Christina Colegate addresses council regarding the plans for the ‘mega-site’ in Mt. Orab during the Jan. 27 Village of Mt. Orab special council meeting held at Mt. Orab Middle School. Photo by Wade Linville
Hundreds of residents of Mt. Orab and the surrounding area have made it clear that they do not want a data center coming to the more than 1,000-acre “mega-site” that was sold to DB STU LLC by the Southwest Ohio Regional Development Authority (formerly the Mt. Orab Port Authority) more than a year ago.
A special meeting was held by the Village of Mt. Orab Council on Jan. 27 at the Mt. Orab Middle School with approximately 275 in attendance, giving members of the public a chance to take the podium and address council regarding the plans for the mega-site in Mt. Orab. But due to non-disclosure agreements signed by the parties involved, Mt. Orab residents and concerned citizens of Brown County have received no definite answers as to what the plans are for the mega-site in Mt. Orab. Representing Mt. Orab Village Council during the Jan. 27 special meeting were attorney Brodi Conover of Bricker, Graydon Wyatt LLP and Nathan Cahall (economic development).
Conover explained to those in attendance how non-disclosure agreements work and that they are quite common before allowing members of the public to speak.
There were more than 20 members of the public who signed the list to take the podium and address council during the Jan. 27 meeting.
“We’re not here to stop progress, we’re here to make sure that progress does not come at the expense of our health, our water, our air, and our wallets,” Christina Colegate said while addressing Mt. Orab Village Council during the Jan. 27 special meeting.
“Tonight we’re asking clearly and respectfully for truth, transparency, and accountability,” Colegate added.
“The secrecy, the lack of transparency, the degradation that a data center is going to have on our property values is ridiculous,” said Mt. Orab resident Sandy Riley-Eversole while speaking publicly during the Jan. 27 meeting.
Despite the many requests by members of the public for transparency as to what type of industry is coming to the mega-site in Mt. Orab, little was said by members of Mt. Orab Village Council or Mt. Orab Mayor Joe Howser during the Jan. 27 special meeting. Many of them left with little or no more knowledge of what’s coming to Mt. Orab than what they had prior to the special meeting, and they are still searching for answers.
“We don’t want to hurt the people here. I’ve lived here all my life,” Howser said to the those in attendance to the Jan. 27 meeting.
Prior to the Jan. 27 special meeting, News Democrat, Ripley Bee and Brown County Press editor Wade Linville reached out to an inside source that wished to remain unnamed. Due to the non-disclosure agreements signed by those involved, detailed information has not been provided in relation to the plans for the mega-site. But the inside source did say that it is a good possibility that the plans for the mega-site include a data center.
During a search for DB STU LLC that now owns the mega-site in Mt. Orab, Linville found DB STU LLC in Delaware on the State Of Delaware Department of State: Division of Corporations (https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/ecorp/entitysearch/NameSearch.aspx). When finding DB STU LLC has Corporation Service Company listed under registered agent information, Linville contacted Corporation Service Company, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware to see if he could gather any information on DB STU LLC.
Linville spoke to three representatives of Corporation Service Company, who would give up no information on DB STU LLC nor would they acknowledge any involvement with DB STU LLC. One representative did tell Linville that Corporation Service Company provided various services for thousands of companies. When researching CSC, Linville found that corporate, legal, and tax services are among the services they provide. Could it be possible that DB STU LLC was used only as a purchaser and holder of the mega-site to protect the identity of a larger investor that will benefit from the development of the mega-site?
The News Democrat, Ripley Bee, and Brown County Press has not yet obtained solid evidence that it is a data center planned for Mt. Orab, but from what information has been gathered so far it certainly looks as if a data center is in the works.
Residents of Mt. Orab and the surrounding area have worries of the impact a data center could have on the community, such as environmental degradation, increased energy demands, high water usage, decreased property values, and pollution. Much of the now industrial zoned “mega-site” in Mt. Orab was used for agricultural purposes in the past, and the mega-site, according to some Mt. Orab residents, is in nearby proximity of some Western Brown Local School District buildings.
Looking at the current situation in some communities nearby such as Wilmington, OH where Amazon Web Services is proposing a 470-acre facility on the south side of the city near U.S. 68, Mt. Orab residents aren’t the only ones pushing to keep a data center out of their community. Many residents of Wilmington, OH are speaking out against the Amazon data center that could go in their community, just as they are in Mt. Orab, with public meetings being held recently.
Many Mt. Orab residents are worried that it may be too late to stop it, if it is in fact a large data center planned for the mega-site. Newly proposed legislation and reaching out to Ohio’s higher ranking public officials could be the key.
According to information provided by the Farm Office of the Ohio State University Extension, a new bill proposes a Data Center Study Commission for Ohio. According to the story (blog), “Bill proposes a Data Center Study Commission for Ohio” by Peggy Kirk Hall (attorney and director, Agricultural & Resource Law Program) from Jan. 15, newly proposed legislation indicates that lawmakers are hearing the same concerns about data centers in Ohio communities. House Bill 646, introduced on Jan. 15 in the House of Representatives by Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Rep. Kellie Deeter (R-Norwalk), would establish a Data Center Study Commission to examine data center development in Ohio.
Its sponsors declare the bill to be an emergency measure that would go into immediate effect upon passage in the Ohio legislature, according to Hall’s blog. The bill is “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety,” said the sponsors of the bill, who provided several reasons for the emergency declaration, according to Hall’s blog.
One Mt. Orab council member, Eric Lang, has rescinded the non-disclosure agreement he signed relating to the plans for the “mega-site.”
Lang said he did sign a non-disclosure agreement when taking over his council seat this year, but has since rescinded on his non-disclosure agreement.
“I rescinded my non-disclosure agreement, I don’t know if anybody else intends to; but now that I’ve done that, there’s a bunch of gray areas. So, I don’t know if I’ll get a briefing on what’s going on or not,” Lang said during a council meeting held Jan. 20.
With the real estate transactions taking place more than a year ago, is it too late for concerned Mt. Orab residents to put a halt on the plans for developing the mega-site? A petition in the community has gathered more than 950 signatures and counting. According to residents who live near the mega-site, the owner of the mega-site looks to have already begun work tearing down structures and clearing the way for what’s expected to come.
“You can do the right thing,” Anthony Casbar said to Mt. Orab Village Council members while speaking publicly during the Jan. 27 special meeting.
The Village of Mt. Orab held a regular council meeting on Feb. 3.
For the full story on the Feb. 3 meeting, be on the lookout for the Feb. 12 News Democrat and Ripley Bee weekly newspapers.