The City of Fort Wayne along with Greater Fort Wayne Inc. invited representatives from Google’s data center build to address residents with concerns about the center at a forum Thursday evening.
The forum began with presentations about Google’s impact on utilities, as well as explanations of several air and wetland permits the company has filed in the last year.
Six representatives from Google then remained on the stage to answer pre-submitted questions from the crowd.
The forum came after several months of growing opposition to the data center, which is being built on Fort Wayne’s southeast side. The first of three planned buildings is now fully operational.
Earlier in the day, the company also announced a $1.2 million dollar contribution to ACRES Land Trust, which works to conserve natural wetlands in the Saint Joseph River watershed.
The Google data center is in the Maumee watershed and plans to relocate nearly 13 acres of protected wetlands in the area.
The company also highlighted other contributions to the community, including $175,000 to public schools and partnerships with the Allen County Public Library and Ivy Tech.
During the forum, tensions between the crowd and representatives from Google were readily apparent. The event was moderated by Greater Fort Wayne Inc. President John Urbahns.
While city officials attempted to wrangle the crowd, there were still a few outbursts during the question and answer portion, as people felt their questions weren’t being adequately answered.
“Do you live next to a data center?” One attendee shouted as Urbahns attempted to regain control of the room.
One Google representative, Sarah Hoffman, said she had lived at two other data center sites.
Google, the City of Fort Wayne, and Indiana Michigan Power made presentations on the project.
The data center broke ground in April 2024 and now has one fully operational building, with two more under construction.
“Google will pay for 100% of the energy that they use," Ashley Saveio, the director of economic development for I&M, assured the gathered crowd in the Anthony Wayne ballroom inside the Grand Wayne Center.
During the presentations, a Google representative said plans were to submit three more wetland permits, as well as relocate Adams Ditch. They also outlined a rebuild and preservation project on the property.
The city allowed for submitted questions and tried to crack down on outbursts from the crowd, but as people felt their questions weren’t being answered adequately, attendees grew agitated.
"This town hall has been a joke," one man shouted at the end of the forum. "You have answered no questions about specifications about how you're harming our environment."
"They have answered a lot of questions, you may not be happy with every question," Urbahns responded.
Representatives did address the concern over a request for more diesel generators on the property, emphasizing that the generators are for use during an emergency blackout, and don’t run outside of maintenance tests otherwise.
At the end of the meeting, Urbahns assured the crowd all the questions were being sent to the Google team. He also shared a Google email contact.
