Data Overload? Central Ohio township places year-long ban on building new data centers

Ohio residents are pushing back on what a lot of the world is telling all of us we need to move forward — data centers.

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Central Ohio, and Ohio in particular, is known for sprawling farmlands and rural communities. We have birds chirping, bees buzzing, and water flowing. And many people want to keep it that way, but AI companies see our space as an opportunity to build large-scale data centers. In fact, Central Ohio remains one of the fastest growing hotspots for data centers in the entire country. There are over 200 data centers here, with many more on the way.

But there’s one county you won’t find the hum of a data center in for now — Jackson Township, in southwestern Franklin County near Grove City.

Jackson Township trustees voted unanimously last week to place a one-year moratorium on all data centers. This went into effect immediately and applies to all unincorporated land in the township. Pleasant Township, nearby, also approved a data center moratorium this year.

Around 18 municipalities in Ohio are considering or have already enacted moratoriums that pause construction and the approval of data centers. 

Grove City hopes to be next. In the most recent city council meeting this week, residents packed in to urge a one-year moratorium on data center development. “This is not about being anti-technology or anti-business; it’s about making informed decisions before irreversible ones are made for us,” said resident Jen Belt, while the residents applauded. Grove City Ike Stage said that he’s in a “fact-finding phase” and that he has not taken a final position on data center developments.

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