The Clinton County Area Plan voted Tuesday evening to send the Data Center issue to the Clinton County Commissioners with “No Recommendation” in a 4-0 unanimous vote.
The Clinton County Area Plan Commission is a seven person body established to guide and regulate community development for the “physical, social, and economic development of the Clinton County area, ensuring that growth is consistent with the goals of the adopted Comprehensive Plan by reviewing projects, issuing permits, and enforcing land use and zoning ordinances.”
Tuesday evening at 6:15 PM the Commission met to discuss the following:
The first two items were quickly approved and the Commission addressed the third item on the agenda, the reason as many as 120 community members met with standing room only in the Circuit Court chambers. As of 10:30 PM Tuesday night, over 300 views were recorded on the YouTube stream of the meeting. If interested, the meeting can be viewed on the YouTube video posted below.
Only 5 of the seven members were present at the beginning of the meeting and President Grant Mohler recused himself from participating in Data Plan business due a “personal conflict.” Only four Area Plan members conducted the remainder of the two hour and forty minute meeting, with Vice President Dan Sheets chairing the meeting.
Liz Stitzel, Area Plan Director, reminded the audience that any final decision for the data center will be in the hands of the Clinton County Commissioners, however, the Area Plan will meet tonight to discuss the application and then give a “Positive Recommendation” a “Negative Recommendation “ or “No Recommendation.” The Area Plan’s scope of consideration is much narrower than the considerations of the Commissioners.
Logix Realty was asking Area Plan for approval of rezoning 152.92 acres from A-1 Agricultural to I-1 (light industrial). Logix was asking for 60 day continuance to delay the vote. This request for a 60 day continuance was denied in a 4-0 vote. The Commission then moved into the phase of hearing from Liz Stitzel, Logix, and audience members who were for and against the project.
Liz Stitzel gave a detailed report on in depth considerations her office looked at, including drainage issues, rail road frontage use, likelihood of future industrial expansion in this direction of the city, infrastructure readiness, including poor road surface (gravel) on 100 N. Stitzel, in the end, gave a “Not Recommended” advisory to the Commission. Her report can be heard in the YouTube recording below at the 19 minute mark.
Doug Swain with Logix presented information to the board concerning technological progress made recently on limited water use for cooling, power consumption capabilities of the grid, advantages of the project with respect to Senate Bill 1, advantages of using TIF funds for community development, a reminder that the preponderance of development costs will be born by the developer, problems with relying on reports from Virginia or Ohio data center areas, and Logix desire to donate land to Frankfort for additional manufacturing use in the future. Swain assured the audience and commission that water usage will be “nominal” and not in the 1 to 2 million gallons per day range. 170 full time employees are expected to work at the center, Swain said. These employees would make and average of $80,000 per year (or more) plus temporary, construction, engineering workers who would be temporary. The 150 acre facility would amount to a 1,500,000,000 investment worth about $2000 per square foot once completed. Long term power agreements and an extraordinary large investment would be made so longevity of the project is to be expected, Swain said. Over a 25 year period, Swain said the expected tax revenue would be in the 265 million dollar range. Swain said one of the main drivers for data centers located in Indiana is the sales tax exemption for equipment installed specifically for data centers. Local Property tax or other local tax abatements were not discussed and would be “up to the city” to approve.
Doug Swain’s report to the Commission can be heard in its entirety starting at marker 52:28.
President Pro-Temp Dan Sheets opened the floor for comments from the audience, first for the project and then against the project. One individual spoke for the project and several spoke against it. It is important to note an enduring theme throughout the entire data center portion of the meeting was expression from audience and board members alike that there was a “lack of concrete information” about the specifics of the project. Swain made a commitment to attempt to fill that void with future public meeting(s).
Audience comments can be heard on the video starting at the following times:
Letters to Area Plan: 1:21:00
Comment in favor: 1:23:00
Comments against or not in favor: 1:32:00
Considerable time was spent during the audience comments on citing constitutional arguments prohibiting use of “Public Money for Economic Development”. This discussion centered on the claim that public money cannot be used for non-public use. This detailed presentation can be heard from the first speaker at marker 1:32:00.
Other audience members against the project included comments such as:
- Multi generational land use for Agricultural purposes must be taken into consideration
- Brown outs are often associated or present in communities with Data Centers
- Abatements should be avoided and any discussion of abatements should be transparent to area residents, citizens, taxpayers and voters.
- Land Owners in the area of the proposed project were often ignored. Poor communication or no communication with land owners cast doubt on the process.
- Some land owners are up in years and have no desire or ability to relocate
- Water usage and other environmental concerns make the proposed project unattractive.
The Commission attempted to pass a “Negative Recommendation” but due to all four votes needed to pass anything (with three members not present), the board was unable to secure a unanimous vote for a “Negative Recommendation”. The board was able to pass a “No Recommendation” outcome with Jeff Chynoweth joining the other three members on this vote, ensuring the matter will proceed to the County Commissioners who meet twice monthly at 9 AM in the Commissioners room of the Courthouse. Commissioners Kevin Myers, Bert Weaver and Jordan Brewer will have 90 days to decide after the matter is presented, likely at the next commissioners meeting on September 16th at 9 AM in the Clinton County Courthouse.