Amazon providing data center updates on Zoom for Hobart residents
Amazon is providing Hobart residents with virtual updates about site preparation for its 723-acre data center project, including dust control, landscaping, berms and traffic management. Residents are challenging the project’s fill permit and zoning procedures in Lake Superior Court, while the Hobart Plan Commission is expected to consider a proposal to add 11 buildings.
Amazon construction manager Dan Della Maggiara briefed Hobart residents on Zoom about ongoing site preparation for the company’s data center at 61st Avenue and Colorado Street. Amazon said it is wetting graded areas, monitoring air quality, installing berms, planting roughly 1,400 to 1,500 trees and native plants, improving lighting and paving roads to reduce construction impacts on nearby Eagle Creek residents.
Resident Angelina Soriano welcomed some of the proposed screening measures but said Amazon’s air-quality monitoring should be available continuously on a public dashboard. Soriano, Joe Conn and Barbara Koteles are challenging the project’s fill permit and the Hobart Plan Commission’s handling of the site plan and zoning process in Lake Superior Court, seeking a preliminary injunction. The City of Hobart has asked the court to dismiss the case, and Judge Bruce Parent heard the matter after an earlier delay. The Plan Commission is also expected to consider a petition adding 11 buildings to the planned 20-building development.