You’re right that Lake County’s Comprehensive Plan uses Target Areas to guide where future development should be focused, and it also states that areas not designated as target areas “should be reserved for agriculture.”

That said, the County’s rezoning process requires decision-makers to “pay reasonable regard” to five criteria including the Comprehensive Plan as well as current conditions / surrounding uses. Additionally, the County has already approved significant industrial and utility uses in this same vicinity even though the area is not entirely within the Dinwiddie Target Area framework. For example, the County’s own staff report notes that the parcel immediately to the west was rezoned from A-1 to a Conditional Development District for a proposed concrete ready-mix plant (Ordinance #2582), cites the nearby stone quarry south of IN-2, and notes that property to the north (across IN-2) is part of the approved Foundry Works solar farm.

The point isn’t that the Comprehensive Plan doesn’t matter, it does. The point is that the County has already recognized, through prior approvals, that the existing character and trajectory of this corridor includes large-scale industrial/utility uses. That context is directly relevant when evaluating whether M1 is an appropriate district here.

You’re right that much of the surrounding area is still agricultural today. That said, under the County’s rezoning criteria, “current conditions / surrounding uses” isn’t strictly judged by what’s built this minute. It’s also informed by the County’s recent land-use approvals in the immediate vicinity. Those approvals reflect the County’s determination that certain large-scale industrial/utility uses are appropriate here.

So the question is whether the area is best characterized as exclusively agricultural, or as mostly agricultural with a growing corridor of County-approved industrial/utility uses. Even if some projects are still in progress, the approvals themselves are relevant because they show the County’s direction for how this corridor is expected to evolve.

And separately, even if zoning changes, it still doesn’t authorize a data center. This use requires a Special Exception with significant enforceable standards before anything could be built.

That “12 million gallons/day” figure comes from water-cooled data centers that rely on outdated evaporative cooling towers. That is not our design.

Our concept is air-cooled with a closed-loop chilled-water system. In a closed loop, there is a one-time initial fill when it’s commissioned and the only other water usage is for infrequent, de minimis top-offs over time. The water stays inside sealed piping, it doesn’t evaporate, and it is not routinely discharged like a cooling tower system. That’s fundamentally different than a cooling-tower design that consumes water continuously through evaporation.

For our project, water use is primarily domestic: bathrooms, sinks, breakrooms, and routine cleaning (similar to a sparsely employed office building). Using a typical benchmark, we expect our water usage to be roughly equivalent to that of approximately 116 residential homes.

Finally, we can’t (and won’t) just “turn on wells and hope.” The County’s Special Exception ordinance requires a formal, detailed water review before any approval:

• Special Exception Requirement #6 requires a Water Management Plan detailing how the facility will meet cooling needs while minimizing impacts on local water supply and addressing how water will be discharged/disposed.
• Additionally, requirement #19 requires an Environmental Impact Analysis that includes projected water usage at full operating capacity and a site assessment of possible impacts on area water usage.

As mentioned above, this project is planned as air-cooled and will not consume large quantities of well water.

As an additional protective measure, Indiana has an emergency regulation specifically for situations where a small-capacity well owner believes nearby high-capacity pumping caused a well problem. DNR would investigate the issue, and if the criteria are met, the order would require timely and reasonable compensation.

Lastly, we’re open to the County requiring clear measurement and a response protocol as part of the Special Exception process. This may include transparent max-demand assumptions, metering, and an escalation process if a resident reports a verified issue.

The goal is simple: if there’s a real impact, it’s addressed based on facts and an enforceable process.

Firstly, the increases in utility costs that residents have felt recently were not caused by data centers. These rate increases were driven by NIPSCO’s IURC-approved rate changes due to previously approved capital projects.

Given that this is a large energy-intensive project that will require electrical infrastructure, it is fair to be concerned that the cost of this infrastructure might impact the residential ratepayer.

Specifically for that reason, in September of 2025 the IURC formally approved NIPSCO’s GenCo framework.

What does this mean? How does this new structure prevent cost-shifting?

NiSource/NIPSCO created the GenCo framework and obtained IURC approval for this strategy specifically to serve data centers without shifting costs onto existing NIPSCO customers.

• GenCo is a separate entity designed to own/build/manage generation assets for new data center demand.
• The model is intended to isolate the costs of new data centers. This means that we, as the developers, will need to pay for any and all costs associated with bringing power to our project. The goal is that “regular customers don’t shoulder those costs.”
• NIPSCO also states the structure is expected to produce about $1B in cost savings returned to existing customers as bill credits over a 15-year period.

