Issue 16 would set conditions for certain data center developers seeking tax incentives in Perry Village. A yes vote would adopt the ordinance, but would not approve or reject a particular project. The requirements would apply before the village fiscal officer signed an agreement granting a tax break, payment in lieu of taxes, or other special tax designation.
The ordinance would apply to data centers exceeding any one of three thresholds: 10,000 square feet, 5,000 servers, or 50 megawatts of power, according to Cleveland.com. Before receiving a qualifying tax incentive, a developer would have to deposit a bond in a bank account selected by the village. The minimum bond would combine projected tax revenue over 31 years with projected pay for 200 full-time employees, calculated using salaries for comparable positions in the state where the developer is incorporated.
The bond would remain in place for 31 years. Any principal remaining afterward would be returned to the developer, less management and administrative fees and any unpaid borrowing for supplemental payments. The village fiscal officer could calculate annual shortfalls tied to environmental effects, residents’ standard of living, and data-center-related property value losses. If promised jobs or tax revenue did not materialize, the village could borrow against the bond to make supplemental payments to residents, with the developer then owing annual payments to cover those shortfalls.
Noise Limits and the Petition Push
Developers seeking tax abatements would also have to guarantee noise levels no higher than 50 decibels from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 45 decibels overnight; village council would set fines for violations. Organizers with Protect Perry and Lake Erie say the provisions would protect residents if promised jobs and tax revenue fall short. In July, petition organizers submitted 300 signatures to the Lake County Elections Board, exceeding the 76 valid signatures required to qualify Issue 16 for the ballot, according to Ballotpedia.
John Nicely, an organizer with Protect Perry and Lake Erie, told Cleveland.com that the financial requirements grew out of an April public meeting where developers presented revenue projections spanning 31 years. He argued that developers seeking tax breaks should stand behind those projections, and said the terms could help the community if a project failed and left behind blight or depreciating assets.
Nicely owns property bordering the former Champion Farm nursery site, where California-based developer Province Group is proposing six 250,000-square-foot data center buildings across more than 200 acres. He has raised concerns about the proposed buildings, diesel backup generators, heavy water use, and noise, according to Cleveland.com. Protect Perry and Lake Erie has registered as a political action committee, with Nicely named chairman and treasurer. He has also argued that tax breaks could reduce revenue available for schools, infrastructure, and public services.
Village Already Said No to Tax Abatements
Issue 16 arrives after Perry Village officials had already taken their own stance on the Province Group project. In July 2026, village officials formally notified the developer that Perry Village would not grant property tax abatements or payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreements for the proposed hyperscale data center, a decision that followed multi-jurisdictional discussions among village council members, school officials, and township leaders, according to Lakeshore Views & News.
Village council then went further on October 8, passing an ordinance on its third reading that enacts a one-year moratorium on accepting and approving new data center applications. That moratorium explicitly excludes the Champion Farm property, the outlet reports, leaving Province Group with an option to purchase the site through summer 2027. The 200-plus-acre parcel is jointly owned by Perry Village, Perry Township, and the Perry Joint Economic Development District, meaning decision-making and any future revenue sharing are split across multiple local governing bodies.
Resident frustration over the project traces back further still. After public records requests in April 2026, the village released a nondisclosure agreement involving Mayor James Gessic and Newport Equities LLC, described as the legal arm of Province Group. Newport Equities did not sign the document provided to the outlet. The disclosure sparked criticism over transparency and drew protests outside village council meetings, The Ohio Register reported.
Part of a Wider Lake County Pushback
Perry Village is not alone in pumping the brakes. North Perry Village and Painesville Township both enacted their own 12-month data center moratoriums in June 2026 to study utility capacity, low-frequency noise, and zoning code updates, per the News-Herald. That same month, Lake County, Illinois, in the Chicago suburbs, approved an eight-month moratorium and up-to-120-day administrative deferral on new data center applications across unincorporated parts of the county, citing heavy electrical demand and water consumption, as Hoodline previously reported.
What Ohio’s electricity outlook says
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) says it ordered AEP Ohio in summer 2025 to create a separate customer class for data centers, which can be charged differently from other customer classes, according to its data-center electricity information.
Utility protections and national electricity use
For data centers served by AEP Ohio’s separate customer class, PUCO says required terms include collateral, a minimum demand charge, long-term contracts of at least 8–12 years, and exit fees for ending service early. PUCO also says its spring 2026 rate structure for Ohio Power Company requires new data centers to pay a minimum monthly customer charge. These utility provisions do not establish the grid or cost effects of Province Group’s proposal. According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S. data centers used 176 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023, or 4.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption. That national estimate is not a forecast for Perry or Lake County.
State lawmakers have also taken notice. Ohio State Representative Ty Mathews introduced House Bill 985 in August, a measure that would reduce township zoning referendum signature requirements from 35% to 20%, tied to a Findlay golf-course fight. Separately, the grassroots group Ohio Residents for Responsible Development has circulated signatures this year for a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban data centers consuming more than 25 megawatts of power per month statewide, an amendment that cleared the Ohio Ballot Board in April as a single issue, according to Ohio State University's Farm Office.
The fight over Issue 16 also fits into a national pattern. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, at least 75 data center projects valued at roughly $130 billion were delayed or blocked nationwide amid community resistance over grid strain, water usage, and noise. A yes vote on Issue 16 would adopt the ordinance; a no vote would reject it. Village officials were contacted for comment on the measure.
