Washington Township in central Ohio just put a 90-day moratorium on new data centers, following a similar move by nearby Jerome Township.
Local trustees argue data centers are incompatible with residential neighborhoods due to power draw, water use, and noise, signaling rising community resistance to large AI-ready builds.
There are no active data center applications in Washington Township, so this is more about drawing a line early than stopping a specific project.
The township is pressuring neighboring Dublin to adopt a similar pause, which matters because Washington Township provides fire services to Dublin, tying public safety costs to future data center growth.
Trustees are openly considering turning the temporary pause into an indefinite ban once legal reviews wrap up early next year, a direct threat to regional hyperscale and AI cluster plans.
In parallel, Dublin is reworking zoning for its West Innovation District, where adding data centers as an approved use has already triggered organized homeowner pushback.
This piece is worth a read if you track how local land use fights and service burdens are starting to shape where AI data center capacity can and cannot go.
Source: Second central Ohio community to ban data centers for 90 days
