LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — As plans for more data centers expand across the country, some municipalities are welcoming them as economic powerhouses and job creators, while others pump the breaks, asking for more time to investigate the benefits, consequences and impacts.
Data center campuses are often hundreds of acres in size. They house the servers necessary for cloud-based computing and artificial intelligence and, as such, demand huge amounts of electricity and water. The Midwest, with its flat land and access to the Great Lakes, is often an attractive site for data center developers. This is true in northwest Ohio, where one data center is already under construction and another is planned.
WTOL 11 has covered data center news in the region extensively. Below is a list of local municipalities and jurisdictions that have established a stance on data centers.
Toledo
Toledo City Council requested a formal study to better understand how data centers could affect both the city and the northwest Ohio region. Both potential economic and environmental impacts, as well as energy and water usage, would be included in the study.
Archbold
Residents of Archbold attended a village meeting on Feb. 16 in which they expressed their concern after a developer purchased 74 acres of land. Archbold’s mayor said there are currently no plans for a data center, but residents still came out to push for a moratorium…