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Residents urge moratorium on Proximity Park data‑center proposal at packed Ottawa City Commission meeting
Summary
Dozens of residents filled City Hall and the overflow room July 1 to oppose a proposed data‑center and Lightfield Energy’s plans for Proximity Park, calling for a public forum, stronger zoning safeguards and a moratorium while staff and the commission review development agreements and impacts.
Dozens of Ottawa residents used the meeting’s public‑comment period to press the City Commission to pause work on a proposed data‑center and adjacent power plant planned for Proximity Park.
“My grandchildren live in that 3‑mile radius…they felt so left out,” said Sandy Musick, who opened the public comment period and read petition signers’ complaints that elected officials signed nondisclosure agreements that limited public information. Multiple speakers asked for a city‑led public forum and a moratorium on approvals until the city writes detailed protections.
Speakers cited health, water and noise concerns. Colleen Grillitt, who said her young son is a cancer survivor, told commissioners that Lightfield’s “proposed 440 megawatt facility isn’t just a data center. It’s a heavy industrial fossil fuel power plant” and warned commissioners they could not claim ignorance of medical vulnerabilities if they moved forward. Other residents pointed to cases in other states where communities later sought to revoke permits after complaints about noise, water withdrawals and air emissions.
Several commenters asked the commission to require closed‑loop cooling, decibel limits measured at property lines, explicit rules for wastewater handling, and binding development agreements that protect long‑term municipal interests. “Let’s pass this pause so that we can write those exact common‑sense protections in Ottawa’s code,” said Brooke Sheets, who provided a packet of model rules used by nearby jurisdictions.
The public comments led commissioners and staff to answer questions about existing zoning, covenants, and what steps would be required before construction could begin. City staff said that no site plan, building permit, or incentive application from Lightfield had been filed with the city as of the meeting and that future submissions would trigger site‑plan review, development agreements and the potential for permit conditions.
