After a 7-2 vote in the early hours of Wednesday, Dec. 10, the St. Joseph County Council rejected a rezoning petition that would have allowed a third new data center to be built in the county. But Wednesday's decision may or may not be the end of the data center project near New Carlisle, and it's not the last data center petition the council could hear in the near future.
The proposal would have rezoned 1,057 acres of land along New Carlisle's Chicago Trail from agricultural to industrial to allow a $12 billion data center project to be built. Democrats Mark Catanzarite and Diana Hess were the only councilors to vote in favor of the data center. The other two Democrats, Jennifer Shabazz and Bryan Tanner, and all five Republicans — Joseph Thomas, Amy Drake, Andy Rutten, Dan Schaetzle and Randy Figg — voted to deny the request.
But even with Wednesday's decision, Drake told The Tribune that petitioners could bring the proposal back in six months to try again for council approval.
She also said there are still decisions to be made about the Microsoft data center at the northwest corner of Bittersweet and Cleveland roads in Granger.
In May 2024, according to previous Tribune reporting, the county council approved a petition to rezone more than 900 acres of farmland at St. Joe Farm, and in June 2024, Microsoft purchased the site for a new data center. In August, officials settled a dispute between Mishawaka and St. Joseph County over who would supply water and sewer services to the site.
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