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Ask the Experts – Data Center Expert Panel
You’ve probably heard that a tech company is proposing a 310-acre data center development in Grove City and they held their own public presentations on April 21 and 22 to tell you all about it.
We hope you went to hear what they had to say.
Now come see us on Friday, April 24 – because we’ve assembled a panel of independent experts who have no vested interest in selling you something. Just answers.
These are people who study utility rates, land use, environmental policy, and economic impact for a living. They’re not here to pitch a development. They’re here to help your community understand what’s actually at stake…and what you can do about it.
Two questions. One night.
This conversation runs on two tracks…and we’re trying to stay in both lanes.
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Lane 1 Should this happen at all? What are the real costs and risks of a 310-acre data center — for your electric bill, your neighborhood, your water, and your community’s future? |
Lane 2 If it’s coming anyway…what do we demand? What does a responsible development look like? What have other communities won? And how do residents fight for it before the window closes? |
This isn’t just about Grove City. These same decisions are playing out in communities across Ohio and across the country. The questions we’re asking Friday night are questions every community facing a proposal like this deserves answered.
Your Moderator
Moderator & Policy Expert
Bailey Sandin
Work & Wages Fellow – Policy Matters Ohio
Bailey has been digging into the economic fine print on big tech deals in Ohio, getting down to what they actually deliver for working families, what gets promised versus what gets built, and how communities can fight for a better deal. She’ll moderate our panel and weigh in directly on tax incentives, community benefits agreements, and the real jobs picture.
The Panel
Cathy Cowan Becker
Board President of Save Our Parks and Hilliard Community Advocate
Cathy has been on the frontlines of data center fights across Ohio, including challenging a fuel cell plant that slipped through with almost no public notice. She knows exactly how these projects get fast-tracked – and what communities can do about it. She’ll open our panel conversation by grounding everything that follows in lived reality.
Maureen Willis
Ohio Consumers’ Counsel
The state’s official advocate for residential utility ratepayers. If your electric bill is going up because of data center growth … and it is … Maureen is the person who fights back. She’ll walk us through what’s already baked into your rates and what’s still on the table.
Dr. Amber Woodburn McNair
Founder, AV McNair LLC = Expert in Land Use Planning for Public Infrastructure
Dr. McNair specializes in understanding how large-scale infrastructure facilities reshape the communities around them – land use, planning and zoning tools, and what residents can demand before the permits are signed. She knows what leverage looks like and how long it lasts.
Becca Pollard
Interim Executive Director – Buckeye Environmental Network
Becca leads BEN, a Central Ohio environmental justice organization with deep roots in energy, water, and community organizing campaigns across the state. She’ll bring the environmental and community justice lens to what a facility this size actually means for the land, the water, and the people nearby.
Grove City is our home. It’s where we’re raising our kids, where our parents live down the street, where we’ve put down roots and built something worth protecting. The decisions being made right now about what gets built here, who pays for it, and what it costs our families for the next 20 years…those decisions are happening fast and they deserve our full attention.
We deserve straight answers from people who don’t have a financial stake in the outcome. Not a sales pitch. Not a PowerPoint from a company that will be long gone when the bills come due.
This event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Doors open at 5:30 PM for RSVP guests, and 5:50 PM for general admission. RSVP below to reserve your seat.
