Economic impact shapes opposition to St. Joseph County data center ban

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- The St. Joseph County Council voted 6-3 Tuesday to advance a resolution directing the Area Plan Commission to develop zoning changes that would prohibit new hyperscale data centers in the county.

Council members who voted against the resolution pointed to the economic impact of data centers already planned or under construction in the county, including the Amazon Web Services and Microsoft projects.

According to Jeff Rea, president of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, Amazon Web Services is expected to pay more than $1 billion in taxes to the county over the next 30 years.

Council member Dan Schaetzle, District C, said the county could see long-term benefits from Microsoft's investment in the community.

“I think way in the future a lot of the people who are so anti-data center are going to realize that bringing Microsoft to our community was a great move,” Schaetzle says.

Council member Diana Hess, District E, also pointed to Amazon's investment and workforce in the county.

“They’ve invested more than $13.8 billion. That’s the biggest investment in the state to date, let alone the county,” Hess says. “And there’s 1,056 right now and counting, full-time AWS employees.”

Hess and Schaetzle said they believe the economic impact of existing data centers should be considered as the county weighs additional restrictions.

Schaetzle said the projects could eventually affect property taxes, employment and infrastructure.

“Five years from now, when people’s property taxes are a little lower because of Microsoft, and their kid has a job at the Microsoft facility, and their roads are nicer because of all of those tax dollars, I think they’ll have to admit that it was the right move to bring Microsoft to our community,” Schaetzle says.

Schaetzle characterized the ongoing debate over data center restrictions as political “upsman-ship” during Tuesday's meeting.

“This political season has turned into who can be the most anti-data center politician season,” Schaetzle says. “I would like to see them talk about roads. I’d like to see them talk about our health department and some of those other things.”

Hess said the county's economic situation should be centerfold for county leadership, not data center debates.

“Economic investment in our county, it’s serious. Jobs are serious. The fact that we have an affordability crisis,” Hess says. “AWS employees also have good pay, good benefits, including educational benefits, etc., and they are also being trained on transferable technology skills that they can take with them when they go.”

Council member Mark Catanzarite, R-District G, was the third member to vote against the resolution. ABC57 reached out to Catanzarite for comment but did not receive a response.

The resolution now moves to the Area Plan Commission, which is expected to work on definitions and proposed zoning changes before the measure returns to the County Council for consideration.