A grassroots effort to let voters decide whether to ban data centers in a small Butler County city is facing an uncertain future.
Trenton City Council voted Monday to reject a charter amendment petition to prohibit the construction of data centers over 25 megawatts in the city. Council determined the petition didn't contain the number of signatures required for it to be placed on the November ballot.
Petition supporters vow to challenge the decision. They say their lawyer plans to file for an expedited writ of mandamus with the Ohio Supreme Court.
Definition debate
The definition of “elector” was the question at the center of Monday’s special council meeting.
According to the city’s charter, a petition-initiated amendment must be presented “by petition to the Council by 10% of the electors of the Municipality.”
“What is the 'electors of the municipality'? If 'electors' means those registered to vote at the last municipal election, the threshold signature requirement is 820. If 'electors' means those who actually voted in the last election, that threshold is 128,” said City Attorney Nick Ziepfel.
Council considered two ordinances. One determined the petition lacked the necessary number of valid signatures. The other would have forwarded the petition to the Butler County Board of Elections for certification for the November ballot.
Members of the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance group submitted 464 signatures to Council. The Board of Elections verified 336 were valid signatures of city electors.
Council determined that number didn’t meet the threshold established in the city’s charter.
The ordinance council approved says Trenton defines an “elector” as “a person having the qualifications provided by law to be entitled to vote.” Therefore, the petition fell short of the required 820 valid signatures, based on the 8,197 eligible electors in Trenton at the November 2025 general election.
The Butler County Prosecutor's Office, which advised the Board of Elections, says its interpretation of the number of municipal voters required to place a charter amendment on the ballot is 10% of voters who cast ballots in the preceding election.
The office based its decision on Article 18 of the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Supreme Court's decision in Huebner vs. West Jefferson Village Council.
The prosecutor’s office says the city ultimately has the last say, though.
What’s next
Petition supporters say they’re ready to take legal action to get the city to place the charter amendment on the ballot.
Barry Blankenship, a leader of Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance, says he has a lawyer planning to file a writ of mandamus with the Ohio Supreme Court.
Election laws allow for an expedited appeal before November.
The petition comes after some residents spent months pushing back on a planned 250-megawatt data center that’s being built on 141 acres of former farmland in the city’s industrial park. People have raised concerns from noise pollution to water usage to environment impacts.
Plans for another data center on 600 acres of land bordering Trenton have also been discussed. The city is currently seeking to annex the land.
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