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Construction is underway at the future site of an Amazon data center- Hilliard’s third- on the north side of Scioto Darby Road at the Interstate 270 overpass.
Heavy equipment is present and operating at the site.
The construction follows narrow approval of a site plan by Hilliard officials in July 2022.
The city’s planning and zoning commission on July 14 approved a site plan by a vote of 4-3.
On July 21, the Board of Zoning Appeals, a separate body, approved variances that included increasing the maximum building height from 45 to 63 feet for three of the buildings, to permit more than one fence style, to increase the maximum fence height from 7 to 8 feet, and several additional considerations.
Seven buildings are to serve as data centers and an eighth is to serve as a security and utilities building, according to a staff report from the city.
The site had been used for agriculture purposes in the past.
On Oct. 27, 2014, the site was rezoned to M-1, restricted industrial district, and on Nov. 12, 2020, data centers were added as a permitted use within the M-1 zoning district, according to the staff report.
Three members of the planning and zoning commission – Chris Lewie, Bill Uttley and Tracey Nixon – voted against the proposed data center.
Eric Gutknecht, Chairman Jay Muether, Tom Pannett and Bevan Schneck voted in favor of the application, for which staff recommended approval.
At the time, Uttley described the proposed buildings as “very industrial looking” while Muether said, “I’m going to trust staff.”
Amazon Web Services purchased the land for its third data center in Hilliard more than two years ago.
According to the Franklin County Auditor’s Office property records, Amazon Web Services Inc. purchased the Scioto Darby Road parcel for $15.3 million in January 2021 from Scioto-Darby Investments.
Lauren Lynch, a spokeswoman for Amazon Web Services, told Hilliard ThisWeek News in October 2020, concerning questions about a proposed data center at Cosgray and Lepperrt roads that “AWS has a practice against commenting on our future road map.”
Construction began in early 2021 on an Amazon data center on the north side of Scioto Darby Road between Leppert and Cosgray roads on the city’s western fringes.
Construction began in 2015 and recently concluded at Amazon’s first Hilliard site on the east side of Britton Parkway, just south of Hayden Run Road.
It is vital that our community attract and retain large scale commercial interests to help foot the bill for our great schools, city services and fire department. Otherwise we all have to bear the ever-increasing costs (mostly compensation/benefits) for all the great professionals we count on to deliver those services.
AWS is one of the best kinds of industrial operations in our city. Very little traffic since very few folks work in these data centers; no demand on schools, police or fire services. Big office buildings housing lots of professional workers are best - because they also generate income tax revenue for the City - but there's not a lot of that going on these days.
Many folks know about the aggressive abatements granted to AWS. Few know about the economic development agreements by which AWS pays substantial sums to Hilliard Schools - something around $1.50/sf/yr as I recall.
Anthony - I suggesting the economic development agreement(s) with AWS merit a story of its own. It's really a big win for the community, but most folks know only about the abatements, thinking AWS isn't paying anything to be here.
Seems like everyone is on board with this. Will be interesting to see the effect, if any, on the neighborhood.