Toledo City Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Yeah, we agree with the recommendation and concur with the conditions.

Anybody else with tenants would like to speak on this case?

Josh Hollinger, 7617 Angola Road. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do. I do. Springfield Township staff agrees with the Lucas County Planning Commission staff recommendation. And we would like to add two more conditions, which would be demoing of the commercial property before development starts and combining the two lots.

We can add those as part of the referral letter to the township.

Okay.

Say, is that a friendly amendment with the applicant?

Greg, are you okay with that?

Yeah, we're okay with that.

All right, Mr. Chairman, I'll move to approve case Z19-C706. Second.

Motion second to approve the amended approval of Z19-C706. Next case please.

Item number two is Z20C1094, zone change from RA to M1 located at 8228 Silica Road. Staff recommends approval for the following reasons. The proposed zone change is compatible with surrounding land uses and the proposed zone change will not create an unreasonable adverse impact. It will match existing industrial businesses to the north, east, and south, or west.

Mr. Feller, you're still under oath?

Yep. Yeah, we concur. The property's surrounded by M1, so it's just kind of a pocket zoning. So we're just trying to rezone it to be consistent with all the neighboring properties.

Is there anybody else in attendance that would like to speak on this case? No, sir. No.

Okay.

Just waving.

Mr. Chairman, I'll move to approve. Case Z20-C1094.

Second. Motion to second to approve staff recommendation Z20-C1094. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries unanimously. Next case.

And for the record, Commissioner Grossweiler has arrived. Case number three is Z20C1095, conditional use for a new recreational building located at 3450 Centennial Road. Staff recommends approval for the following two reasons. The conditional use permit will be compatible with uses within the general vicinity of the site, and the future site will not impact essential public facilities and services.

Mr. Feller.

Again, we agree with the staff recommendation, ask for approval. It's going to be a, he's going to build a building. Part of it's going to be for his own personal use for pickleball, workout facility, whatnot. And then the other portion of the building will be rented out to users that are consistent with M1. So it'll be consistent with the area and fit in with the M1 zoning.

So moved.

Anybody else like to speak on this case? Second. Do we have a motion to be seconded? Motion is second to approve case Z20-C1096. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Okay.

Case everybody's here for.

Was that 9-5 or 9-6? 9-6.

I think we need item number 4.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Yeah, we should have voted on 95, 96, I believe.

Case number four is Z20C1096, zone change from R5 PUD to R5, located at 7260, 7270, 7300, 7316, and 7334 Crossley Court. Staff recommends approval for the following two reasons. The proposed zone change is compatible with surrounding land uses, and the proposal will not create an adverse impact on existing land uses.

Okay, representative of the applicant?

Yeah, Kevin Dislourst, 700 North Larrabee, Chicago, Illinois.

Okay, raise your hand. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do. I do. Thank you.

The staff has recommended approval with some conditions.

No questions or comments, just wanted to introduce ourselves and say we appreciate your guys' support here and that we plan to be back relatively soon with an upcoming conditional use for the same proposed development as well. So appreciate the time, happy to answer any questions.

Is anybody here from Sylvania Township? Any comments? Anybody else like to speak on this case?

Mr. Chairman, I'll move approval of case Z20-C1096. Second. Motion second to approve case Z20-1096.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries unanimously.

Case number five is Z22C141, text amendment for adding M3 industrial institutional district with additional amendments to Waterville Township zoning resolution. Staff makes no recommendation. For the following reasons, staff requested the prosecuting attorney, deputy chief civil division to review the document prior to the plan commission, review the prosecuting attorney denoted significant concerns throughout the document.

Mr. Burrell, can you come forward and give us your comment?

is quite frankly like nothing I've ever seen before. It is difficult to reconcile some of his provisions with township zoning under 519.02. I'm not saying that all his provisions are definitely not enforceable. It's hard to judge because I frankly have not seen anything like this before. It's almost like they're doing a zoning change combined with a conditional use. I'd be a lot more confident legally if this was a conditional use rather than a zoning change provision. But that's not my understanding because that's not what they want to do. So, again, I'm not saying that this is definitely not enforceable. But I'm saying that large portions of it are questionable because I've not found anything like this before. I spent a couple of weeks looking at this, researching it. It's brand new. And, of course, this is a data center, so it's a whole new area, a whole new ballgame. And they've tried hard to do something that they think is enforceable, but it does raise serious legal questions, at least in my mind.

