WILMINGTON, Ohio — Wilmington residents are aiming to take control over a major land use decision that could nearly double the size of industrial data centers in the area.
The move would take the city from having about 500 acres of land zoned for data centers to over 1,000. The referendum is to target the Ardent/TAC data dcenters rezoning vote, a separate project from the ongoing Amazon Web Services data center project.
Jessica Sharp, a Wilmington resident and a lead organizer of Wilmington Residents for Responsible Development, said city officials disregarded expert advice when they approved rezoning for the ongoing Amazon Web Services data center project.
"City council and the planning commission both disregarded the staff report from the regional planning commission," Sharp said. "They recommended not to do the rezoning at that time, but they went ahead and did it anyway."
Sharp said the group secured a ballot referendum to undo the rezoning for "four parcels from rural residential to light industrial."
The measure will now be on the ballot for Wilmington voters to decide on in the November election.
WATCH: Why residents in Wilmington, a city with a population just under 13,000, worked to give voters a broader say
Getting the referendum on the ballot took hundreds of signatures and a team of volunteers.
"We turned in 1,529 signatures in about 25 days … we had, I want to say, 45 circulators, turned in 71 part petitions total," Sharp said.
Even with the issue now on the ballot, Sharp said the work is not over.
"Even though we've got it on the ballot, we’re still going to have to campaign and make sure we're getting the word out," Sharp said.
For Sharp, the effort is about her family and the future of Wilmington. She has an 18-month-old daughter and another child on the way.
"We bought this house. This was supposed to be where we raised our kids and stayed for the next 20-30 years," Sharp said. "It feels like all of that is just kind of in flux now. We don’t know if this is going to be a safe and healthy place to raise our family."
We reached out to the city of Wilmington to ask about the impact this would have on data center developments.
The city's mayor, Patrick Haley, responded in a statement saying, “Ohio citizens have the right and the process available to place a referendum on the ballot. As this matter is currently in process and under legal review, we cannot comment further at this time.”
Now, Ohio Residents for Responsible Development can start collecting signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment to prevent new, large data centers across the state on the November ballot.
The Ohio Ballot Board unanimously certified the proposed amendment that would prohibit the construction of data centers with a peak load of more than 25 megawatts per month.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost certified the petition in early April.
Jay has been covering the proposal in Wilmington and other data center projects for WCPO. You can contact him here:
