Pierce Township residents took full advantage on Tuesday night of the chance to weigh in on how their officials should regulate data centers.
About 150 community members gathered in the Locust Corner Elementary School gymnasium for a night of public comment about data centers, held by the township zoning commission.
“If it ever shuts down, the company pays to remove it, not us. We know why that matters,” said Sarah Faulkner, referencing still-existing contaminants from the township’s now-closed Beckjord power plant. “This community should get something real back in writing. That means a binding community benefits agreement negotiated in public with residents at the table and with specific numbers instead of vague promises.”
Faulkner and others thanked township leaders for their transparency thus far, asking that it continue. They also said the township should impose specific limits on any future data center’s size, sound, water use and lighting.
The meeting was one of the first steps toward updating the township’s zoning code to prepare for data centers.
It came after township trustees voted last month to extend a moratorium on data centers until the end of May. The moratorium gives township officials more time to thoughtfully consider the issue, said commission chair Jeff Stitt, especially as a San Francisco-based company eyes land next to the former power plant.
Last month, members of the community expressed concern about Crane Data Centers’ pitch to build a 300-megawatt hyperscale data center.
“We're not necessarily wanting this. We're in the dark like everybody else,” Stitt said of the proposal, adding the company has made no formal application to build in Pierce Township.
It is unclear whether Crane is continuing its effort to build a data center, although the company website still lists a site under “active development” in Ohio. A representative formerly confirmed the site referenced is the 300 acres in Pierce Township, despite the fact that no one from the township has approved a pitch from Crane.
No one from the company responded to a request for comment from WVXU in time for publication.
Much of Tuesday night’s discussion centered around the supposed project from Crane, but officials were clear the company will not get any approval to build a data center before the township has determined the best course forward.
Residents like Kathy Cummins said the township should still be paying close attention to the site because they believe it’s the only one in the township that would be attractive to developers: it’s large, zoned industrial and close to a power source.
“We live on a beautiful part of Pierce Township. It's gorgeous,” Cummins said, adding the proposed data center from Crane would only be half a mile from her home. “It would cut into the hillside, would literally be the only thing we see when we look out of our back deck.”
Cummins added she isn’t totally against data centers, but she is opposed to hyperscale ones like Crane has proposed. And she’d like to see setbacks so her and her neighbors’ property is shielded from the potential eyesore.
Christine Celsor, the director of planning and development for the township, said her department is already considering developing a zoning district for data centers — based on the feedback from the community — that would require a zoning change for each potential project.
“A zoning change is a pretty lengthy process that involves a public hearing through [the] zoning commission,” Celsor said. “It involves a public hearing through [the] Clermont County Planning Commission, and then also a public hearing through the Board of Trustees.”
Next, Stitt said he and other commission members will consider the public comments and try to meet with other communities going through similar processes.
“Let's talk to cities that have data centers,” Stitt said. “OK, if you could change, what could you change? What happened that you didn't anticipate?”
The chair encouraged the community to keep showing up at zoning meetings to watch how the discussion plays out, but he said it won’t be a quick process.
The zoning commission next meets on Nov. 10, when Stitt said members will start to discuss the public’s comments from Tuesday.
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