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St. Joseph County approves MOU with Microsoft and clears $12.6 million in design contracts
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Summary
The St. Joseph County board approved a memorandum of understanding with the City of Mishawaka, the Redevelopment Commission and Microsoft to fund design of water, sewer and roadway connections for the St. Joe Farms project and separately approved four professional services contracts funded from Microsoft escrow; commissioners voted 3-0 on each action amid public complaints about process and water impacts.
The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners on March 17 approved a memorandum of understanding with the City of Mishawaka, the St. Joseph County Redevelopment Commission and Microsoft to fund engineering design work for utilities and roadway access to the planned St. Joe Farms/Microsoft site.
The MOU, described by county staff as setting design responsibilities in Exhibit A, places a not-to-exceed total expenditure at $12,577,375 and directs Microsoft to place the funds in escrow to be distributed as the work is completed. “The total expenditures are projected to not exceed $12,577,375,” a county presenter said during the meeting. The board approved the MOU by a 3-0 roll-call vote; the clerk recorded votes of “Aye” from Mister Fox, Mister Trello and Mister George.
The commission then approved four professional-service contracts tied to the MOU. Staff presented a $3,575,000 contract for DLC to perform predevelopment and water-network design, a $650,000 contract for Lawson Fisher Associates to design sewer gravity and force-main extensions, a $330,400 contract (plus a previously approved $50,000 on-call allowance) for the Lochmiller Group to provide roadway and culvert design, and a $35,600 contract for Christopher B. Burke to do wetland delineation at seven sites covering roughly 265 acres of right-of-way. Each contract was moved and approved by voice vote with the clerk announcing unanimous approval (3-0).
County staff emphasized these approvals are for design work only, not construction. Bill Shalow, who joined the meeting after the presentation and reviewed Exhibit A, said the design will identify utility locations, roadway entrances and right-of-way needs and that the information will allow Microsoft to prepare a final site plan subject to later design review and approvals. “This is just design. This is not any construction whatsoever,” the presenting staff member said.
Public commenters asked that the commission delay action until more public engagement occurs and until water-capacity and environmental questions are answered. The commission did not take public comment before the votes; that procedural choice drew repeated objections during the public-comment period that followed.
The county staff noted that the Board of Commissioners and the Mishawaka board of works had approved or were approving the same MOU earlier the same day, and that by the end of the day all three bodies would have acted on the agreement. The commission scheduled its next meeting for April 14.
Actions taken at the March 17 special meeting are limited to the approvals recorded at the session; no construction contracts or final site-plan approvals were granted at this meeting.
