Ohio Supreme Court orders Ashville to submit data center referendum as statewide debate grows

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered the village of Ashville to submit a referendum petition challenging the village’s agreement related to a proposed data center development to the Pickaway County Board of Elections, as state and local officials continue debating how Ohio should handle the rapid expansion of data centers.

The ruling comes as Republican Gov. Mike DeWine says a freeze on a state tax incentive for new data centers will remain in place through the end of his administration, leaving his successor to decide whether the tax break should resume.

Ashville residents are seeking a public vote on the village’s tentative agreement with EdgeConneX to facilitate construction of two data centers and an accompanying natural-gas power-generating facility.

In April, the Ashville Village Council approved a resolution supporting a “development and supply agreement term summary” with EdgeConneX and declared the measure emergency legislation. The proposal involves two single-story data centers and a natural gas power plant on village property and exempts the project from Ashville’s existing data center moratorium.

Resident Laura McNamara-Smith and other opponents circulated a referendum petition seeking to repeal the resolution and submitted enough valid signatures in May to seek placement on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Ashville Fiscal Officer April Grube declined to forward the petition to the county board of elections, arguing the resolution was exempt from referendum because it had been adopted as an emergency measure and was an administrative action.

The Supreme Court ruled that Ashville did not provide sufficiently specific reasons to qualify the resolution as emergency legislation. The justices said the village failed to explain why allowing the measure to take effect after the normal 30-day period would unnecessarily delay the project.

“All emergency measures are presumably designated as such because commencement of the underlying matter should not be delayed,” the court wrote. “But Resolution No. 06-2026 does not explain why waiting 30 days for the resolution to take effect would unnecessarily delay the EdgeConneX project.”

The ruling does not guarantee Ashville residents will vote on the project in November.

The Pickaway County Board of Elections may still determine whether the resolution was an administrative rather than legislative action. The Supreme Court did not decide that question, instead ruling Grube lacked the authority to withhold the petition on those grounds. The court also directed the board to treat the petition as timely despite the Aug. 5 deadline.

The dispute comes as data center development has become a major issue in Ohio’s gubernatorial race.

DeWine said last week that a freeze imposed in May on Ohio’s sales and use tax incentive for new data center construction will remain in place until he leaves office.

“That will continue until I leave office,” DeWine said.

Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy has proposed requiring future data centers to cover their electricity costs while providing financial benefits to nearby residents.

His plan calls for ending future property tax abatements, using the resulting revenue for homeowner property tax relief and creating “benefit zones” to reduce electricity costs for residents living near the facilities. He has also pledged to temporarily halt approval of new data center projects until lawmakers enact his proposed requirements.

“I’m not ‘pro-data center.’ I’m pro-Ohio, and I have a plan to fix the problem,” Ramaswamy said.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dr. Amy Acton has called for a conditional moratorium on new data centers unless developers cover their utility costs, use union labor, meet environmental and transparency requirements, support surrounding communities and bring jobs to former industrial areas.

“Ohio is open for business, but we are not up for sale,”  Acton said.

The Ashville case also comes as Republican state Reps. Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, and Michelle Teska, R-Clearcreek Township, push House Bill 983, the Data Center Accountability and Citizen Protection Act, which would require voter approval before local governments could approve permits or development agreements for new or expanded data centers and associated power-generating facilities.

The bill would also prohibit future property tax abatements for data centers and impose additional environmental, infrastructure and transparency requirements.

The Pickaway County Board of Elections must now determine whether the Ashville referendum is legally eligible for the Nov. 3 ballot.