The battle over a data center in a small town south of Columbus will go on. A unanimous Ohio Supreme Court ordered the village of Ashville to submit to elections officials petitions for a ballot issue this fall on a data center and a natural gas plant to power it. But that doesn’t mean the vote will definitely happen.
In May, residents opposed to the deal Ashville struck with EdgeConneX to build two data centers and a natural gas plant on village-owned property turned in enough valid signatures to put the issue before voters this fall. Ashville refused to submit it to the Pickaway County Board of Elections, saying this was emergency legislation not subject to a referendum. Justices agreed the village didn’t have sufficient reasons for the deal to be declared an emergency.
“I think this will be the first vote on data centers in Ohio," said Marc Dann, a Democratic former Ohio attorney general now representing Data Center Resistance, a group that's supporting people opposed to data centers in their communities. “I think it's really terrific that the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously stood up and enforced the constitutional right that citizens have to a referendum, particularly when there's no emergency associated with the legislation.”
Though the petitions must be submitted, elections officials could still decide the agreement was an administrative action, which is also not subject to referendum. If that happens, there won’t be a vote.
Requests seeking comment from EdgeConnex and the Data Center Coalition have not been returned.
