JEFFERSON – Jefferson Village Council passed an ordinance establishing a 12-month moratorium on data centers during its meeting on Monday, Aug. 17.
Council voted to suspend council rules and adopt the ordinance that night.
The ordinance establishes a “moratorium on accepting for filing and consideration, and/or issuing zoning and/or occupancy permits for any building, structure, use or change of use involving Data Centers as a principal use for a period not to exceed 12 months; and declaring an emergency.”
“The Village of Jefferson’s zoning code does not currently permit Data Centers as a principally permitted use within the Village’s land use permissions,” reads the ordinance. “Notwithstanding the fact that the Village of Jefferson’s zoning code does not currently permit Data Centers as a principally permitted use within the Village’s Use Regulations, out of an abundance of caution, a moratorium is being considered for adoption to allow the Village of Jefferson to review its Codified Ordinances (and any applicable state law) to determine if it is necessary to adopt regulations outside of and/or addition to the Village’s current zoning code to address whether Data Centers should continue to be prohibited or whether Data Centers should be a permissible use.”
The ordinance states that Council desires to enact the moratorium “for a period of 12 months unless further legislation is passed by this Council to either terminate or extend the moratorium.”
“The purpose of this moratorium is [for] the Village’s Administration and Council to consider whether it is prudent to introduce amendments to pertinent Codified Ordinances and to prepare regulations which may be necessary, and to study where and whether to allow, limit or continue to prohibit Data Centers as a principal use in the Village,” reads the ordinance.
The ordinance came out of a Finance Committee meeting on July 20.
“I just know that it’s something that a lot of people were talking about, and I thought we should probably start that discussion, too,” Finance Committee Chair Karen Roderick said at the meeting.
She shared with the committee a copy of an ordinance that Twinsburg just passed for review.
Roderick asked for thoughts from the committee, councilmembers and Village officials in attendance.
“Everyone that I’ve talked to in town is against it, based on the information that they’ve seen on the internet, Facebook, Google, whatever, newspapers from the articles from the meetings that have already occurred in other townships,” Councilwoman Pat Bradek said. “Personally, I’m against it as well. I don’t want that in our agricultural county anywhere, along with the wind turbines. They’re an eyesore and those are bringing all kinds of other problems as well.”
She said data centers use a lot of electricity and a lot of water, which would affect everyone in multiple ways in the village as well as in the townships.
The Twinsburg ordinance hits it right on the head, Bradek said.
“It’s very concise. It covers everything exactly short and sweet and to the point. It’s a 12-month moratorium on businesses and their municipality allowing them to come into their community. Within the 12 months, according to that ordinance, they do any investigation or any other fact finding or whatever to get more information so that if it does come about at the end of the 12 months, they have to make a decision to either extend the moratorium or negate it and move forward,” Bradek said.
She said it was a question for Solicitor Jason Fairchild if they can extend it further after that.
Councilmember Lon Damon said he’s also heard about the amount of water and energy needed to run data centers.
“I thought there was on a federal level, correct me if I’m wrong, that these data centers are supposed to have their own water treatment facilities that recycle the water. Is that true?” he asked.
Village Administrator Andria Manor responded, “I think a lot of them said they’re going to do it, and I don’t think they followed through.”
Manor shared her experience from living in an area where they put in a plant for Honda, but now Honda’s not coming there.
“Still, they’re going to make it one big, huge data center. Our electric cost tripled, and I live on the opposite end of the county from them and mine still tripled,” Manor said.
Mayor Steve Sekanina said it increases the demand.
“It’s a commodity that you have to pay more for if you want it,” Sekanina said.
He said most of the data centers are building on 50 acres or more.
“That’s typical. It doesn’t mean they can’t build on less. But what some of the data centers have started to do now, because the grid simply can’t support it, they started to put in their own generators…It’s almost like living next to an airport. They have these giant jet turbines running, and they’re literally turbine engines for power generation. So they’re doing that. So that’s a bad thing, too, from what we’re told,” Sekanina said.
Even though the Village might not have 50-acres plus sitting there open where they can do it, that doesn’t mean somebody couldn’t do it just outside of town and annex it in, he said.
“I think this is prudent to do this because that would protect us for that, too, so that we can understand it, and, yes, a lot of other municipalities have taken action. I think this Twinsburg ordinance is a great template for us to use,” Sekanina said.
He said they can give the ordinance to Fairchild as a template.
Manor said the grid is shared with New York, with Pennsylvania, and it’s maxed.
“Adding more data centers is only going to put more stress. And they have nothing that’s going to back it up,” Manor said.
Sekanina also noted that data centers add very few jobs.
“It’s not like it’s some kind of big economic benefit to us. It really isn’t,” Sekanina said.
Roderick said it’s temporary.
“Twenty years from now when the next thing is here, there’s going to be all these vacant data centers everywhere. You wait and see. There’ll be something that replaces them and that takes one-tenth of the size,” Sekanina said.
He said he doesn’t see a benefit of the Village having a data center.
“I think it’d be a really wise idea to do this,” Sekanina said. “All this is saying is putting a moratorium on it. It’s not a permanent ban, but it’s putting a moratorium so that we can continue to study it and learn more about it.”
The committee asked Fairchild to draft the ordinance, which was then passed by council on Monday night.
