Two local politicians and an ecologist have called a special meeting Tuesday urging people to start paying closer attention to data center proposals across Michiana.
The meeting will happen Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the New Carlisle-Olive Township Public Library. Hosting will be Republican St. Joseph County Surveyor Derek Dieter, Democratic South Bend Common Council member Oliver Davis, and ecologist and land use expert Steve Sass.
They’ll highlight what they say were serious and unacceptable misrepresentations of data presented to the public during the December 10 county council meeting. That was the 10-hour meeting where the council ultimately rejected a rezoning needed for a proposed data center east of New Carlisle on Old Chicago Trail.
I asked Sass why it matters what happened since he got the outcome he wanted anyway.
“Because I think that we are absolutely not done with data centers," Sass replied. "Like this county has a huge bullseye on it for companies wanting to locate here and tap into our power grid and tap into our water supply. It should serve as a warning to the constituents that people need to pay close attention to what’s going on with some of these things.”
