Southsiders didn’t welcome the developer of a proposed data center with open arms.
At least 400 residents attended an open house Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Decatur Township School for Excellence to learn more about the proposed data center on the southwest side of Marion County.
There were so many attendees, some residents had to wait in the hallway. Meanwhile, many inside the room booed or shouted questions at speakers during the meeting to voice their frustration.
Seattle-based developer, Sabey Data Centers, wants to build two data center buildings on land north of Camby Road and southeast of Kentucky Avenue. The roughly 130 acres of land is already zoned industrial for the Decatur Technology Park, but Sabey needs to modify the land variances to allow for a data center.
Sabey has taken the first step in that process by submitting a petition to the city. The company has support from local utility provider AES Indiana, which would power the facilities.
Township safety measures aren’t in place
Jason Holliday, Decatur Township Trustee, handles the township’s finances, provides rental assistance and other services to township residents. He went to the meeting to learn how the data center would impact the services if the township has to reallocate money to prepare for a data center.
If the data center proposal moves forward with its plan to store a million gallons of diesel fuel, for example, the local fire department must be prepared to put out fires if something goes wrong. But they can’t simply use water. They would need to spend about $4 million on a special type of foam and roughly $3 million on a new fire truck that’s equipped to use the foam.
Holliday said the township doesn’t have the money to pay for that.
“Those are things on our end (that) we need to be prepared for,” Holliday said. “Work out those discussions with them, work out those arrangements and plans and practices to protect the community.”
Sabey hasn’t contacted him to discuss these finances, Holliday said. The Indianapolis International Airport has the proper foam and the township could potentially rely on the facility if needed, he said.
Upcoming meeting
Decatur Township Civic League’s Land Use Committee
Regular meeting with plans to discuss data center proposal.
🗓️ 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18
📍 Decatur Township School for Excellence, 5106 S. High School Road
Lasting environmental and health concerns
High school senior Madeleine Colbert skipped band practice to attend the meeting because she’s passionate about nature conservation.
“Life on Earth is about soil,” Colbert said. “Without soil there’s nothing, and buildings like these are not good for soil health, they’re not good for the planet and they’re not essential.
Research shows that some data centers have contributed to years of air and noise pollution, in addition to land contamination.
Colbert was also concerned about some of the responses from Sabey staff, particularly a claim that the data center’s generators wouldn’t be too disruptive to neighbors. Colbert and her family live on an 18-acre plot of land in a somewhat rural section of Decatur, so they are often among the last residents to have their power restored during an outage. When that happens, they often rely on a residential backup generator to keep their power on, but it’s very loud.
Now Colbert questions how massive generators for a data center could be quiet if their small residential generator isn’t.
Residents don’t want businesses to receive tax abatement
Many data centers are eligible for millions in tax exemptions under state law. That doesn’t sit well with longtime southsider, Donna Rice.
She lives in the house her parents built in 1959 and attended the meeting because she doesn’t want to see a data center or a warehouse. Rice said she would prefer to see more investments in long-term homes, not just starter homes, so people will stay in the area.
“They start here, they leave and then eventually the neighborhood is all rentals and it’s bad,” Rice said. “We don’t want that. I loved growing up here and I’m really sad how it’s turning out.”
Rice said she would move out of Decatur Township if the data center is built.
She said she’s unsure how her city-county councilor feels about the project, but Rice hopes residents will persuade him to oppose the data center proposal.
Local councilor is undecided
City-County Councilor Josh Bain, who represents the area, also attended the meeting to learn more about the project.
Bain has not publicly announced a stance on the data center proposal. He told residents that his decision to announce the public meeting in a social media video and meet with developers to learn about the project is not a sign of support, but a chance to receive feedback from community members so he can make an informed decision.
“I’m a representative of the community,” Bain told Mirror Indy. “That’s the position that I’ve always taken on this is that I’m their voice and people seem to appreciate that. So I’ve let people know that it’s the developers project, it’s their job to try to convince people that it’s a good idea.”
The data center proposal in Decatur Township comes after Google petitioned to rezone and build a data hub in Franklin Township. The petition was withdrawn after residents and city-county councilors fought against the proposal.
Many councilors said they often vote the same way as the councilor who represents the area with a rezoning proposal because they know what constituents want. This summer, Bain supported City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart’s decision to oppose the Google data center. But, Bain also told Mirror Indy that he would be open to conversations about a data center in his district.
“I’m not anti-data center or anything like that,” Bain told Mirror Indy in September. “It’s just about, are we making sure that we’re taking care of our community and those that we were elected to represent, and are we delivering for them.”
What’s next
The Decatur Township Civic League’s Land Use Committee is scheduled to discuss Sabey’s data center proposal during its regular meeting next month.
The meeting will be 6-8 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 18, at Decatur Township School for Excellence, 5106 S. High School Road. Residents organizing the meeting said they will work with the school to use a bigger space to accommodate everyone.
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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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