Questions for Mr. Burrell?

Mr. Brown, I'm sorry, you said that you do not believe it's enforceable?

I said that there are large sections that I believe are questionable. I can't say for certain because I've never seen anything like this before, and I really cannot find a comparable resolution with these type of restrictions in Ohio. So I think it's questionable. It's very questionable whether portions of it are enforceable. And again, it's a brand new area. People are, you know, data centers are relatively new to this area. This township is trying to put something in place to control not only data centers but large developments. A development like this in Waterville Township would really change the characteristics of that township. So I give them credit for trying to do something. I wish that... perhaps i me or someone else who was familiar with zoning had been involved a little bit earlier but looking at it now i do think there are large portions over there highly questionable legally and those portions deal directly with the public utilities Their public utility is they regulate or they set up different tiers for water, for power. They have decommissioning requirements. They have bonds. I'm not sure they call it a bond. But they have basically a mandatory financial assurance, as they call it. I've never seen that before in a township zoning. And as you know, township zoning is a limited power. Under 519.02, they only can do those powers that the statute grants them or that are reasonably inferred from the statute. And because this is a new area, there just simply aren't cases that go into these types of things with townships. So that's my concern. Again, if this was a conditional use, I'd be a lot more comfortable with it. But my understanding from talking to Mr. Miller, the trustee, is they did not want to go that route. Although, frankly, enforcement of the resolution will end up in the BZA anyway. Trustees do not have any authority to enforce zoning. That's all the zoning administrator in BZA. So it will end up there. If there's a development that doesn't comply with zoning, it's going to be in front of the BZA. Now, you won't go back to the trustees. But anyway, for those reasons, I do have some significant questions. If I had more time to look at it, you know, months, maybe we could come to some kind of a resolution. But I know the township doesn't want to wait. They're in a hurry and I understand why.

How many months would you need or how much time would you need to work?

I would think at least, they have a moratorium until the end of the year. They have a moratorium until the end of the year. I don't think it would take that long. If they wanted me to look at it, again, they can go someplace else, but if they wanted me to look at it, it would probably take at least a couple of months.

Have any legal counsel looked at that? Have they hired outside with the official legal opinion?

They have someone from, and probably Toby could explain that better. They did have this looked over by an attorney in Columbus. I don't recall her name, I'm sorry. She did not write it. She wasn't involved in the writing of it, or she did not participate in that. She did a quick review, as I did. She perhaps, in fairness, may be a little more confident than I am. Again, it's such a new area that it's difficult to say with certainty what would happen. You don't know what a court would do with this because none of these have ever been in court before.

Any other questions for Mr. Burrell?

So would you advise right now, would you advise another 30 days for you to legally review it?

Yes, if it was up to me, I would say postpone it for a couple of months so we could review it better and perhaps have something that at least with a little more certainty would hold up to legal scrutiny.

Thank you.

Mr. Miller?

Yes, good morning.

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do. I do.

