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County redevelopment staff present Kingsbury Industrial Park Technology PUD to steer data centers and other tech projects into industrial zone
Summary
Redevelopment officials proposed a Technology PUD for a mapped portion of Kingsbury Industrial Park to create a development pathway for data centers, batteries and biotech, require development agreements, and add local stormwater, monitoring and contractual controls.
Matt Reardon, La Porte County's redevelopment and economic development coordinator, presented a proposed amendment to the La Porte County Joint Zoning Ordinance creating a Technology Planned Unit Development (PUD) for a mapped area of Kingsbury Industrial Park.
Reardon said the PUD is intended to concentrate data centers, battery/storage projects and other "high-technology" uses in an industrial area rather than on farm property. "This is the redevelopment commission telling the development community what we want them to do on that property and how we want them to do it," he said. He described the PUD as an overlay that sets a rigorous development pathway, including required development agreements, plan review and specific rules on water, stormwater and discharge.
Paul Vicari, the county's stormwater management director, summarized the PUD's stormwater provisions: developers must supply drainage and watershed studies, baseline groundwater and surface-water measurements, and monitoring twice a year; long-term operation and maintenance agreements would be recorded with the recorder's office. Vicari said the county may hire hydrogeologists or outside specialists to review developer-submitted data.
Reardon also framed the fiscal argument: the county faces revenue pressure and, he said, needs roughly $469 million of new assessed value in the coming year and about $590 million the following year to meet current needs. He offered a conservative long-range estimate that roughly $10 billion of investment could be feasible on Kingsbury land, and that a $2 billion assessed subset could generate about $34 million in new tax revenue — statements he presented as planning assumptions for the county's fiscal outlook.
The commission's discussion emphasized the PUD applies only to the mapped M-2 parcels in the Kingsbury map, does not preclude landowners from separately requesting other zoning changes, and requires multiple stakeholders (MS4, drainage board, building commissioner) to review development plans.
Provenance: The PUD overview and discussion begin with Matt Reardon's remarks and include DiMartino and Vicari's presentations and the board's subsequent Q&A and motions.
