Logix Realty’s proposed data center development in Clinton County, Indiana, has been unanimously denied by county commissioners after significant community backlash and “red flags.”

On January 20, the Clinton County board of commissioners rejected the zoning request due, in part, to community protest against the proposed site, as well as a lack of transparency from the developer and concerns that its construction would affect property owners living close to the site.

Clinton County is located north of Indianapolis.

Just two weeks before this vote, the Clinton County Area Plan Commission (APC) had voted to send a favorable recommendation to the commissioners to rezone the land. The APC recommendation came with 14 legally binding commitments to address public concerns.

Commissioners had 90 days to vote on the rezone request, but decided to accelerate the process, due to the significant community interest in the request.

According to local news, commissioner Bert Weaver said that conversations with the developer had given him a poor impression.

Weaver said that requests for the developer to take financial responsibility for the road directly in front of the data center’s entrance had been met with conditions that they would only take care of half the road and only the part that was touching the property first.

Weaver described this as a red flag and reportedly stated the developer wanted to “nickel and dime” the county.

Other concerns included a lack of transparency around fiscal numbers from the involved companies and questions remaining concerning the end-users of the data center.

A 12-month waiting period is now in effect, after which the developer can refile its request.

The proposed site would have sat on 715 acres of land in the Washington and Union Townships. Logix Realty was the applicant, with data center firm DataOne the intended user.

The site would have consisted of a three-part campus with a data center, pre-cast concrete manufacturing plant, and a hydroponic/gigafarm component. Last year, DataOne formed a North American venture, DataOne USA, with investment from Northeast Precast, a concrete company.

This isn’t the first time Logix Realty has faced issues with a proposed development in Indiana. Last year, the developer rescinded a proposal for a 300MW data center in Clinton County around Frankfort due to significant community backlash.