Thank you. Give us your name and address for the record. Toby Miller, Waterville Township Trustee, 8325 Hertzfeld. So I do understand Mr. Burrell's concerns. We did meet with him and Ms. Cottrell last Monday with our council. The council has reviewed this, our council down in Columbus, in addition to Mr. Brell's review. We are trying to put this through primarily because time is short for us. Prior to our last zoning change, there was no regulation in our zoning book, so it was a free-for-all. The change that occurred in July, unfortunately, deprives the trustees of input. into any facility and because it's an administrative action is incontestable by the residents. So our desire to change to an M3 zone is not only backed by our uh... third-party uh... land use uh... consultant uh... we just completed a twenty twenty six comprehensive land use plan they recommended uh... the key creation of the m three district for that plan uh... that started back in june so that work from june until just recently uh... we formed the data center advisory council or committee in january we've been meeting on this topic for five months The current regulation not giving the trustees a say and not giving the residents a say is untenable from our perspective. So by changing this to an M3, they would have to apply for a zoning change, puts it in front of the trustees, puts it in front of this body, and if the residents completely disagree with everything that everybody has done, they can put a referendum on the ballot, which gives the residents of Waterville Township a voice. We're completely open to changes. Obviously, we don't think in five months that a committee has produced a perfect document, but I will say we are not attempting to regulate electricity. Matter of fact, there is a clause at the very beginning of the document that specifically outlines the fact that we, you know, in no way does this interfere with any other regulatory body including this one. The electrical stipulations in there are just zoning classifications. So we are essentially classifying the zone based on the size of the power demand. And that's more or less the same thing with everything else. The township is within its legal right to enter into a development agreement. That's where the The bond comes into place for us to be able to repair our roads. We went to significant expenditures replacing or repairing our roads when 24 came in and then again when Nexus came in and neither the state nor the Nexus pipeline paid for those roads that they themselves damaged. We had to do that. we're done spending waterville township residents money repairing you know damage produced by for-profit corporations so reality is the development agreement is completely within our authority the bond is required as part of that development agreement and none of this is intended to regulate electrical water utility we do understand that's completely outside of our statutory abilities any questions for mr miller I did provide a document. So this outlines, I think it was eight concerns that Mr. Burrell had provided. And so we did attempt to put together a review of those concerns and what both our view and council's view as to why these are permissible.

Mr. Miller, would you agree to a 60-day deferral?

So I would say that's up to this body. I would prefer not to go through a 60-day deferral. We do have counsel legally reviewing this presently. Our moratorium only goes until December. We believe that the parties that are interested in the property out there are not going to wait until December and have been told pretty much point blank they don't really see our moratorium as an obstacle and they will run right over top of it. The current situation is, if we have an applicant that comes in and is somehow successfully able to submit an application, we all know that they would be grandfathered in under the current zoning book, which is woefully inadequate to address what we're talking about. So 60 days delays this process. two months, then we have to wait for our zoning board to review it. That's another 30 days, and then the township has to approve it. That's another 30 days public meeting, and then we have to wait 30 days for it to go into effect. So we're talking a two-month delay here means probably six to eight months delay in total.

Well, it's up to you. If you would prefer not to have it deferral, you have a right to tell us now.

I would prefer not to have a deferral. We are having legal counsel in Columbus review it. We will continue to review it with Mr. Burrell. Obviously, we want everyone's input, right? We want to do what's best for Waterville Township residents and what's best for maintaining the area in its current state as much as possible.

Mr. Chairman? Yes, sir.

Would you be open to a 30-day deferral? brings it in a little bit closer. It gives us time to review it a little bit further as well as legal, our legal and everything else. And I think that would bring you within the time realm that you're looking at for the end of the year.

Yeah, well, and keep in mind, so if you would prefer a deferral, obviously this is a large document. It's a lot to digest. It's a lot to go through. I have apologized to Lisa and the staff here for the voluminous nature of the document that we submitted. My only concern is we've been told point blank that the moratorium irrelevant they will steamroll right over top of the moratorium if and when they decide to proceed so our expectation was that we were we were going to see some something in July or August don't know if that's real or not that's just based on hearsay in and around the township if it's true that they can find a legal way around our moratorium that puts us in a very problematic position

Okay, thank you. Lisa, will you explain to the people here what our role is in this process?

