Hearing examiner recommends variance for DC Blocks data center despite heavy neighborhood opposition

The hearing examiner recommended approval on June 11 of a use variance and plat for DC Blocks to build an edge-node data center at the Thunderbird Commerce Center, a 32-acre former Ford plant site on Indianapolis’s east side.

DC Blocks representatives presented the project as a multi‑phase, low‑traffic campus with a 70,000-square-foot single‑story Building 1 and a range of commitments on environmental mitigation, generator testing hours, sound monitoring and a decommissioning plan. CEO Jeff Uphues said the company plans a multimillion‑dollar community benefit agreement and pledged mitigation measures, including a commitment that testing “will not occur after 5PM or before 7AM or on weekends or holidays.” (Jeff Uphues)

Neighborhood leaders and several councilors urged denial or a delay. Irvington community president Sue Beecher told the examiner: “I strongly recommend denial of DC Block's request for the variance to build a data center,” citing concerns about air quality, incomplete public commitments and uncertainty about tax incentives.

Councilor Andy Nielsen, who represents District 14, said he and dozens of residents oppose the petition and urged the examiner to weigh community concerns: “I request that you recommend denial of the petitions in question.” (Andy Nielsen)

Staff recommended approval conditioned on a package of enforceable commitments addressing generator enclosures and permitted testing hours, a sound‑monitoring requirement, enhanced transitional yards and screening, water‑use limitations (closed‑loop or waterless cooling), and financial responsibility for required electrical infrastructure upgrades so local ratepayers would not bear those costs. Staff concluded the site’s size, existing utility easements and proximity to high‑capacity transmission make it physically suited to the use.

The hearing recorded extensive back‑and‑forth about brownfield remediation. DC Blocks’ environmental witness said state environmental regulators closed prior remediation actions with a certificate of completion and that additional restrictive covenants were recorded after further work; the petitioner supplemented the record with technical letters during the hearing.

Remonstrators pressed several unresolved requests: independent third‑party sound studies with published results, tighter generator specifications (tier‑4 or equivalent), a publicly accessible repository for monitoring and complaint records, a firm decommissioning escrow and explicit guarantees addressing road and construction impacts. Several speakers also asked the examiner to pause action pending completion of new city policy on data centers and a city‑county moratorium resolution passed by the council.

In recommending approval, the hearing examiner found the required findings for a variance were met by the combination of site-specific physical features, staff commitments and the proposed mitigation measures; the examiner adopted staff’s recommended conditions and directed the relevant commitments be recorded and enforced.

Next steps: the examiner’s recommendation will be placed on the MDC docket (staff noted the July 1 MDC agenda for many hearing examiner recommendations) and is likely to be appealed to the full Metropolitan Development Commission by opponents.

Sources: Public testimony and staff presentations at the MDC hearing examiner session on June 11, 2026.