(La Porte County, IN) - There’s a push to force data centers wanting to go up in the unincorporated areas of LaPorte County into zones designated strictly for industrial use.

 

The LaPorte County Commissioners on Wednesday voted unanimously to request an ordinance containing such a requirement be adopted by the La Porte County Planning Commission.

 

Commissioner Steve Holifield said the idea is to prevent a data center from locating near residential neighborhoods and on productive farmland.

 

Holifield said he would also like to have limits on water consumption in such an ordinance to ease fears over the impact a data center might have on water tables given their need for water to keep their servers from overheating.

 

So far, LaPorte County government has not received any formal proposals to construct a data center, officials said.

 

“There’s a lot more questions than answers right now.  We want to make sure it’s done correctly and the people of LaPorte County are protected,” he said.

 

The request will be considered at the next planning commission meeting on October 28 at 6 p.m. at the La Porte County Complex, said Holifield, who’s the planning commission’s vice president.

 

Any ordinance adopted by the planning commission would go before the county commissioners for final approval, which is standard procedure.

 

During the commissioners meeting, there was a strong turnout of concerned residents from the area of Indiana 39 and 400 South near Kingsbury.

 

Their concerns are driven by several nearby landowners reportedly being contacted about any interest they might have in selling their farmland.

 

One of the concerned residents, Ken Layton, suggested Kingsbury Industrial Park just a few miles to the east as a perfect location for a data center.

 

Layton, a former La Porte County Commissioner, said the huge park already has municipal water and sewer service and a NIPSCO substation that could meet a data center’s high demand for electricity. 

 

In addition, he said there’s already a buffer zone keeping the inside of the park out of public view.

 

“You can’t see what’s going on inside the K.O.P. unless you go inside the K.O.P., he said. 

 

The park was once known as the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant where ammunition was made several decades ago for military use.

 

“We don’t want it in our backyard either,” said Carolyn Tole, who lives in an old subdivision near the entrance to the industrial park.

 

Tole, who moved there about 10 years ago, said a lot of people apparently don’t realize there are residents like herself along the park’s boundaries.

 

“Our neighborhood has been out there since 1942.  I don’t know why you’re so quick to throw something out there,” she said. 

 

Don Laskowski expressed fears a data center near his home across from Luhr Park Nature Center would especially have a negative impact on ground water levels.

 

“I’m just worried all of our water wells are going to get sucked dry,” he said. 

 

Commissioner Joe Haney encouraged residents to again turn out in great numbers and speak their minds at future meetings addressing the issue.

 

“That’s exceptionally important,” he said.

 

Right now, Haney said he’s opposed to any plans for a data center given his high level of uncertainty about their impact.

 

He pointed to a data center presently going into a former windshield wiper making plant at 402 Royal Rd. in Michigan City and one planned in the city limits of La Porte in the area of Boyd Boulevard and Indiana 39.

 

“Until we see how those perform, I’m not in favor of seeing any data center at all in our unincorporated areas,” he said.