Conversations on a proposed data center for Munster’s portion of the Lansing Country Club property have been kicked into next month.
The Munster Plan Commission at its Tuesday night meeting voted 6-0, with Town Councilman George Shinkan, R-1, absent, to postpone a discussion on a potential data center at the Kenmara Technology Park until a scheduled public hearing in July.
It also voted unanimously in a separate motion to defer voting on a unified development ordinance that would combine traditional zoning and subdivision regulations with other regulations into one document.
Commissioner Rachel Branagan reiterated to the packed council chambers that the Plan Commission doesn’t have any sort of plan for a data center before it, but that the developer, Hingham, Massachusetts-based Saxon Partners, is asking the town to allow a data center to be included in its master plan.
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The initial ordinance for the tech park, approved in November for the Indiana portion of the former Lansing Country Club property at the southwest corner of Fisher Street, Timrick Drive and Manor Avenue, currently allows advanced computing, biotechnology sans “human cloning or stem cell research with embryonic tissue,” electronic device technology, engineering or laboratory testing related to the development of a product, technology “that assists in the assessment or prevention of threats or damage to human health or the environment,” medical device technology, product research and development. and advanced vehicle technology among the businesses allowed in it.
The development agreement itself was signed in July 2023, according to the ordinance, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
The town asked Plan Commission Attorney Nicole Bennett to update its zoning laws two years ago because changing case law made it unsustainable to keep up with current zoning standards, Plan Commission Executive Director Sergio Mendoza said. Switching over to a unified development ordinance, then, would help streamline the process for businesses and developers alike, he said.
The UDO sets forth rules for such items as edible gardens, short-term rentals, home businesses and signage, but in its current form, didn’t have any sort of regulations for data centers. On May 12, however, the commission was given data center plans, Clerk-Treasurer Wendy Mis said.
Resident Christine Clarahan, who lives near the former country club, said she can’t rely on officials to mete out appropriate penalties for businesses that perpetually break the town’s rules, and other residents shouldn’t, either.
“Data centers are consistently loud, and the penalties for that must be high enough to not be able to be considered ‘the cost of doing business.’ What are the penalties?’” Clarahan said. “And what’s the definition of ‘water supply?’ Who’s monitoring and enforcing (the quality of water the data center puts back into the system)?
“If the city is going to get all this money for having a data center, I want to know where every single penny goes.”
Noah LaPorte, who works in commercial real estate, concurred with Clarahan and said the UDO as presented doesn’t do enough to protect residents.
“I’ve done a lot of work with car washes, and so I’ve read a lot of ordinances about water reclamation. The best systems reclaim 50% to 60% currently; there are systems which reclaim 80% to 90%, but those aren’t up and running yet. Still, that would mean 10% to 20% (of contaminated water) would be bleeding back into the system,” he said. “My electric bills have gone up 150%. How is the town going to regulate that?”
Cavin McNulty, former leader of Munster High School’s Environmental Club, said he can’t support an entity that’s “taking away jobs,” and Evan Hufford, 13, said he doesn’t want to subject “his future family” to life with a data center.
“I’m going to be in my 20s, and this thing will still be there,” Evan said. “Not everything has to have something built on it.”
Debby and Daniel Albrecht live a half a mile away from the proposed site and are concerned about noise, not just from the data centers themselves, but from potential generators that could be attached to other buildings in the tech park. They’re not completely appeased by the Plan Commission’s deferrals.
“The original plan was far and away better. I wish they’d have just said ‘No,’” Debby Albrecht said. “(The UDO) is going to affect my home business, too.”
“The town has doubled our water bill (in the last couple years). Where does it end?” Daniel Albrecht added.
The Plan Commission will hold its public hearing on the possible Kenmara Tech Park data center at 7 p.m. July 14, at Munster Town Hall, 1005 Ridge Road.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.