Plain City Village Council has voted unanimously to enact a one-year moratorium on data center development.
Under the measure, the village will not accept any development applications that include any data centers for one year. The moratorium does not apply to any existing properties in the village that are already permitted to have data centers, according to the ordinance.
The moratorium, which the council voted 5-0 to approve at its Aug. 10 meeting with one council member absent, is intended to give the village time to research, study, develop and implement zoning and development regulations for data centers, according to the ordinance. Village Council planned to revamp its zoning code around data centers earlier in the summer, but tabled those
efforts in July to pursue a moratorium.
"Council wanted to put a moratorium on because there's so much pressure coming from the entire state on data centers, and we want to look to our state legislature to see what they are forming at the state level that we can see and connect with our zoning code as well to make sure that we're all on the same page," Plain City Mayor Jody Carney said in an interview after the meeting.
Plain City's legislation is the latest anti-data center measure to be enacted in central Ohio amid a local and national backlash to the industrial facilities. Grove City approved a one-year data center moratorium in June, while residents of Sunbury and Pataskala will vote on data center bans in their communities in the Nov. 3 general election.
No data center developers are currently looking at Plain City as a potential development site, Carney said.
Only a handful of people were in the audience for the Aug. 10 vote. Just one member of the public, resident Susan Johnson, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. She said she was glad to hear that the village was enacting a data center moratorium.
"Obviously, we know that that is temporary. So, at this point I just wanted to say that I hope that we can go further and maybe as we decide more zoning controls around that as [the moratorium is] giving us time. I appreciate everyone hearing what we all are saying, and I thank you all for that," Johnson 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: Plain City Village Council enacts one-year data center development ban
