Tempers flare during data center talk at council meeting

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

To say some of Monday’s meeting Van Wert City Council was a little heated for a brief time may be an understatement.

The tension centered around several minutes of talk of a planned data center. A brief shouting match broke at one point. Prior to that, Councilman At-Large Hall Block delivered sharp criticism of how it’s been handled. In addition, Van Wert Law Director John Hatcher told council members and those in attendance that should council fail to pass a rezoning request on May 11, the city could be subject to a sizable lawsuit.

A little loud

Despite social media claims to the contrary, a planned public hearing scheduled for May 4 was not bumped up to Monday night. There was no mention of the data center or related legislation on the agenda. However, more than a dozen people were part of the audience, more than a normal council meeting. During one of two public participation portions of the agenda, some of those in attendance shared their concerns, with the most common one centering around water usage, a topic that has been previously addressed with news that the data center will use a closed loop system. Others questioned noise and emissions and another insisted the proposed $10 billion project should have been put to a community vote. On more than one occasion, multiple people, including some council members, were talking at the same time with raised voices. More than once, Council President Thad Eikenbary had to use his gavel to restore order.

Block speaks

Prior the frenzied conversation, Councilman At-Large Hall Block, who joined council in January, sharply criticized the process of rezoning and annexing the Mega Site, a portion of which will become home to the data center if it comes to fruition. While the latest effort for annexation and rezoning has been termed a minor procedural issue, he said he believes it’s more than that. He started by addressing zoning.

“Conditional zoning is used on a property before it’s annexed – it is conditioned on if and when it’s annexed it would be zoned for such use, and we don’t have any record of this conditional zoning having happened prior to recently,” he stated. “Are these properties already annexed or are they not? The planning commission says that the properties are not annexed however Mr. Koch (local attorney Chuck Koch) who was at the previous meeting says that the properites are annexed and the annexations are valid.”

He added he believes city officials bypassed the public process and he said he hasn’t heard anyone own up to the mistake. He also expressed concern with a pre-annexation agreement that was approved by council members in 2014 and questioned how a previous council could require current council to take action and the ramifications if the current council didn’t follow the pre-annexation agreement.

Despite his criticism of the process, Block noted he’s in favor of the data center.

“I believe if we do our due diligence and have the right protections in place, (including) noise ordinances and environmental protections, that the benefit will outweigh the costs,” he told those in attendance. “However, I think we have done a poor job of presenting it to the community and I think that’s probably part of why we’re running into roadblocks almost at the finish line.”

Lawsuit?

After Block’s comments, Hatcher noted the pre-annexation agreement that was passed in 2014 for the Mega Site binds future councils by contract. He added that council could vote outside of the agreement, but the results could be very costly to the city in court.

“You do that at the risk of being in breach of contract, which also puts you in the risk of being sued (by the developer and others),” Hatcher said. “The pre-annexation agreement was in place for the Mega Site long before a data center was even conceived. Whether this would have been an automobile factory, you’d have that same rule apply about it being passed.”

May 4 public hearing

The proposed data center will be the topic of a public hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 4 at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. Council President Thad Eikenbary said there will be sign up sheets for anyone who wants to speak at the hearing. There will be a sign up sheet for city residents, one for those who live adjacent to the property in question, one for county residents and one for anyone who lives outside the county.

Each speaker will have two minutes to be heard and he urged those planning to speak to be prepared. He also said the hearing will not be a question and answer session but rather a chance for interested parties to share their thoughts with council.

A vote on the rezoning request is expected at the May 11 meeting of Van Wert City Council.

Last night’s council meeting can be watched on the city’s website by clicking here.