In Ohio’s Grove City, a proposed charter amendment has sparked a fight that doesn’t seem to end. Residents and leaders are clashing on two sides, with one saying the amendment would protect the city and others saying it would destroy its economic prospects. What highlights the conflict is that it is a microcosm of a nationwide pushback against data centres and the region makes one of the most extreme local attempts to stop them, as per a report by Axios.
They managed to collect more than 2,000 signatures, enough to force city council to add the proposed amendment to the November ballot. If passed, any Grove City development that occupies 50 or more acres, uses 20 megawatts of power or consumes 500,000 gallons of water a day would be subjected to a referendum.
“It would literally kill the city,” said Council President Ted Berry to Axios. “This is not a data centre amendment,” says former U.S. “It’s a development amendment, and it basically says, ‘We don’t want to grow.'” Interestingly, this is a risk that the opposition group is willing to deal with as they say their initiative is an effort to “give people a voice. Jen Belt, one of the group’s leaders, said they feel the city leaders are no longer representing them. At a special meeting on Thursday, the day before the deadline for council to put it on the ballot, the group will ask council to replace the original amendment with a “compromise” version that replaces the 50 acres with 750,000 square feet of floor area and removes requirements for existing companies. Berry claimed the issue “fails miserably” in his own polling and seems ready to let it go to the ballot as written. “Obviously, the tide has turned, and they don’t have the support to get it passed,” he said. “Whichever version goes on the ballot, we’ll be campaigning for the passage of that this November,” Belt said.
The opposition group known as Protect Grove City did not stop at the moratorium. They went on to draft a charter amendment that aims to block data centres and other large development projects unless voters approve them individually. The amendment doesn’t just limit data centres. It would also require the developer to pay for related ballot costs. On the other side, some city and regional economic development leaders claim the amendment’s effects would be devastating. Rep. and current Ohio Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Stivers. “What we’re seeing around the country is that our interests are not being considered. You’re not hearing us. Protect Grove City would withdraw the previous amendment if council sent the new one to the ballot.