Lorain County is home to more than 800 farms like the one owned by Kim Polen. She lives on Russia Road in New Russia Township on nearly 1,000 acres of farmland with her husband and two kids.
Together, they tend to their crops, raise cows and collect eggs from their coop with 22 chickens.
鈥淩ight now, there's three of those generations ... working on a farm all together," Polen said. "It's just been a wonderful experience, and I can't even imagine what it would be like if we had to uproot and move somewhere else.鈥�
But the development planned for farmland near their property threatens what her family has worked so hard to build, Polen said.
鈥淓verything that we've worked so hard to build here, whether it's the physical buildings, but then also the relationships with other farmers in the community," Polen said. "Having that open field feeling that you're able to be out in the country and not have to worry about somebody being right next to you, and I think that's going to be harder and harder to find as farmland gets lost.鈥�
There鈥檚 nearly 1,000 acres around the airport that鈥檚 already open for development. New Russia Township鈥檚 board of trustees voted Tuesday against rezoning an additional 622 acres of farmland next to the airport.
"This is not something that we want in this township," Trustee Scott Justin said, "and there's just too many unknown variables."
The Land and the 'Megasite'
Before the New Russia trustees鈥� vote, Polen, Will Schlechter, who鈥檚 running for county commissioner and has a farm nearby in Henrietta Township, and New Russia Township resident Andrea Barlow drove reporters from 精东影业 around the site.
鈥淪o here on the right is where the mega site would start," Polen said. "All of this empty land all the way clear over to Route 58, and then all the way south down here."
That鈥檚 just the 622 acres from the failed rezoning request. Behind a fence next to it is the Lorain County Airport. The goal is to combine the two and then find one or more high-tech manufacturers to move in, Team NEO CEO Matt Dolan said.
"That is a very attractive piece of property for economic development," he said.
Team NEO is the economic development agency for Northeast Ohio. Team NEO is working with Liberty Development Company in Westlake to prepare the site and eventually attract a manufacturer.
"There are very few of those," Dolan said. "There are very few 1,000-acre properties but then you throw on all the uniqueness of being in Northeast Ohio.鈥�
Team NEO is the local partner of Jobs Ohio, the statewide non-profit that uses proceeds from liquor sales to spur economic development. but none of those are close to population centers like this one.
Schlechter鈥檚 family has worked on his farm in Henrietta Township for seven generations.
鈥淪o, you know, it鈥檚 a big risk, I think," Schlechter said. "Same as Intel down in Columbus. That鈥檚 still up in the air.鈥�
In 2022, the announced plans to invest $28 billion near Columbus with production scheduled to being in 2025.
Early last year, the company or 2031.
鈥淟orain County missed an opportunity a few years ago because we didn鈥檛 have the infrastructure needed to bring that in," Schlechter said. "So they felt that, 鈥極K, we missed the boat on that one, we鈥檙e not going to miss the boat again.鈥� But do we really want it?鈥�
So far, New Russia Township residents have mostly said, 鈥淣o.鈥�
County moves forward with development plans
Lorain County commissioners are pushing ahead.
In 2024, the county applied for infrastructure grants from the state to make sure this area would be ready.
In 2025, the state of Ohio formally awarded Lorain County $67 million to begin sewer upgrades. The county promised $22 million of its own money.
The original plan was to run a sewer line from the mega site west to connect to another new pipe that runs northward to either a new wastewater plant or an upgraded plant near the lake. At the high end of the estimates submitted to the state to install all that infrastructure 鈥� about $440 million.
That plan is still going ahead after the no vote in New Russia Township, Lorain County Commissioner David Moore said.
"We鈥檙e building it. Businesses are going to come," he said. "It鈥檚 up to the local municipalities to decide what kind of businesses they want, and that鈥檚 what they鈥檙e doing now.鈥�
In their application, county officials said the goal was for a microchip processing plant, similar to Intel and other promised, but delayed, projects in Indiana and Upstate New York.
Because no tenants have committed to Lorain County, residents are wondering if, after all this work, debate and cost, all they鈥檒l end up with is a data center.
Team NEO, the developer and county officials say that鈥檚 not the plan.
鈥淲e're not marketing it for it. We think there's better opportunities for that property" Matt Dolan said. "So, it wouldn't be our preference to have a data center go there."
Experts warn of environmental risks in rural Ohio
More than 200 data centers are already operating in Ohio, according to the . The use of AI is driving this spike in development in the state, said Charis Egland-Smith, the climate resource specialist with the Midwest Climate Collaborative at Case Western Reserve University's Great Lakes Energy Institute said.
