The St. Joseph County Council will vote Tuesday on whether to ban any new hyperscale data centers besides those being built by Amazon and Microsoft. We report on the council president’s legal concerns with such a ban.
Democratic Council President Bryan Tanner says he sees how unpopular data centers are but he’s leaning against the ban because the county already is paying a lot of litigation costs from various legal disputes in recent years. He worries about data center developers suing the county.
“I think there are some very narrow confines in which prohibitions on any type of business can be implemented by local governments," Tanner says. "So there are a lot of concerns that I don’t have questions answered on yet, that I still have to do some homework on.”
Tanner says the county’s annual legal fees have increased from $450,000 in 2022 to hold steady at about $1.6 million the past three years. Citing what he says are just a few examples, he says the costs have included a lawsuit over Republicans’ attempt to redistrict in 2022, the handling of redevelopment commission appointments in 2023, and increased legal fees related to public records requests.
Tanner says there have been multiple years recently where commissioners have requested additional appropriations to cover escalating legal costs.
Republican Council Member Amy Drake, the ban’s most vocal supporter, says council members aren’t required to submit legislation to the council attorney for review.
But she submitted this resolution anyway to council attorney Clint Zalas. She says he has reviewed the resolution and found it legally sound. The resolution directs the plan commission to develop the ordinance and then send it back to the council for approval.
“So until we see what they do we can’t decide that we’re already going to get sued over it," Drake says. "Literally anything we do we can get sued over and you can’t not take action on things you think are important because you worry about the potential of a lawsuit. Whether someone would actually sue about it, who knows?
"But they will see that our county is not hospitable to any more data centers than we already have and I think we do need to send that message because that’s what I hear from everybody that I talk to.”
