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A group of Pittsboro residents who oppose a planned data center campus in their Hendricks County town has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to halt the project.
The defendants in the case are the town of Pittsboro, the town’s council and its advisory plan commission; as well as the project’s developer, Denver-based Vantage Data Centers.
The dispute concerns Vantage’s plans to develop a data center campus on about 285 acres of a 626-acre site owned by Charles D. Smith Family Farm Inc. and located in the northeast corner of Pittsboro. The property sits just north of Interstate 74 and west of County Road 500 East.
Pittsboro officials annexed the property into the town late last year. In March, Pittsboro’s town council unanimously approved Vantage’s request to rezone the land from agricultural to industrial warehouse—a zoning classification that allows for data center operations.
In a lawsuit filed in April in Hendricks County, the plaintiffs allege that Pittsboro officials violated Indiana law by failing to provide sufficient notice of the annexation or the rezoning request.
The plaintiffs also allege that the defendants failed to require Vantage to produce traffic studies, environmental impact analysis, hydrological assessment or utility infrastructure review to determine potential impacts of the rezoning.
“The town, town council and plan commission circumvented due process requirements to advance the project and avoid public deliberation, remonstrances and objections while turning a blind eye to any potential negative impact to plaintiffs and other Pittsboro residents who will be affected by the project,” the complaint alleges.
Indianapolis attorney James Buddenbaum is representing the town of Pittsboro, its town council and its advisory plan commission. Indianapolis attorney John Moore is representing Vantage. Neither attorney responded to IBJ’s phone messages seeking comment on the case.
Vantage and Pittsboro Town Council President Jarod Baker did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Plaintiffs Mary and Thomas Rokusek, Jacy Robling, Keith and Dayna Yeager, Andrew Adams, Loren Hunt and Donald Brophy are represented by Indianapolis attorney Arie Lipinski. Lipinski also did not respond to IBJ’s phone message seeking comment on the case.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the annexation and zoning decision void and to prevent the defendants from doing any work on the data center project, including the issuance of permits.
The defendants have not filed their official legal response to the defendants’ complaint. Hendricks Circuit Court Judge Kathryn Kuehn has given the defendants until July 21 to file their response.
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