Title
Notice/Advertisement Title: Public Utilities and Sustainability Committee: Data Centers Legislative Package Hearing Minutes
Contact Name: Chelsea Golterman
Contact Telephone Number: 614-645-3091
Contact Email Address: CLGolterman@columbus.gov
Body
Public Utilities and Sustainability Committee
Data Centers Legislative Package Hearing
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
5:30 P.M.
Council Chambers, City Hall, 90 W. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43215
Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Christopher L. Wyche, Council President Shannon G. Hardin
Call to Order
[Chair Wyche] 5:34 P.M.
Introductions
[Chair Christopher L. Wyche] Happy Wednesday, everyone.
Thank you for joining us this evening for our third hearing on the data center policy package. Thank you for sticking with us. We’ve had two back-to-back four-hour hearings where we’ve discussed this topic. At our last hearing, we heard from about 25 individuals who provided feedback on the legislation that we introduced - we have made changes to that legislation that we are hoping to present today and that reflects the feedback that we received.
Tonight we will start by outlining ordinance 2560-2026, which just had a first reading on Monday’s council agenda, next we’ll review the changes made to the water conservation policy and the decommissioning policies that were introduced at the July hearing, and finally we will outline the behind-the-meter generation draft that is being introduced today.
If you have been following the work of the committee you will notice that we are not reviewing changes to the sewer tapping draft that has been heard at previous hearings. As I stated when we began this work, we are all learning together and we have found through our research that we may be able to utilize what is currently in code differently to achieve our goals, so we are going back to the drawing board on those requirements.
While Doctor Pruitt will elaborate on this point, one of the mai...
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