STARKE COUNTY – A topic of interest to the community at November 3rd’s Starke County Commissioner’s meeting was in regards to a Chicago-based company’s desire to build a data center in Starke County.
Earlier this week, screen shots of an e-mail circulated on local social media, showing an e-mail sent from the Data Center division of a company called Abei Energy, to the Starke County Planning Commission. In the screen shot, the company states that they are planning a data center project in Starke County, and that they had questions in regards to rezoning two parcels of land from Agricultural to Industrial.
Data centers became a hot-button topic online locally, and several community members attended the November 3rd Commissioner’s meeting to find out more information and discuss the topic with commissioners.
Towards the end of the meeting, Commissioner Binkley addressed the screen shot, stating that only a portion of the original e-mail chain was circulated online.
A bit later in the discussion, an attending citizen asked what was in the remainder of the e-mail chain, and an audience member (presumably also a county employee) stated that he was included on the original e-mail chain, and pulled it up on his mobile device.
He re-stated the content from the circulated screen shot — that the energy company did contact Planning Commission with 2 parcel numbers they said they were discussing with the landowner, and asked for a meeting with the Planning Commission. It was stated that Planning Commission responded, telling the company they could be added to the agenda for their November 12th meeting. He stated the company replied, asking for a private meeting with the Planning Commission, to which the Planning Commission did not reply but did still move forward with adding the company to the November 12th agenda.
Commissioner VanDeMark stated that while a moratorium was written at the most recent Plan Commission meeting, the deadline for publication they were originally aiming for was missed. He further stated that he expects a public hearing on the topic to be hosted by the Plan Commission before the end of this month.
He stated that after a public hearing is held, the Plan Commission can then vote to move it to them, the Commissioners, for their vote on the topic.
The Commissioners were asked by audience members a few times where they stand on bringing a data center into Starke County, and both Commissioners Binkley and VanDeMark stated at different points in the discussion that they would like to do more research into the topic, with VanDeMark also stating that he was interested to hear what the community has to say about the subject.
While a date for the public hearing had not yet been announced at the time of this article, it was stated that the date of the public hearing will be published on the county website, which is starke.in.gov. WKVI will also announce the date of the public hearing when it becomes available.
It was stated that the company in question would also be invited to the public hearing and given an opportunity to make their pitch to the community.
Community members are encouraged to attend the hearing, date pending, to share their opinions.
