05/06/2026
Waterville Township Trustees Move to Replace Weak Data Center Conditional-Use Pathway with Stronger M-3 Zoning Protections
Proposed resolution removes data centers from Agricultural conditional-use review and restores a stronger public zoning process
WATERVILLE TOWNSHIP, OHIO — The Waterville Township Board of Trustees is advancing a proposed zoning resolution designed to strengthen local control, protect residents, preserve the Township’s rural and agricultural character, and ensure that any future large-scale data center or high-impact industrial campus faces a full and transparent zoning process.
The proposed resolution would create a new M-3 Campus Industrial District for large-scale, high-impact industrial development, including projects with major power, water, infrastructure, traffic, lighting, noise, stormwater, and emergency-service demands. The resolution does not rezone any property to M-3 and does not approve any data center or industrial project.
Instead, it creates stronger rules before any future project can be considered.
“This resolution is about protecting Waterville Township residents,” said the Waterville Township Board of Trustees. “It is about making sure high-impact development cannot use a weak or inappropriate zoning pathway to enter Agricultural land without the level of public review, technical scrutiny, and resident involvement these projects require.”
**Why the Conditional-Use Pathway Was Not Good Enough**
In the past year, some communities were encouraged to address data centers by allowing them as a conditional use in Agricultural districts. That approach may have been presented as a safeguard, but the Trustees believe it is not adequate protection for residents.
A conditional-use permit process can make a use eligible within an existing zoning district so long as certain criteria are met. For a project as large and infrastructure-intensive as a data center, that is the wrong framework. It can reduce the issue to a narrower administrative review rather than requiring the broader zoning decision that a project of this scale deserves.
By contrast, applying a new zoning district such as M-3 to a specific property would require a separate zoning map amendment process. Ohio law provides public hearing procedures for township zoning amendments, and adopted township zoning amendments may be subject to referendum if statutory petition requirements are met.
“That difference matters,” the Trustees said. “A conditional-use pathway can make it easier for data centers to move forward. A zoning-map amendment gives the community a stronger process, a clearer public record, and, where Ohio law allows, the possibility of referendum review by the voters.”
**The Township Is Correcting Course**
The proposed resolution would remove the prior conditional-use authorization for data centers and similar facilities in the Agricultural District. Data centers, data processing facilities, and substantially similar high-infrastructure-demand uses would no longer be treated as conditional uses on Agricultural-zoned land.
Instead, they would have to be reviewed, if at all, through the Township’s industrial zoning framework, including the proposed M-3 standards.
“This is not a pro-data-center resolution,” the Trustees said. “It is a protection resolution. It closes the weaker Agricultural conditional-use pathway and replaces it with stronger zoning controls, stronger technical standards, and greater public accountability.”
**Waterville Township Has Led on This Issue**
Waterville Township has taken a proactive approach from the beginning.
The Township was among the early communities to pass a data center moratorium so that officials and residents could study the issue before large-scale projects moved forward. The Trustees then created the Waterville Township Data Center Advisory Committee, made up of residents and concerned citizens, to review the risks and recommend protections.
Those citizen recommendations helped shape the proposed M-3 zoning framework. “Residents asked us to slow down, study the issue, protect our wells, roads, farms, homes, and rural character, and make sure the public has a voice,” the Trustees said. “That is exactly what this resolution is intended to do.”
**What the Proposed M-3 Framework Does**
The proposed M-3 zoning framework would create standards for large-scale, high-impact industrial development, including:
• A three-tier system based on power demand and development intensity;
• Water and well protection, including baseline studies, monitoring, and mitigation responsibility;
• Noise limits, lighting limits, and enforcement provisions;
• Larger setbacks and buffers from homes, farms, and sensitive areas;
• Traffic management, road surveys, and road repair requirements;
• Stormwater, environmental, and basin-safety standards;
• Fire protection, emergency response, and safety planning requirements;
• Financial assurance for abandoned construction, infrastructure damage, decommissioning, and site restoration;
• Continuing compliance monitoring, complaint investigation, corrective action, and enforcement procedures;
• Comprehensive Plan consistency review for any future M-3 zoning or development request.
These standards are designed to be impact-based and technology-neutral. They do not target one company or one parcel. They apply to the scale and impact of a proposed development.
**No Property Is Being Rezoned**
The Trustees emphasized that the proposed resolution is a text amendment only. It creates the M-3 zoning classification and related standards, but it does not apply M-3 zoning to any property.
Any future request to apply M-3 zoning to a specific parcel would require a separate zoning map amendment, public hearings, review under the Township’s Comprehensive Plan, and compliance with Ohio zoning procedures.
“We are not approving any project,” the Trustees said. “We are not rezoning land. We are putting protections in place so that if a major project is ever proposed, the Township and its residents are not stuck with an inadequate process.”
**Protecting Rural Character and Residents’ Rights**
The proposed resolution reflects months of work by Township residents, the Data Center Advisory Committee, the Land Use Committee, and the Board of Trustees. It is intended to align the Zoning Resolution with the Township’s Comprehensive Plan and with residents’ clear desire to preserve Waterville Township’s rural, agricultural character.
“Waterville Township’s rural identity is worth protecting,” the Trustees said. “This Board is acting because residents spoke up. We heard them, and this resolution is designed to give the Township the lawful tools it needs to protect the community.”
**Public Process and Next Steps**
The proposed amendment will proceed through the zoning review process required by Ohio law, including review by the Zoning Commission, public hearings, and consideration by the Board of Trustees.
Residents are encouraged to attend public meetings, review the proposed resolution, ask questions, and provide comments. We will be posting the FULL TEXT of the proposed resolution shortly. This is proposed text -- not final and will take 30 to 60 days to enact through the standard process.
For more information:
Waterville Township Board of Trustees
www.facebook.com/watervilletownship
HomeDan2025-11-16T08:59:36-05:00 Welcome to Waterville Township! Waterville Township is situated in and around the Village of Whitehouse and the City of Waterville. It is generally comprised of agricultural areas, but does contain many homes, subdivisions, and businesses. The township is governed by...