As the AI boom continues, other rural communities like New Russia Township may also be a target for data center developers, she said.
鈥淲hen you're an investor who wants to build a data center, like you're going to look for the place with like the least amount of resistance, and typically that's with fewer people, lots of land," Egland-Smith said. "And that's rural America.鈥�
This development comes with drawbacks, Egland-Smith said. There鈥檚 increased energy rates, the diesel-powered generators on site and a high demand on water that strains local resources.
However, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is now considering a proposal to revise its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting process. NPDES permits regulate the pollution from wastewater discharge, and they are required for any manufacturer that discharges wastewater in Ohio's waterways.
The Ohio EPA said this proposed change will streamline the application process for NPDES permits, but that the revision will allow data centers to dump untreated wastewater directly into rivers and streams.
In the meantime, the burden has fallen on members of Ohio鈥檚 rural communities like New Russia Township to come together and push back on upcoming development projects.
Residents in Adams and Brown counties Monday that would add an amendment to Ohio鈥檚 constitution to restrict development of data centers in the state.
Regardless, Lorain County鈥檚 townships are ready for whatever comes next, Polen said.
"We're just gonna keep an eye on all of them," she said. "We're not gonna sit back and relax because we know that we can't.鈥�
Surrounding townships weigh their options
Brownhelm Township, north of New Russia Township, borders Lake Erie.
Change is coming along the entire path of that sewer including in Brownhelm Tonwship. Its plan is to control what they can by redoing their land use plan and zoning, which hasn鈥檛 been done in 20 years and has some surprises.
鈥淭here's a zoned piece of property on the south side of the turnpike that lists 25 鈥� not feet 鈥� 25 stories as the maximum building that can go in there," said Brownhelm Township Trustee Dan DePalma. "Now, where in the world that came from, I have no idea.鈥�
Just south of Brownhelm is Henrietta Township. Trustee Ron Baumann would prefer the sewer doesn鈥檛 go in the ground at all.
鈥淵ou got Elyria, Lorain, with all these brownfields in there," Baumann said. "Let鈥檚 fix these cities up, let鈥檚 revitalize those instead of coming out and ruining our townships, the rural community.鈥�
The county is booming, County Commissioner David Moore said, and the sewer project is the best way to control where new development happens. That鈥檚 why the pipe is running north near Baumhart Road, which goes through Brownhelm and Henrietta Townships.
"That鈥檚 where I believe, and I鈥檝e believed it forever, the development should be," Moore said. "That鈥檚 where the growth should be. That鈥檚 where the homes should be is up north.鈥�
Residents expect to lose more farmland
The 622 acres in New Russia Township is mostly owned by Ceres Farms, an Indiana investment company, now owned by another financial services entity.
Ceres bought the land in 2018 from a local farmer who was auctioning off around 1,000 acres of farmland.
Marshall Simms鈥檚 family has owned a 40-acre plot in the proposed mega site since the 1990s. Simms, who is 43 years old, is a fifth-generation farmer here.
He and his wife, Cassandra, are raising their two sons on a farm next to the site.
Simms saw that auction back in 2018 as the best time to keep all that land in farming and was going to bid on 200 acres before Ceres came in and bought it all.
鈥淚 know there are many farmers around here that are upset by what鈥檚 happening now," he said. "That was the time to step up and buy the property then.鈥�
Simms agreed to turn over his 40 acres to developers because it鈥檚 now surrounded by land that鈥檚 signed over to development, he said. His drainage goes through some of that land so, if it鈥檚 developed, his land would become worthless for farming.
"There's no other income source. There's no other business that I'm using to say, 'Hey, let's go buy farmland and, you know, buy some fancy equipment and farm it,'" he said. "I'm here just like my dad was, just like my grandfather was, making a living farming.鈥�
Simms and his wife both see this development as a next step in a years-long transformation of this area from a rural community. Simms said he鈥檒l still keep as much of his family鈥檚 700 or so acres as farmland.
"It was rural maybe when I was a kid, but, you know, over the last 30 years, there's been a lot of people that have moved out this way and gotten their lot and build a house and it's not really rural anymore," he said.
Cassandra is originally from the city of Lorain. Whatever comes to the mega site, she said she hopes it produces a vibrant, lasting economy in this area.
鈥淚t's hard to say how positive it's gonna be, but it would be really good to see something develop that would support the area and would provide momentum and employment and opportunity for people," she said.
It鈥檚 not clear how much longer that鈥檒l be farming, Simms said.
In the last eight years, he鈥檚 seen the price for an acre of farmland double, and anytime he鈥檚 competing against a housing developer to buy land, he knows he鈥檚 going to get outbid.
