A congenial crowd of more than 100 people, the overflow sitting on chairs or standing in the hallway, packed the Hobart Plan Commission meeting on Thursday to express their concerns and, in some cases, support, for rezoning that could result in a data center.
The Plan Commission, after listening to both pros and cons of the rezoning request, voted unanimously in favor of the rezoning, which next goes before the Hobart City Council for its approval.
Mayor Josh Huddlestun, who voiced his support for the rezoning and last month hosted a public forum on the issue, said this is the initial step in the proposal that still needs to go before the city council, possibly as soon as the next meeting on Aug. 20.
If the city council approves the rezoning request, the petitioners will then need to have their site plans approved before the project can proceed.
The approved M-1 or light manufacturing rezoning allows the petitioner to build a data center or anything allowable in that zone, Huddlestun said.
“This is just the first step,” said petitioner Jason Simon, of Wylie Capital.
Wylie Capital, a Chicago-based real estate developer that builds data centers, asked for a rezone for 400 acres on 61st Avenue, east of Colorado and north of 69th Avenue.
Simon, who gave a brief presentation before public comment, said the proposed location off Colorado and 61st Avenue is ideal because it is adjacent to utilities, has an ample water supply, and is close to the interstate highway and railways.
He said the property has some natural buffer zones, including the new overpass, and developers will add berms that will exceed city code standards.
The project, a multi-million-dollar investment, will mean hundreds of construction jobs and six-figure salaries for those working at the data center.
“This is a win-win situation,” Simon said.
The majority of those in attendance, like longtime Hobart resident Helen Engstrom, spoke against the rezoning request.
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Engstrom came prepared with a Hobart Chamber of Commerce Fourth of July flier that promotes the city’s “quality of life” and the city’s “strong sense of community.”
She said many had moved to Hobart from Hammond and Gary to get away from those areas to build their “dream home” and to get away from more industrial-based communities.
Engstrom read from a recent article in Bloomberg about issues in Northern Virginia regarding data centers and all “taking a toll on the quality of life.”
She also cited communities in Northwest Indiana that had turned down or delayed action on data centers including Chesterton, Valparaiso, Michigan City and LaPorte.
“Do they know something we don’t know?” Engstrom asked.
There were a few proponents of the data center, including Steve Muenstermann, a data center consultant for the past decade.
He spoke in favor of the data center, noting that growth income has been flat in the area while the Carolinas, where data centers have been built, experienced economic growth.
“We can’t stop this. Technology will happen. We are, from the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed, dependent on technology. This data center will never be vacant,” Muenstermann said.
Northwestern Indiana Building & Construction Trades Council Business Manager Randy Palmateer also spoke in favor of the proposed data center and the construction jobs it would bring.
“We need jobs like this,” Palmateer said.
Joseph Conn, who said his family moved out of Gary to Hobart when he was 12, agreed with Engstrom’s characterization of folks moving to get out of more urban areas.
Conn, a former Post-Tribune Writers Guild president, said he can understand the data center bringing in needed union jobs, but what he objects to is the proposed location.
“We have land that could be developed farther south,” Conn said.
Hobart resident Beth Froedge also spoke against the rezoning for the proposed data center.
“We bought our house (in Hobart) for our retirement. I’m not against a data center, just where it is. It’s literally in our backyard. Please reconsider,” Froedge said.
Deborah McCullough, a Hobart resident for 25 years, said her concerns were environmental ones and the effect on water since she raises animals, including sheep and goats.
“I have nothing against the data center, but just where it is proposed,” McCullough said.
In addition to this proposed data center, zoning approval has already been given by both the Plan Commission and the City Council for a data center to be built on a 168-acre parcel on 61st Avenue, roughly half a mile from the roadway’s intersection with Colorado Street.
Huddlestun said that the proposed project, presented by Hobart Devco, LLC, still needs to go before city officials with site plans provided by the petitioner.
“We haven’t seen anything yet,” he said.
That data center will consist of six buildings and an 11-acre detention pond.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.