WILMINGTON, Ohio — What residents describe as a rather quiet community in Wilmington, Ohio, is now at the center of a legal showdown over a proposed Amazon Web Services data center.
Jessica Sharp, an organizer with Wilmington Residents for Responsible Development, is suing the city of Wilmington. She claims officials failed to give proper notice to residents about the development plans for the massive data center proposed just beyond her backyard.
"It’s really a public accountability case," Sharp said. "So you know, we’re trying to set an example that cities can’t do whatever they want just because, you know, they think they have unrestricted authority. They’re still bound to the letter of the law, and we intend to enforce that."
The lawsuit specifically targets a zoning text amendment that made data centers a permitted use in light industrial zones, as well as the map amendment for the parcel where the data center would be built. While Amazon Web Services owns the property, the company is not a named defendant in the suit.
"We have raised some concerns with defective notice on that issue, specifically, notice that the public was entitled to in the paper was not published according to the records that we’ve been able to obtain," Sharp said. "And there were some other issues with mailed notice as well."
Sharp said the lawsuit also includes claims that the map amendment was potentially arbitrary and raises inverse condemnation claims regarding property values. In other words, as residents, they're suing the city, alleging that it took or damaged property for public use without just compensation.
Sharp said the group has only filed a complaint so far, but plans to file for an injunction to halt the building project until the case is resolved.
"The hope is that whatever the city does, they do within the confines of the law," Sharp said.
WATCH: Sharp describes what this lawsuit means for the ongoing data center project
Sharp said she built her home in Wilmington for the peace, space and the good of her family, but she now faces a new neighbor she didn't expect living next to the property. She said she feels cities are being permissive with zoning for these types of developments.
"Just the concept of a hyper-scale data center being compatible with light industrial as a zone is just absurd to me," Sharp said. "Light industrial developments are supposed to have no adverse effects on neighboring properties. That’s what they say the intent of the district is. And we’ve demonstrated over and over that these data centers half the size of this are having adverse effects on noise pollution, air quality, light pollution, all of these things."
In January, an Amazon representative told the Wilmington council that they want to be "good neighbors". But when pressed for more details regarding the potential impacts of the site, few answers were given.
Jay has been covering the proposal in Wilmington and other data center projects for WCPO. You can contact him here:
