Canton Mayor Pens Community Letter RE: Perry Water

The City of Canton and Perry Township have been embroiled in a dispute since August 2025 concerning a proposed data center on Faircrest St. SW in Perry Township and the broader terms of a Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) contract. Canton Mayor has detailed repeated attempts to renegotiate the JEDD agreement, which notably lacks clear language on water provision for the data center and contains a 50-year anti-annexation clause that officials from both municipalities were reportedly unaware of. The Mayor's proposed terms for an annexation agreement and JEDD contract have been presented to Perry Township Trustee Ralph DeChiara and later Trustee Matt Miller in multiple meetings from October to December 2025 and again in February and March 2026. However, according to the Mayor, Perry Township has consistently failed to provide any counterproposals or revisions, despite indicating a willingness to negotiate. The situation escalated in January 2026 when Perry Township filed a lawsuit contesting a Type 2 annexation of local businesses by the City of Canton. This legal action led to the cancellation of a planned joint meeting between Canton and Perry Township officials. In response, Canton has decided to approve only residential water service applications with existing waterlines, halting approval for commercial or industrial water contracts, including for the data center, until the JEDD issues are addressed. Developer Panattoni was also involved in a meeting with Canton officials to discuss related issues.