PIQUA — People in a Miami Valley community are protesting against a data center development on Tuesday.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, about three dozen people gathered outside Piqua’s city hall to protest the data center plans.
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Now, both groups are in Piqua’s City Commission Chambers for a regular meeting.
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News Center 7’s John Bedell has been covering data center developments in the Miami Valley for months.
Just last week, Governor Mike DeWine announced he’s told the Ohio Tax Credit Authority to hit pause on considering any new data center tax exemption requests.
The governor’s office said his action is not a data center ban; it only suspends the ability for data centers to request tax exemptions in Ohio.
>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Ohio halts data center tax breaks, review underway
DeWine said this pause will happen as the state legislature joint data center committee studies the growth of data centers in the Buckeye State.
In the Miami Valley, Amazon is building a data center here in Sidney and has a proposal in the works for another in Wilmington.
In March, the Urbana City Council pushed pause on a data center project.
There’s also a data center planned for Piqua.
As previously reported, News Center 7 doesn’t know the company behind this project yet because of a non-disclosure agreement that the I-Team found out about.
Piqua’s city commission has already approved the data center in its community.
Alisha Lange is with a community group that News Center 7’s John Bedell has been talking to for months.
She was one of the people protesting on Tuesday.
“We are coming together to express our disgust with the decisions that the community is undergoing because of the things our commission has done,” Lange said. “We feel that we’ve been ignored, that our city government has moved forward with a project that we do not approve of, that we don’t want for our community.”
Lange said her citizens’ group has hired a lawyer and plans to sue to stop the data center project.
The City of Piqua provided the following statement regarding the planned demonstration:
“The City is aware of the planned demonstration outside the Municipal Government Complex. We respect and support the right for residents to peacefully assemble and express their views. Our priority is the safety of participants, employees and the public. Piqua Police Department encourages everyone involved to follow local laws and remain respectful so the event can proceed safely.”
For more information on the data center project in Piqua, visit the city’s newly released webpage.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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