A 4-4 Tie Killed Fort Wayne's Data-Center Pause. The Rulebook Now Sits With Planning Staff.

Downtown Fort Wayne, March 2022. Photo by WeaponizingArchitecture via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

“My faith in DPS as far as doing something, especially when they’re instructed to do what they do not want to, I think is very naive as far as expecting good results.”

That was Republican Councilman Russ Jehl of the 2nd District on Tuesday night, talking about Fort Wayne's Department of Planning Services, according to The Journal Gazette. After that night's votes, that office is where the work of drafting Fort Wayne's first data-center zoning standards now sits, with no council-set deadline attached.

Jehl was on the losing side. On Oct. 13 the council voted 4-4 on a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data-center approvals, so it failed, and 3-5 against a commission that would have studied hyperscale developments and reported back, 21Alive reported. Both came from Councilwoman Rohli Booker, D-6th, and both had been held since September. Councilman Tom Freistroffer, R-at large, was absent.

Here is how the no votes lined up, per the Journal Gazette:

• Against the moratorium: Nathan Hartman (R-3rd), Marty Bender (R-at large), Paul Ensley (R-1st) and Scott Myers (R-4th).

• Against the study commission: the same four, plus Michelle Chambers (D-at large), who had voted for the legislation on Sept. 22.

• On a motion to table the issue so it wouldn't die outright: only Ensley voted yes.

The pause itself was narrow. The resolution's text limited it to final council approval of new hyperscale or large-scale data centers, for no more than 365 days, and said it would not disturb any approval already granted. The Journal Gazette called it nonbinding, reaching council actions like rezonings, annexations and tax abatements. It would not have touched Google's $2 billion data center on 892 acres near East Tillman and Adams Center roads, which has been running since December and has more buildings planned.

The most telling line in the whole fight is the first one in Booker's resolution: “the Fort Wayne Zoning Code does not presently contain a comprehensive definition or development standards specifically addressing hyperscale or other large-scale, resource-intensive data center development.” In other words, a $2 billion campus is already operating on the southeast side, and the city's zoning code still has no standards written for that kind of project.

The resolution asked planning staff to recommend definitions, zoning districts, setbacks, noise and lighting limits, backup-power rules, and standards for water, wastewater, gas and electric demand, and to do it within the 365 days. With the resolution dead, so is that clock.

The case against was a fair one, and much of it sounded like the kind of thing conservatives say every day. Chambers said the legislation would create overlapping layers of government and unnecessary bureaucracy, and that zoning calls belong with the Plan Commission. She also told 21Alive that the definition of “data centers” wasn't specific enough. Hartman said he wasn't convinced it was good policy and that it “sends the wrong message to not just our community, but to our other partners throughout the state,” and he worried it could snag schools and hospitals. Ensley said his constituents don't want any data centers but called the legislation redundant.

A commission stacked on a plan commission stacked on a planning department is exactly the sort of thing this publication usually mocks. But “redundant” only works if the other layer is actually doing the job. Myers, who sits on the Plan Commission, said the commission asked planning staff about two weeks ago to look at zoning definitions for data centers. None of the coverage of Tuesday's meeting mentioned a deadline for that work, or whether it goes beyond definitions to the water, power and noise questions the resolution listed. Jehl, even while doubting the department, told 21Alive it is “finally getting a little bit in motion.”

Booker argued the timing was the point. No data centers are currently planned for the area, she said, which made now the moment to set standards before the next one shows up. “The idea that a temporary pause to establish some standards and protections is going to send developers running to other communities, to me is like, ‘the sky is falling,’ type of speech,” she said. “I don't buy it.”

Councilman Geoff Paddock, D-5th, backed her and drew a line in public: “If this resolution were not before us and another hyper-scale data center of the size of Google came forward, I could not in good conscience support it.”

Jobs were in the room too. A local electrical workers' union turned out in force, and members had posted on Facebook beforehand about the moratorium's possible effect on future work, 21Alive reported. Jehl said the trades made the case that “there are a lot more jobs than the perception is.”

And water is the worry that won't go away. A brand-new city water tower has gone up next to the Google site on the southeast side, WBOI noted in its coverage of the vote.

Nobody on the council argued that Fort Wayne should turn away investment. The split was over who writes the guardrails and when. For now the answer is a department that a Republican councilman says he can't count on, working on a timeline nobody has announced. When the next Google-sized project asks for a rezoning or a tax break, Fort Wayne taxpayers deserve to see those rules on paper first.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.