Cleveland officials are taking a harder stance on hyperscale data centers after the city rejected a proposal for a 150 megawatt facility in Slavic Village earlier this month.
In an interview Wednesday at the City Club of Cleveland, Mayor Justin Bibb said hyperscale data centers "have no future" in dense city neighborhoods.
"What we can’t do is engage in a conversation about data centers without talking about the material risk and fears that residents have," he said.
The failed Slavic Village data center proposal would have required 150 megawatts to operate — equivalent to the energy usage of more than 100,000 homes, according to the permit application. Bibb said that residents had "valid" concerns.
"When you come at the last minute and want to propose a hyperscale standalone facility without talking to residents, without engaging in thoughtful conversation with the administration, without really talking about the concerns to our environment, with rising utility costs, that's a problem," he said.
Bibb's comments come a week after the Greater Cleveland Partnership put out a statement opposing data center bans in Northeast Ohio.
"Bans and moratoriums do not protect communities; they shift investment elsewhere, losing the ability to guide development, gain economic opportunity, and develop growth infrastructure," the region's chamber of commerce said in a written release.
Bibb said the city could look at zoning specific areas for data cloud facilities similar to those already used by corporations like Sherwin Williams and health groups like the Cleveland Clinic.
"The city of Cleveland has data cloud facilities. The county has data cloud facilities," Bibb said. "We're not saying no to that."
Residents continue to voice concern about data centers across the city. Opponents have spoken out at City Council's public comment period and gathered for a rally over Memorial Day weekend.
Local officials are responding. In a Tuesday hearing of a sweeping investment plan for East Side housing, members of the planning department said they would be adding an amendment prohibiting the construction of data centers in the 1,500 acre-area. That district includes the historically disinvested neighborhoods of St. Clair-Superior, Hough and Central.
Cleveland City Council is currently mulling a one-year moratorium on new data center permits.
