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Residents urge Franklin County to pause AI data-center rezoning over health, water and environmental concerns
Summary
Multiple residents urged the Franklin County Commission to delay rezoning and proposed hyperscale AI data-center projects, citing health risks, endangered species, runoff and water-use concerns and asking commissioners to recuse themselves or put the issue to a public vote.
Dozens of residents urged the Franklin County Commission on March 26 to halt or delay rezoning that would allow hyperscale AI data centers, saying the projects pose risks to public health, water supplies, wildlife habitat and local farmland.
Kathy Post, introduced by the chair as the first speaker, read a prepared letter saying proposed projects (file numbers in the record include 260036 and 260037 and zoning requests cited as 250269 and 250270) could have “costly and negative impacts” on children, pregnant people and autistic residents, and she cited a pair of exhibits in the meeting packet she provided to commissioners. “The irreversible damages from AI data centers is not 100% known, but we do know enough to say no,” Post said, and she asked the commission to place any project “on hold for at least…
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