LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A data center is officially coming to Charlestown, Indiana, but many residents in the city are not very happy about it.
As the city's plan commission approved the $105 million, 55,000-square-foot data center Monday night — four in favor, three against — a packed crowd at the public meeting booed the commission and did not hold back on their criticism.
"You are ruining the environment," one person said. "You are killing us! And you're sitting on billions and trillions of dollars to justify it."
The 3-megawatt center, originally proposed by QLEVR LLC. in May, is set to be built on 12 acres of land in the Shadow Lake Industrial Park on Crisitani Parkway. The proposal suggests construction could take 14 to 16 months.
When residents living near the site were mailed letters with information about the proposal, they were immediately concerned about not only the construction noise, potential utility usage and impact on the environment.
Those were concerns that many residents brought up during Monday's meeting. The plan commission allowed everyone that signed up to speak their mind, which led to nearly 90 minutes of public testimony.Â
Location was just one of many things people in the area didn't believe was being considered.
"Why would you build it next to a school?" another person said. "When you can build it down there next to the industrial park? That makes no sense."
When that person asked if someone would answer her question, someone from the city can be heard saying the meeting was "not to answer questions" but just for the public to "give input."
"It's not a question and answering service," the person said.
When the data center was originally proposed, Mayor Treva Hodges said it was not considered at "large-scale" data center. Hodges also said this development would not impact neighbors' property taxes, and additional documents show the data center won't contaminate water or soil in the area.
But many people at the meeting said they didn't believe a word the developer had to say, and didn't think their concerns were being heard.
"There are concerns that the information residents received to not fully match the concerns being raised," another person said. "So we need clear answers."
The approval comes as other cities in southern Indiana are taking a hard look at data centers. In some cases, they're hitting pause to rewrite the rules.
Last week, New Albany approved a one-year moratorium on new data centers largest than 100,000 square feet while this review the city ordinances around data center development. Clarksville is also considering a ban as they update zoning regulations.
But in some areas, they're moving full steam ahead. In Madison, an appeals board cleared the way for the massive JPG data center project to move forward. And an $800 million Meta campus is already under construction in River Ridge.
According to the proposal documents, the data center in Charlestown would start with eight to 12 full-time jobs, with plans to hire more workers later. An economic development report shows 20 full-time jobs earning an average of $76,266 annually, once everything is up and running.
The project, according to the plan commission, met the legal requirements for the area. However, they did attach a few stipulations to the project, such as training for police and fire and an environmental and electrical usage study.
The commission also made a motion to consider a data center moratorium. That discussion will start at its next meeting.
The view the full proposal, click here.
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