NIPSCO’s publicly stated GenCo model is explicitly designed around the exact fairness issue residents are raising: avoid pushing megaproject costs onto households.

Additionally, contrary to the cited concerns about large loads like data centers causing rates to increase, recent studies have shown that this is not the case. The US Department of Energy recently commissioned Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to complete an empirical analysis of movements in power rates, including movements related to the addition of large loads like data centers, and concluded that, “…state-level load growth in recent years has tended to reduce average retail electricity prices… states with the highest load growth experienced reductions in real prices, whereas states with contracting loads generally saw prices rise.”

• Paper Name: “Factors Influencing Recent Trends in Retail Electricity Prices in the United States”
• Author: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as commissioned by the US Department of Energy
• Relevant Snippets:
  • “Load Growth Has Tended to Depress Retail Electricity Prices in Recent Years”
  • “Figure 6 depicts this relationship for 2019 to 2024: states with the highest load growth experienced reductions in real prices, whereas states with contracting loads generally saw prices rise.”
  • “In the 2019-2024 timeframe, the regression suggests that a 10% increase in load was associated with a 0.5 (±0.1) cent/kWh reduction in prices, on average.…spreading these fixed costs over more demand naturally exerts downward pressure on retail prices.”
  • From the second attached article describing the study: “a new study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory explains the key drivers of electricity rates around the country, and its findings debunk the simplistic claim that data centers are responsible… in the areas where data centers have been built up the most, they are actually pushing prices down for residential ratepayers… The best example of this is from Virginia.” (The Paper’s Figure 4 indicates that inflation adjusted power rates in Virginia fell by $0.01 per kWh (~8%) between 2019 and 2024 as it added more data center load than any location in the country.)
  • Likewise, the following study published by EPRI, a highly respected international industry research organization and essentially came to the same conclusions: https://winwin.epri.com/

• “The analysis finds that states with faster load growth generally experienced smaller price increases, or even price declines, while states with flat or falling sales tended to see larger price increases”

• “Under the right conditions, growing load can: (i) Lower average electricity prices by spreading sales-independent system costs over more kilowatt-hours; (ii) Improve the utilization of existing assets and enable more efficient grid planning; (iii) Accelerate deployment of clean electricity resources and emerging technologies; and (iv) Support better system operations and lower emissions.” (Note: “the right conditions” include addition of load in areas of the grid where pre-existing capacity exists and wherein upgrades are funded by the project – both of these conditions are satisfied by our project.)

Lastly, while Lake County’s Special Exception process doesn’t regulate rates, it does require proof that the system can serve the project without harming everyone else’s service:

• Special Exception Requirement #4 requires written verification from NIPSCO that capacity is available, infrastructure is sized/safe, and the project won’t cause voltage interference/fluctuations.
• Requirement #19 requires an Environmental Impact Analyses that includes projected power usage at full operation and assesses whether the grid can serve both the data center and area residents without service disruptions.

Given proximity to existing electrical infrastructure, we’re not proposing to carve a brand-new long transmission corridor across the community. This area already has major high-voltage infrastructure, including the existing NIPSCO 345 kV Schafer–St. John line.

Our intent is to utilize that existing transmission backbone, including tying into the new Dinwiddie substation.

Separately, Lake County’s Special Exception ordinance has real, enforceable “anti-eyesore” guardrails:

• Special Exception Requirement #11 requires a visual screening report and a landscape/screening plan; including maps of nearby properties/buildings, existing vegetation/topography that screen views, plus contours/soils and a proposed screening plan.
• The ordinance also requires that all mechanical equipment (including power supply equipment) be enclosed or screened from public view.

It also requires on-site utility lines to be placed underground to the extent feasible and as permitted by the serving utility, which materially reduces above-ground clutter on the property itself.

We’re aware of no credible evidence that well-designed data centers cause a broad decline in nearby home values (especially at meaningful distance).

A 2025 study performed by the Schar School for Public Policy at George Mason University looked at the impact of data centers on for-sale housing values and concluded that: “The analysis fails to demonstrate statistical evidence that proximity to a data center negatively impacts housing values”. Please see study here: https://cra.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/NoVa_DataCenters.pdf and abstract here: https://schar.gmu.edu/news/2025-11/study-home-prices-are-higher-when-house-near-data-center

Additionally, in our case, the nearest subdivision (Apple Valley) is roughly 2 miles away, and there are only a handful of homes in the broader vicinity. At that distance, the impacts of the typical value drivers (noise and visual exposure) are materially reduced. To further protect residential neighbors from these impacts, Lake County’s Special Exception sets a high bar for visual screening and requires a formal noise study/mitigation plan with a hard 55 dB property-line limit.

