A proposed 750-megawatt data center campus in Shalersville Township is heading into a critical stretch of public hearings this month, with township officials, landowners and attorneys for developer Bitdeer Technologies Group still fighting over a single question: what does light industrial zoning actually allow? The debate, which has simmered since plans were unveiled four months ago, centers on 257 acres straddling both sides of Beck Road that have carried a light industrial designation since the 1990s.
According to News 5 Cleveland, Shalersville Township officials are weighing a definition that would classify any project requiring less than 25 megawatts of power as light industrial — a threshold the Bitdeer development would blow past by requiring more than 25 megawatts just to get started. The Shalersville Zoning Commission has already moved in that direction: on September 10, it approved amendments redefining heavy industrial use to include any facility drawing or generating 25 megawatts or more, or, under a separate nuisance-elements criterion, a facility with outside storage that creates noise and vibrations beyond property lines, according to The Portager. That classification is one for which the township currently has no land zoned at all, meaning the Bitdeer campus as proposed would not fit anywhere under the new rules.
Two Hearings, One Project
The fight now moves through a dense calendar of public meetings. A public hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday, October 6, at 7 p.m. at Shalersville Township Hall, 9090 OH-44, followed immediately by the township's regular trustee meeting, per the station's report. The Portage County Regional Planning Commission will then hold a meeting to discuss zoning definition proposals from both area residents and the project's attorneys on October 14 at 4:30 p.m. at the Crestwood School Board Office in Mantua. Shalersville Township trustees are expected to hold another public hearing the next day, October 15 at 7 p.m., on proposed definition changes put forward by Shalersville landowners themselves.
The township currently has a moratorium on data centers in place that runs until early November, according to the same account. Earlier public gatherings have drawn heavy turnout — Bitdeer hosted a community informational meeting attended by hundreds in May, and a June meeting at Shalersville Township Hall stretched more than three hours.
What Bitdeer Is Proposing
Bitdeer, a publicly traded company based in Singapore, plans to fill much of the 257-acre site near the Ohio Turnpike with a 15-building computing hub meant to meet growing demand for artificial intelligence, the station notes. The first phase would include two data halls and a 51,500-square-foot office building at the southwestern end of the property, with a second phase adding 12 more data halls. At full buildout, the completed project would draw 750 megawatts of power.
That figure would make the Shalersville campus Bitdeer's largest U.S. facility, surpassing its current largest operational site, a 600-megawatt facility in Rockdale, Texas, according to KentStater. Bitdeer already operates a 26-building cryptocurrency mining facility on 31 acres in Massillon, a far smaller footprint than what it has planned for Shalersville. The company has partnered with Geis Development, based in Streetsboro, on the project.
Under Ohio law, electric power facilities drawing or generating 50 megawatts or more are classified as major utility facilities — meaning the proposed 750-megawatt campus would sit 15 times above that state statutory threshold, The Portager reports. During township zoning discussions, Geis Companies representatives formally proposed that the campus be permitted to exceed Shalersville Township's ambient noise levels by up to 10 decibels, a request that has become a flashpoint for nearby homeowners.
Opponents and Developers Dig In
Project opponents have raised concerns about power consumption, noise, dust, debris and cooling systems, per the station. Jessica Winchell, among those pushing for stricter rules, said residents want industry in Portage County to be safe. The citizen-led light industrial definition aims to add regulations addressing energy use, noise and other operational concerns before any project moves forward.
Geis attorneys have pushed back hard, arguing that the township's proposal would unnecessarily expose Shalersville to significant litigation risk and would violate fundamental private property rights. Developers have said during public presentations that they are not seeking local tax breaks or public abatements for the project, according to Baxtel — meaning, if built, full local property tax revenues would flow to Portage County and local school districts rather than being diverted through incentive deals.
Jobs Versus Neighborhood Impact
Baxtel estimates the project represents more than $300 million in initial construction investment, not counting IT equipment, and projects 30 to 50 initial jobs growing to 150 to 200 permanent positions at full buildout. Those numbers sit at the heart of the trade-off local officials are weighing against resident worries about noise, power draw and the character of a rural township.
Shalersville is not alone in grappling with this pressure. By late April, at least six municipalities across Portage and Summit counties — including Ravenna, Kent, Streetsboro, Tallmadge and Shalersville Township itself — had enacted or advanced temporary data center moratoriums, according to Development Docket. The nearby city of Ravenna unanimously passed a 12-month moratorium on new data centers and server farms in April after residents organized against data centers.
The regional pushback echoes at the state level. The Ohio House of Representatives voted 97-0 in March to pass House Bill 646, establishing a bipartisan Ohio Data Center Study Commission to examine energy demands, water usage, noise pollution and land-use impacts statewide, according to the Ohio House of Representatives. Ohio hosts roughly 200 operational data centers already, according to data cited by the Ohio Consumers' Counsel and state lawmakers and reported by Farm and Dairy — a statewide surge that helps explain why a rural township like Shalersville is suddenly at the center of a high-stakes zoning fight.
With the township's moratorium set to expire in early November and two public hearings plus a Regional Planning Commission meeting on the October calendar, the coming weeks are likely to determine whether Shalersville's decades-old light industrial zoning can be stretched to cover a facility of unprecedented scale, or whether landowners and developers will be forced back to the drawing board.
