Sunbury residents to vote on charter amendment banning data centers
Sunbury, Ohio residents will vote on a charter amendment in November to ban data centers with a peak load over 25 megawatts, aiming to address concerns about local resource strain, farmland loss, and tax breaks for tech companies. This follows an earlier temporary moratorium and active opposition to a proposed Amazon data center campus.
Sunbury, Ohio residents are set to vote on a proposed charter amendment this November that would prohibit the construction of large-scale data centers within their community. The amendment, unanimously certified by the Sunbury City Council on July 15, specifically targets facilities with a peak load exceeding 25 megawatts.
Organizers, including petition leader Trey Dockendorf, successfully gathered and verified over 350 signatures to place the measure on the ballot. This local effort mirrors similar initiatives in Pataskala, Ohio, and is supported by Conserve Ohio, a grassroots group advocating for statewide data center restrictions, which is now targeting the 2027 primary ballot for a state constitutional amendment.
The resident-led push stems from significant concerns, including the strain on local water and energy resources, the loss of agricultural land, noise and light pollution, and the perceived unfairness of tax breaks granted to major tech companies like Amazon. Sunbury residents have specifically opposed a proposed $2-billion Amazon Data Service data center campus in the city's technology park, despite the city council having previously enacted a moratorium on data center development until January 31.