VIENNA — Trustees voted 2-1 to approve a resolution placing a 180-day moratorium on data centers in the township — almost a week after a nearby township took action on them.

Trustee Kim Ellis voted against it.

Trustee Mike Haddle said he reached out to Hubbard trustee Jason Tedrow following the media attention surrounding their decision, adapting it to fit their 180-day period.

Hubbard trustees voted 2-1 to place a one-year moratorium on data centers at a Feb. 10 meeting, following their zoning commission’s request to the county’s planning commission to evaluate a potential resolution or zoning text amendment regarding the facilities, according to Tedrow.

Tedrow said the zoning commission did not recommend banning the facilities outright without reviewing information with the township’s legal counsel to see if it was legal to do so.

“All I did was get their moratorium and basically copied it and adapted it for Vienna,” Haddle said. “So that we can put, you know, limited protections in place for Vienna until our zoning is able to catch up and do its due diligence on data centers.”

Haddle said trustees didn’t have the authority to stop a business from coming in unilaterally as a board.

Still, they could direct the zoning board to examine the situation, do their research and act on any changes they deemed appropriate.

Haddle said he thinks data centers are a necessary thing and there’s a place for them — just not in close-knit communities such as Vienna.

“They need to be in industrial centers, large designated county-like industrial parks, things like that. They don’t need to be sitting in township centers and stuff like that,” Haddle said. “There’s a need for them without a doubt, but I don’t think they need to be right in the middle of a small township.”

Haddle said Vienna and surrounding townships putting protections in to minimize attractiveness to companies looking for a place to establish one would be his ideal scenario for the topic.

“They need to be in places that can better support them infrastructure-wise,” he added.

Zoning Clerk Stephanie Garito said the zoning department has revamped itself for the new year, providing additional informative meetings regarding the township’s activities in relation to the department.

She added that Zoning Inspector Mark Posey has assigned her to research hot topics, such as the data centers, for members to utilize on their own time.