Merrillville to form data center advisory committee

Merrillville is launching a citizen advisory committee to study the impact and potential benefits of data centers on communities.

The Merrillville Data Center Citizen Advisory Committee will allow residents to verify information about data centers. The goal is to help the community become more informed about emerging developments.

“The reason why we’re doing this is we’ve been approached by four different companies who want to purchase large amounts of land in town to build data centers,” said Rick Bella, town council president, in a press release . “Some are close to neighborhoods, some are in industrial parks and industrial areas, and we need to learn about these centers, so we’re educated and we don’t make the wrong decisions.”

A data center houses computer systems, components, telecommunications and storage systems. Data centers vary in size from single buildings, dedicated spaces within buildings or groups of buildings.

Town leaders are finalizing plans for the new committee.

Potential committee members could include:

• Merrillville residents

• A member of the Merrillville Fire Department

• A real estate developer who is not connected to the data center industry

• A planning commission member

• A board of zoning appeals member

• A chairperson of the council affairs committee or a designee

• The town council president

Learn more about the Data Center Citizen Advisory Committee here .

The town of Merrillville has 35,000 residents. The town encompasses about 31 square miles that were once covered by dense forests. Merrillville officially became a town under Indiana statute in 1971.

(Adobe stock photo/ZinetroN)

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