Key Points: AI-assisted summary
- The St. Joseph County Council unanimously approved rezoning 40 acres of farmland for expansion of Microsoft's data center campus in Granger, Indiana.
- Concerns were raised about the rapid growth of data centers and loss of farmland, but Microsoft stated this expansion completes its plans for the site.
- Unlike Amazon's data center, Microsoft's will utilize a closed-loop system, minimizing groundwater usage.
The St. Joseph County Council voted 9-0 on Tuesday, May 13, for the rezoning of 40 acres so that Microsoft could fill what its local consultant calls a “missing tooth” in its 929-acre data center site in Granger.
But a few council members did so while also suggesting that the county put a pause on the rapid growth of data centers and the loss of farmland.
It also came with a revelation that the Microsoft data center, unlike Amazon’s, wouldn’t suck massive amounts of water from the local aquifer to cool its computers.
The council approved rezoning farmland at Cleveland and Currant roads from agricultural to industrial. It’s surrounded on three sides by the future Microsoft development.
Angela Smith with Danch, Harner and Associates, the local consultants who are representing Microsoft, said the land had recently become available from a different local seller than the one the company bought from last year.
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