We can’t promise what the overall housing market will do (rates, schools, macroeconomy matter), but the best available data does not support the claim that a project like this reduces home values.

In most cases, a project like this increases land values because it brings major infrastructure investment (power, roads, utilities planning) and it signals that the area can support higher-value uses than agriculture alone.

That does not mean the community suddenly becomes covered in industrial development. Zoning and approvals still control what can and can’t be built. It simply means that land in the area, especially larger parcels with good access, often becomes more valuable because its potential and market demand are higher than before.

Data centers do have equipment that can create steady sound, so the concern is understandable. The key is that Lake County doesn’t allow this to be a “trust us” issue; it sets a hard, measurable limit and requires professional proof and mitigation as part of the Special Exception:

• Hard limit: noise from any data center component may not exceed 55 dB measured at the property line.
• Required proof: the application must include a noise study and mitigation plan prepared by an acoustical engineer (item #15 in the required submittals), describing predicted noise and specific mitigation measures to ensure compliance.

What does 55 dB mean in plain English? It’s roughly comparable to a household refrigerator (~55 dB); normal conversation is typically ~60–70 dB.

Is that strict? Many places allow closer to 65 dB in the daytime for stationary commercial/industrial sources. And because decibels are logarithmic, a 10 dB difference is commonly perceived as about “twice as loud.”

Our commitment: we will use commercially reasonable sound mitigation, such as optimized equipment selection, silencers/baffles, sound walls or enclosures where needed, and site layout/setbacks to achieve and maintain compliance with the County’s strict standard.

You’re correct that the County’s enforceable standard is written as a decibel limit (including the 55 dB maximum at the property line) and it does not spell out a separate numeric limit for specific frequencies.

That said, the Special Exception still requires a noise study and mitigation plan by an acoustical engineer (item #15), and we can commit to going above and beyond the minimum requirements. Our acoustical consultant will evaluate not just an overall dB number, but the frequency spectrum / tonality (i.e., whether there is a distinct low-frequency or tonal component that could read as a “hum”), and we will incorporate commercially reasonable sound mitigation to prevent that nuisance characteristic while still meeting the County’s enforceable standard.

We understand, and we intend to be a good neighbor. Lake County’s data center ordinance makes neighbor protections mandatory and enforceable through the Special Exception process.

The ordinance includes strict requirements that directly address what neighbors and the Church will experience:

• Setbacks: all equipment and buildings must be set back at least 200 feet from property lines that abut agricultural or residential-zoned properties.
• Screening: the application must include a visual screening report and a landscape/screening plan designed around what nearby properties will actually see (including mapping of nearby buildings, existing vegetation/topography, and a proposed screening plan).

Separately, we will meet directly with the closest neighbors and Church leadership to walk through the layout, buffers, screening, and what is enforceable through the Special Exception. Additionally, while we are not making any blanket commitments, in limited circumstances we would be open to a conversation about purchasing an immediately adjacent home if that ends up being the right solution for a particular neighbor.

Modern data centers are critical facilities designed and operated under some of the most stringent building, fire, and electrical safety frameworks in commercial construction. In addition to standard building and fire codes, modern data centers are typically designed around specialized fire-protection standards which address fire-resistant construction, detection, suppression, and emergency procedures.

From a life-safety standpoint, the approach is layered: fire-resistant separations, automatic detection, and fire suppression systems (sprinklers and/or clean agent systems where appropriate), plus continuous monitoring and documented emergency procedures. Protecting occupants and preventing incidents is fundamental to how these facilities are engineered.

Additionally, from an enforceability standpoint, the ordinance requires concrete planning and coordination for safety and emergency response:

• A preliminary emergency response plan for responding to fire or discharge of environmental contaminants is required as part of the Special Exception package.
• Operators must provide annual training to the fire departments responsible for serving the area, starting within 6 months of operations and continuing each year.

A lot of what people read online assumes generators run constantly. That’s not how modern data centers operate. Generators are there for (i) extremely rare utility outages and (ii) routine reliability testing, not day-to-day power.

• This site is planned to be served from NIPSCO’s high-voltage transmission system (the 345 kV network in this corridor), which is designed for extremely high reliability.
• The facility will be designed with two independent utility feeds, each capable of supporting the full electrical load. So for all generators to activate, you’d be talking about a simultaneous loss of both feeds.
• Testing will be routine and controlled (e.g., one generator at a time).

