Village of Granville voters to decide whether to ban large data centers

Granville voters will decide on whether to ban large data centers after the village council approved placing a charter amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The amendment would prohibit constructing data centers that use more than 25 megawatts of power per month. That’s enough energy to power 20,000 homes per month, and residents have increased concerns over the water and electricity the facilities require to operate.

The village joins Pataskala and Sunbury after organizers in all three municipalities collected enough signatures to get the proposed issue on the November ballot. Granville organizers needed 149 signatures and submitted 169, with the Licking County Board of Elections verifying all but one.

Granville council unanimously approved the proposed charter amendment at an Aug. 19 meeting. A few residents spoke in favor of the amendment during the meeting, including organizer Tracee Laing, who kickstarted the petition drive.

“We’ve been building data centers for so long in the dark and people have not known about it, but people are waking up now,” Laing told The Advocate. “People are understanding the disaster that we are dealing with. By the time November comes around, I have no doubt that people will be happy that it’s on the ballot and will be voting for it.”

There are dozens of other petitions in the process to get on the ballot, according to Conserve Ohio lawyer Nick Owens. Conserve Ohio is a grassroots group seeking to ban the more-than-25-megawatt data centers and is collecting signatures for a state constitutional amendment to block them. Efforts to collect signatures in Johnstown and Heath are ongoing.

There are 139 data centers in central Ohio, listings on Data Center Map show. There are 224 in the state and companies plan to build more, including in Pataskala. The companies cite economic benefits they say data centers offer, including creating thousands of jobs for people during construction of the facilities.

Some companies also use a closed-loop cooling system that reuses water consistently so that the centers don't draw massive amounts of water from cities' water systems.

"It's essential," Granville resident Ken Apacki said of the November vote. "I think the residents need to have a say. It's such a vital thing."

Heath could join Granville in requesting the Licking County Board of Elections place the amendment on the ballot. Organizers in Heath submitted their petition with 337 signatures at an Aug. 17 meeting, and the board verified 180 of them, resident Margo Mayberry said. They need 220 to qualify.

There are dozens of other petitions in the process to get on the ballot, according to Conserve Ohio lawyer Nick Owens. Conserve Ohio is a grassroots group seeking to ban data centers of more than 25 megawatts and is collecting signatures for a state constitutional amendment to block them.

To get a charter amendment on the November ballot, organizers need signatures from 10% of people who voted in their municipality's November 2025 general election.

Advocate reporter Josué Perez can be reached at [email protected].