Lima OH 18-month data center + water service moratorium (2026)
Lima, OH — 18-Month Moratorium on Data Center Construction and on New City Water Service to Developments in Outside Municipalities (September 14, 2026)
Lima, OH · City of Lima, Ohio — 18-Month Data Center and Water Service Moratorium (Sept. 14, 2026)
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- March 14, 2028
- Applies to
- Developers seeking to construct data centers in Lima, and any development in an outside municipality seeking new city-supplied water service; City of Lima utilities and planning staff.
- Enforced by
- City of Lima / Lima Utilities Department
Lima City Council passed an ordinance on September 14, 2026 enacting an 18-month moratorium with two distinct halves. The first is conventional: no data center construction in Lima. The second is not — the same ordinance also pauses new requests for city-supplied water to developments in outside municipalities. Lima sells water beyond its own borders, and a data center sited in a neighbouring jurisdiction where Lima has no zoning authority would still need that water. Pausing the service request is the only lever the city has over those projects, and it is the same move Lakeland, Florida made through its municipal electric utility six weeks earlier. Mayor Sharetta Smith framed the pause as prudence rather than opposition: Ohio has become one of the fastest-growing states for data center siting, state and federal rules around the facilities are changing, and the city wanted to evaluate its standards before making further large-scale commitments. The 18 months are for the administration to work out appropriate locations, water capacity, electric demand and other impacts. Lima is the seat of Allen County in northwest Ohio.
Who is protected: Lima residents and Lima water customers — including those in outside municipalities served by Lima's water system, who gain protection the city could not otherwise provide because it has no zoning authority there.
Legal detail
City of Lima, Ohio ordinance adopted by City Council September 14, 2026, imposing an 18-month moratorium with two operative components: (1) a pause on data center construction within Lima, and (2) a pause on NEW REQUESTS FOR CITY-SUPPLIED WATER to developments located in outside municipalities. Component (2) is the notable one — it uses control of extraterritorial utility service as a regulatory lever over projects beyond the city's land-use jurisdiction, structurally the same technique as Lakeland, Florida's Ordinance 26-018 of 2026-08-03 (see Lakeland FL data center + 50MW load moratorium (Ord. 26-018)), which conditioned Lakeland Electric service the same way. Municipal utilities serving beyond their corporate limits are common; using that service as a data center control is not. Stated evaluation agenda for the term: appropriate locations, water capacity, electric demand and other potential impacts. Context cited by the administration: Ohio's position as one of the fastest-growing data center markets and shifting state and federal regulation. expires_date computed as 18 months from adoption. Ordinance number not obtained. Regional context: Ohio has a dense municipal moratorium cluster — Cleveland, Twinsburg (Ord. 2026-065), Ravenna, Massillon, Grove City, and several Franklin, Trumbull and Mahoning county townships.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | Lima, OH |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Stronger |
| Enacted | September 14, 2026 |
| Citation | City of Lima, Ohio — 18-Month Data Center and Water Service Moratorium (Sept. 14, 2026) |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | Data center construction is not approved, and new outside-municipality water service requests are not processed, during the moratorium |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · government use of AI |
| News report | Lima council passes 18-month data center moratorium — The Lima News |
Related data-center siting and energy rules elsewhere
- Superior WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Dane County WI Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- Madison WI Data Center Moratorium (1-year) · In effect
- Manitowoc County WI Data Center Moratorium · In effect
- WA SB 5982 (Data Center / Clean Energy) · In effect
- Dayton OH data center moratorium (180-day, Apr 2026) · In effect
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