Published: November 27, 2009 09:26 pm      

Data center plan opposed

Lebanon — Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator — Midwest ISO — wants to build a 73,000-square-feet building on 17 acres north of Elizaville for a data center, backup control room and disaster recovery area.

First, Midwest ISO needs the land rezoned, and will ask for that change at a 7 p.m. Wednesday meeting of the Boone County Area Plan Commission, to be in the Boone County Office Annex, 116 W. Washington St., Lebanon.

It’s a bad idea on a bad site, Cecil Gosser, Jr., said Friday afternoon as he stood along rutted County Road 450 East, showing a reporter a sketch of the proposed center.

Midwest ISO governs the distribution of electricity to 13 Midwestern states and Manitoba from a building at 720 City Center Drive in Carmel.

Richard Yost, a spokesman for Midwest ISO, said Friday afternoon he would try to get a message to someone who could questions about the proposed facility. More details will be published when available.

According to Midwest ISO’s planning application, in normal circumstances, about 10 persons would work at the center, manning shifts around the clock all year long.

But, if a “catastrophic event” shut down Midwest ISO’s Carmel headquarters, up to 300 persons would use the center.

Gosser and other neighbors are not happy Midwest ISO has chosen a Clinton Township cattle pasture for the backup center’s location.

Neither is the Boone County Area Plan Commission staff, which will recommend the APC reject Midwest ISO’s request to change the land’s zoning from agriculture to professional business.

See Saturday's Lebanon Reporter for the complete story.