Residents urge independent groundwater and stormwater studies before approving data-center fill permit

Residents and nearby property owners urged the Hobart redevelopment board on a contested fill permit linked to a proposed large data-center development to require independent groundwater and stormwater studies before any irreversible earth-moving begins.

At the meeting, Barbara Telles, a local resident who spoke first during the appeals, said the scale and proximity of the project raised serious local concerns: “There is no place in The United States where there is a 725 acre data center across the street from residences,” she said, arguing the build would drive heavy construction traffic and harm nearby home values and safety.

Other residents described water-supply and health worries. A homeowner who said she built a house in 2023 said she and her husband live roughly 1½ miles from the project area and asked how dewatering and soil disturbance would affect private wells. She said chronic illnesses in her household made any risk of environmental exposure a “deal breaker.”

Elizabeth Scagliardi, owner of Excelsior Equestrian Center, said her farm and 20 horses rely on the local aquifer and that tying into city water would be infeasible for her business. She criticized the permit’s documentation and said she could not find an environmental-impact study for the project. Scagliardi also flagged sedimentation and stormwater capacity issues and noted that other large data-center projects have required large-scale dewatering.

A representative for nearby property owners told the board the permit authorizes mass grading on “approximately 605 acres” and recommended several protections before work proceeds: an independent stormwater and groundwater study, a no-net-increase runoff standard, written elevation and drainage guarantees, a stormwater performance bond or escrow, baseline property and well condition surveys and ongoing monitoring.

Jennifer McWhite, speaking for others and relaying a question from a neighbor, urged the city to “conduct independent baseline testing of the aquifer, including nitrates, nitrites, and screening for common agricultural and industrial contaminants,” and to publicly release results and require applicant-funded long-term monitoring if approval moves forward.

Speakers also raised procedural concerns. One commenter said public notices and permit records referenced different municipal-code chapters (chapter 154 vs. chapter 150), arguing that site-plan review requirements may have been bypassed and that the application omits required details such as haul routes, timing, equipment, and measures for dust, noise and erosion control.

City staff and the chair told petitioners that the appeals process will continue and that determinations will be made at the Board of Works meeting on the 18th; the board said petitioners would receive written decisions after that meeting. The board did not adopt any of the technical protections requested at tonight’s meeting; residents urged the board to ensure the issues are resolved before any large-scale grading begins.

The city’s next procedural step is the Board of Works meeting on the 18th, when appeals will be considered and written determinations provided to petitioners.