Petitions against the proposed data center in Waterford were available to sign outside a polling place at the Washington County Fairgrounds during the May 5 Ohio primary election. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

MARIETTA – Washington County Commissioner Charlie Schilling said the commissioners were invited to Columbus to testify to the 136th General Assembly about the impacts of data centers.

The Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 646 which prompted a data center study commission to review the potential impacts of data centers. HB 646 passed mid-March and the committee has since been working to gather and review information.

Schilling said the commissioners were invited to Columbus to testify in front of the General Assembly on June 8. The original date was May 26 but had since been rescheduled.

“We’ll be in Columbus that day testifying in front of the General Assembly to hopefully gain them a little more understanding of what kinds of impacts this is for local communities and residents here in Washington County,” he said.

According to the Ohio House of Representatives 136th General Assembly, HB 646 was the result of the “rapid growth of data centers in Ohio and the many unanswered questions regarding their development.”

The bill created a Data Center Study Commission with members appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate to report their findings.

Schilling wanted to inform the public that the commissioners had a “productive meeting” on Wednesday with the developers of the proposed Waterford data center.

During the regular commission meeting Thursday, Schilling provided some updates on where they’re at in the process.

He said no agreements or contracts have been made and this meeting was the first once since March 18.

“We’ve set out a couple of dates for future meetings when it comes to negotiating a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes),” he said. “We’ve also laid out some tentative dates for a public meeting in Waterford the community’s been asking for.”

Schilling said he’s hoping to announce those dates next week during the regular weekly meeting which takes place at the office at 9 a.m. Thursday.

“Anyone can do their research and see they’ve been purchasing land there, closures have happened,” said Schilling. “I feel like the project is moving forward but there’s still quite a bit of work to do on our end and we had a good meeting yesterday.”

Schilling responded to a question from an individual of the public asking if the proposed tax revenue from the data center was guaranteed.

“There’s no guarantee as of today because we don’t have a contract from a development perspective,” said Schilling. “What we’re looking at is projected numbers.”

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com