Public meetings slated in Waterville, Waterville Township
ANTHONY WAYNE – With access to water, power and hundreds of acres of flat land, developers are eyeing western Lucas County for potential data center locations – as long as the community is welcoming.
“Every community is thinking about it. This is the soup du jour – the gold rush of the 2020s. Of the 21 subdivisions in the county, we are in constant conversation with the six or seven that are more interested,” said Matt Heyrman, director of the Lucas County Department of Economic Development.
The first step is to create zoning regulations that address data centers. Monclova Township and Spencer Township recently adopted new language into their zoning books. Waterville and Waterville Township will discuss the proposed language in public meetings over the next few weeks.
On Monday, August 18 at 7 p.m., the Waterville Township Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing at 621 Farnsworth Rd. to receive input on allowing data centers to operate on agriculturally zoned land with a conditional use permit. The commission will make a recommendation to the trustees, who will hold a separate public hearing on Wednesday, August 27 at 6:30 p.m.
The city of Waterville is considering a zoning language change to allow data centers in M-1 light industrial districts with additional setback requirements from residential areas, said municipal administrator Jon Gochenour. A second reading is slated for Monday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 25 N. Second St.
“Step one is putting a conditional use in place. That doesn’t mean we’re bringing a data center in; it just means that when we’re approached, we will have the ability to control the process,” said Waterville Township trustee Julie Theroux, noting that the trustees hired Columbus law firm Albers and Albers to represent the township’s best interests in the event of a data center or another large project.
The county and Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) have teamed up to coordinate with developers, landowners and communities to attract centers that hold data for multinational corporations like Google, Chat GPT or Meta, Heyrman said.
“We’re targeting larger companies because they will make a more significant investment. That leads to more valuation and potential revenue for our community,” he said.
Attracting a data center is part of an overall strategy to diversify the economy so the county isn’t so reliant on manufacturing and distribution, said RGP executive vice president Gary Thompson. RGP focuses on attracting new business and industry to a 17-county northwest Ohio region. He envisions a healthy mix of manufacturing, construction, agriculture and technology so the economy is on sound footing and communities are able to bring in enough revenue to provide services such as police and fire.
“As AI and robotics advance, there will be fewer jobs for humans in factories. Still, people in the area need jobs and careers, and those are more likely to be in the tech field than the manufacturing field,” Thompson said.
Data centers typically only employ 80 to 100, but bring in ancillary businesses like information technology, engineering and other firms, noted Mike Beazley, a consultant working with the county and RGP. In areas where data centers have been built – including Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Ore.; Cheyenne, Wyo. and Spokane, Wash. – companies making computer servers and steel casings have sprung up.
“The region is in position to take advantage and attract new jobs in a sector that is unrepresented,” Beazley said.
Data centers also bring in property and income tax revenue, Heyrman said. Providing a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement will ensure that those taxes get to the schools and affected communities.
While the team working to bring in new business touts the benefits, the members are also aware of concerns from the public. Many of the problems from earlier models have been remedied, and the projects can be low impact, Beazley said.
One concern stated by residents has been water, which would come from the Toledo municipal water system, not wells or aquafers, which are unreliable. The older designs used a high level of water for cooling systems, but changes in technology have lowered that need to less than 1 million gallons per day for the largest data centers. Toledo has an excess capacity of at least 60 million gallons a day, Beazley said.
Any proposed data center would need to conduct a power study, which is a several-month process that looks at the potential impact on the electrical grid. Ohio is part of the PJM regional transmission organization, which last month announced an increase in wholesale costs that might be passed on to some of the 67 million consumers in 13 states. According to a PJM press release, electricity demand is growing rapidly, “driven largely by data center expansion, electrification and economic growth.”
“If there’s a criticism of the American electrical grid, it’s that it’s too conservative. There is more capacity than the transmitting authorities let us tap into,” Heyrman said. “I feel confident that PJM is not going to let anyone on their grid unless there’s the capacity to do so.”
Ohio is also filled with plenty of gas transmission pipelines, including legacy lines that add redundancy in the supply of natural gas in a way that’s uncommon elsewhere in the country, Thompson said.
Nexus Gas Transmission had previously obtained authorization to build a compressor station in Waterville Township on Moosman Drive, but that permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lapsed in August 2021, said Enbridge spokesperson Kristen Henson. Nexus has no current expansion planned, but is positioned to support future development, including escalating energy needs and data center buildouts, she said.
As communities begin looking at whether to adopt new zoning regulations to allow data centers, residents will have an opportunity to ask questions and share concerns. Richfield Township recently made it clear that data centers are not wanted, Beazley said.
“A group said, ‘We are farmers and don’t want to be anything else.’ So we’ll focus on other communities,” Beazley said, noting that developers don’t want to spend time on communities that are not welcoming.
“Our role is to bring the opportunity to the region. If the citizens and the elected officials don’t want it, we’ll move on to the next community,” Thompson said. “They are in such a rush, they aren’t going to sit around waiting for people to be ready. This is a great opportunity for people to discuss if they want it.”
