Prairie Township residents, and residents of nearby communities, are voicing their opposition to a potential data center coming to the township on land located within the accord-protected Big Darby Creek watershed.
At a June 25 open house meeting hosted by Prairie Township officials, attracted around 100 attendees who piled into a room at the Prairie Township Community Center. They heard from Township Administrator James Jewel and Cassady Critchfield, a Prairie Township zoning assistant, on what efforts the township is taking to regulate data centers within its borders.
The meeting grew contentious at times, with attendees dissatisfied with the township’s draft zoning regulations on data centers occasionally interrupting township officials as they addressed the crowd.
Prairie Township officials started looking into data center regulations after they learned in March that Karis Critical CMH LLC, a real estate developer that specializes in data centers, cold storage and industrial sites, was evaluating 127 acres of land in Prairie and Brown townships for development. Township trustees voted to enact a six-month data center development moratorium on April 15 to give the township time to update its zoning regulations.
Karis CEO Jeff Heuerman said in a March letter to Prairie Township community leaders that the site has “strong characteristics” for a data center or another type of industrial development. The developer bought the land around 535 Cole Road in December 2024 for nearly $2 million.
Karis’ property is located within the Big Darby Watershed, and according to the 2006 Big Darby Accord, the land is not designated for industrial use. The Big Darby Accord is an agreement among nearly a dozen jurisdictions in Franklin County that regulates development to protect the Big Darby Creek and its tributaries.
Central Ohio’s communities are currently renegotiating the Big Darby Accord. Prairie Township has already adopted an amended 2026 draft version of the accord, according to Jewell.
Attendees at the June 25 meeting were able to speak with township officials and leave comments on sticky notes for the township to consider as it works on its data center regulations. The notes written by attendees included recommendations for zoning changes, questions about data center water and power usage, statements of opposition to data centers and more.
Dan Swift, an attendee who stuck multiple sticky notes to the township’s feedback board, said his concerns about increased traffic, noise pollution and decreased property values brought him to the meeting. He said he lives in Brown Township, close to the land Karis is looking to develop.
“I’m very concerned. This is very upsetting,” Swift said. “My wife and I, we bought this house 12 years ago. It’s our dream property. We work every day making it beautiful, and now this. And my wife already wants to sell.”
Township officials will share the attendees’ comments with the township trustees and use them to create a new draft set of data center regulations. The township wants to place a slew of restrictions on any possible data centers, but not so many restrictions that any data center company will go to Columbus to annex Prairie Township’s land instead, Jewell said.
Under Ohio law, property owners in unincorporated townships can apply for their land to be annexed to a nearby municipality without the township’s approval.
“The residents all said they don’t want data centers ever, but if we’re going to have any, let’s make sure at least we can control what’s going to be built in Prairie,” Jewell said.
Dispatch reporter Anna Lynn Winfrey contributed to this report.
Transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Prairie Twp. residents decry potential data center on Big Darby Accord land
Reporting by Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
