FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — It will stretch over 892 acres, crossing the boundaries of New Haven and Fort Wayne in Allen County.

The application for Project Zodiac, a “data center campus” bounded by East Tillman Road, Adams Center Road and railroad tracks, is a collection of farms and private and city-owned property with East Paulding Road running through the middle of it.

A Fortune 100 company, as yet unnamed, “that operates data center campuses globally” is the developer, according to the application submitted to both the Fort Wayne and Allen County Plan Commissions.

The City of Fort Wayne is aware of a primary development plan, rezoning petition and right of way application that was submitted to the Department of Planning Services. We are aware and understand that a Fortune 100 technology company is proposing the development of a data center campus. I’m not in position to provide any further comment at this time.

John Perlich, Director of Public Information at City of Fort Wayne

Jonathan Leist, deputy executive director at the city’s Department of Redevelopment, is listed as the owner of 7301 Paulding Road which includes five land parcels. Except for the Indiana Michigan Power Company at 6701 Adams Center Road, the rest of the parcels cobbled together for this application are privately owned.

Currently zoned BTI – business, technology and industrial park – for which a data center is a permitted use, according to the application, the applicant is seeking a waiver to override the maximum ornamental fence height of up to three feet and the maximum non-ornamental fence height of up to eight feet.

“As shown on the development site, the applicant desires to place an interior security fence with a maximum height of up to 10 feet, including barbed wire,” the waiver application states.

The application refers to the All in Allen comprehensive development plan and calls this site a potential economic development growth area.

“The waiver request seeking a modest increase of the ornamental fence height to four feet along property frontage substantially seeks to conform to the objectives of the zoning ordinance while adding increased safety to the development site. Further, the fence will be located within the required setbacks of the zoning ordinance.

“Similarly, the waiver request seeking to increase the non-ornamental fence height to a maximum of 10 feet seeks to conform to the objectives of the zoning ordinance to the extent this increased fence height is located within the redevelopment site and beyond all setback requirements while providing the business prospect the flexibility to adequately secure the data center campus,” the application reads.

Without the waiver, “the data center campus could not be adequately secured.”

Although the development site is surrounded by land currently zoned for agricultural or industrial on three of the four sides, there are residential properties located on the west and south of the development site. About 640 acres of the 722-acre site need to be rezoned from agricultural to the BTI zoning, the application states.

A joint public hearing in front of the Fort Wayne and Allen County plan commissioners is scheduled for Nov. 9 at 1 p.m.