The Data Center Divide
A policy snapshot ahead of the 2026 midterms. Mapping data center incentives, restrictions, and bans through legislation, regulations, and executive actions across all 50 states and 1,462 local jurisdictions.
Montgomery Township
Mixed Data Center Policies
Ohio offers qualifying data centers significant sales-tax exemptions on equipment, subject to investment, payroll, reporting, and other conditions, while fees apply to participants. New exemption requests are paused, which may raise costs for new projects; data centers are not banned.
Rating and summary from Ohio statewide as there are no scored current or future laws outside temporary restrictions for Montgomery Township.
pending · Montgomery TownshipEstablishes a temporary two-year moratorium on qualifying data-center construction while Montgomery Township studies potential effects on infrastructure, utilities, emergency services, roads, land use, environmental resources, and residents’ welfare, and considers future regulations.Montgomery Township Resolution establishing a temporary moratorium on construction of data centers (2026)
What this means
If enacted, this would pause construction of data centers above 25 megawatts in Montgomery Township for two years, a major barrier to building or expanding them (two-year moratorium). It does not ban the operation of existing centers, so the effect is severe but temporary rather than an outright ban.
Timing
- Ends
- two years after its effective date
The moratorium automatically expires after two years unless sooner repealed, extended, or replaced by subsequent action of the Board of Trustees.
People behind it
- John Keim
Montgomery Township trustee who drafted the resolution and originally proposed a data-center prohibition.
- Michael Donatini
First assistant prosecuting attorney for the Ashland County Prosecutor’s Office who assisted Keim in drafting the resolution.
- Montgomery Township Board of Trustees
Township governing body that approved the two-year moratorium.
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- Montgomery Township fiscal officer
Official responsible for certifying the resolution to the township Zoning Commission and Ashland County Planning Commission.
- Montgomery Township Zoning Commission
Body responsible for holding the hearing on the proposed zoning-resolution amendment and forwarding its recommendation to the Board of Township Trustees.
- Ashland County Planning Commission
Body responsible for reviewing the proposed amendment and forwarding comments to the Zoning Commission.
Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements3
A two-year moratorium prohibits construction of data centers within Montgomery Township, beginning on the resolution’s effective date; it may be repealed, extended, or replaced sooner by the Board of Trustees.
The prohibition applies to construction broadly, including erecting buildings, infrastructure, or facilities and related preparation or modification activities undertaken for a common purpose.
The measure defines a covered data center as one or more facilities used primarily or exclusively for digital information services, including computer systems, servers, networking equipment, related components, and cooling systems, located on a single parcel or contiguous, adjacent, or otherwise aggregated parcels, with an aggregate monthly demand or peak load greater than 25 megawatts from any energy source or combination of sources.
Benefits & exceptionsHide benefits & exceptions2
The prohibition applies only to data centers with an aggregate monthly demand or peak load greater than 25 megawatts. Facilities at or below that threshold are not included in the measure’s definition of a data center.
The moratorium is temporary: it automatically expires two years after its effective date unless the Board of Trustees repeals, extends, or replaces it.
Sources
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