Residents ask for Community Investment at Microsoft open house

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Microsoft says construction on its planned data center project in Granger could begin as early as this fall, but many residents left a community open house Tuesday night saying they still have unanswered questions about the project’s environmental impact and long-term commitments to the area.

Outside the Century Center, protesters gathered peacefully ahead of the company’s presentation, voicing concerns about water use, energy demand and environmental protections tied to the proposed development.

Todd Robertson, an organizer with Stop Data, said residents remain concerned about the project’s potential resource demands.

“The community is here because it uses three to five million gallons of water a day,” Robertson said. “Using enough gas and electricity every single day to power a whole city, and they use that every single day. We don’t even have the resources to power that.”

Microsoft representatives shared renderings of the project and highlighted potential economic benefits, including construction jobs, local hiring and growth to the county tax base.

We Make Indiana is calling for the company to agree to a legally binding fair share agreement with the city.

Marzy Bauer, a member We Make Indiana, said the advocacy group is not opposed to development, but they want to ensure it is beneficial to residents.

“It’s an investment like nothing we’ve seen before, “Bauer said. “We really feel like Microsoft needs to be a good corporate citizen.”

Ryan Juskus, representative of Church of the Savior with We Make Indiana, criticized previous large-scale developments in northern Indiana for what he described as limited local investment.

“The largest business investment in the history of the state of Indiana was just a couple miles west of here in New Carlisle, and guess how much they contributed to local organizations? $250,000 on a one-time basis,” he said. “It’s unacceptable really.”

Microsoft has another data center investment in La Porte, only about 40 miles away from the Granger project. Developers there have committed money to La Porte High School, as well as made commitments to environmental protection.

We Make Indiana would like to see similar benefits for St. Joseph County, and they want in writing.

“We’d like a fair share agreement that really makes some of those — especially around environmental standards — binding,” Juskus said.

Several attendees said company officials did not provide exact figures on projected water or energy usage during the presentation.

“We’re really looking for solid numbers, solid answers and solid binding agreements, and we don’t have those yet,” said Addison Singleton, a Penn High School student. “I think that’s what keeps most of my concerns alive.”

One of the many residents in attendance at the public event was Jan Cervelli, a candidate for County Council District C.

She says she was asked to leave while handing out printed questions to attendees.

“I brought with me some questions that I had composed to help people know perhaps what sort of questions to ask,” Cervelli said. “A policeman came up to me and said, ‘You’ve been asked to leave.’”

A South Bend Police Department spokesperson told ABC57 officers were hired as event security and instructed to remove anyone displaying opposition signs or literature inside the venue to prevent escalation.

Protesters were allowed to remain outside the venue.