Residents urge delay or reversal of massive fill permit tied to proposed data center, citing groundwater, traffic and health risks

Dozens of residents and property owners told the Hobart City Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday that a recently approved fill permit tied to a proposed data-center complex could put wells, roads and public health at risk and should not move forward until more engineering and environmental study is complete.

The concerns were raised during the appeals portion of the meeting after staff explained the plan commission had approved the permit and that the appeals would be consolidated and reviewed; the board said it will provide determinations after the Board of Works meets on the 18th. "This fill permit is just one step in the final building of the data-center complex," one appellant said, urging commissioners to reconsider staged approvals that allow mass grading before final site plans and full stormwater analyses.

Why it matters: Petitioners said the permit authorizes large-scale grading across roughly 600 acres and that key details — final access points, grading plans, stormwater controls and haul routes — remain unresolved in the record. Several speakers urged independent engineering and baseline groundwater testing before irreversible earth-moving occurs, arguing that dewatering can mobilize contaminants and reduce private-well supplies.

Public commenters recounted local impacts. Elizabeth Scagliardi, who identified herself as owner of Excelsior Equestrian Center, said her farm and stable rely on shallow wells and that dewatering or sediment movement could damage wells, wetlands and farm operations. "We're part of that deep river watershed," Scagliardi said. A resident who said she lives with multiple sclerosis said health concerns and exposure fears made the project unacceptable for her family: "I have multiple sclerosis, which is an incurable and progressive autoimmune disease," she said, adding that environmental stressors and increased pollution are a deal-breaker for her household.

Representatives for affected property owners asked the board to insist on completed engineering before allowing mass grading. A speaker representing adjacent landowners cited the permit’s scope and urged an independent stormwater and groundwater study, a no-net-increase runoff standard, written elevation and drainage guarantees, a stormwater performance bond or escrow and baseline well-condition surveys with ongoing monitoring funded by the applicant.

Several commenters identified procedural concerns. One appellant pointed to inconsistent public notices and to apparent contradictions in municipal code references used in the permit record (chapters cited as 1-54 in one notice and 1-50 in another), arguing that site-plan review should precede a fill permit and that the application lacks required details such as equipment types, estimated vehicle-trip counts and proposed haul routes.

City staff told the board they had provided plan-commission findings and recommended consolidating appeals and, if commissioners wished legal input, to pursue an executive session before arriving at final determinations. The board voted to consolidate the appeals and to provide determinations following the Board of Works meeting on the 18th.

What happens next: The board’s decision to defer means petitioners will receive written determinations after the Board of Works meeting; staff also said petitioners will be given written findings and that an executive session can be scheduled if commissioners want legal counsel prior to the next public action.

The meeting included numerous other agenda items, but the data-center-related appeals drew the largest public turnout and the most sustained testimony asking the Authority to require additional engineering, environmental safeguards and transparent baseline data before further site alteration.