More than 500 residents filled the council chambers, hallways and outer steps of Valparaiso City Hall at the Monday City Council meeting eager to express anger and hear further details of a possible data center development along the north side of Valparaiso.

The outcry worked; around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the meeting ended, Mayor Jon Costas put out a statement announcing that the city would cease its efforts in exploring a data center in the city.

“Our city council is in unanimous support of this action. Our citizens have spoken decisively that they believe this is a project that is not in the best interests of the city. I will, of course, honor that decision. I have spoken with the potential developer, Agincourt, and they have agreed to withdraw from pursuing the project, and also to release their option on the land,” Costas said.

While the administration would not have pursued the project further without the support of the community and the council, Costas said, “it is clear now that the option of a data center is not something our residents favor. I regret the angst and frustration it has caused some of our citizens.

“I take full responsibility for how this potential project was communicated and will strive to improve in future opportunities. Valparaiso is an amazing community and as your mayor I look forward to working together to enhance the city in a way that makes us all proud to call it home.”

Valparaiso City Council President Ellen Kapitan, D-At-large, council members, Costas and City Attorney Patrick Lyp listened to more than 90 minutes of vocal opposition during the final segment of Monday’s nearly five-hour meeting.

Last month, Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas told the Post-Tribune that this month would be devoted to having the Valpo Redevelopment Commission commit to exploring other public and private development opportunities for 248 acres of property. The property had been purchased for parkland under former Mayor Matt Murphy, who with the Valparaiso Parks Department hoped to create an expansive $30 million sports complex.

Costas said at the time he “could not get into the specifics of the end use yet because of non-disclosure agreements.”

No discussion nor reveal of plans for a data center project in Valparaiso appeared as an agenda item for Monday’s meeting. Social media posts with speculations and concerns began generating dialogue in recent weeks, with an organized member’s movement assembled to fight any future developments in Valparaiso for a data center.Council member Emilie Hunt, D-At-large, asked Costas to publicly clarify if the council was bound by any non-disclosure agreements which would forbid discussing key details and answering questions of residents.

“I think it is important to say that we as a council are not (bound by an NDA) and so what the council knows will be shared and can be discussed and again, the council is not bound by an NDA,” Hunt explained with Costas’ agreement.

Costas reminded the gathered crowd that any prospect of a data center being built in Valparaiso “is not a done deal.”

“This is the very beginning of a lengthy process,” Costas said.

“There will be lots of opportunities to be heard. This project has not even been proposed and that’s why there haven’t been any public hearings yet. It’s an idea and the option started the process. But certainly, this is not a done deal.”

Greg Kuehl of Kuehl Farms, 253 East 500 North in Valparaiso, addressing the mayor and council identified himself as “probably the largest landowner” next to a proposed project site “located just across the street.”

“My issue is I purchased this property from my aunt’s estate right before the pandemic and I see a lot of my neighbors here tonight all against this data center,” Kuehl said.

“I don’t like this deal. It stinks. And if this developer doesn’t get the change in zoning needs, this deal dies. So you have the power to stop this. And I know for a fact that a landowner involved in this deal, and has never lied to me in 48 years of my life, was pressured to sell their land or have it taken by eminent domain. That’s a fact.

“And that landowner whose land was purchased in this deal two years ago was told to sell it at its same price as the other (land parcel) owned by the doctors’ group of Schererville or that land would be taken by eminent domain. And now the RDC is going sell that same land for double or triple the money it paid for it. My land could be next. I’ve entered this fight and I won’t lose.”

Dr. Hector Marchand Jr. spoke during the public comment about the health risks associated with data centers.

“In all my research, I could only find one published study from Dec. 6, 2024, by the University of California-Riverside Cal Tech,” Marchand Jr. said.

“The study shows the detrimental effects, including health, from these data centers. No one should want a data center built next to their house or a residential area. There is still so much we don’t know about these data centers.”

Jeannine Hornback, owner of Little U Academy daycare center at 751 Eastporte Drive in Valparaiso, said the noise associated with data centers is unwelcoming to the ears of every age.

“We know the noise of a vacuum cleaner, which is usually about 70 decibels,” Hornback said.

“The level of sound can travel two and a half miles. At another data center location where there was a nearby elementary school, the outside decibels went from 47.9 to nearly 70 in a study which also reported that becomes multiplied by more buildings in the project.

“Consider listening to the sound of a vacuum cleaner 365 days a year nonstop. Washington Township Schools is 1.1 miles from the proposed site, the same distance as the elementary school in the study I just mentioned. Flint Elementary is 1.35 miles and Thomas Jefferson at 1.59 miles.”

Valparaiso Economic Development Director George Douglas, who did not speak at Monday’s meeting, explained the current status of the project to the Environmental Advisory Commission on March 3, emphasizing “there is an Option Agreement to allow a developer time, approximately 300 days, to investigate whether a data center is feasible in Valparaiso, with hat investigation will include working with NIPSCO, Valparaiso City Utilities as well as the City’s Plan Commission, City Council and Redevelopment Commission.”

Douglas said then the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission issued a Request For Offering (RFO) in December 2024 for the 249 acres purchased by the Commission in 2022 with the intent to explore possible options for the use of the property.

“The commission received a proposal for a non-residential campus development which could include a data center,” Douglas said.

“The option agreement outlines a thorough due diligence process with multiple obligations placed on the developer. That due diligence process is ongoing. At this time, we don’t have a project. We don’t have a design and we don’t have a site plan. What we do have is a preliminary conceptual plan. The option agreement and proposal is already public and available on the city’s website. The developer recognizes this project will go through several public approval steps before any construction might commence.”

Philip Potempa is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.