A plan to further regulate data centers in Shalersville hit a snag Oct. 14 as the Portage County Regional Planning Commission unanimously voted to table a slew of proposed conditional uses meant to make their way to the township trustees.
At issue is a plan by developer Bitdeer Technologies Group and property owner Shalersville Holdings (an arm of Geis Companies) to site a 750-megawatt data center campus on just over 150 acres Geis now owns at its Turnpike Commerce Center, located near Shalersville’s Ohio Turnpike interchange.
Shalersville’s current zoning code identifies a dozen permitted uses and five conditionally permitted uses for land zoned light industrial. One of the conditionally permitted uses is data centers, as long as they comply with specific requirements related to utility usage, exterior lighting and storage regulations, noise and landscaping.
The township, however, imposed a moratorium on data centers in 2024 and wants to expand the conditions developers of data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities must meet if they want to set up shop in Shalersville.
As head of an ad hoc citizens group convened to provide the trustees with guidance and research related to data centers, Shalersville resident Michael Cyphert gave the trustees a 60-point proposal, but Geis’ legal team submitted its own, much shorter list.
That left county Regional Planning Commission Director Todd Peetz to compile a hybrid list of conditional uses that neither side found satisfactory.
Geis attorney Elizabeth Alexander urged the Regional Planning Commission to approve the conditional uses Shalersville Holdings proposed, but said she welcomed the opportunity to discuss the hybrid document.
“We want to get this right,” she said, adding that her client does not want to risk "unnecessary legal battles.”
Cyphert said reducing the 15-page, 60-point document he produced to less than seven “is an incredible threat to the public health, safety and general welfare of the residents of Shalersville.”
He said he welcomes the opportunity to educate Peetz and the Regional Planning Commission about the many technical aspects of the document he submitted and told The Portager he has the connections to call on experts when his own knowledge is lacking.
Also dissatisfied with the document was Portage County Assistant Prosecutor Brett Bencze, who, in an email he wrote to Peetz less than three hours before the meeting began, characterized the Regional Planning Commission director’s work as a “reasonable starting point that needs some revision before adoption.”
Though state law allows townships to regulate land use, some of Peetz’s provisions “raise questions about its authority, and others need to be clearer,” Bencze wrote.
The fallout
Anticipating that the Regional Planning Commission would forward a list of conditional use recommendations, Shalersville’s Zoning Commission postponed its Oct. 8 meeting until Oct. 15. The evening’s agenda included a public hearing regarding the proposed conditional uses, but without the Regional Planning Commission’s input, the zoning commission had nothing to formally recommend to the trustees.
The trustees are set to hold a second public hearing and regular meeting regarding the proposed conditional uses at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 20, also at the town hall. Trustee Ron Kotkowski, who as an Regional Planning Commission board member supported tabling the matter, said the public hearing will still be held, but no vote to enshrine new conditional uses into Shalersville’s zoning code will be taken this month.
Peetz said the trustees can extend the township’s current moratorium on data centers (which expires Nov. 3) as long as they can show that reasonable progress is being made. The Regional Planning Commission will likely place another proposed slate of conditional uses on their Dec. 9 agenda, he said.
After emceeing the evening’s proceedings, County Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett said it is a positive development that both Cyphert and Shalersville Holdings are willing to sit at the same table to hammer out a document they both can accept.
Whatever document emerges from those meetings, and whatever document the trustees ultimately approve, applying for a conditional use permit is no guarantee that one will be granted.
Citing multiple court rulings, Kotkowski last week said, “if a developer fails to prove compliance with even a single local standard, the entire application can be legally denied. Number two, a conditional use is discretionary, not a guarantee.”
Speaking to the Regional Planning Commission board after its proceedings were complete, Shalersville resident Holly Etling urged them to consider the long-term impacts on the community.
“I ask you to approach these proposed amendments with the seriousness and foresight they deserve. Don’t allow the urgency of development to outweigh the responsibility to the people and the environment that you’re entrusted to protect,” she said.
Hiram Township resident Kim Hegedus also urged the Regional Planning Commission to proceed with caution.
“I’m not against technology or cutting edge innovation,” she said. “I’m against those things surging forward without regard for what might be hard or might be lost in the process.”