PITTSBORO — Drive around the rural Hendricks County community of Pittsboro, and you’ll see a lot of signs saying 'No Data Center.'
One is on Donald Brophey’s front lawn.
He and his family moved from California to the Hoosier state a little over two years ago to escape the hustle and bustle.
“Was a small farming community, which is what I grew up in. And wanted to get back to that former life," Brophey said.
But that could change.
Denver-based database management company Vantage Data Centers is looking to open a facility in Pittsboro.
Vantage applied for the rezoning of roughly 626 acres of Smith Family Farms Land from Agricultural (“Ag”) to Warehouse Industrial (“I-1”).
Jacy Robling
Brophey is concerned.
“Light. Sound. There’s mention of glycol cooling which could go into the ground and affect my well water. Potentially increased traffic my kids play out front," he said.
Matt Mazelin lives a few doors down.
“Basically, this whole entire field about a mile by a mile. Right straight out from here is where the actual buildings are going to start setting up," Mazelin said.
He says he and his neighbors have tried to voice their concerns to the Town of Pittsboro.
The issue: their addresses are under Hendrick’s County jurisdiction, not the town’s.
“We’re not included in what they wanna do technically because even though I’m just across the street, right across the street is not Pittsboro," he said.
The Town of Pittsboro released a statement on the matter last week.
Vantage Data Centers will have to:
- Connect to the town’s utilities
- Have a separate electrical source from other surrounding residential and commercial properties.
- Make improvements to county roads
- Exceed landscape buffering
Brophey says he and his neighbors plan to voice their concerns at next week’s Pittsboro Advisory Plan Commission on February 25.
WRTV reached out to Vantage Data Centers to get more information on the proposal and ask for comment about the opposition it’s facing.
We've yet to hear back.
