Possibility of another New Carlisle data center reaches Saint Joseph County Council

SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- One of the very first steps of the process to build another possible data center in New Carlisle took place at Tuesday's Saint Joseph County Council meeting.

The council had a first reading on the bill that would rezone the 1,000 acres of land north of downtown New Carlisle from agricultural to industrial.

Even though there was no vote or action taken concerning the data center in Tuesday's meeting, New Carlisle Town Council President Marcy Kauffman says she showed up to make it clear that the town is playing close attention and reinforcing their opposition to it.

"We're just absorbed with Amazon and GM. We don't feel that we, our area, New Carlisle, can sustain another industrial area," says Marcy Kauffman, Town Council President of New Carlisle.

Kauffman says enough is enough.

New Carlisle residents say they don't want or need a third major industrial development closing in on the small town.

Coming with the project would be a laundry list of additional concerns, besides the most obvious, even more increase in traffic.

"Utilities, aquifer, electricity, infrastructure, everything is a huge concern," says Kauffman.

Kauffman was taken aback when she saw where developers want to put the data center.

The proposed site is outside of the already established IEC near State Road 2 and Larrison Boulevard, which is prepared for projects of this magnitude.

"This is just sort of out of nowhere because on both the New Carlisle Comprehensive Plan and the Saint Joseph County Comprehensive Plan, they both show that the intention there is for more natural greenspace, farming, things of that nature," Kauffman recalls.

"Different from SR 2 and Larrison and Smilax, the infrastructure had been built there 30-40 years ago to handle big, industrial development," explains Jeff Rea, President and CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber. "So, we long thought something was going to happen based on the investment many, many years ago. But this is pretty different, because this doesn't have the infrastructure out there."

Jeff Rea, President and CEO of the Regional Chamber isn't too surprised another data center is eyeing Hoosier farmland due to statewide incentives that attract developers.

However, he is surprised about the lack of knowledge surrounding the project even this early on compared to both the Amazon and GM projects, including simply who the developers are!

"This, an unknown one will have a harder uphill battle," Rea predicts. "We don't know anything about these people, they're talking about making a major investment in our area and so there will be uncertainty during the zoning hearing."

They say it's an unexpected result of the Amazon Data Center; opening the door for more data center developers asking for a piece of the pie.

"As counties are starting to say 'No', my guess is that data centers are looking to counties that have said 'Yes' in the past," says Rea.

"If this happens to the north of us, it wouldn't be just one thing," Kauffman says. "It would open the door for many others."

Kauffman and the Town Council have already sent a letter to county leaders asking them not to support this development.

ABC57 reached out to the two farmers listed as property owners of the proposed site according to the bill's documents.

One farmer said they signed a confidentiality agreement in order to sell so they had no comment.

The other farmer didn't respond to ABC57's request for an interview.