Update on Thursday, Aug. 21: The rezoning plan for the Google data center gained initial approval on Aug. 20. Here’s what happens next.
After months of back and forth, some southsiders say the developer of a Google-backed data center hasn’t made enough concessions to earn their support.
So members of Protect Franklin Township, a community group which formed in response to the project, say they will attend the Metropolitan Development Commission meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 20 to again voice their opposition.
That meeting is where the developer, Deep Meadow Ventures, will learn whether the project will clear a hurdle to rezone the 468-acre property near South Post Road and East Troy Avenue. It’s the last step before the proposal heads to the City-County Council.
Ahead of the meeting, Protect Franklin Township members sent an Aug. 19 email to city officials to detail their concerns about the developer’s commitments—contained in a 14-page document filed with the Department of Metropolitan Development.
See the document
The community group hired environmental attorney David E. Dearing to review those commitments, and they say his review supports their concerns about contaminated water and higher electric bills.
For example: Dearing said rewriting language for the developer’s commitment to address water contamination should be the group’s “paramount priority.”
“This paragraph is unconscionable,” Dearing wrote in his analysis of one part of the developer’s commitments. “It would insulate Google from the well-established standard of liability for contaminating a waterbody.”
A Google spokesperson, in a statement, confirmed the company’s interest in the Franklin Township site as part of its plans to expand data centers across the country.
“These are complex projects and development of the site is subject to a variety of factors,” said Devon Smiley, a Google spokesperson. “We appreciate the collaboration with both local and state leadership as we evaluate the opportunity together.”
Here are some other takeaways from Dearing’s analysis.
Water contamination
Many southsiders are worried that a data center could contaminate their water. Their concerns are backed by the experiences of people across the country who have reported similar experiences while living next to data centers.
Franklin Township residents wanted the developer to promise to fix any contamination that occurs.
So the company wrote in its list of commitments:
If contamination of surface water, well water, aquifer or stream or ditch is detected within 1 mile of the property line and the contamination is proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be the result of unlawful construction or operational activity on the Subject Property, then the site owner will be responsible for one hundred percent (100%) of the cost of either remediating said well(s) or providing alternate potable water to impacted homeowners and/or remediating contamination of affected surface water sources, aquifers and/or streams or ditches.
But in his memo, Dearing said the language essentially shields the developer from accountability by requiring too high of proof that the water is contaminated.
Dearing pointed to the language requiring proof “beyond a reasonable doubt,” saying that wording “should apply only in a criminal trial.”
He also noted it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove that the developer did something “unlawful.”
Energy bills
Data centers require an enormous amount of power, and many environmental advocates say AES Indiana, the electricity provider for much of Marion County, doesn’t currently have enough capacity to support one.
These concerns are stoked by residents across the country who have said their electricity bills have skyrocketed after data centers were built in their neighborhoods.
In June, AES announced a request for proposals to build out its infrastructure, which environmental advocates believe could be used to support a data center.
Deep Meadow Ventures’ proposal states that residents wouldn’t have to pay for these improvements.
The developer shall be responsible for one hundred percent (100%) of any costs for new construction or upgrades to existing infrastructure to the electrical grid, sanitary sewers and municipal water directly attributable to the operation of the proposed data center, as determined by the utility/agency responsible for such utility service or infrastructure.
But, Dearing wrote, the document doesn’t specify if residents will have to help pay for the additional power generated. He suggested new language that could help protect the community: “…and that such new capacity shall have no effect on the rates charged the general public for utility services.”
Next steps
The city’s nine-member Metropolitan Development Commission is set to vote on Deep Meadow Ventures’ rezoning proposal at 1 p.m. on Aug. 20 at the City-County Building, 200 E. Washington St.
The meeting will include a 15-minute public comment period, according to Auboni Hart, MDC spokesperson.
If the proposal fails to gain enough votes, Deep Meadow Ventures and other companies who want to rezone the land must wait one year before they can submit a new petition. In the meantime, the land would stay zoned as it is.
If the rezoning is approved, the project would then move to the City-County Council for further consideration.
Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, a Republican who represents the area, has spoken against the proposal.
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Mirror Indy reporter Elizabeth Gabriel covers the south side of Marion County. Contact her at elizabeth.gabriel@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on Facebook at Elizabeth Gabriel, Southside Reporter and on X at @_elizabethgabs.
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