Cleveland residents speak out on data centers during first public hearing

Emotions ran high Thursday night as Cleveland residents packed the first of three public hearings on data centers, offering questions, concerns and opinions about the future of the rapidly growing industry in the city. The hearing comes as Cleveland City Council considers legislation related to data center development and follows the city's decision to reject a permit application from Lakeland Equity Group for a proposed $1.6 billion, 35-acre data center in the Slavic Village neighborhood. Council recently approved a temporary pause on new standalone data center projects while city leaders gather more information and hear feedback from residents. "We've been waiting for the opportunity to have this conversation," said resident Julia Roberts, who questioned why data centers are being proposed in such large numbers and in such a short period of time. Councilman Brian Kazy, who chairs City Council's Data Center Working Group, said the purpose of the hearings is to ensure residents have a chance to be heard before any decisions are finalized. "I don't want anybody to be able to walk away from any of our three meetings saying we didn't have an opportunity to voice our concerns or we're not listening to you," Kazy said. "Somebody may say something tonight that we didn't even think of." Sia Nyorkor reports: https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/community/data-centers/cleveland-residents-speak-out-data-centers-first-public-hearing/95-f1cc5f8b-7ba9-49ea-a5ef-a411a39f9e33