HUBBARD TOWNSHIP — Trustees on Tuesday voted 2-1 to approve a resolution placing a one-year moratorium on data centers entering the township.

Trustee Monica Baker abstained without giving a reason.

Trustee Jason Tedrow said officials had the township zoning commission put in a request to the county’s planning commission to evaluate a potential resolution or zoning text amendment regarding the facilities.

Tedrow said the planning commission did not recommend banning the facilities outright without reviewing information with the township’s legal counsel to see if it was legal to do so, adding that he spoke to their attorney last week.

“I did get a chance to write up a moratorium, send it over, have him review it and he provided this back — and actually suggested that it would probably be a wise idea for us to pass,” Tedrow said. “This will give us a 12-month window to allow our zoning commission to hopefully engage the public.”

Tedrow said the township also could form an additional committee to seek the pros and cons of data centers in the community during that time, and get feedback from residents on how officials should proceed.

“I’ve seen some other communities like Lordstown — Jerome Township, I did some reading on where they waited and had already received permitting paperwork,” Tedrow said. “Once that permitting paperwork came in, they tried to do a moratorium or a ban and had to back a lot of that off.”

“We’d like to be proactive in doing that and make sure we do the proper updating through our future plan,” he added.

VIENNA

Vienna Trustee Phil Pegg, who said in December that he’s received calls about whether a database company is coming to the township, said Wednesday night that officials are continuing to work on a zoning change to manage any that might enter the township.

Pegg said there are no plans to place a moratorium on the facilities, adding that he’s read complaints about the amount of noise they produce.

“I’ve requested our zoning to place a limit of 85 decibels measured at the property line — no more than 85 decibels,” Pegg said. “Other things are, if the data center uses more than 5 megawatts of power, they must produce anything in excess on site or on an adjacent site.”

“As for water, all water usage and discharge must meet Ohio Environmental Protection Agency regulations,” he said.