rezoning

"The petitioner on August 3 submitted a letter to the town requesting that the application be withdrawn from the council’s consideration,” said Bristol Town Attorney Alex Bowman.

S&H Auto Group's attorney, George Lepeniotis, told the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission Tuesday that they mistakenly paved and started to fence a new parking lot without realizing they needed to obtain a rezoning and building permit. But the commission wasn't swayed.

After saying he supported the project in a letter read aloud at a packed Elkhart County Plan Commission meeting July 9, Bristol Town Council President Jeff Beachy now says he'll oppose any data center proposal in the town.

The Elkhart County Advisory Plan Commission has set a July 9 meeting at 2 p.m. to consider whether it will recommend that the Bristol Town Council approve or deny a rezoning that a developer needs to build a data center on two farms.

After an eight-hour meeting stretching from Tuesday into Wednesday, the council voted 7-2 against a New York developer's request to build 14 data shells, each the size of Notre Dame Stadium, on 1,000 acres of farmland near New Carlisle.

Supporters Monday held a press event saying the data center would not raise electric rates or stress water resources, but critics countered Tuesday with their own event refuting those claims.

New York-based New Carlisle 25 LLC has refused to disclose the name of the company it would build the data center for. The St. Joseph County Council has granted their request to postpone their vote on a rezoning the project needs from Wednesday's meeting to the council's Dec. 9 meeting.

The New Carlisle Town Council voted 4-0 Tuesday for a resolution opposing a developer's request to rezone over 1,000 acres of farmland near New Carlisle for a data center. A St. Joseph County Council committee will vote on the rezoning Tuesday before the full council votes Nov. 11.

The St. Joseph County Area Plan staff has given no recommendation, meaning neither favorable nor unfavorable, to a request to rezone over 1,000 acres along scenic Chicago Trail from agricultural to industrial.

A rezoning decision by South Bend’s Plan Commission could open the door to a major affordable housing project on the city’s south side.