Additionally, Lake County’s ordinance is explicit: all backup generators are subject to IDEM permitting under 326 IAC 2 and are limited to emergency use only. Those IDEM permits are what keep the engines below applicable air thresholds and require the appropriate compliance obligations for emissions.

That clip is describing a different cooling technology than what we’re proposing.

• What the clip is talking about: It’s essentially describing evaporative cooling towers (“wet” cooling). Those systems can use treatment chemicals and can have a regulated discharge stream called blowdown.
• What we are proposing here: Our design is an air-cooled chiller system with a true closed-loop chilled-water circuit. That means the same water circulates inside sealed piping:
  • It is not exposed to air
  • It does not evaporate
  • It does not create mist/drift
  • And it does not require routine blowdown or discharge
• What happens at startup: Before operation, the loop is flushed/cleaned to remove normal construction debris. Temporary strainers/filters capture material, and it’s collected and properly disposed of, not “dumped into aquifers.”
• Chemicals: A small amount of corrosion inhibitor may be used to protect piping. This is similar to what’s commonly used in closed-loop heating/cooling systems in commercial buildings (including schools and hospitals). That does not mean there is ongoing chemical discharge.

Data centers typically generate minimal traffic when compared to other industrial uses. Additionally, what minimal traffic they do generate is mainly car traffic as opposed to large trucks. Day-to-day traffic mainly consists of employees arriving/leaving in shifts, and occasional service/vendor visits.

Furthermore, the Lake County Special Exception submittal requires proposed access routes for emergency response vehicles and large semi-tractor trailers, as well as a letter of intent with the Lake County Highway Department acknowledging the project and outlining any requirements/conditions.

Additionally, Lake County’s UDO requires a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) when a project would meet certain trip generation thresholds. The TIA must be prepared by a licensed engineer and is intended to identify any necessary improvements required (turn lanes, tapers, ROW dedication, safety improvements, etc.).

Construction traffic is a fair concern because even if day-to-day operations are relatively light, a multi-phase build will generate periods of heavier truck activity.

How this is handled (and why it won’t be unmanaged):

• The Data Center Special Exception submittal requires a construction schedule and mapped construction and ongoing maintenance routes from the nearest arterial. Additionally, it requires identified access routes for large semi-tractor trailers and emergency response vehicles and formal coordination with the Lake County Highway Department and INDOT. That gives the local enforcement agencies the ability to set enforceable routing and access requirements up front.
• In addition, if a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) is triggered under the UDO thresholds, it will evaluate not only long-term operations but also construction-phase conditions as needed, and it can drive required improvements or controls (temporary signage/flagging, turning movements, staging, etc.) to maintain safety.

We are expecting this facility to create over 250 full-time jobs. Modern data centers rely on skilled technical and operations roles including electrical/mechanical facilities, controls, IT/network support, operations management, safety/security. These occupations typically pay above overall median wages.

Also, several residents who spoke at the hearing said they work in IT. That’s important because it shows the community already has people with relevant skills and interest, exactly the kind of workforce that can benefit from technical, higher-wage roles in operations and facilities.

In addition to full-time jobs, we expect this project to generate over 2,500 construction job years over the estimated 5-year build period. This includes highly skilled trade jobs such as site/civil, concrete, steel, electrical, mechanical, controls, security, landscaping, and commissioning roles.

Beyond jobs, the biggest local economic impact from a project like this typically comes from (1) tax base, (2) negotiated community benefits, and (3) steady local spending.

1. Tax base / investment scale: This is a major, long-term capital investment. For context, the Hobart Amazon documents describe an estimated $11 billion total project cost. Our project is expected to be $5B+ in total investment (construction + equipment), which translates into a substantially larger local tax base over time.
2. Development agreement / community benefits (real dollars, in writing): Other Lake County communities have negotiated specific, enforceable payments tied to milestones and incentives. For example, Hobart’s agreements include:
   1. a $5,000,000 one-time community impact payment after issuance of the first building permit,
   2. annual community impact payments per building,
   3. and separate community enhancement fund contributions tied to construction milestones ($47M, $45M, $43M, $40M), with rules to avoid double counting. Amazon has already cut a check to the city of Hobart for $47m. This money can be used to fund local priorities including but not limited to community facilities, roads, public infrastructure, parks, and education programs, etc.
      We intend to follow a similar approach here and expect to begin negotiating the development agreement for our project after the rezoning vote.
3. Local spending ecosystem: A facility like this also drives ongoing local and regional spending for things like security, landscaping/snow removal, maintenance contractors, testing/inspections, supplies, and professional services.