So correct. The plan commission is an advisory body to the township and has limited abilities to control the review process. The review process has to go in and go through in a timely manner. They've got 30 days to act. So if the applicant does not want a deferral, they cannot force a deferral. They're going to have to act approval not approval or no recommendation but the commission is an advisory body only to the township the final decision the final authority rests with your township trustees and officially you will not agree to a 30-day delay i just want that for the record because we cannot force one upon you

uh... if this council thinks that the thirty-day delay is prudent and that's unanimous then i may accept that the trustees have voiced their concern about the imminent nature of this and so we we would prefer to move this with expediency if we can get this reviewed efficiently and it's unanimous that this council is asking for a 30-day deferral i will accept that it seems to me that this is a township issue and i don't know what's going to change in 30 days i think i agree it would make sense for us to send this out to the township let them decide

Yeah, I mean, right now there's a select committee on data centers right now in the General Assembly. Some of the provisions that are in this zoning ordinance have been discussed in the General, essentially putting together a law or a bill that relates to data centers in the General Assembly. So to me, if it's discussing these issues in the General Assembly to put into a bill, that brings into the fact that they may not be permitted in law. If they're gonna be putting it in law, then it puts into doubt whether it's acceptable in law at this time, that those are the things that are being discussed. To me, if we have questions in terms of the legality of a lot of these issues that we have, it doesn't make sense for us to do anything other than move things forward without a recommendation. The township wishes to move forward and that they feel the need to be expedient to move forward. I don't believe that we can make any recommendation for a resolution or a zoning resolution where there are provisions that could possibly be not enforceable or even illegal. So if they don't want to take the time that's required to be able to do this, I understand why you want to do what you want to do and why you need to do what you want to do, but there are risks in terms of proceeding that way without giving a proper legal review and a legal analysis and to know whether things are legal or not. So with that, I'd like to move that we forward it to the township with no recommendation.

I'll second that motion.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

I, again, I prefer to follow legal counsel. My position is better to take the time with your outside counsel to iron out all the details. Litigation is, either way, is gonna cost the township money. In fact, litigation could bankrupt the county unless, if you're gonna go with outside counsel and not our prosecutor's advice. So with that, at least you know my position.

Mr. Miller? Yeah, and we are going to continue to work with Mr. Burrell. We are going to continue to work with Lisa and the Planning Commission. We are open to any and all suggestions to protect the township residents. Our goal is to not see a repeat of what we saw with U.S. 24 and the Nexus pipeline and honestly give the township trustees the power to to approve or deny the zoning of this style campus based on rules that are in our zoning book. And then also empower our citizens to put a referendum on the ballot if they disagree with anything and everything that's being done. So we are open to any and all changes. Nobody's going to rush this through. We still have to go through review with our zoning board. We have two outside councils and Mr. Burrell that are reviewing this, actually one primary, one secondary, and then Mr. Burrell and his team.

And again, we are only advisory capacity in this vote. So thank you.

I mean, in terms of being advisory capacity, just go in with eyes wide open. Our council and others have seen risks with things as they proceed. There are significant risks. As long as you and your council and everybody understands the risks and are willing to make changes as you move forward to try to manage those risks the best, Godspeed.

Sure. My name is Karen Schneider. My address is 7035 Finzel Road.

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, or so say I do?

I do.

Thank you.

