Findlay begins shaping rules for data centers

FINDLAY — City Council's Planning & Zoning Committee voted Thursday to send the data center zoning issue back to the administration, asking for draft zoning code language and additional research on pollution and water usage to be presented at the committee's July meeting. Mayor Christina Muryn briefed the committee on how data centers operate, what types exist, and what the city can legally regulate as it drafts zoning rules. She said the city cannot ban the use outright because zoning law requires municipalities to define where a use is permitted rather than exclude it entirely. Much of the technical material reviewed on Thursday came from the Regional Growth Partnership, which has been conducting private, invitation-only data center briefings for local public officials this spring. Muryn said several slides and impact sheets in her presentation were produced for RGP. Regional Growth Partnership, a Toledo-based private economic development group serving a 17-county region in northwest Ohio, works with JobsOhio and local governments to attract investment, manage site searches and guide companies through early-stage project development, often before projects become public. RGP helped land Meta's $800 million data center in Wood County. The seminars explained how data centers operate, what communities can expect during site selection and how local governments can prepare for questions about property rights, moratoriums and long-term land use. Muryn said the group has offered to take Findlay officials on a tour of an Ohio data center. Findlay administrators are preparing zoning language that would place data centers in the city's proposed I-3 industrial district, which does not yet exist. Any project would begin with a rezoning request. Muryn said the city can regulate setbacks, buffering, noise, lighting, site-plan design, water limits and decommissioning requirements through a conditional use review. She also outlined what the city cannot regulate, including private utility rates, utility service agreements and emissions standards beyond state and federal requirements. Muryn said modern data centers use far less water than earlier generations because of closed-loop cooling systems. She told the committee that Findlay's water plant can produce 16 million gallons per day and currently uses about 6 million, leaving significant capacity. On electricity, Muryn said Ohio's tariff rules require large users to pay for the cost of new utility infrastructure up front before connecting to the grid. The administration also plans to require on-site energy generation to be reviewed as part of the same site plan. She said data centers generate far less daily traffic than manufacturing and typically produce 45 to 55 decibels of noise at the property line, quieter than heavy industry. Muryn also reviewed economic impacts, noting that smaller data centers in Ohio have generated about $6 million in annual property-tax revenue, including $4 million for schools, while hyperscale facilities have produced closer to $20 million. She recommended no tax abatement, saying companies in this sector are well-capitalized. Committee members asked for more information on emissions, ground contamination and enforcement. The administration will refine two versions of the zoning code — one highly restrictive and one broader — and bring them to the July Planning and Zoning Committee meeting for review. A recommendation from the committee would move to the Findlay Planning Commission, and then go to council for three readings and a public hearing. In April, Findlay City Council rushed through a 12-month moratorium on new data centers. The pause blocks any new data centers or conversions of existing buildings while the city reviews zoning rules and other regulations tied to the fast-growing industry. The moratorium followed weeks of debate over how data centers fit into Findlay's zoning code and whether the city is prepared for the industry's power demands, water use and long-term land-use impacts. Data centers are not defined anywhere in Findlay's zoning code, and city officials say that means the use is not permitted under the current code — a procedural gap, not a legally defensible long-term ban. Under Ohio law, the city cannot permanently exclude an entire category of lawful development. The pause gives Findlay time to study infrastructure demands, jurisdictional questions and data center technology. Data centers are meeting public opposition in Findlay, including concerns about electric-grid capacity, water use, hardware shortages, long-term economic risk and the influence of corporate partnerships on local control. City officials have not identified any specific proposals for data centers. Still, the discussion comes as communities across the region have begun examining their zoning codes and questioning whether utility systems can support large-scale computing facilities. Locally, officials have acknowledged that data center construction would most likely take place outside city limits.