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Resident warns of data-center risks; council asks law director to draft temporary moratorium
Summary
A local resident urged St. Marys City Council to block or pause data-center development, citing environmental, water, noise and privacy concerns; council members directed the law director to draft a time-limited moratorium for consideration and suggested consulting neighboring jurisdictions.
A resident told the St. Marys City Council that rapid growth of data centers across Ohio threatens local ecology, water supplies and privacy, prompting council members to ask the law director to draft a temporary moratorium.
"There—s a lot of data centers popping up all over Ohio," said Dakota Humphrey during public comment, citing dozens of planned facilities and warning they would "suck the life out of a community," strain local power and water systems and create long-term environmental impacts. Humphrey gave his name and address at the start of his remarks.
Council members and city officials said they shared many of those concerns but that the city may not currently have suitable land for hyperscale facilities. A council member suggested an 18- to 24-month moratorium to allow St. Marys to study infrastructure impacts and learn from other communities that have adopted similar temporary pauses.
The law director told the council she had seen moratoriums circulated among colleagues and offered to draft proposed language if council wanted to proceed. Council members took a show of hands directing the law director to prepare a moratorium resolution; members said they prefer a time-limited pause that can be extended if needed.
Members discussed outreach to the county and nearby townships and noted that in some cases data centers locate near smaller communities because of available land and utilities, despite delivering limited local employment. Several members emphasized the moratorium would be a precautionary, temporary measure to gather more information before any zoning or permitting decisions.
The direction to draft the moratorium was a council instruction to staff; no ordinance or formal vote to adopt a moratorium occurred at the meeting. The council plans to review any proposed draft at a future meeting and coordinate with regional authorities as needed.