I'm here today as a resident of Waterville Township, and I respect the work that the township trustees and the zoning board has done to try and look at our land use plan and address this massive project through zoning. I totally understand how much work this is, and I am not criticizing the efforts that they're putting forth in good faith. This subject of data centers across the country and even here now, just this morning, I've heard the idea, the comment about rushing, that the developer will steamroll us, that there's concerns from John Burrell about the legality of what the township is trying to do. So my request to you would be that you do recommend a 30-day delay for an additional review. The Township Zoning Board pays a lot of attention to what you guys, recommend they discuss that they follow the things that you your thoughts put forth because you are the experts they are not they are good intentioned but they do not have the level of expertise that all of you do my concern is is that if this goes forward and there's legal counsel saying that this is the way to go but it's never been done before to your point litigation is expensive and the township does not have deep pockets So if this is passed and the data centers come in and even if they comply to our zoning, whether they want to or not, let's say they did, there's still aspects of this that I think are inadequate to protect the residents. The goal should be to protect the residents. And I'm even, you know, is there actually an opportunity for the residents to put on a referendum? If this zoning is in place, will we be sued by the developer if we have zoning, but the residents decide they don't like it, and they say, well, too bad, your zoning allows for it. What are our chances? And it's the ability or the desire of the township to be able to fight that legally, financially, is minimal. And two, the wherewithal is minimal. I don't think it will be there for that reason. So I would appreciate. if you could recommend, which I don't know if you've already made your recommendations or your decisions at this point, but I would appreciate a 30-day delay for additional review. And John Burrell's comment should not be taken lightly. John is very familiar with the township, and if he's looking at this and saying, I don't know that this is going to work, then why are we rushing forward to make it work? Why are we putting something forward, potentially, again, I realize you're just advisory committee, but why are we doing that? Why? If it's not going to get us where we want to be, why would we even as a township do that? So, again, I'm not disrespecting the work that's been done. I appreciate the effort, and I respect the time and energy and the cost probably that's gone into this by the township. But everything about this feels fast. And we have wells out there. Can they drill wells? How many wells will they drill? If all of our wells go dry, then what's our recourse? I'm sure the ORC says something about penalties or whatnot, but what are they? I mean, none of this has been discussed with the township residents. I've seen no communication from the township, no letters, no emails, no postcards, no anything talking to all of us. In fact, I'm late to this game. I didn't even know what was going on. that's my fault but um i would ask for the zoning board or the lucas county planning commission to recommend a 30-day review for all the reasons that a 30-day delay for the reasons that i've discussed here because the goal should be to protect the residents and not to accommodate potentially what the developers want for this data center thank you for your time i may have misunderstood i don't It may not be, okay, accommodate. So there's the noise, did you look, there's noise that's allowed in the M3 zoning class is 75 decibels, 24 seven. That is just below the dangerous threshold of noise. They're gonna use one to two million gallons of water a day. That's approved in this language. Do we know that we have one to two million gallons of water a day to support a data center? Do we know where it's going to come from? Has that discussion been had? Lighting, the lighting, there's a language to address lighting, but even if you look at it, there's an exception for security. So if I'm the data center, all I have to do is say, well, I need it for security, and then what? Then what do the residents do that have to live around it? And then in addition, this M3 zoning category doesn't even just singly address data centers. It opens the township to all manner of heavy heavy industrial development. And I wasn't gonna read this, but I will, because I think it's relevant to the conversation. I saw a video of Gary Thompson, Executive Vice President of Regional Growth Partnership, an economic development organization serving Northwest Ohio, discussing data centers. This is what he said, quote, our goal for data centers in Northwest Ohio is to build welfare communities so that our schools are funded, our parks are funded, and people that live in these communities have the kind of services that they need and desire to build the brand of Northwest Ohio to be associated with big tech companies and global presence so we can attract other types of investments to Northwest Ohio as well. So the M3 class is opening up this big type of big development that Gary Thompson may be interested in, but we aren't. We are going to have to live with that. Does Mr. Thompson live in a place where he's going to hear this 24-7? is his well going to run dry after they start digging or whatever they're allowed to do so forgive me but this m3 while i understand its intentions and its goal and i am not criticizing effort it raises a lot of concerns if you have to live out here and the regional partnership may be excited about destroying the land and our way of life but we're not mr chairman can we call the question please

Aye.

Opposed? No, there's nothing else.

Correct. This is regarding the proposed issue in Waterville. Risa Sindel, 7106 Offshore Drive.

You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If so, say I do.

