Neighbors sue to stop Irvington data center from moving in next door
A group of Irvington residents, community advocates, and school leaders have filed a lawsuit against DC BLOX in Marion County, Indiana, seeking to overturn the Metropolitan Development Commission's approval of a zoning variance for a planned data center. The plaintiffs argue the approval does not comply with the law and that the data center would cause environmental, noise, and traffic harm. This legal action follows significant community opposition and the recent enactment of a county-wide moratorium on data center developments in Indianapolis.
Irvington Community Schools, Eastside Community Action, and two local property owners have initiated a lawsuit in Marion County, Indiana, against data center developer DC BLOX. The plaintiffs seek to reverse a zoning variance approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission (MDC) in July, which allowed DC BLOX to proceed with a two-building data center campus on a former Ford manufacturing site at 305 Fintail Drive. The lawsuit, filed on August 14, contends that the MDC's 6-1 approval of the variance was unlawful and unsupported by evidence.
Opponents, including students and staff at the nearby Irvington Community Elementary School, assert that the data center will generate harmful emissions, low-frequency noise, and significant environmental, traffic, and land-use impacts. This legal challenge emerges after a period of contentious public hearings and community outrage, which led DC BLOX to modify its original plans by removing an entire building and reducing electricity demand by 35% before the MDC vote.
Despite these changes, the project received approval, becoming the last data center greenlit before the city-county council enacted a county-wide moratorium on such facilities until late 2027, with the support of Mayor Joe Hogsett. Spokespersons for DC BLOX and the Department of Metropolitan Development have declined to comment on the pending litigation. The Irvington lawsuit is one of three similar legal actions filed by Indianapolis communities against data center developers, with residents in Decatur Township and Martindale Brightwood also suing Sabey Data Center Properties and Metrobloks, respectively.