Council votes 8-1 to rezone farmland near New Carlisle for potential data center

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify St. Joseph County Council member Bryan Tanner's comment about the impact of farming. The story's original paraphrasing has been replaced with a direct quote.

The St. Joseph County Council voted 8-1 on Tuesday to rezone almost 640 acres of agricultural land for industrial use —potentially for a massive data center by the secretive firm Razor5, LLC — at the southern edge of the Indiana Enterprise Center near New Carlisle.

Council Republican Joe Thomas, whose district covers that area, cast the lone vote against it, saying he was “conflicted” and agreeing with those in the audience who asked to put a pause on making a decision.

Dan Caruso of New Carlisle, who recently was appointed to the county’s Redevelopment Authority, said the rezoning would push industrial development beyond the limit of 2,000 acres near New Carlisle that had been recommended in the county’s 2002 comprehensive plan for land use.

Steve Francis of Clay Township said the people of New Carlisle “feel like they are being dumped on.” He urged the county to keep development within the acreage that’s already in the IEC’s overlay district and not expand beyond that.

But Bill Schalliol, the county’s executive director of economic development, suggested that the potential developers wanted a single parcel that’s big enough rather than smaller pieces.

Some lamented that major development decisions keep pushing forward near New Carlisle while the county’s updated comprehensive plan — where much of the work has already been done — still awaits some final work by consultants. It is taking longer than expected, after having involved input from several members of the community.

Council Democrat Bryan Tanner said that, with a new comprehensive plan on the way, “I don’t want to be beholden to a comprehensive plan that’s 20 years old.”

Attorney Pete Agostino, who represents the Sebasty farming family who’d sell the land to developers, argued that farmers need to sell land like this in order to make money and survive. He pitched it as a matter of individual freedom and democracy.

But Jennifer Betz of South Bend said her husband is among a younger generation of farmers who can’t afford to buy agricultural land in St. Joseph County, an issue that she says is becoming worse as farmland prices rise. She argued this was about more than just one family. She pitched preserving the famously rich, productive farmland there in what used to be the Grand Kankakee Marsh.

“We need to be able to grow our own food,” she said. “If we keep rezoning ag land, we’ll have no chance for food sovereignty.”

To critics who cited the environmental impact of industry, Tanner, who noted that he grew up next to farms, had this to say: "While there are environmental impacts related to these (industrial) projects, we cannot pretend like there are no environmental impacts from farming. That includes pesticides and fertilizers polluting our waterways, as well as the impact farming has had on draining and effectively eliminating the existence of the entire Kankakee Marsh. It isn't a 1:1 comparison, but we cannot ignore that both have environmental impacts.”

The land is at the southwest corner of Indiana 2 and Strawberry Road, which puts it directly east of the Navistar Proving Grounds and nearly a half mile east of Bendix Woods County Park.

As The Tribune has reported, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google and Meta have been building such data centers across the country, including in the Midwest. AWS officials have reportedly been seen around St. Joseph County in recent months to gather information. But an AWS spokeswoman refused to either confirm or deny whether the company plans to build a data center here.

Schalliol has said there are actually “a couple of prospects” to develop the land.

Also on Tuesday, the council voted 9-0 to extend the IEC’s overlay district to cover the nearly 640 acres. That at least provides some protection, preventing certain kinds of development that include mining, scrap yards, slaughterhouses and confined animal feeding operations (CAFO).

Some questioned why the added acreage was being “rushed.”

Schalliol said that “timing is very critical” because of other development in the area, along with improvements to Indiana 2 and Larrison Road. He said key steps are happening for $50 million in bonds to support the county’s improvements to the area’s infrastructure, aiding the New Carlisle development.

“A lot of pieces are moving forward,” Schalliol said.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Council votes to rezone farmland New Carlisle for data center