Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Gibsonburg mayor Steven Fought at a regular council meeting on March 5 updated residents on what village officials know about any of the latest talk around town and social media about a potential data center involving the village and Woodville Township.
One week earlier, trustees in Woodville Township said that there had been no active data center proposals, and that the township can’t pass a moratorium unless or until there is a framework for zoning or a zoning request in place.
Woodville Township trustees also said that even if they deny a rezoning request that developers could still pry a annexation request approval from a nearby municipality.
Fought, however, said that Gibsonburg council president Don Kirwen and village administrator Marc Glotzbecker, along with himself, have been in on conversations with Woodville Township to make sure they are in this together.
“I heard there was maybe some comments last night (that) I'm super interested in annexing the whole thing and doing that,” Fought said. “I've said it time and time again that that's not the path that we want to go down. It's not the path we're looking at going down. We are committed to, if anything does happen, working side by side with Woodville Township in a JEDD situation to make sure that one everybody is protected, everybody has that voice, and that the citizens of Woodville Township, the village of Gibsonburg, (and) surrounding areas benefits from it, and (it’s) not just us trying to collectively hold all the parts here.”
Fought said the village has retained additional legal counsel out of Cleveland that would assist with anything that’s above their normal needs. He said that was already in place before recent questioning about it.
“Obviously, this thing is different than something we've dealt with in the past, but we have retained legal counsel that is very well versed in everything to do with data centers,” he said.
On Feb. 18, Fought said he and other village officials sat in on a webinar put on by the Ohio Municipal League, which he said provided “a lot of good information.”
Two days after that, Fought hosted an informational meeting at town hall with what he said was a decent-sized group. In attendance were representatives from Woodville Township, legal representation from three landowners involved in what’s going on, and both legal counsels for the village. Also, there was the director of the Sandusky County Economic Development Corporation, Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) officials, and Mike Beasley.
“Are we out gathering information? Are we doing our homework? Are we trying to figure out what's going on? That meeting was exactly that,” Fought said. “We still have the ear to the ground to make sure that we know what status updates are of anything that is potentially forthcoming.”
Fought said the meeting’s purpose was to work together.
“Quite frankly, I got tired of the middleman type stuff of … this group over here is talking to some people and then you hear about some other stuff,” he said. “So, I just put out a blanket request for whoever was available and who could come to show up.
“We had an informational meeting kind of to check on the status of everything, make sure everyone was on the same page of what we're hearing, so we didn't have this playing telephone game back and forth and getting questions that we were potentially hiding things or not being transparent.
“We started to have a small discussion around the zoning aspects of that and what can be done in zoning around protections and what zoning ordinances need to look like for something of this nature, being that it's a new thing, obviously.”
He said that nothing groundbreaking or imminent came out of that meeting. Local officials were also invited by Regional Growth Partnership officials to attend a bus tour in New Albany, which is a hotbed for data centers.
While he and Glotzbecker already had a previous meeting booked, and they were unable to attend, he said that he hasn’t received any updates or information pertaining to that meeting after the fact.
They did, however, receive a set of ordinances from the RGP and New Albany officials on what the zoning there looks like and what some of those agreements might look like.
“Like I said before, we're continuing to gather as much information as we possibly can, so we have a full slate that's out there,” Fought said.
Fought has also started a dialogue with Mike Barhorst, who is the mayor of Sidney, Ohio, which is northwest of Columbus.
“We traded some emails back and forth requesting information from the mayor of Sidney as I believe it was August or October — sometime in the fall,” he said. “They started working on a very large Amazon AWS data center.
“Barhorst has been very open in sharing some information. He gave us their zoning information, as well as their CRA (Community Reinvestment Area) agreements and stuff like that. We've been asking those questions to other cities and stuff that have these things to make sure that we're not missing anything.
“We want to know what these agreements look like, so that if something does come at some point, we've got an idea of what things are typically getting looked at, and that’s in addition to all the rest of the stuff that we've been doing.”
Fought said what they’ve been working on would be the same even if the village had a data center moratorium.
“Our stance on the moratorium hasn't changed, but that doesn't mean that none of the things that are happening are the same things that would be happening if there was a moratorium,” he said. “So the moratorium gets put in place, you're supposed to do all the research, work on the zoning, that's the purpose of it. We're doing everything that we would be doing if we had put a moratorium in.”
Fought also said that he is still against a moratorium.
