The Hobart Plan Commission has rescheduled to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 5 a meeting regarding a proposed fill permit request on 605 acres eyed by Amazon for its future data center site.
The plan commission, which had scheduled the meeting for Thursday, postponed the meeting because of some legal technicalities regarding the availability of documents, Hobart City Attorney Heather McCarthy said.
McCarthy said there were some citizens who came to the planning department to review documents related to the proposal, and they weren’t available in hard copy due to some issues with the department’s printer.
Those documents, related to the proposed fill permit, are now available in the planning department, she said.
“Some citizens came to the planning department and couldn’t get hard copies, so it’s not compliant with the law,” McCarthy said.
The Feb. 5 meeting, which is also the regularly scheduled plan commission meeting, will be held at the Hobart High School auditorium, 2211 E. 10th St., she said.
The petitioner listed on the request for the fill permit on the property located south of 61st Avenue, east of Colorado Street and north of 69th Avenue, is Tuhaus LLC and the property is referred to as Hobart Tech Park.
The engineering firm listed on the proposal is Langan Engineering and Environmental Services.
McCarthy said this proposed fill permit, if approved by the plan commission, is for moving dirt only.
Angelita Soriano, a spokesperson for the No Data Center group, said she was one of the citizens requesting the fill permit documents, which were unavailable to her in printed form.
“This is why I believe it was tabled,” Soriano said of the rescheduled meeting.
She has also requested other documents, including a site plan, from the city that she has yet to receive.
“I have two or three open records requests that are going on for two to three weeks,” Soriano said.
Soriano, one of four residents who have filed a lawsuit against city officials in opposition to data centers in Hobart, was one of hundreds of remonstrators who on Jan. 7 packed Hobart High School auditorium.
The pleas from dozens of residents who asked the Hobart City Council to table or to delay action on resolutions that would deliver Amazon’s data center to the city fell on deaf ears.
The city council went forward and approved three resolutions, including a contribution of $47 million to the city by Jan. 31, allowing Amazon Data Services to proceed with its data center plans at 61st Avenue and Colorado Street.
Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun, before the city council meeting, called the $47 million upfront cash the city is poised to receive from Amazon “record-breaking.”
“Hobart secured the largest publicly known upfront cash payment ever for a private development on private land in the country. The developer (Amazon) will pay $47 million in community enhancement payments. These dollars are not part of the levy and not part of any TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district. They go straight to the city and can be used to serve the whole community,” Huddlestun said.
Because of this agreement, Hobart does not have to raise its income tax and that means the city can fix roads, improve drainage, invest in parks, invest in its youth, and keep public safety departments strong without putting more pressure on residents, he said.
“This really should be celebrated,” he said.
Huddlestun said the cash is crucial to the city in part because of Senate Enrolled Act 1, the state law that cut property taxes.
“Those cuts will significantly reduce revenue for cities across Indiana. We prepared early because we did not want to lay off employees or cut the services you depend on,” he said.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
