Prologis Files Federal Lawsuit Over Trenton Data Center Ban

Prologis filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday, Nov. 12, challenging a recent voter-approved ban on data centers in the city of Trenton.

The California-based real estate company is seeking to protect its $42.3 million investment in a massive Amazon Web Services data center project. According to journal-news.com, the company argues that the project was already approved and permitted by the city before residents voted overwhelmingly for the ban on Nov. 3.

The legal battle, filed in the U.S. Southern District of Ohio, centers on whether a new local law can retroactively halt construction that is already well underway. Prologis is building a nearly 900,000-square-foot facility capable of a 250-megawatt load, and the company maintains that its project operates under the rules that existed prior to the election.

The scale of the work already completed on the site underscores the high financial stakes for the developer. Data from journal-news.com shows that by June 2026, crews had already moved approximately 325,000 cubic yards of soil.

The infrastructure is 90% finished for cable trenching and 85% complete for the underground grounding system. Prologis claims the project has already secured a zoning certificate, making the new ban an obstacle to a project that has effectively already begun.

The lawsuit targets the city of Trenton as the defendant, asking a federal court to uphold the previous municipal approvals. The company asserts that the ban’s restrictions on projects of 25 megawatts or more should not apply to a development that was permitted before the amendment passed.

While Prologis seeks to continue building, local activists are pushing the city to do the exact opposite. Lawyers representing Conserve Ohio, a group that drafted the charter amendment for citizens, recently delivered a letter to city leaders requesting the revocation of the project’s zoning certificate.

The letter, sent on behalf of several Trenton taxpayers including Barry and Lorie Blankenship, Steven Wallace, Lesa DeRosier, and Amy Humbert, argues that the city is legally obligated to enforce its new laws. The group contends that because the data center will require a peak load exceeding 25 megawatts, it violates the newly passed mandate.

“The city’s approvals and Prologis’ investment came before the Nov. 3 vote,” the company said in its filing.

The legal tension is mounting as the residents’ representatives indicated an intention to sue the city to compel it to revoke the certificate if the city does not act.

Trenton officials find themselves caught between a massive private investment and a direct mandate from their voters. The city’s law director said the municipality will continue the litigation.

In a correspondence addressed to the lawyers for Conserve Ohio, the law director said that the city will “actively defend this action and will adequately protect the municipal and public interests” regarding the enforcement of the city charter. However, the city has said that the Nov. 3 election results have not yet been officially certified by the Butler County Board of Elections.

As of this week, the city’s review of the taxpayers’ request to halt the development remains “underway.”

The conflict highlights a growing tension in many growing municipalities: the friction between large-scale industrial infrastructure and local community control over land use and energy consumption. Whether a federal court will prioritize established permits and massive capital expenditures over a recent democratic vote remains the central question in this litigation.

On March 2, representatives from the city and Prologis held a forum at Edgewood High School to answer resident questions about the project.

Worth a look