By Madison Hart
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kosciusko County Commissioners approved an amendment to an ordinance to include data centers in Industrial Zone 3 districts at a meeting Tuesday, Feb. 25.

As Kosciusko County adds data centers to a zoning ordinance, residents, plan commission members and IT professionals weigh in on what a data center would mean for the county.

Recalling The Area Plan Commission’s Road To Approval

Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission approved adding data centers to a zoning ordinance during a meeting Wednesday, Feb. 5. The decision at APC came with a lot of discussion about the impact data centers could have on agriculture.

Attorney Steve Snyder said the data center projects in St. Joseph and Allen Counties both use more than 500 acres of land.

APC member Mike Long expressed his concerns about the obsolescence of data centers, wondering what the county will do with the building for the next 100 years if it turns out data centers are obsolete in 10 years. Snyder said it’s difficult to predict whether data centers will last 10 or 100 years.

Another concern is water usage to cool the computers.

In an interview with InkFreeNews, Area Plan Director Matt Sandy explained, “Typically there are three different methods (of cooling data centers) use: electric cooling, a closed water system, which cycles water like a geothermal system, or an open water system. The concern is that an open water system would be drawing so much water from our aquifer that it could lower water levels and affect wells, especially in agricultural areas that rely on irrigation. A closed system doesn’t use nearly as much. There’s a big upfront chunk because they have to fill their system up, but then it basically just circulates. There’s some discharge that has to be replenished, but otherwise, it’s just circulating what was in there.”

Sandy continued, “Electricity is definitely another (concern) … We don’t want to short the county in any way … We don’t want to cut off future development because we don’t have enough power due to a potential data center … What we’ve heard from NIPSCO and REMC is that electricity is not a major concern at this time.”

Another consideration in APC meetings was that farmers own their land and might want or need to sell their land. APC member Bob Conley gave an example of a farmer that was in favor of data farms once he was offered $35,000 per acre.

“We are an agricultural county — always have been. We also have some of the best agricultural ground in the state … We are always hesitant and protective of our land. But at the same time, property owners have rights to use their land in the best way they can … That’s the struggle of planning — the balance between property owner rights and protecting surrounding land use,” said Sandy in an interview.

Locals Write In With Concerns About Agricultural Impacts

InkFreeNews readers have presented concerns about the possible negative impacts of a data center in the county.

One source that wished to remain anonymous stated that a data center is looking to come to the Clunette area. According to the source, the area of interest is along CR 700N, between CR 350W and CR 200W. According to Kosciusko County Beacon GIS, the properties there are owned by Stookey Family Farm — multiple parcels, Timothy Alan Polk— multiple parcels, Bishop Farms — multiple parcels, Dan M. and Angela K. Williamson, SBP Farm LLC and NIPSCO.

No official steps have been taken on a Clunette data center yet; although, Sandy stated that he’s heard talk of interest in that area, which was also the previous site of interest by a solar farm, due to its proximity to a NIPSCO station.

“These are some of Kosciusko County’s most productive soils used for agricultural purposes yet they are being considered for a ‘change of use’ for a data center … We will state numerous reasons they should not be re-zoned from agriculture,” said the source before providing multiple resources on Indiana farmland loss and data center water use.

“Significant increase in water demand from the aquifer impacting existing users such as residential and agriculture crop farmers and livestock producers. Most of the property is located in the Nappanee aquifer and has limited capacity for high capacity wells,” the source wrote.

The source brought up concerns such as: will a data center cause electricity rates to rise for Kosciusko residents, how will construction affect traffic, what are the cost of road improvements needed to allow for the safe movement of the increased traffic once the center is built, and how will a data center potentially change the landscape, aesthetics and lighting of the area? They brought up the need for increased fire protection, law enforcement/security, road improvements/repairs and drainage.

