Microsoft has shared details of its proposed Perry Township data center development in Ohio with local residents.
Reports of the project in Stark County first surfaced in June, with Microsoft confirming it was the Fortune 500 company behind the development last month.
The proposed project would see as much as 350 acres along state Route 75 between Breese and Hume Road becoming a data center campus, reported the Lima Ohio.
The meeting took place on September 5 at a local elementary school with around 100 residents in attendance.
Perry Township’s zoning board called the meeting last month.
There had been concerns about the proposed development, such as noise pollution, increased traffic, environmental impacts, and construction.
Local resident Steven Bennington said: “We had heard a lot of rumors about a tremendous amount of water usage, but it is going to be more of a closed cooling system that will keep recycling and cooling
“And then there is a high tension line that goes right through the project, so American Electric Power (AEP) said it would be no problem and the center would have its own huge substation.”
John Recker, customer and external affairs manager at AEP said: “We understand resident concerns, but we have a number of data center customers across the state of Ohio, and they’ve proven to be good customers and good stakeholders in the community.”
Lima Mayor Sharetta Smith also voiced optimism about the project, adding it would provide an opportunity to ‘diversify [the] local economy’.
However, there are still concerns about tax levels and the impact on the local community.
Microsoft representatives were not allowed to talk to the media.
According to the minutes, the Perry Township trustees are now set to host another public meeting before making a final ruling. An outcome for Microsoft’s application is not expected until November.
As the US experiences a boom in emerging market growth, Ohio has quickly become an attractive choice for data center operators. New Albany was recently named as the data center capital of the midwest, because of its affordable land and access to power.
The region has more than 1GW of capacity under development and benefits from Central Ohio’s talent pipeline that produces 22,000 graduates a year.
Lima is only home to one other operator, Microtronix Datacenter, with the majority of data centers in Ohio being concentrated in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.
