Ohio Cities Face Ballot Battles Over Data Center Bans

City councils in two Ohio communities are addressing citizen-led efforts to ban large data centers, reflecting growing local opposition to the industry's environmental impact. In Pataskala, the Pataskala City Council passed an ordinance that may place a ballot measure on the November election to prohibit data centers within the city. The initiative follows protests against a proposed campus by Aligned Data Centers and relies on more than 500 petition signatures currently awaiting verification by the board of elections.

In Trenton, the conflict has escalated to a legal dispute. On August 3, the Trenton City Council voted 4-3 to reject a charter amendment petition that would have banned future data centers requiring more than 25 megawatts of electricity. Council members determined the 336 verified signatures failed to meet the city charter's 820-signature requirement. The decision comes as Prologis constructs a 250-megawatt project in the city.

Supporters of the Trenton ban, led by the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance group, argue that state law only requires signatures from 10% of voters in the most recent municipal election, which would be 128 signatures. While City Law Director Nick Ziepfel argued that the signature threshold protects the city from constitutional legal challenges, the opposition group has vowed to file a mandamus action with the Ohio Supreme Court to force the measure onto the ballot.