Washington County commissioners to hold public meeting after residents raise concerns about proposed Waterford data center

Public commenters pressed Washington County officials on Feb. 26 over a proposed data center on private land in Waterford Township, and commissioners pledged a public meeting before any agreement is signed.

Flite Freimann, director of Job & Family Services, told the board the county’s role is limited to distribution of property tax and said developments such as data centers have raised home values and salaries in places like New Albany. Lois Morris asked whether payments in lieu of taxes would be distributed the same way as property tax and requested a public meeting; Charlie L. Schilling, president of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, said there will be a public meeting and that distribution would follow the same percentages as property tax.

Other residents raised environmental and equity concerns. Stephanie Lang said, “local scrap won't take brine tanks because they can't remove the radiation,” and asked the board to pass a resolution to stop brine; Schilling responded that he trusts the industry and existing regulations. John Whistler criticized tax abatements, saying, “we are giving tax abatement to billionaires but can't pave our roads.” Barbara Stewart warned the county that data center jobs are not guaranteed for local residents and called the facility a “polluting parasite.”

Union and municipal voices offered a different perspective. Kyle Blinn of IBEW Local 972 said the 10–15 year lifespan people cite applies to servers, not the infrastructure, and said “there would be a couple thousand workers building the data center for the first few years.” Geoff Schenkel of the City of Marietta and Jesse Roush of the Port Authority noted ongoing coordination between local governments on infrastructure needs.

Schilling read a prepared statement saying the potential project is on private land, that a non‑disclosure agreement allows the county to be “at the table” during discussions, and that developers intend to integrate into the community rather than isolate. He said the developer plans to use a closed‑loop system to avoid significant wastewater discharge and that alleged issues such as water and electric use and noise are being addressed. “Nothing will be signed until after the public meeting,” Vice President Eddie D. Place added.

The board did not take any formal action on the data center proposal at the meeting; the next public step is a commissioners‑led meeting to collect more public input and questions.