By roughly an 80-to-20 margin, voters in Trenton, Ohio, approved Issue 17 on election night, amending the city charter to limit new data centers to 25 megawatts — a decisive local rebuke to the hyperscale development boom sweeping across the state, WCPO reported.
The charter amendment caps the power draw of any new data center built in Trenton at 25 megawatts, a threshold far below the hundreds of megawatts that modern hyperscale facilities typically demand. For the citizen-led group that fought for months to put the restriction before voters, the result was about more than electricity.
A Voice for Woodsdale and the West Side
The measure was driven by Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance, or WATER, a grassroots group that gathered signatures to force the issue onto the ballot. On election night, the group’s members celebrated a result they framed as democracy working as intended.
“This is just the time in our city that we feel like finally the citizens had their voice,” WATER member Barry Blankenship said.
Blankenship pointed to the lopsided margin as proof of how unified the community had become.
“When the power of the people comes together, we can beat money and we can beat big tech when citizens band together and come together as one unit,” he said.
The outcome arrives while one data center project is already under construction in Trenton and a second had been proposed on roughly 600 acres the city sought to annex. Neither project can now grow beyond the new cap unless the charter changes again.
Ten for Ten Across Ohio
Trenton was not the only Ohio community where residents pushed data center restrictions directly to voters. Nick Owens, a lawyer and co-founder of Conserve Ohio, stated that his organization assisted in 10 charter amendment campaigns throughout the state — and every one of the 10 passed.
Owens said he hopes the results encourage other communities to pursue similar efforts.
“Hopefully those communities across Ohio who are trying to make a stand against the hyperscale data center invasion, they will look towards Trenton and look to other communities to effectuate their direct democracy rights to put the people in charge of their government,” Owens said.
Residents in multiple Ohio communities have raised the same concerns: strain on the power grid, water use, noise, and the transformation of farmland and suburban land into sprawling server campuses.
Will the Cap Stop the Prologis Project?
One major question remains: what happens to the Prologis data center already under construction in Trenton? The new charter restriction could force the project to scale back — or it might not, depending on a legal doctrine known as vested rights.
Vested rights are protections that can allow a development to continue under the rules that existed before a new restriction took effect. Owens believes the Prologis project may not have secured those rights at its planned size, pointing to how far construction has actually progressed.
“Is a data center up and running right now? Is there a server online? Is there any even power connected to that source? It’s just all site work right now,” Owens said.
He noted that Ohio courts have not yet settled exactly when a project of this scale gains vested rights, leaving the legal question open.
Prologis, however, says the new restriction will not affect its project. In a statement, the company said it respects the process and the outcome of the vote but believes the result does not affect its development.
“Prologis respects the process and the outcome of last night’s vote. The result does not affect our project. We feel strongly this project will bring lasting benefits to Trenton, including creating local jobs, generating tax revenue and supporting schools and services. Our team has spent many months engaging residents and local leaders, answering questions and sharing facts about the project, and we will continue to do so as the project moves forward,” the company said.
That sets up a direct collision between the company’s position and the charter amendment voters just approved. WCPO reached out to the City of Trenton for comment but had not received a response by publication time.
What Comes Next for Trenton
Going forward, the focus will be on how the city and Prologis respond to the new charter amendment, and whether the existing project becomes the subject of a legal challenge. If Owens is right about the state of construction, the fight over vested rights could end up in an Ohio courtroom — a venue that has yet to define exactly when a project this large locks in its rights.
The roughly 80-to-20 vote in Trenton amended the city charter to limit new data centers to 25 megawatts, and with ten similar votes passing across Ohio, other communities may soon adopt their own restrictions.
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