St. Joseph County Council

While the Amazon and Microsoft data centers are coming, the St. Joseph County Council now seems to have majority support for a ban on new hyperscale data centers.

Republicans on the St. Joseph County Council are calling for a two-year data center moratorium, while Democrats and the business community say that would jeopardize local control on major land use projects and close the door to future economic growth.

St. Joseph County economic development director Bill Schalliol Aug. 25 will seek county council approval to create a tax incremental financing district at and around the Granger Microsoft data center site.

St. Joseph County Council Republicans are asking Amazon to give back some property tax breaks but a leading Democrat accuses them of political posturing.

A group of homeowners on Elmwood Avenue on Mishawaka's southern edge are asking the St. Joseph County Council to close off their street with a barrier because cut-through traffic has grown so much in recent years.

St. Joseph County Council President Bryan Tanner says the Midwest Continental Divide Trail would have largely used rights-of-way that edges private property, like abandoned railways, but he understands people come to view that as their property since they maintain it.

Four Republican St. Joseph County Council members are asking Amazon Web Services to voluntarily pay into a fund that would give homeowners property tax relief, despite the council granting the tech giant an abatement in August 2024.

The St. Joseph County Council Tuesday night unanimously passed a resolution requiring county commissioners to bring any sale of Portage Manor property before the council for approval. Commissioners President Carl Baxmeyer noted the commissioners must sign any council actions into law.

St. Joseph County Council President Bryan Tanner wants to make sure the council exercises its full power under Indiana law before the county sells off the Portage Manor land.

The new limits on low-frequency sounds that industrial operations can emit won't apply to Amazon's data center because its building permits have been issued but they will apply to the data center that Microsoft will soon start building in Granger.