Some Stark County residents were unsatisfied with answers provided on environmental impacts and the long-term viability of a data center project.
Panattoni Development Company hosted the open house Wednesday at Perry High School to address remaining community concerns directly.
"We are doing an open house and inviting the community to come here to ask questions, to learn about a data center, hopefully demystify a lot of what a data center is and really create that level of connection here," said Adam Kramer, Panattoni's data center chief.
The project aims to bring a 240-megawatt data center to a more than 100-acre site at Faircrest Street SW and Kropf Avenue in Perry Township.
Canton resident Brenda Parsons said little can be done to get her on board with the project, but residents should get answers on environmental and the economic stability of data centers.
鈥淲e're concerned about the inhalable particles that are in the air," Parsons said. "We're concerned about the water usage, we're concerned about the pollution that's being let out in the wastewater, and we're concerned about noise, we are concerned about light [pollution].鈥�
Environmental impacts will be minimal, Kramer said, and when it comes to the grid and taxes, the data center could bring benefits to Stark County residents.
"Those are the types of benefits that we see in Fairfax County, Virginia and Elk Grove, Illinois, where taxes are reduced for residents over time because you have data centers that are coming in there and paying such a disproportionately large amount of tax revenue," Kramer said. "The economic benefit is meaningful."
Regardless of the potential benefit, Gina Risher, who lives about a mile from the development site, said too many unknowns surround the project.
"It's practically almost in my backyard," Risher said. "There's water issues ... noise issues, there's the secrecy that went around about it being put in.鈥�
Like Parsons, Risher is against the project. Both have signed petitions to get an amendment on the ballot in November more than 25-megawatts statewide.
"I've already been collecting signatures," Risher said.
Kramer did not say how many full-time jobs will be supported at the data center, but the developers are working with local contractors to support economic development in Stark County.
"We've already qualified 16 small businesses to be able to work on our project here, and we're hoping to continue to expand that," he said.
Matt Sterling, working on the project as president of Beaver Excavating in nearby Canton, said he hopes to give fellow residents the answers they deserve.
鈥淚 get it," Sterling said. "This is change, it's scary, and I can't make anybody love the project, but I have had quite a few conversations where I can at least help them with their fears, and at least their unknown, and that's what I'm here for."
For Panattoni, the goal is to boost the local economy, while making as little of an impact on the community as possible, Kramer said.
"We're going to be the quietest industrial neighbor in that whole area there," he said. "We really want to be the best industrial neighbor that anybody can have. And that's one of the things that we have to not only talk about but actually demonstrate over time.鈥�
