The Lake County Plan Commission is waiting two months to make a decision on a potential data center near Lowell.
At Wednesday evening’s meeting, the plan commission unanimously voted to postpone a rezone vote until its May 20 meeting. Plan commission board member Christina Miller was absent for the vote but arrived later in the meeting.
In December, the commission heard an initial presentation about a proposed data center in Eagle Creek Township about six miles away from Lowell High School, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Sentinel Data Centers, a New York-based company, proposed building a data center on 160 acres of land, on the south side of Indiana 2 and east of Clay Street.
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If the project were to be built, the commission would have to approve a zone change from A1 agriculture to M1 light industrial, according to the plan commission.
Lake County Plan Commission Director Ned Kovachevich told board members that he received a message from Andy Qunell, who’s with VRQ LLC and assisting with the project, that said a public forum on the development will be held at 6 p.m. April 16 at Lowell High School.
Kovachevich asked the board if they wanted to defer or table the rezone until after the public forum.
“That is the day after our April 15 meeting,” Kovachevich. “I don’t know how you feel about hearing this without that public forum taking place because we basically said that we would hold everything in advance until they did that.”
Kovachevich also told board members that he received multiple emails from residents who were concerned that the plan commission would act before a public forum.
Board member and Lake County Councilman Randy Niemeyer motioned for rezone postponement. Niemeyer previously said he wants to make sure the commission has a “really high standard and expectation of transparency in this process.”
According to Post-Tribune archives, project attorney David Westland previously said the proposed data center would be near other industrial uses. Tenaska, a Nebraska-based renewable energy company, received zoning approval last year to develop a 300 megawatt battery storage facility on 35 acres near the same intersection.
Project officials previously said the data center follows Lake County’s comprehensive plan, according to Post-Tribune archives. The data center would bring a $5 billion investment, create more than 2,500 construction jobs, more than 250 on-site jobs, increased business, vendor spending and would expand the county’s tax base, Qunell previously said.
In December, he also said project leaders don’t plan to file for a tax abatement, but that could be negotiated, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Kovachevich, at the December meeting, said it’s likely the project will be heard by the plan commission at least four times, Lake County Council at least twice and the board of zoning appeals at least once.