Voters in Oregon, the Toledo suburb in Lucas County, have capped data centers at 25 megawatts, approving Issue 25 with 60 percent of the vote in the November 3 general election, 13abc/WTVG reported. The charter amendment now limits how large a data center can be built in the city.
The measure reached the ballot after signature gathering by United Neighbors of Oregon, a resident group that organized over a proposed Vantage Data Centers project near Wynn and Corduroy roads, according to 13abc/WTVG’s reporting, which Data Center Feed summarized in its statewide roundup of the November data center votes.
Oregon was not alone. Defiance voters approved a similar charter amendment prohibiting data centers over 25 megawatts, 13abc reported, and Defiance also has a data center moratorium that took effect in September and is set to last six months. Communities in other parts of Ohio, including Trenton, Piqua and Grove City, passed their own limits the same night.
The results are unofficial, as reported from county boards of elections returns. What the Oregon amendment means for the proposed Vantage project near Wynn and Corduroy roads has not yet been spelled out — the statewide reporting does not say what happens to that proposal now that the cap has passed.
For Oregon residents, the vote settles the size question even if it leaves the project question open. Any data center proposed in the city must now fit under the 25-megawatt ceiling voters wrote into the charter, rather than being decided project by project at city hall.
What happens next is certification of the November 3 results and the city’s first decisions under the new cap. Whether Vantage revises, relocates or abandons its Oregon proposal is the decision residents who gathered those signatures will be watching first.