Thursday was an eventful day for Trenton's ongoing debate about proposed data centers.
Amazon hosted an open house providing information about its proposed tech hub near the Butler County city of about 14,000.
Meanwhile, Trenton City Council backtracked on proposals that would have provided financial benefits to residents if voters rejected a charter amendment blocking data centers.
Amazon set up a “science fair” in the Edgewood Middle School gym to share details with the community about the proposed 18-building computing facility that would span 600 acres of farmland between Wayne Madison Road and Hawkins Road.
Joe Deaton lives in St. Clair Township near the site. After visiting tables with Amazon Web Services representatives discussing various environmental impacts, he says he still isn’t sold on the data center.
“We're not opposed to growth. We're not opposed if it was a warehouse or something that doesn't suck your water dry, that won't burn your electric up... [that] won't make all the noise, and when they fire up the generators, all the pollution and everything,” Deaton said. “We just don't want this.”
Other people said they felt similarly. Barry Blankenship is a leader of the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance group and helped get a citizen-led charter amendment to ban data centers in Trenton on the November ballot.
“They couldn't give me any good answers, and I tell you what, I don't want them here,” he said.
AWS representatives said they weren’t trying to change people’s minds, just to give them more information.
Water
Data centers can consume large amounts of water to keep their equipment cool. AWS Director of Energy and Water Brandon Oyer says for this project, impacts on the area’s water supply will be minimal because of the company’s focus on efficiency. He adds, the data center would use water for cooling just 3% of the year, and air for the rest of the time.
The data center would use no more than 21 million gallons a year. The water would be provided by the Southwest Regional Water District, which has an obligation to provide water to any type of development or residents that move into its service area in western Butler County.
General Manager Sarah Affrunti says the public water system is equipped to meet the proposed data center’s demand, and it has safeguards in place to prevent the Great Miami Aquifer from running dry.
For example, the water district’s treatment plant next to Edgewood High School is rated to produce up to 6 million gallons a day. It currently produces 2 million gallons a day.
“We can't legally pull more, produce more, than that 6 million gallons a day. So, there is a large benefit to having these types of developments connected to public water because of that – we essentially control the water usage,” Affrunti said.
The water district must monitor and report its water quality as well.
Electricity and noise
Data centers also have an unprecedented demand for electricity, which is driving up electricity costs statewide.
Oyer says AWS’ proposed facility would have about a gigawatt worth of capacity at its peak and would connect to the grid. But, he adds, the company would foot the bill for needed infrastructure upgrades.
“We'll make sure that we pay for our fair share of the infrastructure that's going to directly serve the substations, etc. Transmission lines that tie into them,” Oyer said. “We'll work with Duke Energy and make sure that that we cover that cost.”
The data center would also use backup diesel generators to keep servers running in the event of a power outage. Oyer didn’t provide a number of how many.
Some residents worried about the noise pollution the generators and overall operation of the data center would produce.
“The noise guy told me it was going to be like a refrigerator running, and I'm thinking, okay, that's a big refrigerator,” said Rebecca Payne, who lives in St. Clair Township.
AWS says it uses a number of strategies to keep down sound, including acoustical mufflers on generators, noise-dampening building materials, and strategic placement of cooling equipment.
Location questions
The location of the potential project is up in the air. The 600 acres of land AWS intends to build on is currently in Madison and St. Clair Townships. Earlier this week, St. Clair Zoning Commission passed a resolution to ban data centers in the township.
“St. Clair Township does not, nor did they ever want a data center built inside their township,” zoning commission member John Glenn told Trenton City Council on Thursday.
Trenton had previously sought to annex the land for the data center, but the city withdrew its petition after a citizen-led charter amendment to ban large-scale data centers was placed on the November ballot. It is able to re-file the petition.
A representative of AWS says the company will determine its next steps based on the outcome of the election. AWS has not purchased the land yet.
Council quashes controversial legislation
Also on Thursday, Trenton City Council voted to withdraw several pieces of legislation proposing financial benefits for residents that would only take effect if voters reject Issue 17 and two proposed data centers get built. The previously proposed resolutions included promises of a property tax cut, discounted YMCA memberships and a freeze on levy requests.
City Manager Marcos Nichols said staff now believe having a first reading of the resolutions two weeks ago was a “mistake.”
“The city recognized the importance of maintaining neutrality in matters submitted to the electorate,” he told council.
The proposals were controversial, drawing scrutiny from residents who said they were an incentive to vote a certain way, or a violation of Ohio’s election bribery laws. One law expert said the proposals fell into a legal gray area and could have faced litigation.
Mayor announces resignation
At the end of the council meeting, Mayor Ryan Perry announced his resignation, effective Jan. 1, 2027. He said over the past 15 years, council has started to require an increasing amount of time, which is challenging as he tries to balance his full-time job with attending to residents.
“I've told everybody I'll have a conversation with you any time. I'll return your calls. But that is a significant time difference from when I started on council, and I have moved on in my career, and I've moved to a place where I don't have that kind of time to spend with the citizens anymore, and that's irresponsible for me,” Perry said.
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