A ‘Change.org’ petition titled “Stop Data Centers in Hobart, Indiana — Protect Our Community” is urging city leaders to reject all current and future data center proposals. The petition argues that the large-scale facilities would strain local water and power supplies, while also increasing noise and air pollution. These changes would alter the city’s character without providing significant benefits locally.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition has amassed 1,868 signatures, as the city’s plan commission last week approved a fill permit allowing one developer to move forward with site preparation on 61st Avenue near Colorado Street.
The plan commission meeting came the night after a tumultuous city council meeting that saw a crowd numbering in the dozens pack the council chamber and spill out into the hall; The data center’s opponents dominated a nearly two-hour-long public comment period.
Speakers during last week's meeting voiced a variety of complaints, ranging from worries over the facilities’ impact on the local ecosystem, to fears about their effect on surrounding property values, to anxieties about the impact of a highly power- and potentially water-intensive industrial user on the area’s utility infrastructure and rates.
Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun has defended data centers as a lower-traffic alternative to other types of industrial development.
The anti-data center movement has gained significant momentum since this February, when the Hobart City Council voted to convert the 168-acre site eyed by Hobart Devco from a residential to a light industrial zoning designation. The item faced some pushback from residents with environmental and quality-of-life concerns, but their numbers were modest compared to the crowds now mobilized against the project.
“NO DATA CENTER” signs have spread across many of the city’s lawns, and protesters have become a regular presence at city council meetings.
