Data centers are a big concern for many community leaders and although there has not been a proposal to build one in Brookfield, Sharon is considering a proposal and other communities in Trumbull County are implementing or proposing moratoriums.
“You almost want to hold your breath, let’s not talk about those,” Brookfield Trustee Dan Suttles said of data centers.
However, not talking about them doesn’t accomplish anything if one is proposed for Brookfield.
Matthew Chu, owner of Belly Buster Sub Shop in Brookfield, noted at the May 4 trustee meeting that data centers have driven up electric rates in the communities where they are located. He wants the trustees to be proactive. His first request is that the trustees use the $15,000 they received from AEP Energy under the township’s electric aggregation program to put up solar panels.
“If there’s any means to stop a data center coming in, then using that $15,000 for putting solar panels or some sort of energy generation on the property, I think that would be a very good use of our money,” Chu said.
Although Chu said zoning is “a topic for another day,” he wants Brookfield residents to consider all its options in stopping data centers.
Maybe the threat of data centers makes this a good time to reconsider zoning, said township resident Paula Miller at the June 1 trustee meeting.
Suttles responded that the communities who have zoning are using it to limit the size of data centers and the noise that comes from them. “I don’t believe” zoning is going to “stop” data centers, he said.
While the lack of zoning makes the township “rife for anything to come in here when it wants to,” there are other factors that probably inhibit Brookfield’s desirability to a data center developer, such as the lack of public water and sanitary sewer service in certain areas, Suttles said.
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Melissa Wade will circulate a petition asking Ohio legislators to ban data canters from 3 to 6 p.m. Aug. 8 on the green in Brookfield Center. For more information, call Wade at 330-719-9072.
