In My Opinion - by Bob Ruth
June 20, 2026 — Bob Ruth
There’s some positive news coming out of City Hall.
Mayor Ike Stage’s administration has done an admirable job of presenting data center information on Grove City’s taxpayer-financed website. Pro and con arguments are given about equal treatment, especially on the website’s front page under the headline “Data Center Resources.”
This link consists of seven videos. The first involves a hearing conducted by the Columbus City Council’s Committee on Public Utilities and Sustainability. The other six videos cover four hearings of the state Legislature’s Select Committee on Data Centers.
Both supporters and critics spoke at the hearings. The numerous issues surrounding these centers are complex and often technical. They include everything from health and environment to economic growth and tax revenue.
If a viewer has the patience to wade through all the testimony, the viewer will end up with a pretty thorough knowledge of both sides of the controversy. Virtually all the speakers were articulate advocates for their sides.
The state legislative hearings were especially impressive. The May 27 hearing consists of testimony from representatives of state agencies and data center supporters. Data center critics dominate the June 1 hearing, and data center advocates testified at the June 4 and 11 hearings. Data center critics outnumber supporters.
A wide range of views are expressed from representatives of environmental and conservation organizations to lobbyists from Google, Meta and the Ohio Manufacturers Association.
Grove City’s website provides additional data center information on a less prominent format. This material can be accessed by writing the words “data centers” in the Search link of the website’s front page. That link directs a user to four presentations: Minutes of the City Council’s June 1 meeting where a one-year moratorium was enacted on a proposed data center for Grove City and three documents submitted to the city by Headwaters Site Development, the Texas company promoting the data center.
The Headwaters Development documents consist of a traffic study, a preliminary re-zoning application and a so-called Project Narrative. Readers should be warned that the Narrative has been criticized as being overly optimistic and one-sided.https://www.grovecityohio.gov/707/7046/Data-Center-Resource-Videos-Columbus-Cit
Also, video replays of City Council meetings are available on the site. Meetings in May and June delved into the data center controversy.
Data center skeptics – including In My Opinion – had worried that the city’s website presentation would be biased in favor of data centers. However, the actual product, compiled by Community Relations Manager Pat Kindig and his staff, is even-handed.
A recent no-bid contract for a $72,740 public relations campaign aimed at extolling the benefits of economic growth in Grove City notes, “Resident satisfaction with the city is declining.” The contract adds that one of the main goals of the six-month campaign is “rebuilding community trust and satisfaction.”
Unbiased presentations of public issues by city officials can go a long way toward “rebuilding community trust.” KIndig’s balanced approach should be an example for other City Hall officials.
Unfortunately, the Stage administration has failed at such even-handedness with some other issues. Its one-sided campaign on behalf of tax incentives and abatements for multimillionaire real estate developers is a prime example. Stage and his administration have repeatedly trumpeted the virtues of such bonanzas to well-heeled developers.
The negatives have been either downplayed or not mentioned at all.
Yet, the downsides are numerous. They include the loss of millions of dollars in property tax revenue for Franklin County agencies that serve sexually abused children and orphans; low-income elderly; the mentally ill and developmentally disabled; and alcohol and drug addicts.
Other agencies that have lost millions because of Stage administration-backed tax breaks for developers are South-Western City Schools, Jackson Township Fire Department, Metro Parks, Columbus Zoo and South-Western Public Libraries. Because of this lost revenue, these agencies are forced to ask voters for property tax increases more often.
(Headwaters Development has mentioned the possibility of tax incentives for its proposed data center.)
So, here’s some advice to the mayor and his administration. The best way to build trust is to level with voters. Tell us the pros and cons. Give us the full story – the good, the bad and the ugly.