I do. Thank you. And I will keep it under two minutes. A recent, just a few comments. A recent National Bureau of Economic Research study analyzed 28 operational U.S. data centers and found that their environmental and public health impact cost our economy at least $25 billion per year. My focus today is not on the structures that house scores of the computers that originally began in the 40s and 50s. It's not the data centers we've come to rely on for 911 dispatch and public alerts, air traffic control, hospital or wastewater systems, or even what we widely use for cell phones, email, social media streaming, or current cloud storage. It's not what I'm talking about. I'm focusing on the fairly recent unprecedented, largely unregulated, hyperscale and cryptocurrency mining data centers that have not caught up to speed with other countries IN CREATING RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT. FINE PARTICULATE MATTER, PM2.5 AND NITROGEN OXIDES AIR POLLUTION, PFAS, BACTERIA SUCH AS LEGIONELLA AND AMPLIFICATION OF NITRATE LEVELS IN OUR WATERWAYS, THERMAL AIR AND WATER POLLUTION, NOISE POLLUTION THAT INCLUDES INFRASOUND, and light pollution each one of these are mounting to create a detrimental biological impact upon our communities and many of which by the way are not regulated by our Ohio EPA it does not regulate most of these these issues are being noted in many of today's large-scale data center facilities today's data center facilities and at high quantities due to their large footprint upon our land and none of them should be in anyone's backyard While it's a slick talking point, the fallacy of the closed loop cooling system does not mitigate the fact that our precious fresh water resources are still being gobbled up to cool the computers. And add to that the prospect of grid strain and resulting power instability, targeted terrorist threat, and facility incidents that can easily overwhelm community fire and emergency personnel. Also add the staggering cost to decommission these facilities when they quickly become obsolete, and they will. We haven't even touched upon the topic of permanent loss of productive Ohio farmland, nor have we looked at how lowered property values would impact our economy. Yes, Regional Growth Partnership has stated that they seek to build at least 10 hyperscale data center facilities in northwest Ohio alone. Do you want our region to become Big Tech's dirty toxic broom closet? And at what actual long-term cost after the dollar signs fade from view of the corporate tail headlights? Yes, the state of our aging grid is a national security emergency due to decades of neglect. So we need outside the box approaches in addressing transmission upgrades, but with a thoughtful and dedicated commitment to meet the true national security demands of data centers without causing public health and ecosystem harms. We need decision makers who have the capacity and grit All right, I have like three sentences left. So as a commission that directs land development and seeks to create a community with a high quality of life, I ask you to do the requisite research on these very real concerns that we can maintain or better improve our quality of life while welcoming responsible development. Guide our communities to better, smarter, and more protective zoning. The legacy of our county depends on that, and it's ultimately at stake because of these unprecedented facilities. Thank you.

Just give us your name and address for the record.

Good morning, my name is Lynn Cox, 7522 Royal Timbers in Waterville.

Do you swear the chill of truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do.

I do.

Thank you.

Thank you, good morning. I'm a resident of Waterville, and I've been closely following this development, along with many community members and the concerns that they've been raising for months. I'll be as brief as possible. I'd like to specifically name the inadequacies of the proposed M3 amendment, explain how it could leave Waterville Township exposed, and briefly note conflicts of interest that the public needs to understand. This amendment's anti-segmentation provisions are important, but they depend entirely on the good faith application of the reviewing authority. A developer entering at the M1 or M2 threshold with a facility initially under 100 megawatts of electrical demand could argue it does not meet the Tier 3 threshold, proceed under the lower tier, and apply for expansion later. The amendment's reclassification language requires reclassification before approval of a higher tier expansion but there is no independent enforcement mechanism and no prohibition on operating at an intensity level that approaches but does not formally trigger reclassification until after infrastructure is already in place. In Section 1.4 purpose, it states that this resolution is further intended to preserve and protect the rural and agricultural character of waterville township if that is the case this is incongruent with m3 zoning for heavy industrial use causing us to wonder why do we need m3 at all in section 1.5 relation to the land use plan it states this resolution was prepared in accordance with the waterville township land use plan the land use plan had not been approved and was still a draft at the time this resolution was written. In the land use plan, CP-3 states, pursue the development of an M3 district to best site and plan for data centers and advanced manufacturing centers. This was added by Reveley at someone's request and not by any township resident working on the land use plan. So stating this unapproved document as a source for doing a tax amendment is disingenuous at best. This is kind of important. The establishment of an M3... Campus industrial district as a zoning text classification shall not be interpreted as a determination that any specific property is appropriate for M3 zoning. That's what it currently says. This is where Saline Township got sued.

Pardon? You've had two minutes. You've got to wrap it up.

