Grove City officials and a citizens group opposed to data centers are currently negotiating a compromise on the group's proposed city charter amendment aimed at data centers because it also would require any heavy industrial development in the city to receive voter approval.
Grove City law director Stephen Smith, City Council member Mohamed Omar and members of the anti-data center group Protect Grove City have been meeting and communicating for weeks to draft a new version of the charter amendment that would address concerns the city and the business community have about the scope of the ballot amendment.
The two sides have until a Sept. 3 special meeting of Grove City Council to create the new compromise amendment. Protect Grove City would then
withdraw their original version of the amendment, and Grove City Council would vote to add the new compromise amendment to the Nov. 3 ballot. The state deadline to add a charter amendment to the ballot is Sept. 4.
Smith and organizer Jen Belt with Protect Grove City both spoke positively about their negotiations in interviews with The Dispatch.
Protect Grove City has four requirements for any potential compromise, according to Belt. It has to be a charter amendment and not just a city ordinance; it has to incorporate the thresholds that define a heavy industrial development in the original development; it needs to include a voter referendum; and it has to be placed on the ballot before the group will withdraw their original amendment.
"The rest of it is negotiable as far as we're concerned," Belt said.
What would the Grove City charter amendment change?
The charter amendment, if it is approved in its original form, would require a city-wide referendum on any development project that occupies 50 or more acres, draws or is designed to draw more than 20 megawatts of power at peak capacity or consumes or is designed to consume more than 500,000 gallons of water a day. If voters approve one of these developments – called heavy industrial developments in the amendment – via a majority vote in the referendum, the developers would then have to navigate the city's normal zoning and permitting process.
Developers would also have to pay for all of Grove City's and Franklin County's costs to put the referendum on the ballot, and they would have to pay for independent studies, baseline measurements of their property and a 15% administrative reserve fee. The amendment also adds a slew of inspection and reporting requirements; noise, light, sound and vibration standards, and potential fines for heavy industrial developments.
Current Grove City businesses considered a heavy industrial development under the amendment could apply for an exemption to the referendum requirement. Any substantial expansion to the business would trigger a referendum. Grove City's existing heavy industrial developments would also be subject to all of the inspection and reporting requirements and potential fines included in the amendment.
Protect Grove City created the charter amendment in the wake of community backlash against a Texas-based data center developer's plans for a 300-acre, multi-building complex. Grove City Council established a one-year moratorium on data centers and a data center task force in June, but Protect Grove City wanted to give Grove City residents even more of a say on industrial developments through the amendment, according to Belt.
Grove City Mayor Ike Stage, who opposes the amendment, said it would double the length of the city's charter.
What does the business community think about the amendment?
The Grove City Chamber of Commerce, One Columbus, the Columbus Partnership, the Ohio Business Roundtable and several local Grove City businesses are all opposed to the current version of the amendment. Leaders with those groups have argued the amendment would stifle economic development in the city and negatively affect its existing businesses.
"This type of amendment is using a sledgehammer to try to fix a problem in the city. And again, obviously people are concerned so they believe there's a problem. But this isn't the way to solve it. This sends a chilling message about economic development in Ohio," Pat Tiberi, president and CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable, said in an interview with The Dispatch.
Belt said it was unsurprising that the business community, which has positioned itself as the authority on what economic practices are good for a community for decades, would be reluctant to give up its power to Grove City's citizens.
"I just feel like communities around the nation, not just here in Grove City, are realizing that they want to sit at the table. They want to have the right to also have input on what economic development comes to the places that they live, and they work and they shop and where they're raising their family and their kids are going to school," she said.
Transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Grove City officials, citizen group working to compromise on charter amendment
