Plan Commission offers unfavorable recommendation on annexation, rezoning request

The Shelbyville Plan Commission unanimously recommended an unfavorable recommendation on the annexation and rezoning request for 429 acres east of Interstate 74.

The Plan Commission held a special meeting Wednesday at Breck Auditorium at Shelbyville High School that lasted nearly five hours.

On Monday at City Hall, the Shelbyville Common Council approved the annexation and rezoning request be passed along to the Plan Commission for further review.

That took place Wednesday where hundreds of individuals turned out and more than 60 people stepped to the podium to express their concerns for land that has been deemed favorable for a data center campus by Prologis, a California-based company that has extensive experience building data centers.

Since the property became linked to a data center project, public uproar has swelled. Monday’s council meeting was standing room only with individuals lined up down the stairway to the first floor and outside the front doors.

The crowd grew larger Wednesday to fight the voluntary annexation and rezoning request from the landowners.

The property could still be approved by the council at its next meeting on Jan. 21. The unfavorable recommendation from the Plan Commission is just that – a recommendation.

Even if the annexation is approved, it does not green light a data center project. Prologis has identified the land as viable for such a project because of electrical transmission lines already near the property.

The company has said the annexation is a first step for the project to continue. More research will need to be done on the infrastructure in the area for the project to continue.

That would then allow the company to develop a site plan for review that would receive intense scrutiny before being approved.

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