In a last ditch effort to keep Sabey Data Centers out of their neighborhood, southsiders have requested a judge to review the city’s handling of a recent zoning decision.
“This egregious decision puts our community in jeopardy, and we will not stand idly by,” said Amanda Williams, president of the Decatur Township Civic Council, in a statement announcing the legal action.
Seven Decatur Township residents filed a petition April 17 for judicial review of the Metropolitan Development Commission’s decision March 18 to adjust zoning requirements to allow for the city’s first hyperscale data center.
Developers have two options to change land use designations in Marion County to allow for a data center: a variance and a rezone. Sabey chose the first option, which doesn’t require the company to go before the City-County Council for approval.
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The petition filed by anti-data center residents says this process allowed Sabey to “circumvent rezoning requirements.”
The civil complaint was filed in Marion Superior Court 5. It claims the actions of the Metropolitan Development Commission, City-County Council, Sabey Data Centers and property owners of the Decatur Technology Park violated zoning rules. The filing also says the data center will endanger the health, safety and property values of roughly 2,000 families who live within one mile.
“MDC’s approval of the variances despite substantial community opposition, concerns about noise, air quality, water usage, diesel fuel storage and emissions, fire safety, property value diminution and other harmful effects was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, unsupported by substantial evidence and without observance of procedure required by law,” according to the petition filed by attorney Arie J. Lipinski.
Residents argue the proposed project violates the county’s comprehensive land use plan, which outlines where different types of developments, such as housing or manufacturing facilities, can be located. They’re asking a judge to prevent construction of the data center and review earlier zoning changes.
Auboni Hart, the communications officer for the Department of Metropolitan Development, said the department does not comment on pending litigation. Mindy Westrick Brown, Sabey’s representative and an attorney with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, did not respond to a request for comment before this story was published.
Sabey’s 1.1-million-square-foot project would replace the previously proposed Decatur Technology Park on property that was rezoned in 2020 to allow for retail and light manufacturing operations. Prior to that, the land allowed for mixed use developments, including residential housing, office space and commercial districts, according to city documents.
The 2020 plan also faced community scrutiny, but it was ultimately approved after developers promised to provide thousands of jobs to local residents at the site at the intersection of Camby Road and Kentucky Avenue.
The new petition comes as the city recently released a draft ordinance that would outline new zoning parameters for data centers. The Metropolitan Development Commission is expected to vote on the draft May 20.
Additionally, the filing alleges the defendants may have broken zoning codes, in part, by conducting “non-public meetings, communications and/or planning sessions that were not open for the public to observe and record.”
The petition also emphasises health and safety concerns.
“The health effects of diesel combustion are so bad that the city should never have approved this data center next to homes,” said Tim McWhirter, a Decatur Township property owner and plaintiff in the judicial review.
Southsiders want a judge to return the grassy, undeveloped property to its pre-2020 zoning designation for residential and commercial use.
Anti-data center advocates hope to raise at least $15,000 to cover legal fees and other expenses. In a statement issued Monday, the residents noted they “are a working-class community, our financial resources are slender.”
Protect Decatur Township, a grassroots neighborhood group against data centers, will host a fundraiser from 5-8 p.m. April 27 at Culver’s, 4701 Kentucky Ave.
No hearings have been scheduled for the petition.
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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 X at @_elizabethgabs.
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