The Land Use Planning Committee spent more than two hours on a rezoning petition (Bill 4,225) that would change roughly 1,000 acres north of New Carlisle from agricultural (A) to industrial (I) to allow a proposed data‑center campus.

Sean Klein, director of the Area Plan Commission, opened the item with background. The APC forwarded the petition to the county council with an unfavorable recommendation (7–0) after a public hearing that recorded three speakers in favor and 33 in remonstrance; APC staff noted a large volume of written remonstrances as well. Klein reminded the committee the county must take final action within 90 days of APC certification or the rezoning would be denied by statutory default.

Attorney Brandon Dickinson, representing the petitioners, presented a site plan and several commitments the developer offered in response to community concerns: a phased build (phase 1 and phase 2) with a total of 14 shell buildings; large landscaping and setback buffers that would place the nearest building roughly 500 feet from Chicago Trail (reaching 1,200 feet at the site's farthest edge); placement of substation/switching infrastructure centrally so it is unlikely to be visible from the road; and an explicit pledge to donate roughly 250 acres adjacent to the town to a civic entity for green‑space or buffering.

Property owner Randall Saporski testified in favor, describing family farm economics and his willingness to convey portions of his land. The petitioner also described operational commitments the developer would accept if rezoning were approved: written development commitments recorded with the rezoning that would list allowed uses (data center use), prohibit other industrial uses without further council approval, detailed landscaping and berming plans, and the potential to use closed‑loop cooling to reduce potable water demand.

Technical witnesses addressed key public concerns. Jill Schickitano, economic and business development manager for Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), said the company and recent state tariff changes provide protections and a structure under which large loads are billed so that the utility can recover infrastructure costs from the large customer rather than from residential ratepayers; she described contract and tariff measures (including an 80% minimum billing demand and exit/penalty provisions) designed to protect other customers. Kimley Horn engineer Andrew Denene described stormwater approaches and typical infiltration basins for the sandy soils in the area. United Consulting traffic engineers explained they have collected baseline counts and will model construction and post‑construction trip patterns using standard trip‑generation methods and will work with county and state agencies on mitigation if needed.

Opposition included residents and the Town of New Carlisle, which passed a resolution opposing the rezoning; committee members repeatedly referenced community concern about the pace of industrial development in the IEC area and asked the petitioner for more written commitments and technical details.

After questions and discussion the committee voted to send Bill 4,225 to the full council with an unfavorable recommendation. The recorded committee vote was 3 in favor of forwarding unfavorably and 2 opposed; the chair noted the committee recommendation is advisory and the full county council makes the final decision.

The petition and the committee’s unfavorable recommendation will appear on the St. Joseph County Council agenda for a future meeting; the petitioner and county staff agreed to circulate additional technical information to council members in advance of that hearing.