Many people in Wilmington, Ohio packed City Council chambers on November 25, 2025. City officials were considering a proposed Community Reinvestment Area agreement tied to a planned $4 billion data center project.
The meeting ran from about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and about 40 residents spoke during public comment, according to local reporting by the Wilmington News Journal and WCPO 9 News.
Attendance exceeded the room's capacity before the meeting started. Additional community members were directed to an overflow room downstairs during the meeting. The rezoning for the site had already been approved earlier, and the meeting focused on the proposed CRA agreement.
Residents used the public comment period to raise concerns about the project's size, tax incentives, infrastructure demands, and potential impacts on the community.
For many residents, they first became aware of the project shortly before major votes were scheduled. City officials had entered into non-disclosure agreements on January 30, 2024, and this limited what information could be shared publicly. As a result, many residents said they did not hear about the project until November 19, 2025.
Jessica Sharp helped create the Wilmington Data Center Discussion Forum. The Facebook group includes admins Kimberly Stackhouse, Molly Boatman, and Derek Crowe, and it has grown to over 2,100 members. The group has become a place where residents share public records, meeting information, and news coverage related to the project.
Sharp is a social worker who moved back to Wilmington about four months earlier. She lives right next to the proposed site and said new homes were being built directly adjacent.
"People were not notified that the data center was coming… They are not doing right by the community," Sharp said in an interview with Stay Inspired News.
As residents reviewed public documents, concerns increased. Amazon Data Services would receive a 30-year, 100% property tax exemption on land and buildings, beginning as early as 2028 and potentially extending through 2064, according to a proposed Community Reinvestment Area agreement.
In exchange, the company would make payments equal to 30% of what property taxes would have been, resulting in a 70% effective tax abatement on real property. Policy experts noted that Ohio no longer has a corporate income tax and does not tax most data center equipment. Sales taxes on data center materials are also exempt under state law.
Two nonprofit policy organizations, Good Jobs First and Policy Matters Ohio, released a public letter on December 15, 2025, and stated that the proposed agreement disproportionately favored the company. According to their analysis, data center companies already receive significant tax advantages under Ohio law and paying full property taxes would not affect the company’s decision to locate in the state.
They also stated that most data center costs come from equipment such as servers, microchips, cooling systems, generators, and power infrastructure, which are already exempt from taxation.
During public meetings, Wilmington residents said they experienced rising energy bills during 2025 with residential electricity rates increased by 13.1%. Residents expressed concern that adding a large new energy user could increase costs for households.
Job creation was also discussed during council meetings. According to the agreement, the company estimated that about 100 permanent jobs would be created by 2030. The city would not be able to require the company to create or maintain those jobs.
While a compensation agreement explained how payments in place of property taxes would be shared among the city, school district, and Port Authority, school districts waived certain notice requirements earlier in 2025.
Wilmington's zoning code sets a 55 dBA noise limit at night, a 60 dBA limit during the day, and a 200-foot setback from homes, but the proposed agreement did not include any project-specific requirements. There were no enforceable conditions for air quality monitoring, additional noise mitigation, water use protections, or greater distances from homes, schools, and parks.
Residents pointed to other communities where data centers met basic zoning rules but still caused noise, pollution, and infrastructure problems. Many said the existing standards were not enough for a project of this size.
At the Wilmington City Council meeting on November 25, 2025, speakers during public comment included farmers, homeowners, parents, and young adults. Many said they were not opposed to development but wanted clearer information, stronger protections, and more opportunity for public input before decisions were made.
The only city official who did not vote in favor of the data center on December 4 was Councilmember Jamie Knowles.
His no vote occurred during the first reading of the Community Reinvestment Area ordinance, which city officials described as a procedural step. Knowles said more questions needed to be answered about the data center's "impact on the community."
Sharp has consistently applied pressure to Wilmington city officials, and members of the community have rallied with her. She said that if the data center moves forward, it needs to be mindful of the residents already here and respectful of the land and the community.
"You build what you think is going to be your forever home, and then you find out it's not going to be a farmer's field behind you anymore. When I found out that day, it was devastating. There were a lot of tears shed," Sharp told WCPO 9 News.
After the vote on December 4, 2025, city officials stated that further discussions would continue and additional meetings would be scheduled in early January 2026.
The Wilmington Data Center Discussion Forum Facebook Page continues to share public records, meeting information, and reporting related to the project.
