Demanding Lordstown follow its own zoning regulations, the developer of a proposed artificial intelligence data center filed a petition Wednesday with the Ohio Supreme Court.

Village Solicitor Matthew Ries responded that Lordstown is following protocol and willing to talk about the project. He also noted that a number of problems exist with the plan.

Attorneys representing Bristolville 25 Developer LLC of Columbus and BHGH Properties LLC of Warren asked the court to issue a peremptory writ of mandamus against the village. Also named as defendants are Kellie Bordner, Lordstown planning and zoning administrator, and Ries.

If the court supports Bristolville’s petition, Lordstown would be compelled to conduct a site plan review process for a $3.6 billion, 1.65 million square-foot campus. It would be located south of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank Group Corp.’s Stargate campus on the site of the former GM complex.

After addressing a data center ban in two previous regular sessions, Lordstown Village Council passed the measure Nov. 3. It will not go into effect until Dec. 3.

Bristolville said it sent representatives to Lordstown to deliver its site plan Oct. 20 despite the village’s planning and zoning office being closed that day and Oct. 21. It also forwarded the plans through email.

Bristolville’s attorney said it is waiting for the village to move ahead, but Bordner has prevented that from occurring. Despite the ban, the paperwork was turned in when data centers were legal under village zoning codes.

“Data centers are permitted currently,” said attorney Cary M. Snyder, representing Bristolville. “They were permitted on Oct. 20 when Bristolville submitted its site plan review materials. They were permitted Nov. 12 when we received Mr. Ries’ letter.”

Snyder said Bristolville and BHGH Properties, which owns the land where the center is planned, filed suit after receiving Ries’ correspondence Wednesday.

“Contrary to the allegations in your letter, the Planning & Zoning Office is not refusing to proceed

with site plan review,” Ries wrote. “Ms. Bordner has been working in conjunction with my office and the Village Engineer to review your client’s submission per our Local Ordinances.

“Based on our initial review, there are numerous issues with the conceptual plan that are

preventing our Engineer from preparing a work authorization, including the lack of stormwater

management plans / reports and utility information, and there was no Preliminary Planning Evaluation Form submitted by your client.”

Bristolville failed to address the wetlands on the property or that one of the proposed buildings is on a village waterline, Ries wrote.

“The plans just don’t make a lot of sense,” Ries said Thursday. “They appear to have been kind of thrown together. And so we reached back out to them and said, ‘We need more additional information before our engineer can dive much deeper into this.'”

The solicitor said Bordner did her job properly.

“She took the documents that were submitted to her, forwarded it to the village engineer for review. He responded, and that’s what the initial initial step in site plan review is,” he said. “And then I reached back out to their attorney and let them know what our initial concerns were, and asked if they wanted to meet, and they never responded.

“They just filed a lawsuit.”

Snyder said the action was taken because Lordstown is committed to following the data center ban and not observing current law.

“It’s encouraging that after several weeks of silence the village is now finally wanting to meet and confer on our submission,” Snyder said “However, the legal issue of our materials being considered and looked at under existing law, is really what this lawsuit is ultimately about.”