An effort by the City of Trenton to annex hundreds of acres from its neighbors for a data center has hit a roadblock.
Madison Township trustees voted unanimously Monday night to reject Trenton’s annexation petition. The township owns 243 acres of the land the city is eyeing for a hyperscale data center by Amazon Web Services,
Jeff Willoughby, president of the board of trustees, said he and the two other trustees do not believe Trenton’s petition meets requirements under Ohio law.
“The law says you're not really supposed to create islands by annexing places where it makes it difficult for the township to still have services,” Willoughby said. “They’re going to be creating an island.”
Willoughby also alleged the petition has errors in its legal description of the land parcels, and he said the law prevents annexation from creating segmented roads maintained by different jurisdictions.
“You'd have multiple different issues as far as who's going to maintain it, who's going to repair it, who's going to service it, who's going to scrape the snow on it,” Willoughby said.
Though Trenton told Madison Township it would take care of the roads, Willoughby said no formal agreement has been drawn up.
Willoughby added the township would also like an agreement with Trenton about future annexations because the city has not communicated its plans before.
Negotiations with the city have been “very difficult,” Willoughby said, because “they saw it as a total financial transaction, where we're trying to make sure we have the first thing we wanted — protections for our residents in that area.”
Amazon offered both townships $5 million each. But Willoughby said the deal is about resident concerns just as much as it’s about financial ones.
Madison Township residents are concerned about noise coming from the planned facility, stormwater runoff and the potential eyesore it could be, Willoughby said.
“If you walk out your front door, what are you going to see? Are you going to see concrete? Are you going to see trees? Are you going to see a fence?” Willoughby asked.
Officials from the City of Trenton did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
What happens next?
Willoughby presented Madison Township’s decision to the Butler County Commission Tuesday morning.
The move to reject Trenton’s petition triggers a requirement that the commission set up a public hearing about annexation, during which Trenton officials will have the opportunity to answer objections.
“It's my understanding that, in the annexation process, that does allow for cures in the annexation petition,” County Administrator Judi Boyko said.
The final decision about annexation is left to the commission, but Trenton resident Barry Blankenship said the public hearing will be a good opportunity for residents to share their concerns about the proposed data center — especially as he says the Trenton City Council has spurned protesters.
“They don't want to talk with us. They don't want to deal with us,” said Blankenship, who founded the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance group with his wife. “They kick us out of meetings because we speak up, and it's time to be transparent.”
Blankenship said he’s spoken with Madison Township trustees, and “the 3-0 vote was a nod to what we're doing.”
Next, he said he’s eyeing St. Clair Township, which controls 358 of the 600 acres Trenton wants. Trustees there are set to discuss the matter Tuesday night.
Under Ohio law, they have until Wednesday to decide whether to accept or reject the annexation petition.
“Madison's spoken. St. Clair is going to speak tonight,” Blankenship said. “Sooner or later, Trenton's going to have to listen to us and realize we do not want data centers in our community, built right up against our housing districts and our schools.”
If annexation is denied, Willoughby said Amazon Web Services could approach Madison Township about the data center without going through Trenton, which he said they chose not to do initially.
“I feel like there's still time for an agreement, and we're still open to talking with them, but we have not had any communications yet,” Willoughby said, adding that he hasn’t seen any drawings of the 18 buildings Amazon hopes to build on the site.
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