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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Morgan County Plan Commission is set to consider a rezoning request next week that could pave the way for a data center on a 391-acre tract in the northern part of the county.
Acting on behalf of a developer and end user whose identities have not been released, the Morgan County Economic Development Corp. has filed a rezoning request that’s scheduled for a public hearing Feb. 10. A separate public information meeting is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Monrovia Christian Church, 710 Gordon Road.
The property in question, which is currently zoned for agricultural and residential use, lies in Morgan Township just east of the town of Monrovia. Its boundaries are Keller Hill Road to the north, North Antioch Road to the east, Indiana 42 to the south and West Union Church Road to the west. An AES electrical transmission line runs through the site.
The EDC is requesting that the site be rezoned as a planned unit development.
The rezoning request filed with Morgan County on Jan. 13 refers to the project as the Morgan County Data Center I Project Planned Unit Development District. A map filed with that request shows five proposed buildings for the site: two large buildings and one smaller building on the east of the electrical transmission line, and two large buildings to the west of it.
The paperwork also indicates that Monrovia’s sewer system would serve the site.
“It’s obviously a project of great economic significance, and it’s in a location that’s well-suited for it,” said Morgan County EDC Executive Director Mike Dellinger. “And so we’re hoping that Morgan County, the public, and its elected officials and appointed officials, can see this benefit just as we do.”
According to the rezoning application, the 391-acre site is made up of 18 different parcels of land currently owned by 10 different entities. Dellinger said the project’s unnamed developer has secured purchase options with these owners and plans to acquire the land if the project moves forward. Dellinger declined to say when the options are set to expire. It’s unknown at this point how much the purchaser might spend to acquire the land.
Dellinger said the rezoning request is one of several things that would have to happen for the project to proceed.
“If we can get the site zoned, if we can get the infrastructure to the site that we need in a timely manner,” Dellinger said, “then that makes it that much more of a favorable site for the developer and the end user.”
Indiana has been the site of several large-scale data center announcements over the past year or so. Since late 2023, Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have all announced plans for at least five hyperscale projects in Indiana. Those projects combined represent nearly $25 billion in total potential investment, with a heavy concentration in northern Indiana. Google announced last January that it had purchased 900 acres in southeast Fort Wayne for a data center development, and Meta’s 1,500-acre development in Lebanon’s LEAP Research and Innovation District was announced late last year.
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How much will this raise our electric bills
Sounds like the potential to tap into the existing transmission line with a new substation, so probably a wash on the power company costs. Probably a reason that location was chosen.