Granger residents persist in meeting they felt was short on answers over data center

Joseph Dits, South Bend Tribune
This is some of the 914 acres at St. Joe Farm, north of Cleveland Road and east of Currant Road in Granger, that's proposed for industrial rezoning for a data center. The farm buildings in the distance aren't part of the proposal.
This is some of the 914 acres at St. Joe Farm, north of Cleveland Road and east of Currant Road in Granger, that's proposed for industrial rezoning for a data center. The farm buildings in the distance aren't part of the proposal.

GRANGER — The packed room of more than 150 residents weren’t ready to quit after a consultant’s half-hour presentation Thursday about the proposed industrial rezoning of more than 900 acres at St. Joe Farm.

They wanted to ask their own questions. So, when one county official said that wasn’t the plan for the meeting, they started to bellow them out across the cafeteria room at St. Pius Catholic School.

“Who’s the buyer?” one person asked about the data center that the unnamed developer is considering.

April 17, 2024: Revealed: Data center and farmer's woes at St. Joe Farm as county advances rezoning

“Are you going to talk about how much power is used to run the data center?” another asked.

“How much water is going to be used?”

Residents held up red cards to show their opposition to the industrial rezoning of land at St. Joe Farm in Granger during the informational meeting at St. Pius Catholic School on Thursday, May 9, 2024.
Residents held up red cards to show their opposition to the industrial rezoning of land at St. Joe Farm in Granger during the informational meeting at St. Pius Catholic School on Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Ultimately, St. Joseph County Council member Dan Schaetzle, who represents the area, took the microphone and starting fielding some questions from the audience. Several other council members and county officials were in the room, too.

Another council member, Amy Drake, said she’d accept and write down questions after the meeting.

The proposed rezoning for the site, east of Capital Avenue and Cleveland Road, will come to the council for a vote at its meeting at 6 p.m. May 14.

This is some of the 914 acres at St. Joe Farm, north of Cleveland Road and east of Currant Road in Granger, that's proposed for industrial rezoning for a data center. The farm buildings in the distance aren't part of the proposal.
This is some of the 914 acres at St. Joe Farm, north of Cleveland Road and east of Currant Road in Granger, that's proposed for industrial rezoning for a data center. The farm buildings in the distance aren't part of the proposal.

“I don’t have the answers,” Schaetzle told the crowd. “We will go into the meeting with as much information as we can. If you have more questions that were not answered tonight, email them to me and I will try to get answers.”

Afterwards, neighbor Amy Sanders, who is among the organizers of an effort pushing the county to deny the rezoning, said none of the specific questions that her group had submitted were answered at the meeting. Questions like: What will future phases of development look like at the site after the data center?

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joe Farm meeting in Granger short on answers on industrial rezoning

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