A St. Joseph County Council candidate is organizing a town hall meeting tonight to raise concerns about the data center that Microsoft is planning in Granger.
The council in May 2024 approved the rezoning that Microsoft needs for the data center northeast of Capital Avenue and Cleveland Road. But critics of the project say the community still should have a say on how the data center is developed.
Organizers say this town hall event, starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Harris Library, will be a panel discussion moderated by Jan Cervelli. She’s an urban planning expert and St. Mary’s College professor who’s also running as a Democrat for the county council seat that represents Granger.
The panel will consist of Bill Schalliol, the county’s economic development executive director, Ben Inskeep, program director at Citzens Action Coalition, and Sam Carpenter, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council.
Cervelli says Microsoft needs to be transparent in how it will develop the data center, even though they’re a private company operating in a highly competitive market.
“I understand there are trade secrets," Cervelli says, "but I think we’re at the state now where the impact of these projects is so great, and the investment by the community is such, that the community is entitled to know how it’s impacting things like water, energy draws, utility bills, what’s the level of pollution that we can expect.”
