Revealed: Data center and farmer's woes at St. Joe Farm as county advances rezoning

On Tuesday, the public first heard that a data center for computer servers could come to the old St. Joe Farm in Granger, in what has been guarded plans for a total of 1.1 million cubic feet of building space.

Consultants and county officials still haven’t said who the developer is.

Also for the first time, the farm’s owner spoke publicly about his struggles to turn a yield from his degraded soils, plus his hope for “prosperity.”

All of this came Tuesday as St. Joseph County’s Area Plan Commission voted 6-2 to give a favorable recommendation to the proposed rezoning of 914 acres of farmland at the historic St. Joe Farm.

The rezoning now heads to the county council for discussion at its committees meeting at 5:30 p.m. April 23 and then to the council's public hearing at 6 p.m. May 14 for a vote.

April 15, 2024: Unknown developer seeks 'business tech campus' on 900 acres of St. Joe Farm, rezoning

Several people spoke in favor and against the rezoning, which would turn the acreage east of Capital Avenue and Cleveland Road from agricultural to industrial for what, until now, has only been labeled a “business-tech campus.”

It would eventually employ 300 people on site.

Mike Danch, a local consultant who’s representing the development, countered the recent criticism of the loss of farmland. He said silt from other farms has caused problems with the soil and, he added, “The farmer was working against the odds to make it work.”

He also said the developer is interested in some of the extra steps the Juday Creek Task Force suggested taking to protect Juday Creek because it passes through the property, though at least one critic said a proposed green buffer wasn’t enough.

Neighbors raised concerns about a “lack of transparency” about what the “business-tech campus” would actually be, along with their worries about traffic and what Emily Trausch of Granger called a potential “eyesore.”

Data center comes to light

When it came time for public comments, Frank Agostino, a local attorney, became the first one to publicly say that it would be a data center for computer servers, saying it’s in a good spot to connect to a fiber-optic corridor.

“I’m in support of a willing buyer and a willing seller,” Agostino said.

Later, Danch, who is with the firm Danch, Harner and Associates, confirmed that, yes, it would be a data center. That was after his own presentation where he didn’t mention it and after county planner Shawn Klein also didn’t mention it. Nor is a data center mentioned in the county’s meeting documents.

Rather, Klein had presented the developer’s commitment to avoid building a list of unpopular businesses, from a slaughterhouse to metal shredding plant, that’s very similar to the requirements of the Economic Enterprise Zone’s overlay district near New Carlisle. That was to ease the concerns neighbors had raised to the commission a month ago — concerns that led the commission to table the rezoning.

Neighbor Nate Kelly had come into the meeting concerned about such a huge amount of building space, calling it 10 times bigger than anything else in Granger.

He was relieved that unpopular uses would be avoided, but he was still frustrated by the secrecy about the project.

“Why didn’t you say it was a data center?” he pointedly asked. “I’d feel a whole lot better.”

Farmer struggles to continue 'comeback'

The farm’s owner, Paul Blum, said he and his wife have lived in the South Bend area for 47 years, having graduated from the University of Notre Dame and worked for 35 years as a special education teacher and raised eight children.

Since 1867, St. Joe Farm had been used by Holy Cross brothers to feed staff and students at Notre Dame. Blum said it stopped feeding the campus in 1960 and became a regular farm where beef cattle were raised. Notre Dame sold it in 2008.

When the Blums bought the farm, Paul Blum said, they kept all 29 buildings onsite, against others’ advice, and made it “a comeback story.” He said they reworked it until it became a leading seed corn farm for Monsato. But then he spoke of the mud and silt that flowed into the soil.

“We lost 40% of our income,” he said. “We spent millions on irrigation and improvements.”

Adding that he’ll continue to live next to the farm without any fears, Blum said, “I welcome prosperity.”

Today, Indiana Michigan Power runs its solar farm at the eastern end of the property, an old barn is rented for weddings, and Little League sports use part of the lot for parking.

Former county commissioner Andy Kostielney praised this use of the property, saying, “This is an area that was always identified for industrial use.”

Protecting Juday Creek

Steve Francis, who lives nearby on Juday Lake Drive, which is west and downstream of Juday Creek, wasn't impressed with the 100-foot green buffer that the developer is offering on each side of the creek. The drainage board already requires a 75-foot buffer on each side of the creek, so the developer would be extending it by only about 25 feet.

Consultants had met April 9 with the Juday Creek Task Force, a group that advises the county’s drainage board and advocates for protection of the creek, which is exceptionally clean and cold enough to support trout. Danch said that the task force brought up several interesting methods to protect the creek and that the developer is interested in protecting the watershed.

Protecting the creek: 100 years of Izaak Walton: Fishing, shooting arrows and advocating for Juday Creek

In its list of suggestions, the task force asked for a much wider buffer along the creek.

The task force also asked for a larger conservation corridor through the floodplain south of Cleveland where the creek actually crosses. That’s part of the 914 acres, which developers want to hold for future use, yet to be decided.

But Danch said the developer didn't want to commit to conservation until the developer knows what it wants to do with that portion of the land.

Andy Rutten, who lives on Cedar Trail, closer to McKinley Highway, questioned why all of the land needed to be rezoned if the developer currently has plans for only a portion of it. He suggested that turning the floodplain portion into a wetland and park would be a welcome idea.

Drawing on Mishawaka and township

Harris Township Trustee Ken Lindsay posed some things for the commission to think about. He was skeptical that the 300 jobs in a data center would be technical. Thinking of his 29 years working for IBM, he speculated that the center would be managed remotely and that the employees would mostly be “people who are able to keep the building open.”

He pointed out that it would be eight-tenths of a mile from a fire station from Clay Fire Territory, which may have to be prepared for the demands of inspections and calls for a data center.

Danch noted that the project cannot happen until the city of Mishawaka extends water and sewer services to the area.

Bill Schalliol, the county’s executive director of economic development, said that is being planned with the city and acknowledged that it would be in concert with also extending city utilities about 1,000 feet to a nearby site just on the other side of Capital. That would be for a proposed auto mall that Gurley Leep Automotive Group hopes to build. But Mishawaka officials say there are still several steps yet to be resolved and it could take years before utilities are extended.

Just to the west: Mishawaka Council hears request for annexation of 30 acres near Cleveland and Capital

Lindsay also speculated that the city of Mishawaka may want to annex the land, as utilities and development are coming to the site. Schalliol told WNDU that, while the extended utilities may spur the city to consider that, it would have to be part of a “long-term” conversation with Mishawaka.

In fact, Mishawaka's city council is already weighing a proposed annexation of 30 acres northwest of Capital and Cleveland for Gurley Leep's auto mall.

Residents may think that the city or county is already doing work to prepare either of the sites for development, but that apparently isn't the case. Schalliol said that NIPSCO is currently taking on a major project to install a new service line near the area, but it isn't related to the developers' projects.

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: Data center revealed as St. Joe Farm rezoning gets favorable APC vote