Hobart residents await judge’s ruling in data center case
Three Hobart residents are asking a judge to invalidate the fill permit used for grading an Amazon data center site, arguing that the city failed to follow required procedures. The judge is expected to rule after attorneys submit findings, while residents seek additional health, air-quality, noise and property-value protections.
Three Hobart residents are awaiting a ruling from Lake Superior Court Judge Bruce Parent in their challenge to a fill permit for Amazon’s 723-acre data center project at 61st Avenue and Colorado Street. The plaintiffs argue that the Hobart Plan Commission improperly shifted its review from a site plan to a fill permit and failed to provide required findings and information, including analysis of effects on nearby property values.
The residents are seeking summary judgment to nullify the permit, which currently allows grading work that is underway. City attorney David Westland said Hobart followed the law and its ordinances and urged the court to dismiss the case. Judge Parent ordered both sides to submit findings of fact by Nov. 9 and is expected to issue a decision within roughly one to two weeks.
Although the court previously dismissed the residents’ challenge to the site plan approval, plaintiff Angelita Soriano hopes a permit ruling could lead to stronger health, air-quality and noise studies, additional construction and operating conditions, and a city ordinance regulating data center development. She also wants the city to provide administrative records and revisit its community benefits agreement with Amazon.