Okay, let me just explain the story. This is where Selene got sued by the developer. The plaintiffs argued that, in their case, Industrial Research District I-1 was effectively available to them, even though the classification existed in the township. townships ordinance because no land in the township was actually zoned I-1. The complaint described the I-1 zoning as mere window dressing and was formed and formed a core part of their exclusionary zoning claim. By adding M-3 but having no land zoned M-3, Waterville is setting itself up for the same scenario. There's also conflicts of interest within this. Trustee Toby Miller resides on Hertzfeld Road in proximity to the property group being assembled for a potential data center site. After the moratorium was passed, Miller organized an exclusive advisory committee, framing its work around when a data center comes in, not if, and directly shaped the M3 language. Bill Burkett is a site manager for Regional Growth Partnership.

You can submit your comments if you want us to make copies of that for you.

I brought an extra copy. Thank you. So my recommendation is that there's a pause on this while further review is done. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I have a question. We voted to not have any recommendation on this to the township, correct? So, I mean, what we're talking about here is this should be presented to the township trustees, not to us, because we voted that we make no recommendation. Correct.

Right. All we're saying is it's up to the township.

Leah Traharper, 729 Pine Valley Drive, Bowling Green, Ohio. I do.

I just want to tell the truth, the whole truth, but nothing but the truth. Right, thanks. Very good, thank you.

There's more to this story, and Wood County found out the hard way. No sooner did Metta get going than a Title V gas plant was snuck in and fast-tracked by the Ohio Power Siding Board, the Middleton Township Trustees, the Wood County Commissioners, nobody, the Planning Commission, nobody knew. about this title five gas plant that was being planned right along with williams with nexus with rover all the way up and down our drinking water source from defiance all throughout ohio there is rover there's nexus they were given eminent domain i don't know how But I come from frack land. I had to leave because of fracking. I have seen the fossil fuel playbook and now it's combined with the data center playbook. These behind the meter gas plants are taking advantage of tax incentives given to build as fast as they can by 2030 to get every cent out of taxpayer dollars that they possibly can. We have to see the big picture here. I'm pleading with everybody I possibly can, because we only have until June 30th to appeal a very deficient air quality permit that would allow 2.4 million tons of CO2 gas a year in Wood County. Now, we have a C for ozone in Wood County. Lucas County, last I checked, has an F. What happens to the rest of industry in Lucas County? You exceed the NAICS standards. I received a call from Reuters that was the video podcast that came out about what's going on. They're following up with zoning. I got a call from Politico the other day. Freshwater Accountability Project's been advocating on behalf of environmental and public health for over 12 years as we watch the fossil fuel industry roll Ohio, all of our political system. And I don't want to see it here because the last shred we have left is local control. We still have that. West Virginia doesn't have that. We didn't have that for fracking. It was taken away from us. But by the fact that you are considering and giving an additional 30 days, I have to say that's refreshing. I haven't seen very much of that. But I believe that we can use our local control and our powers to come together, working together, to find out why do we need M3 heavy industrial? What else are they planning? It doesn't matter because Ohio Power Siding Board will approve it. It's all political now, and all we have left is frontline, and I hope that we can work together on this to get much better protections. And I do believe that we can stop that gas plant, and we can stop that data center.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Miller, there was an allegation made by one of the speakers that you had a conflict of interest. Would you like to respond to that on the record?

I'm not really sure. Ultimately, we don't know where the data center is going to be. We have a suggestion. We have understanding from farmers that are under land options. I am on Hertzfeld Road. One of the sites suggested is behind my house, which is also where the Nexus gas pipeline terminates as well. So I'm not really sure how that conflicts me because personally, I don't want it in my backyard. I don't want to look out over my pond and see a facility any more than anyone else. And all of the maps go exactly around my house. So I'm actually on the short end of the stick, so I'm not really sure how that conflicts me. But one of the areas of the three rumored areas that I've heard about is in my backyard. Okay, thank you.

uh anybody that spoke if they'd like to submit their comments that will be entered into the record i know some of you didn't get to complete your comments so if you give them to lisa she'll take care of that i think we can adjourn now so we'll adjourn