Ohio’s High Court on Sept. 18 blocked a ballot measure that could have imposed new operating restrictions and citizen lawsuits on a planned $4-billion Amazon Web Services data center campus in Wilmington, about 35 miles southeast of Dayton.
The court denied a request by petitioners Quintin Koger Kidd and Susan Croutwater to require the Clinton County Board of Elections to put their proposed ordinance on the Nov. 3 ballot. A separate federal case continues over zoning measures underlying the project.
The proposed ordinance would regulate noise, lighting, air emissions, generator testing, water use and discharge and heat generation. It also would give certain nearby residents a “private right of action” to enforce those requirements against data center owners and operators.
The court found that the citizen-enforcement provision exceeded Wilmington’s authority. “The proposed ordinance at issue here purports to create a new cause of action and therefore is not within the…
