask for more facts before you have to rule?" Ayers asked McSherry.
McSherry replied the APC is supposed to receive more information a week before the next meeting, but he did not know if that information would be public.
Keep Leesburg Rural asked community members to submit additional questions and comments to [email protected]. Community members were also encouraged to show up in support at the APC meeting at 1 p.m. April 2 in the Kosciusko County Courthouse.
The group has created a change.org petition asking lawmakers not to allow the re-purposing of farmland for a data center. At the time of this writing, there were 921 verified signatures.
The group can be found at facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573777177043.