About 30 residents gathered at a Trenton planning commission meeting on Friday to hear a review of a site plan for a data center that spans 141 acres within city limits. BRYN DIPPOLD / STAFF
Hours after the Trenton Planning Commission approved the site plan for the Prologis mega data center, several residents asked the Butler County commissioners to decide to stop these types of development.
They can’t.
Several residents attended the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday to ask them to force a countywide freeze on all planned and future data center projects until health, environmental, noise and area traffic studies can be done.
Barry Blankenship, who lives near the Prologis news center in Trenton’s Industrial Park, said, “the moratorium is not a ban, it’s a necessary pause to make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes we’ve seen already in other cities, counties and states.”
“When a project is cross-border, when it affects residents beyond the same boundary and when the impacts are local, the county must be the voice that protects all residents, not just those within a certain code,” said Blankenship. “You are the biggest, most powerful voice we have, front of which you are the one who has the power to ensure that progress is accountable, transparent and safe.
The Prologis project includes four 220,353-square-foot buildings, one 16,150-square-foot facilities building and one 1,503-square-foot security building – a total of 899,065-square feet.
The Trenton Plan Commission approved the site plan after a 10-minute meeting Monday night. Blankenship was among 30 people who wanted to ask questions about the site plan, but city attorney Nick Ziepfel said a public hearing is not necessary because the property is industrial and does not require a rezoning or conditional use permit.
Work on the site is already underway.
Residents have filled town meetings for months voicing concerns about water use, the impact on the power grid, environmental issues and transparency.
Residents complained that the city was out of touch with MetroParks or neighboring Madison Twp. Who may be affected by this plan? Trenton City Manager Marcos Nichols told the Journal-News they don’t usually do that with independent economic development projects like this one.
Regarding environmental and other problems, the Ohio EPA and other regulatory agencies are involved. Nichols believes the data center will benefit the city.
“We believe the growth of economic development is beneficial to help reduce the burden on our citizens by providing a tax base,” he said. “So we wouldn’t have to rely on our residents as a bedroom community so much.”
Melinda Zemper, board member of Save Ohio Parks, said there are serious health concerns about data centers that cross jurisdictional boundaries and noted that even the state is taking steps to learn, “we can live without AI data centers, we cannot live without clean air, clean water and health.”
He said waiting for the results of the government’s efforts “is not only democratic, it is wise.”
The three commissioners don’t usually meet with speakers during public comments at their meetings and they did so on Tuesday. Commissioner Don Dixon told the Journal-News while he is concerned about data centers, they have limited power to interfere with local issues.
He said: “I think maybe in some places we can control the areas but in other places we can’t.” “But they bring up a good point, there has to be some thought about this, what this will mean in the long term. I know the government has started, but they have to fix this, they have to come and pass some laws as needed.”
Adam Schwiebert, executive director of policy for the Ohio County Commissioners Association, confirmed that county commissioners do not have absolute power.
“In the state of Ohio, counties can exercise zoning authority in unincorporated areas where the county’s rural areas are approved. Any redevelopment would need to be implemented through that zoning authority,” he told the Journal-News. “To the best of our knowledge, Butler County has rural areas in only a limited number of townships. In the remaining cities, as well as within the municipalities, zoning authority depends on those areas, and the county cannot impose land use restrictions on those areas.”
He who has power
The district covers the townships of Hanover, Lemon, Madison, Milford, Oxford and Ross. Seven other cities, six towns and four villages have jurisdiction over their own local ordinances.
Federal lawmakers plan to study data centers but the results won’t be quick. The House unanimously passed House Bill 646 on March 18 — introduced on January 14 — a measure that would have called for a study commission. The measure was referred to the Senate Finance, Insurance and Technology Committee on March 25, shortly before lawmakers went into recess until after the May 5 primary election.
The bill specifies that the 13-member commission must include experts from many disciplines such as public services, the environment, economic development and tax incentives and local governments. The group must hold at least four public meetings and submit a report and recommendations within six months of the bill’s passage.
Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Twp., previously expressed his support for the bill in a statement to this news outlet.
“This is about talking about this issue, not chasing it later. This commission is very important,” Young said. “We need to understand the full economic and environmental impact on all those affected.”
Another nationwide crackdown is underway that could block data centers entirely. The state’s attorney general recently confirmed a petition to put a constitutional amendment question on the option to ban data centers altogether.
Petitioners need 400,000-plus valid signatures from voters in at least 44 counties by July 1 to make the November general election.
A huge undertaking, the group collecting signatures to vote to end the property tax has been in existence for a year.
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