The developer of a proposed Butler County data center has received site plan review approval, moving the project closer to start of major construction.
Trenton City Planning Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to approve Prologis’ site plan for the 880,000-square-foot development.
“When viewed as a whole, the proposed development meets or exceeds the applicable zoning requirements across all major site components, including layout, circulation, parking, lighting, landscaping, signage, and performance standards,” said Planning and Zoning Administrator Randy Bridge.
He says more technical components of the project, such as stormwater management systems, are still under review by city engineering staff.
The planning commissioners asked Bridge no questions before taking their vote.
The proposed data center development, called “Project Mila” by the developer, would be one of the biggest in Greater Cincinnati. It would include four buildings and an electrical substation on more than 140 acres of land in Trenton’s industrial park. It’s projected to create 140 jobs.
Not everyone’s on board. Trenton residents filled nearly every seat during the meeting. Many expressed frustration when the meeting concluded after 10 minutes and didn't include time for public comment in the agenda.
Barry Blankenship is with Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance, a group organizing against the data center. He says he still has questions for the city about the project’s environmental and health impacts as well as its proximity to Chrisholm MetroPark.
“It's like they don't care about what's going on with us or within parks or within [the] city or [with] citizens,” Blankenship said. “It's really upsetting.”
He says he’s also worried about potential noise from the data center.
According to acoustical analysis submitted by Prologis as part of the site plan review, all projected sound levels remain below the allowable nighttime limits, which are the most restrictive standards in the city’s zoning code.
Nearby St. Clair Township resident Karen Embry attended the meeting with concerns about the data center's potential impacts on water quality and traffic near her and her husband's house.
“He sat out there for 15 minutes the other day and counted something like 84 cars and four and four semis went past us before he could get out of the driveway – that's a problem,” Embry said. “They just keep adding cars... and they're not sitting there so they don't see it.”
City leaders said people can ask questions about the project during the city council meeting Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
People in Trenton are not the only ones pushing back on data center developments. A group of rural Ohioans is proposing a constitutional amendment to ban huge AI data centers in the state.
Read more: