Tom Lincoln, an Eagle Creek township resident, thanked the Lake County Council on Tuesday for approving two ordinances related to data centers in unincorporated Lake County.
The ordinances, which came through the Lake County Plan Commission, create more stringent regulations and are to cover already existing ordinances, creating stipulations that go 30-40 years into the future, Plan Commission Executive Director Ned Kovachevich told the council before the vote.
“These carry it a step forward,” Kovachevich said.
Lincoln and his wife, Stephanie Baranko Lincoln, live on a 22-acre horse farm just 2.1 miles from a proposed data center being considered by the Lake County Plan Commission near Lowell, in unincorporated Lake County.
Both are strongly opposed to what they termed “behemoth-sized, heavy industrial energy cluster entities being treated as separate entities to mislead our rural community and avoid heavy industrial scrutiny like this country has seen in this industry time and time again.”
Both are seeking a moratorium on all votes, zoning changes, special exceptions or any other decision related to the single heavy industrial energy cluster being “fast-tracked” through their community.
“It (the proposed data center) is going to be ugly as sin and will ruin the landscape,” Lincoln said.
The Lake County Council gave final approval to two ordinances related to the decommissioning of data centers and battery energy storage systems, as the county begins considering a data center in unincorporated Lake County.
Lake County Councilman Randy Niemeyer, R-7th, who is also a member of the Plan Commission, said data center projects have been known to raise a number of questions and concerns from residents.
It’s with that in mind that he has received approval from Lowell High School officials to hold an informational meeting at the auditorium on April 16, with a start time still to be determined.
Niemeyer said he will have speakers at the meeting representing a number of entities, including the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and NIPSCO.
“Hopefully, we can get a lot of answers,” Niemeyer said.
Niemeyer said that the developer of the data center in unincorporated Lake County has agreed “to slow walk” the project, to answer questions and allow the county to approve necessary ordinances.
The proposed data center will next go before the Plan Commission at its meeting on March 18, but Niemeyer said he will ask for a deferral because he wants to delay any action before the April 16 informational meeting.
Under the data center ordinance, a data center facility that is inactive for more than 15 consecutive months should be decommissioned and restored to pre-development conditions, unless otherwise approved by the Plan Commission following a public hearing.
The data center owner would notify the Plan Commission of the proposed date for when the center would stop operations and an anticipated timeline for decommissioning.
Under a submitted decommissioning plan, the data center owner would offer a proposal with the physical removal of all structures and equipment; the recycling, reuse, or lawful disposal of solid waste; and site stabilization, according to the ordinance.
The operator will also include a decommissioning cost estimate prepared by an Indiana State Licensed Professional Engineer, and the operator will prove having sufficient funds to cover the costs.
The battery energy storage systems ordinance has the same 15-month inactive standard for decommissioning, decommissioning plan, and cost estimate and coverage. The ordinance includes additional removal language to include removing batteries and testing soils after equipment has been removed to ensure there is no contamination.
The Plan Commission has held two meetings to discuss a proposed data center in Eagle Creek Township, about six miles away from Lowell High School.
Sentinel Data Centers, a New York-based company with established data centers on the East Coast, is proposing to build a data center on 160 acres of land outside of Lowell on the south side of Indiana 2 just east of Clay Street, said project attorney David Westland.
The data center would be near other industrial uses, like a nearby battery storage facility, Westland said. Tensaka, a Nebraska-based renewable energy company, received county zoning approval last year to develop a 300 megawatt battery storage facility on 35 acres of land near the same intersection, according to Post-Tribune archives, and NIPSCO would be interconnected to the grid.
The proposed data center follows the county’s comprehensive plan, Westland said. The due diligence period for the project will last through 2026, Westland said.
Niemeyer said he wants the county and not the state to take charge when it comes to setting regulations on data centers, and he wants everyone to be educated before any votes are taken.
“It’s important for everybody, the citizens and the elected officials, to be really educated on this stuff. We’re working to make sure that all that information is developed and made available before it comes to a vote,” Niemeyer said.
Resident Terry Steagall, who spoke at the end of the meeting, also thanked the county council for their actions.
“We’re all aware of the data center invasion. We need to start getting more serious,” Steagall said.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune; staff writer Alexandra Kukulka contributed to this report.
