After a data center proposal snowballed into other issues in Urbana, some residents decided to take action. Now two local petitions are starting to gain traction.
The leads for the petitions set up shop on a cloudy, humid day in downtown Urbana Saturday.
One petition seeks to put an issue on the November ballot to change Urbana’s city charter. If approved by a vote, the amendment would prohibit hyperscale data centers in the city. This could only be reversed by another issue on the ballot.
The petition requires a number of signatures equal to 10% of votes cast in the most recent municipal election for it to be put on the ballot.
Since the petition started on July 7, “we've well surpassed the minimum that we need,” Urbana resident Nicole Nawman said. She started the petition to add a local data center ban to the November ballot.
Nawman also serves as the Champaign County lead organizer for the Conserve Ohio campaign to put a statewide data center ban on the ballot next year.
“Through the course of all of that, it became evident that we could do something to try to help ban data centers locally as well,” she said.
Nawman said she lives a half mile from the proposed location for the Urbana Technology Hub, a data center proposed by real estate developer Thor Equities for construction in Urbana.
She said she’s not sure how a charter amendment would affect that proposal. But the petition is an opportunity for the community to speak up for what they want to see where they live, Nawman said.
“We are basically putting pen to paper that 'you guys come vote,'” she said. “So we're doing everything we can — everything we could pull out of our toolbox — to say we tried and we're not quitting.”
Volunteering with her was Urbana resident Grace Coleman.
“I never thought that our community would be facing something like this. I would see things happening like this in other states and other counties and just never thought Champaign would be chasing this,” Coleman said.
“We want to conserve Ohio the best we can. Our farmland is so important. Farmers are the backbone of the United States.”
Nawman turned in the petition packet to the Champaign County Board of Elections Tuesday after gathering enough signatures. The county board now has to check the petition signatures for validity.
Urbana city council voted to change zoning codes and pass a 12-month pause on data center construction after Thor proposed the site plan for its data center project.
Now Thor is suing for the right for its data center proposal to be considered. In the lawsuit, the firm said it’s spent more than $19 million leading up to the development. The developer states the project would produce $3 million in tax revenue annually for the city.
Recall effort also makes headway
The other petition is to recall Urbana Mayor Bill Bean, after resident complaints that the city council wasn’t transparent about the data center proposal.
WYSO reached out to Urbana’s elected officials for comment on both of the petitions. Bean couldn’t be reached for comment. Multiple city council members either declined to comment or didn’t respond by deadline.
“They've worked with Thor for a year and a half to get these CRAs and things like that settled down. They're all trying to be skating free. And this is the way we the people have to hold them accountable,” said Urbana resident James Cropper.
Cropper also started his petition on July 7. So far, he said the petition’s garnered over half the number of signatures they need.
“I think the biggest point I think a lot of people are taking is that we feel obviously lied to but (also) betrayed, because a lot of people didn't show up to city council meetings before. Because the city was, we thought, going good,” Cropper said. “And unfortunately, we got complacent, and it's costing us. So we're just gonna fight back every way we can.”
Cropper also points to multiple lawsuits against the city under Bean’s administration: Thor filed an appeal in the Champaign County Court of Common Pleas in May, then it filed a federal lawsuit last month.
Urbana’s city law director also recently resigned from his role.
“I don't know how many attorneys are gonna volunteer to jump into this mess going on. So we're kind of in a limbo state right now. But getting (Bean) gone is the first step since he's a leader,” Cropper said.
This petition requires a number of signatures equal to 15% of the votes cast in the most recent municipal election.
If the petition receives enough signatures and is certified, the mayor will have five days to resign before a recall election will be held for voters to decide if the mayor should stay in office.
