McDonald OH one-year data center moratorium (2026)
McDonald, Ohio — Village Council Takes Less Than Five Minutes at a Special Meeting to Pass an EMERGENCY Ordinance Imposing a One-Year Moratorium Barring the Village From Accepting, Processing or Considering Any Data Center Application, After Weeks of Two-Hour Meetings and Residents Protesting Outside the High School (September 2026)
McDonald, OH · McDonald, Ohio — emergency ordinance imposing a one-year data center moratorium, adopted September 16, 2026
- Status
- In effect
- Expires
- September 16, 2027
- Applies to
- Anyone seeking to file or advance a data center application in the Village of McDonald
- Enforced by
- McDonald Village Council; village administration
McDonald's village council took less than five minutes at a special meeting on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 to approve an EMERGENCY ORDINANCE placing a one-year moratorium on data centers. The brevity is the story. Recent meetings on the subject had run two hours or more, and on the Tuesday before the vote residents stood outside McDonald High School holding signs against data centers as people filed into the gymnasium to meet representatives of the developer. By the time the council convened, the argument was over. The moratorium means the village will not ACCEPT, PROCESS OR CONSIDER any applications for any data centers in the village — all three verbs, which closes the routes a narrower pause leaves open. Adopting it as an EMERGENCY measure matters under Ohio law: an emergency ordinance takes effect immediately on passage rather than after the usual waiting period, and in Ohio it is also not subject to referendum. For a village facing an active developer courting residents in a school gymnasium, immediate effect is the whole point — a thirty-day delay is thirty days in which an application can be filed. Councilman Brian Bosheff was unable to attend. Council President Sean Schmidt said council and village officials will always do what is in the best interest of the village and its residents.
Who is protected: Residents of the Village of McDonald, Trumbull County, Ohio
Legal detail
McDonald, Ohio (Trumbull County, Mahoning Valley) — ONE-YEAR MORATORIUM adopted by EMERGENCY ORDINANCE at a SPECIAL MEETING of the VILLAGE COUNCIL on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2026, in UNDER FIVE MINUTES. OPERATIVE SCOPE, ALL THREE VERBS: 'the village will NOT ACCEPT, PROCESS OR CONSIDER ANY APPLICATIONS FOR ANY DATA CENTERS IN THE VILLAGE.' An acceptance bar prevents an application from ripening into a vested interest; a processing bar prevents administrative advancement; a consideration bar reaches the council's own discretionary action. Compare Marysville KS 12-month data center moratorium (2026) ('accepted, processed or approved'). THE EMERGENCY DESIGNATION IS LEGALLY SIGNIFICANT IN OHIO AND IS THE REASON THIS ENTRY IS RECORDED AS `strong`. Under Ohio municipal law an ordinary ordinance takes effect after a statutory waiting period and is subject to referendum; AN EMERGENCY MEASURE, PASSED WITH THE REQUISITE VOTE AND A STATEMENT OF THE EMERGENCY, TAKES EFFECT IMMEDIATELY UPON PASSAGE AND IS NOT SUBJECT TO REFERENDUM. Against an active developer, immediate effect forecloses the filing window that a delayed effective date would leave open — which is precisely the gap that produced the vested-rights defeats recorded at Rockford IL, Cle Elum WA, Salem and Lowell. THE VOTE TALLY IS NOT GIVEN and the emergency vote threshold therefore cannot be confirmed from this source; Councilman BRIAN BOSHEFF was absent. CONTEXT SHOWING WHY SPEED MATTERED: recent meetings on the subject had run TWO OR MORE HOURS, and on the Tuesday preceding the vote residents (named in the source as Heather Johnson, Samantha Muche and Lou Muche) demonstrated with signs OUTSIDE McDONALD HIGH SCHOOL as people entered the gymnasium to meet representatives of the developer. A DEVELOPER CONDUCTING A PUBLIC OUTREACH MEETING IN A SCHOOL GYMNASIUM THE DAY BEFORE indicates an active, advanced proposal — so unlike the pre-emptive pauses in this wave (wi-sauk-county, or-woodburn, ca-marina, id-latah-county, all with nothing pending), MCDONALD ACTED AGAINST A LIVE PROJECT. That is the higher-risk posture, and the emergency designation is the mitigation. Council President SEAN SCHMIDT said council and village officials will always do what is in the best interest of the village and its residents. OHIO CLUSTER: Lima OH 18-month data center + water service moratorium (2026), Canton OH data center zoning chapter (2026), Twinsburg OH 12-month data center moratorium (2026-065), Clayton OH 365-day data center moratorium (2026), Pioneer OH six-month data center moratorium (2026) (this wave). THE DEVELOPER IS NOT NAMED in the retrieved text (the sentence identifying the company was truncated at 'representatives of O…'). expires_date IS COMPUTED. ORDINANCE NUMBER NOT OBTAINED.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | McDonald, OH |
|---|---|
| Level | City / local |
| Strength | Stronger |
| Enacted | September 16, 2026 |
| Citation | McDonald, Ohio — emergency ordinance imposing a one-year data center moratorium, adopted September 16, 2026 |
| Private right of action | No, agency enforcement only |
| Penalties | No data center application may be accepted, processed or considered during the moratorium |
| Topics | data-center siting and energy · consumer protection · government use of AI |
| News report | McDonald passes 1-year moratorium on data centers — Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio) |
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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