The Elkhart Common Council has passed a data center and battery energy storage system moratorium while the city develops rules for those types of development.
The council voted 9-0 Thursday to pause considering any new hyperscale data center applications for at least six months while city staff develops standards for everything from electrical grid capacity to water and air impacts.
In St. Joseph County, where the council also is considering a moratorium or ban, South Bend Regional Chamber President Jeff Rea says he’s worried the county will miss out on over a trillion dollars in data center development expected over the next two years.
But Elkhart Common Council President Arvis Dawson doesn’t share that concern.
“We’re in a prime spot. We have plenty of water. We’re a transportation hub. So they’re going to come to us. I don’t think we’re going to miss out on anything by us taking time to do what we need to do to do our due diligence to make sure that if and when a data center should come, that it’s what we want.”
