Residents press Hobart board to delay Amazon data‑center fill permit over groundwater, traffic and health worries

The Hobart City Redevelopment Authority heard hours of public comment Tuesday on a fill permit tied to a proposed Amazon data‑center development, with residents urging the city to postpone or reverse the permit until independent engineering and groundwater testing are completed.

The board was presented with a series of appeals and public statements asserting that the permit authorizes mass grading on roughly 600 acres before final site plans, stormwater designs and access points are finalized. ‘‘This fill permit is just one step in the final building of the data center…25 buildings,’’ Barbara Telles said in public comment, warning construction traffic and noise could harm nearby neighborhoods.

Why it matters: Petitioners said incomplete engineering records make the Plan Commission’s findings premature. Eric Morris, speaking for property owners near Colorado Street, said the commission’s conclusions — that grading would not change drainage or create hazardous traffic — are unsupported without final grading and traffic plans. ‘‘At this stage…there is no reliable engineering basis,’’ Morris said, and he asked the city to require independent stormwater and groundwater studies, a no‑net‑increase runoff standard, written elevation and drainage guarantees, a stormwater performance bond, baseline well and property condition surveys and long‑term monitoring funded by the applicant.

Multiple residents described direct water‑supply fears. A resident who lives near Deep River said she and her husband rely on a private well for household and farm operations, including a 20‑horse boarding facility, and said dewatering and soil disturbance could contaminate or dry up private wells. ‘‘I have multiple sclerosis…No amount of money is worth my quality of life,’’ she told the board, saying chronic health conditions make potential contamination and noise particularly worrisome.

Speakers also raised environmental and agricultural concerns. Elizabeth Scagliardi, owner of Excelsior Equestrian Center, asked why required dewatering and stormwater plans appeared to be deferred until after permit approval and warned that sediment and altered drainage would strain existing wetlands and storm sewers. Other commenters pointed to reported large dewatering volumes at comparable Amazon sites and cited published studies linking groundwater disturbance to negative health and ecological effects.

City staff described the appeal process and procedural options. Staff told the board the Plan Commission’s findings can be affirmed, reversed, amended or modified and recommended petitioners receive written determinations; staff suggested that legal questions be addressed in executive session prior to final action. ‘‘At the next meeting, the findings will be provided to the commissioners in writing,’’ staff said, recommending the Board of Works consider the consolidated appeals on March 18.

What the board did: The authority did not vote on the underlying fill permit. Instead, the board agreed to bundle appeals and take final determinations at the next Board of Works meeting; staff will provide written findings to petitioners and the board signaled a preference for additional technical review before irreversible grading proceeds.

Next steps: Appeals and any requests for executive session to consult legal counsel are scheduled for the Board of Works meeting on the 18th, when the authority expects to issue written determinations to petitioners.