St. Joseph County Council vote to rezone St. Joe Farms

ST JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- The St. Joseph County Council met today to vote on the issues facing the recent purchase of the 900-acre property known as St. Joe Farms. 

The proposed usage of the site is for a tech center, and while the county has not offered details on the expected development, they have mentioned that it will not be an industrial development. 

Environmental concerns have also been raised in relationship to the development.

"The Juday Creek corridor is something that we've long held, you know, is an important feature in St. Joseph County. So, a lot of protections are going to be put onto that," said Bill Schalliol, Economic Development Director for St. Joseph County. "And there's a lot of opportunities, once this property transfers hands, to really put in some additional protections, the basic protections. We talked today about setbacks, about moving farming further back, things like that are very basic, very, very primitive."

Petitioners have said that protections will be put in place for neighboring Juday Creek, including a 100-foot buffer zone, cap wells near the property, and the usage of water and sewer services from Mishawaka.

The meeting ended with the council voting 6-3 in favor of rezoning the property, with the first phase of the project beginning to build on 600 acres.