The Ohio Supreme Court will allow for a special election to let Trenton residents vote on the future of data centers in the city.
The decision was released by the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday. WCPO previously reported that a group of petitioners, named the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance (WATER), were trying to advance a city amendment to ban data centers.
WATER's proposed amendment aims to prohibit new data centers larger than 25 megawatts from being built within city limits.
WATCH: We break down the lawsuit before the Ohio Supreme Court
After gathering 336 signatures, they had their initiative rejected by city council, which initially argued that the group needed around 820 signatures for the amendment process to proceed. City council voted 4-3 to reject the initiative.
This decision sparked debate over whether the group needed to meet the threshold based on the city’s number of registered voters or the number of ballots cast in the last municipal election.
Trenton attorney Nick Ziepfel laid out the options before city council at the special meeting:
- Decide that the term "electors" in the city charter referred to all registered voters active during the previous election cycle, requiring the petitioners to gather 820 valid signatures to get the initiative before voters.
- Decide that the term "electors" in the city charter referred to all voters who cast a ballot in the previous election, requiring petitioners to gather 128 valid signatures to get the initiative before voters.
The city council's decision prompted the group to take the case to the Ohio Supreme Court, resulting in an expedited special election case being opened.
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The Butler County Board of Elections determined 128 signatures were sufficient to get the measure on the ballot, based on advice from the Butler County Prosecutor's Office. This means WATER collected more than enough signatures to meet the required threshold, and the Ohio Supreme Court agreed.
The state supreme court ruled that charter amendment petitions should require signatures equal to 10% of the votes cast in the last general municipal election, meaning the city council had to certify the petition so it could advance to a special election.
The Butler County Board of Elections was ordered to certify the measure.
