It’s taken some highly trained outside professional to finally find the Amazon Data Center Wetland Credits for Hobart Indiana. Who would have know that an IDEM “Public Notice,” is not very “public.” This public notice does not mention “Amazon,” nor does it mention the property owners, nor does it mention the data center itself, which is very deceiving and difficult for the public to become aware. What’s even more alarming is that it has also come to our attention, that many of these “decisions” are made via email! The permit talks about a property just north of Highway 30, but we’re learning that’s how wetland credits work.
What made this extremely difficult to find is when the Amazon uses out of state “agents” that nobody knows about. The IDEM applicant is Dick Greene, Schottenstein Property Group, out of Columbus, OH 43219 and the Agent (whatever that means) is Tom Slowinski, VC Companies our of Woodridge, IL 60517.
The official notice which was an hard to find and was in a non-searchable excel document that we just found, states the following:
Project Title is “Hobart Campus (Devco)
Applicant is Hobart Devco LLC
Company being Amazon (AWS)
Serving the area Deep River / Calumet Dunes SA (Lake Michigan basin)
Permit notice number WQC001485
Total wetland impact: of 5.49 acres with a stream impact of 325 linear feet.
Mitigation bank: Old City Light Mitigation Band (Wetland) + Calumet Dunes SA / IN SWMP (stream) (another IDEM Acronym)
Here’s the exact Description on the Excel Document:
“Part of Amazon’s $15B Nw Indiana commitment. Devco piece + 168 ac site, 61st Ave & Colorado St; six 292,000 sf buildings + 11 ac detention pond. NOTE: the 401 (WQC001485) was filed by Schottenstein Property Group / agent V# Companies for a parcel 1,500 ft N of US 30 & Colorado St. CONFIRM this 5.49 ac fill is the Devco footprint vs. an adjacent industrial parcel. Affected: 2 emergent wetland + unnamed trib to Sprout Creek.”
The No Data Center Committee needs 200 signatures right way, the deadline is June 30th, next Tuesday. To sign up Click here
To find out more go to their Facebook Group, titled Hobart Residents FIRST – Data Center Watch
It is also our opinion that this is not very public friendly wording.
Applicant (Agent):
Dirk Greene
Schottenstein Property Group
4300 E. 5th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43219
Agent:
Tom Slowinski
V3 Companies
7325 James Avenue
Woodridge, IL 60517
Here’s the IDEM Public Notice link:
http://www.in.gov/idem/files/notice_20260630_401_wqc001485.pdf
Photo Credit:
Here’s a screenshot of the excel spread sheet that was individually created on a single computer by a real estate professional. This information is not searchable by the general public at large.
Also, Here’s a link to the 7 page Public Hearing link.
Susie Young Baxter, CEO, has published PanoramaNOW Magazine for 31 years. Her hobbies are Camping, Boating, Hiking, Nature, Gardening and Outdoor Activities. She is an Artist, Graphic Designer, an Avid Seamstress, Dabbles in Homemade Crafts and Landscaping. Since her Father was a Health Teacher, she also likes homeopathic Health Solutions. Since blogging started over 10 years ago, PanoramaNow has been added to Newsbreak – a national news affiliate.
