Sheffield leaders suggest replacing property taxes with more data centers, as the residents are divided on the issue

Leaders in Sheffield were set to consider replacing property taxes with another revenue source: data centers. However, officials opted to hold off on considering the measure, saying it needs further legal review.

Village officials were set to consider an ordinance that would change local zoning rules to allow data centers in industrial districts, according to Cleveland.com. The officials said this would ensure the village’s financial stability, even if Ohio politicians eventually decide to abolish property taxes.

Sheffield Mayor Bob Markovich told the news source that the officials want to reduce reliance on the so-called “soft dollars,” outside funding sources such as state grants and capital funds.

“Our goal is to be a self-sustaining community,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with property taxes. We can’t, in reality, control what the state changes. But we can create our future.”

If officials eventually allow the construction of a data center, it would be built along East River Road, which is already zoned for industrial use, with Markovich noting that fewer than 1,000 homes sit within a half-mile radius of the site.

Markovich told the news outlet that, in Sheffield, leaders have no interest in rezoning valuable farmland near residential areas.

“This is already zoned industrial,” he said. ”We’re just looking at adding, specifically, that a data center can go there, too.”

If a project is approved, all of the company’s and village’s responsibilities and safeguards would be determined by a developer agreement that could include provisions for infrastructure improvements, community protections, and financial contributions, including payments in lieu of taxes.

Markovich used another Ohio town, Marysville, as an example of a town that adopted the same plan, allowing the construction of a data center on its territory, which eventually enabled it to afford a new athletic stadium for a local high school.

Additionally, Markovich pointed out the broader economic growth that has occurred around a large-scale data center development in New Albany, according to the news source.

The local residents became divided over data centers, as usual. While some residents agreed with the village officials’ plan, other people living in the area opposed the building of any data centers because they don’t want high utility costs, including electricity costs, a polluted environment, specifically water pollution, and other things, such as excessive noise coming from the backup generators and a few new jobs being created by the data centers.

Markovich responded to these concerns by saying that village officials are trying to reduce or eliminate reliance on the public grid by introducing battery storage systems and on-site power generation, and newer data centers are adopting air cooling or closed-loop systems that recycle water, which allegedly reduces overall consumption.

Additionally, Markovich said that the village ordinances will set decibel limits to ensure residents won’t be bothered by excessive noise from the backup generators. He also denied the claims that the data centers create few new jobs, telling the news source that they actually employ thousands of people.