Trenton withdrew its petition to annex 601 acres in Madison and St. Clair townships for a proposed Amazon Web Services data center campus estimated at $690 million.

City Attorney Nick Ziepfel sent a letter Monday, Sept. 14, to Butler County administrator Judi Boyko pulling the petition, WVXU reported. The withdrawal came one day before the Board of Butler County Commissioners was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the annexation.

The commissioners unanimously accepted the withdrawal during a special meeting Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Ziepfel's letter reserved Trenton's right to refile. The petitioners, which include Trenton, Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky, Watson Gravel Inc. and landowners Daniel and Kyle Rapier, asked commissioners to reschedule the hearing for a regular meeting on or after Nov. 10, according to WCPO.

No specific new hearing date has been set.

November ballot measure

Trenton voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to ban data centers exceeding 25 megawatts within city limits. The City Council certified that charter amendment on an emergency basis Sept. 4, after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Sept. 1 that the measure could proceed, WLWT reported.

Trenton and the property owners have not said the November election prompted the withdrawal, according to WCPO. WCPO reported that neither Trenton nor St. Clair Township responded to requests for additional information. WVXU reported that Amazon Web Services did not return a request for comment on whether it plans to continue pursuing the site.

Resident doubts withdrawal

Barry Blankenship, who has opposed the project, told WCPO he remains unconvinced.

"I won't say the city of Trenton is listening to us until they put it on paper, put it in a meeting so everybody can see and say we will not annex, we will not build a data center," Blankenship said.

Madison Township Trustee Jeff Willoughby told WCPO the township was never contacted directly when Trenton began the annexation process. He told WVXU that Madison Township relies on Butler County for zoning because the township has never had a large-scale development requiring its own zoning authority.

Commissioner Don Dixon said during the Sept. 15 meeting that the hearing format needs to be open and informative so everyone can get the information they need to make a decision.

Moratoriums and local zoning

Butler County enacted a six-month moratorium on data centers for Madison and five other townships in June. That moratorium expires in December. St. Clair Township separately imposed a 12-month moratorium in May.

Boyko told WVXU that the three county commissioners have not discussed the data center matter together, publicly or privately.

In Liberty Township, the Zoning Commission advanced a proposal in June that would require data center projects to go through the planned unit development (PUD) process, giving trustees case-by-case approval power. Liberty Township Trustee President Todd Minniear said in July that the township wants business growth but "it has to be the right kind of business for our citizens."

The final vote by Liberty Township trustees on that zoning change has not been confirmed.

Statewide context

Gov. Mike DeWine announced a pause on new data center tax exemptions in May. Ohio already has more than 200 operational data centers, with about 80 more proposed or planned, according to the Ohio Consumers' Council as reported by WCPO.

The proposed 18-building Amazon campus would sit on land split between Madison and St. Clair townships. Both townships formally objected to the annexation, which triggered the public hearing requirement. The $690 million project estimate comes from a notification St. Clair Township Trustee Dustin Gadd sent to Edgewood City Schools, as WCPO reported in August.

The next step depends on whether Trenton refiles and whether voters approve the data center ban Nov. 3.