Sunbury City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to pass a resolution that places a moratorium on the establishment of a data center in the city until Jan. 31, 2027.
Amazon Web Services is planning to build a $2 billion data center at Sunbury’s new Business and Technology Park. The industrial park sits on 1,200 acres, located between State Route 37 and Vans Valley Road.
The city, located in Delaware County, is interested in attracting technology-based businesses to the community because “they create high-wage job opportunities for residents, benefit property-tax dependent entities like public schools because they invest heavily in capital assets, and produce relatively low impacts on community services,” according to a Frequently Asked Questions document.
The moratorium gives the city's administration and council time to review federal and state laws and the city's ordinances and zoning codes. Officials also want to study the impact of data centers on public health and safety.
Citizens who attended the council meeting at Big Walnut High School expressed concerns about health, safety, jobs, noise and the environment if the city were to proceed with the planning and construction of the data center.
Joe Fuller, a community member who attended the meeting and said he works in data centers, addressed the council. He said the promise of job growth is a farce.
“Bringing growth and jobs to this community is not something that Amazon is going to do,” Fuller said. “They're not going to hire from your community. They're not even going to consider it. They're going to bring in their own outside people to man these data centers.”
Lee Ann Lander, a community member who attended the Wednesday meeting, said the data center would be within one mile of her neighborhood and that such a massive project must be studied before execution.
“A moratorium is needed because these studies take time,” Lander said. “And yes, it matters who does the study. It matters who interprets the findings as well, and how they are used. I sent [the council] an email about how one community spent $5 million on a mitigation effort that didn't even work. So yes, it is important to have the right people in the right places.”
Some expressed that a moratorium does not go far enough.
Annette McMurry, another community member who attended the meeting, said while a moratorium is a good starting point, the only real win would be halting the development of a data center altogether.
“We have not heard one person speak in favor of a data center,” McMurray said. “Not One. Nobody wants it here. It will do nothing positive for our community. It's not a good thing. Why do we even want to consider this? Why even waste the money to study it? Bottom line, it is not good. It is dirty, it is dangerous, and it is bad with a capital B."
Area resident Francesca Parker said the moratorium is a method to stall development.
"Who defines the scope of this study, and will that scope be made public in writing before the study begins?” Parker asked. “Who are the outside experts, and what are their connections to the development industry? When and how will public forums be held? If the answer to any of those questions is 'we'll figure it out,' then this moratorium is not a protection. It is a management strategy.”
