Local hostilities towards data center projects came to a head this week as voters in three Miami Valley communities decided their fate at the ballot box.
Piqua, Urbana and Wilmington’s ballots had issues to either limit or ban data center construction.
Here’s what voters decided, based on final, unofficial results.
Piqua
Residents voted to approve a charter amendment to ban the construction of data centers larger than 25 megawatts of peak power demand in the city. It defines data centers as buildings, physical facilities or infrastructure that are primarily or exclusively used for “digital information services,” as well as any associated components used to manage this infrastructure.
This comes a year after Piqua city commissioners voted to approve construction of a data center in its city limits. The developer J5 will be constructing a $1 billion data center for Meta on a 600-acre tract of land owned by the city.
In a statement, Piqua public information officer told WYSO: “It is unclear at this time if and how this Charter amendment may affect the Meta data center project currently underway.”
Piqua commissioner Paul Simmons, who voted against Meta’s project, said it’s a wonderful thing when people speak up.
“The results turned out the way that they did because the people getting up to that podium in front of us had been ignored, made fun of, treated horribly,” Simmons said.
City commissioners approved its development through an emergency vote, meaning the commission was able to bypass a requirement to give the measure three separate readings.
Three commissioners were also recalled Tuesday.
Urbana
Residents in the Champaign County city voted to approve a charter amendment to ban the construction of data centers larger than 7.5 megawatts of peak power demand in the city.
Urbana is currently embroiled in a state appeal and federal lawsuit with a real estate developer over a data center proposal there, making the data center ban on its ballot potentially more complicated.
Thor Equities wants to construct the Urbana Technology Hub, a 460,000-square-foot data center that would be built near Ohio 55 and U.S. 68.
The company sued the city in June because zoning code changes and a data center moratorium would’ve made their project ineligible for construction after its site plan was proposed.
To settle the lawsuit, Thor Equities proposes paying Urbana $50 million across construction phases if the city will allow them to build the Urbana Technology Hub.
"This agreement reflects our commitment to being a responsible community partner and making meaningful investments that will benefit Urbana for generations to come," said Melissa Gliatta, global chief operating officer of Thor Equities in a statement last month.
If the city decides to continue with the lawsuit, it could be liable for more than $100 million in damages.
The city council delayed a vote on the settlement agreement three times now, including at its most recent city council meeting Tuesday.
“I look at the referendums as being sort of a tourniquet on a bleeding wound, and it was addressing the issue that was immediately in front of us."Wilmington resident Quintin Koger Kidd, who led an effort to stymie a potential data center expansion
Urbana resident Nicole Nawman, who started the petition to put the ban on the ballot, said the ban gives them a tool and protection from more project proposals.
“We're gonna tell you more times than we have to that we do not want this. And that also became very clear last night with the number of voters that came out to say so,” Nawman said.
It’s unclear how the ban will affect Thor’s proposal and federal lawsuit.
WYSO submitted questions to both city’s interim law director and Thor Equities seeking clarity on how they expect the ban to come into play, but they didn’t respond by deadline.
Wilmington adds limits — not a ban
While there wasn’t a ban on Wilmington’s ballot, there was still data center backlash. Residents put four referendums on their ballot to reverse a Feb. 19 city council decision, which rezoned 545 acres near U.S. 68 from rural residential to light industrial.
The petitioners were seeking to undo the rezoning. Voters overwhelmingly agreed.
These tracts, residents suspect, could be related to an Amazon data center proposal. Amazon hopes to construct a multi-billion dollar data center project across more than 400 acres in southwest Wilmington. The parcels are adjacent to the proposed campus.
Wilmington resident Quintin Koger Kidd, who led the referendum effort, said they can’t hold their breath yet.
“I look at the referendums as being sort of a tourniquet on a bleeding wound, and it was addressing the issue that was immediately in front of us,” Koger Kidd said.
Some Wilmington residents, including Koger Kidd, unsuccessfully petitioned to add stricter data center regulations to this year’s ballot. While petitioners gathered enough signatures, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the issue couldn’t be added to the ballot because a clause in the ordinance would’ve allowed residents to sue over zoning violations, which the court said the city wouldn’t have had the authority to enforce.
Koger Kidd said they plan to collect signatures on the measure again, excluding the ineligible clause, for the next eligible ballot.
