Hobart residents Jennifer Williams and Sheri Valentine didn’t let the bitterly cold temperatures on Wednesday night deter them from protesting outside Hobart City Hall.
Both held no data centers signs and walked outside, on the sidewalk next to Main Street, while folks in passing cars honked in approval.
The no data centers group, of which both women belong, now has a known target for which to vent their opposition — Amazon.
Amazon’s proposed plans for part of its $15 billion in data centers to be built on 500 acres at 61st Avenue and Colorado Street were confirmed by Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun shortly before Thanksgiving.
Williams, who said she’d rather have a strip club built at the site than an Amazon data center, called it a bad choice.
“It’s just bad all the way around. It’s the worst time in history to fight something like this,” Williams said.
Her group has garnered the names of 4,000 residents on a no data centers petition and has hired two attorneys for representation.
Williams said if the proposed data center is built near her home, her two boys won’t be able to play outside because of the noise emitted and won’t be able to enjoy the wildlife and beauty now present in her area.
“That’s my piece of heaven when I get home. That data center will take it all away from me,” Williams said.
Valentine had to leave before the Hobart City Council meeting but Williams went inside to the heat-filled upper chambers, where she and fellow protesters vented their message to city officials for close to two hours.
Comments by some dozen residents, made during the public portion of the meeting, followed city council approval, in a 7-0 vote, of a resolution declaring a 725-acre parcel within Colorado Street and 61st Avenue as an Economic Revitalization Area.
Huddlestun said the resolution is the first step toward going forward with a development agreement with Amazon Web Services, which provides cloud computing services to businesses.
According to the terms of the resolution, the city “recognizes the need to stimulate growth and maintain a sound economy within the city and recognizes that it is in the best interest of the city to provide incentives to stimulate investment within the city.”
“This starts the process toward a potential tax abatement,” Huddlestun said.
A development agreement, along with a tax abatement agreement, will be presented at the Dec. 17 Hobart City Council meeting.
He confirmed that Amazon is the sole petitioner and will need to provide a statement of benefits, which would include a project description, number of jobs it will provide and community benefits.
Huddlestun said he is planning to hold a community meeting, at which Amazon would be there to present their proposal and answer questions, as requested by the no data centers group.
“We are planning to have a formal presentation to the residents; not sure how the timing will work out but before the site plan approval, which will probably be sometime next year,” he said.
“We’re trying to coordinate it,” he added.
He said the data center, once built, could bring in tens of millions of dollars each year to the city.
The financial impact for Hobart can’t be determined until the final numbers are crunched, but it’s going to be big money, he said.
Hobart has been buffeted by a series of financial hits, from the Southlake Mall property tax appeal to Senate Enrolled Act 1, which will offer property tax relief to taxpayers by reducing revenue local governments use to provide services to residents, he said.
“Hobart, residents are struggling,” Huddlestun said. “I want to actually give them relief.”
“We’re going to provide relief to our community,” he said, with money to solve flooding issues through the city as well as improving parks, police and fire protection and other services,” he said.
Residents who spoke during the public portion of the meeting, including Theresa DuBois, questioned the transparency of city officials and whether they had researched the effect the data center will have on the health, safety and welfare of residents.
“Right now we do not feel trust and confidence in our elected officials,” DuBois said.
Resident Michael Weiss said the proposed data center will have a negative impact on the wildlife in that area.
“You’re just destroying all the land. Why don’t we try and preserve what we have….I don’t see the benefits long term,” Weiss said.
When some residents questioned the possible personal financial gain of city officials from the data center, City Councilman Matt Claussen, D-at-large, spoke in defense.
Claussen, a former Hobart police officer and long-time councilman, said he had never received any financial gain during his years of tenure.
“Don’t accuse me of being a thief,” Claussen said.
Colette Williams of Hebron said she came to the meeting because her parents still live in the area being proposed for the data center.
She grew up in Hobart and her great-grandfather was a blacksmith in the Ainsworth section many years ago.
“I have so many good memories. There’s a lot to lose here,” Williams said.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune; Post-Tribune freelance reporter Doug Ross contributed.