“I still feel confident that we don't need one, and my stance is the same,” he said. “I've talked to council about it. If we felt that we needed to put one in because something came up that caught us off guard, we definitely could do so, but we're still holding pat on where we are with that. I feel good about the data set that we've been able to collect so far and the information that we have and the stuff that's going on.
“We’re going to continue to gather all that information, both positive and negative, take it all in, figure out the best course forward. I will say we're moving into the next phase of this, right? And it's the same stuff we would be doing if there was a pause on everything. And that's around the zoning for the data center topic.”
Zoning knowledge and background is a critical piece for village officials when it comes to the current data center research.
“Zoning is a huge critical piece of making sure that we protect the community, making sure that we put in zoning requirements that are both restrictive but not prohibitive to everything,” Fought said. “So if this does come, then you're protected from a legal side. But that zoning piece is the piece where that really gives us the opportunity to kind of build the walls around the opportunity to protect as well as we can the whole situation.
“I've started looking at zoning packets already, the ones that we've gotten from the other cities, as well as our independent research, and started drafting what some of those restrictions look like around all those areas of concern — around the noise, the lights, the water use, the power use, all of those things. I feel that we've got a pretty good start on a pretty good restrictive set of what those look like and what I want to offer up. We've been engaging in talks with Woodville Township about this.”
Fought said he wants to be open about zoning, and he’s open to having a small focus group with residents who are directly impacted by this potential project as they craft some of those zoning pieces.
“If it's a constructive group, and we're all having a constructive conversation around it, I'm open to bringing in a small group of those folks that you guys are directly impacted by it,” he said.
The one caveat to that — and Fought said there wasn’t anyone present at the council meeting that he was referring to — but he said the conversations need to be cordial. He has seen some of the stuff on a local Facebook page about that data center potential.
“I do follow that page and I know people know that I follow that page and see it and read all the comments,” he said. “I have taken a little step back on actively engaging in some dialogue on there, because I'll be honest, it's gotten a little chippy, and it's gotten a little ridiculous and out of control to be quite honest with you.
“I'm perfectly okay having the conversation, but I'm not (in favor of) the activist mindset of being the loudest person in the room, and stomp your feet, and throw a fit, and call me a jackass, and a pile of crap, and all those things. I get it. It's a heated topic, right? But I am very open to having these conversations and this dialogue, and I'll bring in people to do it.
“If it gets to that point where it's just like that, we can close off the walls, and we can you know just go straight by the book, and just the public hearings all that stuff. I don't want to be that way and be that guy. But at the same time, I'm not going to cower to this kind of activist footprint of stomp your feet, try to be the loudest person.
“It's a hot topic. I get it. There's a lot of emotion involved in it, but when it comes down to it, the only people that I'm actively interested in making sure that are protected in this are the folks that are directly impacted by it.”
Fought pointed out that the Gerwin family, who is as close as one can be to this, has been the most respectful in this whole thing.
“You guys have been completely good and open, and I appreciate that, so I want you guys to know that,” he said. “That goes a long way with this group of being completely open and transparent to wanting to be as open as possible.”
Ultimately, Fought reiterated that nothing is imminent.
“I have gotten reassurances that there is nothing being proposed,” he said. “There's nothing on the immediate horizon that I'm aware of. If that changes, I will gladly let everybody know. I know it's a frustrating point that some people want information all the time.
“There's (other) things happening every day. We have a bunch of other stuff going on. You can see … the downtown project. This is not the only thing the village of Gibsonburg works on. I'm sure it's not the only thing the Woodville Township works on. There's lots of different things that are going on. Everybody in this room's got another job.
“We do have our ear to the ground. We are doing our homework, but this thing does not move fast. The government moves slow. Just point blank, it moves slow. I'm likely not going to have an update every meeting because it's likely we go meeting to meeting without having conversations with anybody about this whole thing, but when I do know something or when we do have something that's tangible to share, I will absolutely continue to do so to the best of my ability to do that.”
Resident follow-up
In related conversation, the meeting later saw the resident portion, where someone asked if any of the New Albany plants were off-grid. Fought said he wasn’t sure.
“I will say the off-grid stuff has been relatively new,” he said. “Until just recently, it was pull the power from the grid, put the strain on the grid. I think now, with all of the rates going up and the demand taking away all the supply and everything, and all the pushback everywhere, it has really spurred the want to do the behind-the-meter power plant to go along with it, and even some of the other initiatives and everything that are out there now to say that they need to supply their own power and stuff like that. But I don't believe there's any power plants down there that are directly tied in like that.”
