How to regulate a data center? Pierce Township residents have ideas
About 150 Pierce Township residents urged officials to impose strict limits on any future data center’s size, water use, lighting and noise. The discussion followed the township trustees’ extension of a moratorium through May while officials consider zoning rules, amid uncertainty over Crane Data Centers’ proposed 300-megawatt project.
Residents of Pierce Township gathered at Locust Corner Elementary School to comment on how the community should regulate data centers. Speakers called for enforceable limits on facility size, sound, lighting and water use, as well as a publicly negotiated community benefits agreement and requirements ensuring that a future operator would pay for site cleanup.
The meeting followed Pierce Township trustees’ decision to extend a data center moratorium through the end of May. Officials are considering a dedicated data center zoning district that could require project-specific zoning changes and public hearings before the zoning commission, Clermont County Planning Commission and Board of Trustees. The discussion focused largely on Crane Data Centers’ proposed 300-megawatt hyperscale facility near the former Beckjord power plant, but the company has not submitted a formal application and its plans remain uncertain.