Court allows construction company to argue for data center
By David Beasley
The Center Square
The Ohio Supreme Court decided to allow a data center builder to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a massive new center in Trenton.
The builder claimed it needs status as an intervening party to protect its financial investment in the project, and the high court agreed in a win for the data center industry.
Trenton Data Center Campus LLC has been approved to build a data center in Trenton on 145 acres, according to court documents, and the company claims in court documents it “will bring significant economic investment, employment, and tax revenue to the city and the surrounding region.”
The company has already spent $38 million on the project, it said in court filings.
After approval by the city, opponents launched a petition drive to amend the city charter to ban construction of data centers larger than 25 megawatts in the city.
Trenton Data Center Campus LLC has a “direct interest” to intervene in the case because it is the owner and developer of the only data center under construction in Trenton, it told the Ohio Supreme Court.
The city said in court documents, however, that Trenton Data Center Campus LLC does not have a “clear legal right,” to intervene, yet the city does have a clear right to amend its charter.
The Ohio Supreme Court, however, granted the intervention.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce sided with the data center company.
“At its core, this case is about whether Ohio wants to remain a leader for business and economic development, or whether it prefers to take a backseat and fall behind,” the chamber told the High Court in documents. “Recently, Gov. Mike Dewine and Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel toured Ohio, touting Ohio’s economic success. Part of that success is because Ohio is a leader in data center development.”
The supreme court ruling was the second in the last two weeks on data centers.
The tiny Ohio village of Ashville, population of around 4,500, has a data center and natural gas power plant headed its way.
In April, the village signed a multi-million-dollar contract with a company called EdgeConnex for the 195-acre project as Ohio continues to attract more data centers – and the opposition that follows them.
But the Ohio Supreme Court recently put the brakes on the data center and power plant project, ruling that the village must first submit a referendum petition to the board of elections seeking a public vote on the contract.