For the third time in the past year, developers want to build a data center in Michiana. This one is proposed for Bristol, and again it faces opposition from neighbors.
So far this year Amazon has won rezoning approval to build a data center between South Bend and New Carlisle, and Microsoft got the green light to build a data center in Granger.
Now an undisclosed company is asking the town of Bristol in Elkhart County for a rezoning needed to build a data center campus. Again, people who live near the site fear noise and a drop in their property values.
The Province Group, a California-based developer working for the undisclosed tech company, has said its client wants to spend $1 billion to build the campus on 247 acres of farmland at county roads 14 and 23. About a million square feet of one-story buildings would house computer servers and processors that power everything from the cloud and social media to rapidly evolving artificial intelligence applications. It would create up to 150 jobs and take five to seven years to build.
Like the others, this project requires a rezoning from agricultural to manufacturing. The county plan commission has sent it to the Bristol Town Council with a favorable recommendation. The council had planned to hold a final vote at its Sept. 5 meeting but agreed to delay it after opponents packed their small meeting room with questions and concerns.
For a larger space, the town council will meet Monday at 5 p.m. at the Bristol Public Library to consider a final vote.
