INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A controversial data center planned for Indianapolis’s east side is moving forward after the Metropolitan Development Commission voted 6-1 to approve a use variance for the proposed DC Blox project.

The vote came despite months of public opposition from neighbors, elected officials, and residents of the Irvington community, who raised concerns about noise, energy use and the project’s potential impact on nearby neighborhoods, schools, and the Pennsy Trail.

City-County Councilor Andy Nielsen, a Democrat, said he was disappointed by the commission’s decision.

“I’m very disappointed, I’m very upset because I feel really deeply for my community who showed up and didn’t leave anything on the table,” Nielsen said. “They said what they needed to say because they’re very concerned.”

Opponents of the project are not backing down. Megan Lapa, who opposes the data center, said she plans to challenge the decision in court.

“We intend to continue pursuing this through judicial review because this is not an accurate representation of Indiana law, or long-standing precedents in our state,” Lapa said.

Mikey Hess, another opponent, was sharply critical of the commission’s process.

“For them to sit up there and lie and say it’s a heavily industrialized zone shows how much due diligence they haven’t done,” Hess said. “They haven’t walked the Pennsy Trail. They’re looking at pictures that an out-of-state corporation provided them with, and they’re deciding to make a decision. It’s pretty obvious, it feels like a kangaroo court at this point.”

Not everyone opposed the project. Supporters argued the former industrial site is an appropriate location and said the investment could benefit the area.

City-County Councilor Michael Paul-Hart, a Republican, said the scale and location of the project made it difficult to reject.

“It’s a 38-acre development, in a very industrial area, so it’s very hard to look at it and turn away all the positive opportunities that could come from it something that most people will honestly probably drive by,” Paul-Hart said.

Marty Corpuz, who supports the data center, said he wants any construction to prioritize local workers.

“If they’re going to do the data centers, the state’s done all the incentives, I say we build local, we build with unions because that’s the apprenticeship program, that’s all the stuff that we have to offer to the contractors, and keep the out-of-town guys out,” Corpuz said.

Paul-Hart defended the commission’s deliberation.

“It was a really thought-through process, and that’s the part that I know people don’t see but they need to certainly know about,” he said.

The commission’s vote marks the final local approval needed for the DC Blox project to move forward.

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