The source concluded, “In summary, many of us are not against data centers as they are a part of the our lives today in commerce or our own personal needs. However, they should not be in agricultural areas but be in industrial parks or commercially zoned areas. The decision the area plan commission makes will have a lasting impact on Kosciusko County that will span centuries.” This letter was signed, “Concerned Citizens of Kosciusko County.”

Another reader wrote in with a concern about the longevity of the center and possible impacts of it being abandoned, saying, “… it will be another G&M Tire Recycling fiasco.” This refers to a tire recycling plant in Atwood that was eventually abandoned, leaving millions of tires behind, creating an enormous clean-up venture that the county had trouble securing funding to address.

Local IT Professional Weighs In On Possible Benefits

InkFreeNews interviewed a former data center professional to inquire about development and obsolescence concerns. Kosciusko County Systems Administration Assistant Director of Technology Scott Van Westen previously worked for data storage company EMC, which was bought out by Dell, for 12 years before his current role.

“Honestly, it would be a good thing for the county. It would create jobs, and they’re gonna go in some place,” said Van Westen.

In response to concerns about obsolescence, Van Westen said, “When it comes to servers and computer space, things have gotten smaller, but the thing that’s only growing bigger is the amount of data that is out there. We’ve created more data in the last year than we had in the existence of the human race before this.”

Van Westen explained that people are creating more digital data such as photos and videos, and photo quality on smart phones has greatly increased. These high-quality photos require more storage space. People also expect quicker access to this data. Facebook, Google, Apple and similar companies are creating data centers for storage and also to spread out the data storage in case of a local catastrophe, power outage, ransomware or a network being compromised.

Saving data is also part of legal compliance for many industries. According to Van Westen, he’s spoken with Parkview Health employees who have said Parkview has to save their data for each patient for 100 years past the life of patient. Van Westen emphasized that each MRI takes up a lot of space.

“I know there was one (data center) in Fort Wayne that was not run responsibly and priced responsibly. That was very small and run by an individual who priced himself out of the market basically,” said Van Westen. “But done responsibly, Google or Microsoft are always going to need more space, and they’re never abandoned. It wouldn’t be like a building that got built and then — Google’s not gonna downsize. Even if they get bought out some day, their data is still gonna need to be there and need stored … They could copy it off and copy it to another data center, but why do that when they already have the machines and the infrastructure there.”

He said that a data center could incentivize in the county implementing a stronger infrastructure such as dark fiber, which he explained as a different type of fiber that large companies need in order to operate fast enough. He shared an example of a large company that passed on setting up in Indianapolis because the speeds were too slow before Indianapolis got dark fiber. Van Westen also said that local orthopedic companies already use extensive data storage and having a local data center could encourage growth.

“I think it needs to be done responsibly, but from the standpoint that we’re only making more data, there’s never going to be not a need for data centers,” said Van Westen.

Process Required For Data Center

In an interview with InkFreeNews, Sandy said that to establish a data center, a company must first ensure the property is zoned as Industrial-3. If the land is not already designated as such, the company must request a rezoning. This process involves a public hearing before the Plan Commission, which then makes a recommendation to the county commissioners, who have the final authority on zoning changes.

Once the land is appropriately zoned, the company must seek approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals because data centers are considered exception uses. This requires another public hearing, where the board evaluates whether the data center is compatible with surrounding properties. The BZA may also impose conditions, such as road upgrades, lighting regulations or drainage requirements, to ensure minimal disruption to the area.

After receiving zoning and BZA approval, the proposal moves to the Technical Committee, which includes experts from various local agencies, such as the soil and water department, health department, and highway department. This committee assesses infrastructure concerns, including road access, sewage and drainage, and may impose additional conditions before allowing the project to proceed.

The final step is obtaining the necessary permits, which include a detailed drainage plan, compliance with Indiana state fire building codes, coordination with the county health and highway departments, and an erosion control plan from the Department of Environmental Management. Once all approvals are in place, construction can begin.

If everything goes smoothly, the process can take approximately two to three months from initial zoning approval to the start of construction. All of this hinges on property owners accepting an offer to purchase or lease the land.