The resident then requested if Fought could put in a request to see more info on that because that “for many of us, is as much of a concern as the data center itself.”
Another question was asked whether the information being gathered on zoning preparation was for Gibsonburg or Woodville Township.
“We're having conversations on that together,” Fought said.
“So you're having it together, but are those zoning things you're coming up with and developing and working with really relative to Woodville Township or to yourself?” the resident followed up.
“They're both,” Fought said.
“Both? Because the zoning issues would really deal only with Woodville Township,” the resident said.
“We'd have the same situation,” Fought said. “What is being discussed is the creation of an advanced technology overlay district that is very specific to this industry to put the boundaries around this industry. What our thought, or what we are having the initial conversations about, is a district package that we would have here would be the same exact language in the district package that Woodville Township would have on those properties that are there.
“And then, when (once or if) the JEDD came together, that district would overlay that entire thing. So, there will be one set of zoning regulations in this whole thing. It won't be 200 acres over here that's in the village, has a different set of zoning stuff, and the other two parcels be completely different up there. Anything that we would end up having to do would be in lockstep at that point, completely together.”
Downtown project update
The mayor said village officials had started meeting with business owners the week of the council meeting, where they are beginning to lay out what the downtown project is going to look like, getting feedback, and that they’re going to continue those talks over the next few weeks.
“It's pretty exciting,” Fought said. “Everything looks good. I know you guys have seen what that looks like. It's going to be a pretty huge transformative project for the village.”
Omni Fiber/Frontier update
Glotzbecker said that Omni Fiber provided its right-of-way permit application and a set of plans for review on March 5. It has created frustration.
“When I spoke with them last week, when they contacted us about their plans, I was very specific in that the large majority of the project work that they want to do mirrors what Frontier is already doing now,” he said. “One of our main jobs is to protect the residents, so in my mind, I can't wrap my mind around the fact that Frontier is doing their project, which involves some underground boring in the neighborhoods by the schools. A majority of it is aerial on the poles.
“When they're finished, Omni Fiber wants to come in and do basically the same thing — bore in the same spots that Frontier just bored in, aerial on the poles. What I conveyed to Omni Fiber this afternoon, and I don't think they were very happy with me … if for some reason they're listening, I mean, it is what it is. I mean, my job is to protect the community. I expressed that the village was going to get a legal opinion on having to sign the right-of-way permit application to allow them to work inside because it just makes no sense to inconvenience our residents twice. It's the same project.
Glotzbecker said it is still baffling that Omni Fiber wants to move ahead on this despite having no end users yet.
“They're going to come in and do this work and make their investment, make the mess whatnot, but then they have to sell their product to the residents that they're likely going to very much agitate with the mess that they're going to make,” he said. “I know there are some residents that aren’t happy at all with Frontier and Verizon for the mess that they're making. Columbia Gas certainly doesn't appreciate them hitting the service line. So, there's got to be some common ground found.”
Frontier, meanwhile, continues their project inside the corporation limits, and Glotzbecker has daily conversations with them.
“Is it great? It's okay. It's not great. It's not bad. It's kind of right in the middle,” he said. “But that's where that project is going as well.”
During the resident portion, someone asked why Omni Fiber doesn’t have end users yet.
“That's a unique question to answer,” Glotzbecker said. “A lot of the fiber install that you see going on everywhere is federally funded, so the goal is to get the fiber in, and then they'll come back sell it to a resident. They've done Bellevue, Clyde, Fremont, and a number of other communities where they actually do the install and then you'll have door-to-door salesmen coming around.”
The resident said that he noticed they were coming around with door hangers around a year ago looking for customers.
“You understand our concerns,” Glotzbecker said, “whereas Frontier is already in town, been in town. I'm not saying their project is the greatest and the neatest and the least messy of it all. But Frontier is probably better for them because they own the poles, so they can just go aerial to their poles.”
Fought, meanwhile, said the village originally requested a detailed plan from Omni Fiber during the first two months of 2025. Omni Fiber said they wanted to be done by March or April, and they just now submitted an actual plan almost a year later.
Pharmacy on track
Glotzbecker said the memorandum of understanding was signed on March 5 between all parties involved with the Vibrant Community Grant and the Gibsonburg pharmacy project.
“That was set to go out this afternoon,” he said. “We're waiting for any feedback, anything else we need to do. Hopefully we'll be able to make an announcement very soon and at some point later this summer we'll have a ribbon cutting for a new business in our downtown area.”
