TRENTON, Ohio — Trenton has withdrawn its request to bring more than 600 acres in Madison and St. Clair townships into the city for a proposed Amazon data center.
WATCH: Trenton pulls its Amazon data center annexation petition. Here’s what happens next.
The withdrawal came just one day before the Butler County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the annexation.
The petitioners are asking commissioners to move the hearing to a regular meeting on or after Nov. 10.
The county commissioners accepted the withdrawal during a special meeting Tuesday.
Commissioner Don Dixon said he wants the process surrounding the proposed annexation to be more transparent and give the public enough information to understand what is being proposed.
“Whether you're for this or against it, it needs to be an open, informative format, where everyone can get the information they need to make a decision,” Dixon said.
Why was Trenton trying to annex the land?
The 601-acre property is split between Madison Township and St. Clair Township.
Trenton, along with Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky, Watson Gravel Inc. and Daniel and Kyle Rapier, filed the petition to bring the property into the city.
The land is being targeted for a proposed 18-building Amazon Web Services data center campus.
Both townships formally objected to the annexation, prompting the county commissioners' public hearing.
Madison Township has zoning controlled by Butler County, which has a moratorium on data centers. St. Clair Township also has a temporary restriction on large-scale data center development.
Madison and St. Clair officials have raised concerns about the proposed annexation and the potential development.
Madison Township Trustee Jeff Willoughby said the township was not looking for the property to be developed as a data center.
“This is something the city of Trenton did,” Willoughby said. “We were not even contacted directly about it when they started their annexation process.”
November ballot measure could change Trenton's data center plans
The withdrawal comes as Trenton residents prepare to vote on a separate measure that could significantly change the city's future data center development.
A citizen-backed petition seeking to ban large-scale data centers in Trenton recently cleared a legal challenge and is headed to voters in November.
If approved, the measure would prohibit data centers of 25 megawatts or more within Trenton city limits.
The citizen group behind the measure says it remains skeptical of Trenton's plans for additional data centers.
Barry Blankenship, who has been involved in the effort, said residents want the city to make its intentions clear publicly.
“I won't say the city of Trenton is listening to us until they put it on paper, put it in a meeting so everybody can see and say we will not annex, we will not build a data center,” Blankenship said.
The timing of Trenton's withdrawal has raised questions about whether the city will move forward with the annexation before voters decide on the November measure.
Trenton and the property owners, however, have not said the November election is the reason for the withdrawal.
What's next?
For now, the annexation process is on hold.
The petitioners have asked the county commissioners to reschedule the hearing for a regular meeting on or after Nov. 10.
The withdrawal notice also says the petitioners reserve the right to file an annexation petition again in the future.
WCPO 9 has reached out to the City of Trenton and St. Clair Township for additional information about what happens next. Neither has responded as of yet.
