Four Hobart homeowners have filed a lawsuit seeking to vacate multiple actions by Hobart city officials that have “prepared” the way for the possible construction of an Amazon data center on more than a square mile of farmland within city limits.
The plaintiffs allege the two municipal bodies, the Hobart City Council and the Hobart Plan Commission, violated their “due process rights under the constitution of the United States and the State of Indiana.”
Visitors hold signs during a Hobart Plan Commission meeting regarding a site plan fill permit for the proposed Hobart Devco Data Center on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
The suit was filed Monday Lake Superior Court, Civil Division, by David E. Dearing, an Indianapolis-based lawyer specializing in environmental law, land use, zoning and wetlands regulation.
Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun, when reached for comment Tuesday night, said he was not aware of the lawsuit and said he would comment further after seeing it and reviewing it with legal counsel.
The Hobart homeowners who are named in the suit — Angelita Soriano, Albina Venegas-Roman, Barbara Koteles and Joseph Conn — state in the court filing that city leaders’ actions were “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion” and otherwise not in accordance with law and unsupported by substantial evidence.”
The plaintiffs are not seeking specific monetary damages, only to recoup their legal costs and attorneys’ fees.
Mayor Josh Huddleston speaks during an informational session on data centers and their impact on the city at the Hobart Community Center in Hobart, Indiana Monday July 14, 2025. Two data centers, both south of 61st Avenue and east of Colorado Street, are under consideration by city leaders.(Andy Lavalley/for the Post-Tribune)
Soriano, a plaintiff and an opposition leader of the No Data Centers group, said in a release, “This lawsuit is our effort to keep our government accountable and to defend Hobart families, homes, water and our environment. Residents shouldn’t be ignored or deprived of their rights just to fast-track a massive industrial data center development in the heart of our community right next to our schools, hospitals and homes.”
The suit asks the court to overturn plan commission and city council resolutions and ordinances that have rezoned from R-3 residential to M-1 “light” industrial on about 725 acres of farmland south of 61st Avenue and east of Colorado Street, all in Ross Township.
The suit also challenges the “vacate” procedures used by the plan commission and city council to attempt to trade away to a data center developer 2.84 acres of land purchased for $56,800 by the city’s Redevelopment Commission and then resold for the same price to the Hobart Sanitary District.
Since 2022, thousands of Hobart residents have been vocal in their opposition to the city imposing an industrial development zone on the city, Conn said, and as a result, most of the ideas have been unsuccessful, Conn said.
The protestors say the land is nearly at the geographical center of the Hobart and is no place for industry, with wetlands adjacent to Deep River, which flows past the Hobart Prairie Grove section of the Indiana Dunes National Park, into Lake George, past downtown Hobart and its crown jewel lakefront park, and eventually into Burns Ditch and Lake Michigan.
Most directly affected adversely by the proposed industrial development would be the owners of 220 adjacent homes in three subdivisions north of 61st Avenue and individual homes dotted along 61st Avenue and Colorado Street. Roughly 80 of those homes rely on well water.
Hundreds more homes, five parks, a hospital and a proposed school lie within two miles of the proposed data center site, Conn said.
Two different developers, Hobart Devco LLC and Wylie Capital, have appeared this year before the commissioners and council members to pitch data center projects totaling 565 acres. Both developers received their requested zoning changes from R-3 to M-1, despite mounting pressure from citizens opposed to their projects.
Hundreds of people attended a contentious and sometimes raucous plan commission meeting on Nov. 6 over a Devco permit application. The noise was so loud that the audience couldn’t hear the result of the vote on the permit; though officials said it was 8-1 in favor of granting the permit, they re-watched the meeting video to clarify the action the next day.
In addition, city officials last month announced they were in negotiations with Amazon to establish a data center project. The city took its first steps toward creating a 725-acre Economic Redevelopment Area that encompasses the two revealed data center project areas at the Dec. 3 City Council meeting.
The tax-abatement area includes about 158 acres that were rezoned in 2022 to M-1 at the behest of industrial park developer Becknell Industries. Becknell withdrew from its warehouse project, but the M-1 zoning it received remains attached to the land, Conn said.
The proposed new ERA would enable the city to grant tax breaks to Amazon on new buildings and equipment within its confines should the company or another data center developer reach agreement with the city, Conn said.
“This starts the process toward a potential tax abatement,” Huddlestun said at a Dec. 3 meeting.
A development agreement, along with a tax abatement plan, will be presented at the Dec. 17 Hobart City Council meeting.
The mayor confirmed that Amazon is the sole petitioner and will need to provide a statement of benefits which would include a project description, number of jobs it will provide and community benefits.
Huddlestun said he is planning to hold a community meeting sometime next year, at which Amazon would be there to present their proposal and answer questions, as requested by the no data centers group.
He said the data center, once built, could bring in tens of millions of dollars each year to the city. The financial impact for Hobart can’t be determined until the final numbers are crunched, but it’s going to be big money, he said.
Hobart has been buffeted by a series of financial hits, from the Southlake Mall successfully appealing its property tax assessment — and the ensuing clawback of tax funds from the city and other taxing units — to Senate Enrolled Act 1, which will offer up to $300 in property tax refunds to taxpayers by cutting billions in revenue to local governments, schools and libraries.
“Hobart residents are struggling,” Huddlestun said. “I want to actually give them relief.”
“We’re going to provide relief to our community,” he said, with money to solve flooding issues through the city as well as improving parks, police and fire protection and other services,” he said.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/10/hobart-residents-sue-to-block-citys-data-center-plan/
