County Council Republicans propose two-year data center moratorium

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- A push for a moratorium on data centers in Saint Joseph County.

Four County Council Republicans and one Republican candidate for a Council seat made it clear today that they've heard an overwhelmingly negative response to proposals for more data centers, and they're listening to their constituents.

As the debate on data centers continues across the country, St. Joseph County Council republicans are establishing where they stand on the issue.

Amy Drake Joe Thomas, Randy Figg, Andy Rutten, and candidate Jamie O'Brien held a news conference Wednesday to explain their stance.

"We just think it's a great time for a pause, we're going to have over 40 data centers in our community and our county, we think that's enough. We would like a pause because we want the county to absorb and breathe a little bit here, before we even entertain the idea of another data center, there's a lot of anxiety in the community about data centers," said Joe Thomas, St. Joseph County Council, District A.

The proposed moratorium would last two years, and the five republicans say it would give the council and the community time to see how the current data centers impact the area.

As far as why they won't push for the moratorium now, they say the council's democratic majority doesn't support a moratorium.

They feel waiting until after the election would allow the public to weigh in - and potentially give the moratorium a better chance of passing.

"In Harris township where we're at right now in granger, this spring, I probably knocked on 2000 doors, I was campaigning, and I can count on one hand the number of folks that had any level of enthusiasm for data centers, overwhelming opposition, overwhelming fear, overwhelming concern about the unknown," said Jamie O'Brien, St. Joseph County Council candidate for District C.

ABC57 spoke with Bryan Tanner, the St. Joseph County Council president and a Democrat.

His concern lies further south in Indiana, where he believes there's an attempt to take away power from local governments.

"I'm deeply concerned about decisions and efforts by state lawmakers in Indianapolis, who have attempted to take these zoning decisions away from local government, and local government is the closest to the residents that we serve," said Bryan Tanner, St. Joseph County Council President and District H.

Tanner also says with the growth of the county, comes growth in other areas as well.

"Our county population over the last 25 years by roughly 7000 people, and in that same time, the amount of jobs in our community has decreased by 13,000, and good paying manufacturing and technology jobs have decreased as a net more than that," said Tanner.

The five republicans tell ABC57 that if they're all elected in November, it will secure the five votes they need to pass the proposed moratorium.