Chillicothe — The presumed data center announced for the paper mill site has dominated discussion in the last two Chillicothe Council sessions – and other changes are emerging after the suite of developments announced on July 2nd.
The local “data center” issue has raised unanswered questions and unclear conclusions within the last month. The original news release avoided the term “data center” among the five announced projects at the former paper mill site in the south end of Chillicothe, but explains:
“The site’s long-term vision also includes major investments in advanced technology infrastructure. Through a collaboration focused on deploying advanced AMD hardware and technology at the site, Aligned plans to develop a high-performance computing campus on the property.
“The project represents an anticipated $1.5 billion investment and would establish the campus as a strategic hub for artificial intelligence infrastructure, advanced computing and next-generation technology jobs.”
That rapidly gave rise to opposition to a local data center – among them:
- “Appalachians Against Data Centers” on Facebook, apparently led by local Portia Boulger – who provides most of the posts, and gives a good digest of the effort.
- A Change.org petition: “STOP Paper Mill from turning into a datacenter! KEEP OUR WATER CLEAN & ENERGY AFFORDABLE!” Created on the day of the announcement, so far it has almost 3,600 signatures, more than 2,300 shares, and 60 comments.
In addition, “Conserve Ohio” is a statewide initiative effort that has been collecting signatures to allow voters to to limit the size of new data centers by amending the Ohio Constitution.
The Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce announced support on the day of the news release:
“This is exactly the kind of opportunity we’ve been hoping to see…from the very beginning, our vision for the former Pixelle site was never just about replacing what was lost — it was about reimagining that campus as a true multi-use hub that could support a diversity of high-skilled, high-paying industries under one roof…”
The five developments in the July 2nd news release are presumably to be located in the former Chilpaco side of the paper mill, east of South Bridge Street. A sign has been set at Eastern Avenue and Canal Street for the “Chilpaco Innovation Campus.”
In addition, the former Mead Research building is now intended to become a regional technology training campus. The owner of the paper mill apparently gifted the building to Greater Chillicothe & Ross County Development. In an August 5th news post on GCRCD’s website:
“John Todoroki, owner and operator of U.S. Paper Mill, LLC….founder of US Medical Glove and other industries, presented Tammy Eallonardo, Director of Greater Chillicothe & Ross County Development, with the building located at 232 E. Eighth Street…
“’The Innovation Campus will partner with universities and trade schools to prepare our local workforce to compete for careers in various technologies,’ explains Tammy Eallonardo, Director of Greater Chillicothe & Ross County Development.
“‘A combination of classroom instruction and simulation labs will be used to train Advanced Manufacturing, Robotics and Automation, as well as emerging technologies to meet the current and future employment needs of Kenworth, Centrus, OKLO, SoftBank and many other industries in southern Ohio.'”
In the July 27th Chillicothe Council session, council member Kathy Dunn responded to her assignment to gather “information to formulate possible legislation regarding data centers.”
Dunn held a committee meeting just before the session, with the entirety of council. Hear her explain what she did with her data center committee in the below July 27th video.
And Kyle Skaggs, who spoke as an industry insider in the public address portion, also explained his concerns about how data centers tend to operate, and how their developers tend to secure their sites. Also hear him below.
Learn more in my following report on council’s August 10th session. And learn more in my previous stories on the issue:
- City of Chillicothe Taking Action on Data Center Concerns (including Kathy Dunn’s report)
- The Ross County Commissioners’ Perspective on Announced “Data Center”
See also news stories on data center issues in Pickaway County and elsewhere, on the Scioto Post.
