GENEVA – The chair of Geneva City Council’s Planning Committee presented his research on data centers at the May 11th committee meeting.
Previously, council had sent a proposed ordinance for a 12-month moratorium on data centers in the city to the planning committee after it was tabled at the April 27th council meeting.
During the planning committee meeting which began at 5 p.m., council member Brad MacMichael, chair of the planning committee, presented his research on data centers over the last two weeks. Committee members then sent the ordinance back to council, which convened for its regular meeting afterwards at 6 p.m.
Council then voted to un-table the ordinance and give it a first reading.
In his closing statement at the committee meeting, MacMichael said he spoke with community members to get their thoughts and concerns and their opinion of putting a moratorium in place.
He noted that he found there are different types of data centers.
One, he said, is the “large hyper scale size ones that take up acres of land and use huge amounts of water and electricity.”
MacMichael said there are also the smaller ones that don’t require huge amounts of land, but “can still put a strain on local utilities and have negative impact on the local environment through heat, sound, light and air pollution.”
“They can be housed in facilities of 5,000 to 10,000 square feet,” MacMichael’s closing statement reads. “In fact, there are over 20 of this type in operation in Cleveland, Ohio, at this time.”
MacMichael noted that one argument made against the proposed moratorium was that the city doesn’t have enough space for a data center.
However, he said that given that there are existing buildings and open lots available in the industrial park of Geneva, it’s not inconceivable that a data center could be placed there.
“As far as an economic impact, data centers are built and installed by outside contractors, and once built or installed, are operated by a minimal staff, thereby negating the thought that a data center would be an economic boost to the City of Geneva,” his closing statement reads. “As to the long-term potential for data centers, especially the smaller size ones, they are susceptible to the inevitable evolution of technology. What is high tech today becomes obsolete tomorrow.”
When that happens, he questioned, “Do for-profit, out-of-town nameless corporations spend the capital to retool and upgrade or do they just pull the plug and leave the affected city and residents responsible for the cleanup and remediation of an abandoned facility?”
MacMichael said that after speaking with Geneva residents, there was a unanimous opinion that a 12-month moratorium was “the least that the Geneva City Council could do to preserve the environment and infrastructure of our city.”
When the ordinance came up during the regular council meeting, council member Jeff Griffiths recommended it be un-tabled.
A motion was then passed to un-table it, with council member William Baker casting the lone no vote. It was added to the agenda, with Baker again voting no. The ordinance, which is ordinance no. 3415, was given a first reading.
It calls for imposing a 12-month moratorium on the acceptance and processing of applications for zoning and/or occupancy permit approvals for data centers within the city and the issuance of such approvals in the city.
During the public comment period, three people expressed their concerns about data centers.
Sarah Brower, who is part of the concerned citizens group Betsy’s Bees, was in favor of the moratorium.
“I think the safest thing to do is to have a 12-month moratorium because this industry has the potential to really disrupt life here for people,” she said. She was concerned about environmental impacts, noise pollution, and “disruption of people’s residential lives and property.”
“To me, what’s really the worst part about it is if a hyper-scale data center was to come to the area, it’s just that people have no protections from this,” she added. “And it’s really these companies that are coming and essentially mining our lives, mining our resources for their benefit, and the only thing we’re getting is pollution. We’re not getting jobs. And, again, this is all going toward a technology that is accelerating faster than anyone can regulate it.”
Another speaker, T. Gallo, also part of Betsy’s Bees, commended council “for taking a stance, taking a pause and learning more” about data centers.
“Let’s look at the data,” she said. “Let’s research how data centers can impact both our community, our health and our economies.”
Another member with Betsy’s Bees thanked council for having a conversation about a moratorium.
“I really appreciate it because this issue is not just a city-by-city issue,” she said. “If a data center were to go in, say, in Conneaut, it would impact our neighbors in Pennsylvania. If it were to go in in Perry, it will impact us in Ashtabula County.”
Also during the meeting, Baker said he was providing “full disclosure” regarding his employment in Managed IT.
He said he doesn’t directly work in a data center.
“I work for a company that does have equipment in data centers,” he commented. “Just so you know, full disclosure.”
Previously, Baker had commented about the possibility of a data center coming to Geneva by referring to a presentation by Sarah Jammal of Verdantas at a past council meeting in which she addressed the possibility of data centers in the area.
“I know when Sarah was here, I asked her pointedly if there was any plans at all, and she emphatically stated we are not even in consideration of anyone having a data center in our area,” he said previously.
At the April 27th council meeting, Baker and Griffiths also had held a back-and-forth discussion regarding data centers’ environmental impacts.
Baker referred to a part of the moratorium ordinance that he said reads, “there are credible concerns of health, safety and power usage surrounding data centers.”
“But I’m trying to think, what health and safety concerns are there that people have come up with?” he asked, indicating he was the only one on council who had been in a data center or visited one.
Griffiths cited several concerns.
“There are heavy metals that are used and health issues with regard to respiratory and cardiovascular stuff, with regard to air pollution,” he claimed. He also said there are concerns over water, electricity, and noise issues.
Griffiths spoke of “the hum from the diesel generators and the HVAC systems that are running to power these things.”
“As opposed to the normal generators that are used in any industrial park?” Baker shot back.
