In My Opinion - by Bob Ruth
May 31, 2026 — Bob Ruth
Mayor Ike Stage has finally publicly tipped his hand. He is whole-heartedly in favor of Grove City’s proposed mega data center.
A political cop-out resolution his administration will introduce at tomorrow night’s City Council meeting proves it. Stage’s proposal almost reads like it was written by Headwaters Site Development, the well-heeled Texas company pushing for the massive data center.
Stage’s resolution would appoint a 9-member committee to study all the complexities involved with the high-tech data center and issue a report within two months. And here’s the kicker: Stage’s resolution would allow the early stages leading toward a final vote by Council to continue unabated during his committee’s review.
Now, let’s compare the Stage proposal to two pieces of harder-hitting legislation that will be introduced tomorrow night by Council members Mohamed Omar and Alan Sturm.
Omar’s proposed ordinance is the most comprehensive and restrictive. It would clamp a 12-month moratorium on consideration of any data center. And here’s an important part: It would stop any consideration of a data center by City Hall during the entire length of the moratorium. No reviews by the city Development Department staff. No hearings. No approvals. Nothing. Zilch.
The ordinance would suspend for one year “the processing, review, consideration, advancement or furtherance of any application, request, filing, permit, rezoning, variance, planned unit development, site plan, utility coordination or development proposal associated” with data centers.
Sturm’s proposal is not nearly as iron-clad. But it would better than Stage’s proposal. Sturm’s resolution would appoint a 16-member task force to study the issues. And Sturm’s task force would have six months – not merely two months – to issue a report.
Unfortunately, there appear to be a few loopholes in Sturm’s resolution.
Headwaters Development’s efforts to push through the early steps toward a final vote could probably occur during the six months Sturm’s task force is engaged in its review.
Stum’s resolution says Council could not take a final vote on any rezoning or related proposals by Headwaters Development until “Council has an opportunity . . . to gather and study information.” Unfortunately, Sturm’s resolution does not appear to require Council to wait until the six-month report from the task force is issued in order to vote on the final plans.
Two Council members – Omar and Ted Berry –are seen as the Council members most willing to reject the data center. Sturm is also reportedly skeptical.
So, what about the other four Council members?
The insidious thing about Stage’s weak-kneed resolution: It provides the other Council members with political cover. They can vote against the legislation being proposed by Omar and Sturm and minutes later vote for Stage’s do-nothing resolution. Then, they can go back to the voters and say, “Well, at least, we voted to do something.”
Tomorrow night’s Council meeting will be a culmination of fast-moving developments over the past week.
It started with emails to each Council member from Rebecca Mott, Headwaters Development’s local re-zoning lawyer. She wanted to set up private meetings among Headwaters Development’s lobbyists and Council members. But to keep the meetings secret, Mott suggested that no more than three Council members attend one of the closed-door get-togethers at a time. Any more than three Council members would constitute a quorum. And a quorum would require the public to be invited and minutes to be taken.
The attorney’s ploy fell apart when Berry and Sturm declined her invitation, contending it would be improper for them to attend such behind-the-scenes meetings. And to make matters worse for Mott, In My Opinion posted details of the incident on ProtectGroveCity.org.
Next came the on-line posting of Council’s Monday night agenda with Mayor Stage’s cop-out resolution.
That was followed by a three-page letter from Mott to all Council members arguing a moratorium would be illegal. Mott’s letter also issued a not-so-subtle threat that the city might face a lawsuit, if a temporary moratorium were approved.
Like Stage’s resolution, Mott’s letter will give any wavering Council members an excuse to vote against the legislation sponsored by Omar and Sturm.
And finally, there will be an “overview presentation” at tomorrow night’s Council meeting by representatives from Headwaters Development. They are expected to give glowing pictures of their hyper-scale data center. The sprawling center will provide jobs, tax revenue, infrastructure and all kinds of other benefits, they are expected to crow. All to be provided without any threat to our health, environment and home property values, they are expected to claim.
Of course, the lobbyists probably won’t mention that all their projections are just that – wishful-thinking projections. Nothing is yet etched in stone. Most of what will actually be built will be decided by whatever high-tech company buys the land from Headwaters.
In addition, Headwaters Development’s spiel is expected to be lengthy – far longer than the three-minute restrictions placed on any speeches given by data center critics later at the Council meeting.
Are all these developments a well-coordinated strategy cobbled together by Headwaters Development and its allies in City Hall? We outsiders don’t know.
But if this admittedly cynical and purely speculative view is correct, the would-be schemers are forgetting one important thing. We Grove City voters are much smarter than they think. We can see though all the political maneuvering, agenda manipulating, the excuses and denials. We voters will be focused on one thing and one thing only. Are you in favor of a temporary moratorium or not?
