Early indicators show Leesburg as next data center host, but details remain murky
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A rezoning request for 550 acres of land in Kosciusko County has set the rural town of Leesburg—and nearby Warsaw—on edge.
On paper, the request is simply for three landowners with connecting parcels to rezone the acreage from agricultural to industrial. But Kosciusko County staff and concerned community members alike believe the request is a precursor to bringing in a large-scale data center.
Some nearby residents have mobilized against the idea of a data center, saying it would ruin the bucolic character of the area and drain the region’s water and electric resources.
Officials, including Kosciusko County Area Plan Director Matt Sandy, emphasize there’s still numerous steps of approval before anything is finalized. But he acknowledged the plan, as he understands it, puts the region at a crossroads.
“When you look through our planning and just the history of decisions and guidance, that’s where ag has just played such a strong part in trying to preserve it. But that being said, we also are a very conservative county that likes development; we want to see that growth. So this one puts it right to the test. I don’t deny that at all,” Sandy said.
Project details TBD
At this stage, details are scarce on what exactly a data center would entail. According to Sandy, the only thing officially currently being considered by county boards is a request by three landowners—Murphy Place, Timothy Polk and Polk Family—to rezone about 554 contiguous acres from agricultural to Industrial-3, a designation that would allow for data centers as a possible use.
The land is a few miles northwest of Leesburg near a NIPSCO substation. The area is around a 10-minute drive north of U.S. 30.
An attorney representing the landowners for their rezoning hearing on April 2 told Inside INdiana Business he couldn’t discuss the matter. Messages left with Timothy Polk and Polk Equipment Inc. were not returned.
But Sandy said in conversations with the landowners, he believes they have been approached by a large industrial development firm called Prologis, which would like to build a data center on the land. Sandy said he hasn’t seen any sort of detailed plans as to what such a center would look like.
Representatives from Prologis were unable to arrange an interview before IIB’s Thursday afternoon deadline. Kevin McCherry, who’s the vice president of the Kosciusko Area Plan Commission, said the lack of specifics is “frustrating.”
“The information I’ve been given so far is very limited and most of it is rumor and assumption. I can’t make any judgments on that at this point,” McCherry said.
Keep Leesburg Rural
In the vacuum of specifics, opposition to the idea of data centers has emerged with an online petition opposed to the center garnering over 1,000 signatures.
A group that appears to be leading the anti-data center faction called Keep Leesburg Rural organized a public meeting this week, though representatives from the group have not responded to interview requests from IIB.
Their main concerns are increasing utility costs should a data center move in.
“This is a bad deal. Indiana shouldn’t sacrifice residents for tech’s experiments. A data center moratorium could assess grid strain and prioritize people over profits,” an unsigned statement posted to the group’s Facebook page reads.
Debate in Leesburg comes as a number of other cities in Indiana are also making decisions on large-use data center as Indiana’s generally plentiful aquifers, cheap land and generous tax credits draw in big tech firms.
Communities in Pittsboro and Indianapolis just this week are moving forward with data center projects, while citizens in Valparaiso voiced enough opposition to get city officials to shelve a project in northwest Indiana.
Rezoning
Before any data center becomes reality, there are multiple steps in the rezoning process. On April 2, the area plan commission is scheduled to hear the proposal and give a recommendation to the Kosciusko County Commissioners.
The commissioners have final approval on rezoning, but then there will be additional permits and zoning technicalities to sort out if the proposal makes it that far. Where the county commissioners stand is also unclear. All three elected commissioners—Sue Ann Mitchell, Cary Groninger and Robert Conley—did not respond to voicemails and emails from IIB asking to discuss the possible data center.
For his part on the area plan commission, Kevin McCherry said he’s torn between individual property rights and the greater good of the agricultural community.
“I do not like the idea of anybody telling me, or anyone else, what they can or can’t do with their land,” said McCherry. “But at the same time we have to protect certain areas and natural resources. And that area is prime corn-growing ground.”