Wilmington City Council Gives More Time to Review Amazon Data Center

On November 25, 2025, Wilmington City Council held a special meeting at 6pm to discuss a proposed 471-acre Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center, located at 1488 South US Route 68. The meeting began with a presentation from Alex Beres, Executive Director of the Clinton County Port Authority (CCPA), and Josh Roth, Economic Development Director at the CCPA, who said that the data center would essentially help act as a "backbone of the internet" to process, organize, and store data.

Beres and Roth shared background on the project, stating that this is the first step of the project and the first time they are able to publicly speak about it. According to Beres, AWS has committed to providing a minimum of 100 permanent jobs with an $8 million annual payroll. The total proposed investment commitment is $4 billion, which includes $25 million for improving public infrastructure, such as city sewer trunk lines. Beres mentioned that the infrastructure improvements could help bring in more housing and allow for development in other areas. He also shared that AWS will replace 2.5 miles of an existing water main line in poor condition, and plans for improvements at their address on US Route 68 and frontage on US Route 730.

Beres and Roth both addressed community concerns they have received, including jobs, energy consumption, water consumption, water and air quality, noise and light pollution, and the impact on local government and schools.

Regarding jobs: Roth stated that the 100 permanent jobs will be "highly skilled, highly compensated" positions, provided for at least 30 years. Due to the nature of the jobs, they would not take away current employees from local employers. He also shared that AWS is anticipated to be the 10th largest private employer in the county and the 8th largest private employer in the city. Roth stated that the data center could be a top-five source of income tax revenue for the City of Wilmington. He stated, "While it may be a drop in the bucket to a Cincinnati metro area community, it's actually going to be a significant contributor to the tax base here in Wilmington." Roth added that AWS has surpassed their minimum job commitment in every other community.

Regarding energy consumption: Roth shared that AWS has been working with AES Ohio for over a year. According to Roth, AWS will not “use up all of the electricity that is available”, and there will still be electricity available for other uses and expansion opportunities. In addition, AWS will be responsible for paying “their fair share” for grid upgrades required for their site. “Data centers are a unique opportunity for our electric utility partners to make investments in the grid that are needed, that they would like to do anyway, but because there’s such a large user that’s willing to pay for a significant amount of electric, they then can justify making those investments quicker than they otherwise would,” stated Roth. 

Regarding water consumption: Roth stated that AWS will be required to purchase all of its water from the City of Wilmington and will not be permitted to have any onsite wells. AWS must purchase seven million gallons each day, helping the city "defray a cost it already is incurring," purchasing water from Caesar's Creek.

Regarding air and water quality: Roth stated that AWS will communicate with the City of Wilmington’s Public Service Director, Michael Crowe, about air and water regulations. Roth acknowledged that the wastewater will end up in the city’s water treatment plant, which is regulated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Regarding noise and light pollution: Roth stated that the city adjusted an ordinance this past summer to allow "use-specific requirements" on the data center. A noise study will be required as a condition of AWS's site plan approval, and the equipment will be screened for noise mitigation. Roth shared that the closest point of the property to any residential neighborhood is over 500 feet and credited the large plot of land as an extra level of protection. Roth stated, "AWS takes extreme pride in being a great neighbor,” and encouraged residents to visit other AWS data centers in nearby cities.

Regarding local schools and city government: Roth stated that the issue will be discussed in more detail when the site agreement is before city council. He acknowledged that AWS is paying for 100 percent of the cost of the infrastructure necessary for the site. Roth stated that he is "proud of [the] infrastructure package that they've gotten out of it," and how they structured the contract, where the local school district could preserve its funding from the state. In lieu of property taxes, AWS will make 30 percent payments to the CCPA. The CCPA will distribute almost half of the funds to the City of Wilmington, almost half to Wilmington City School District, and a small percentage to the CCPA for brokering the deal. Roth mentioned that, unlike taxes, these payments are "unrestricted" and are estimated to total roughly one million dollars a year.

In conclusion: Beres stated, "We are here, and I was brought to this community to facilitate and make sure that development could benefit the community. That is what we’ve done to the best of our ability… We appreciate you listening to our presentation… We’re here to listen. We’re here to provide additional information… We take this seriously. We also take your concerns seriously.”

Next steps: After public comments, the Wilmington City Council agreed to postpone any possible decision on whether the proposed AWS data center could move forward until their next regularly scheduled meeting on December 4, 2025, in order to have more time to review community feedback, visit nearby AWS data centers, and study environmental impacts. City Council President Matt Purkey concluded the meeting by sharing that Beres and Roth will both also be at the next meeting to address any additional community questions and concerns.

For more information, visit chooseclintoncountyoh.org or wilmingtionohio.gov.