HUBBARD — The city is known for its quiet streets and small-town feel, but data center murmurings have community members worried that the landscape is about to change.

During the public comments portion of Monday’s city council meeting, officials heard from Main Street resident Paige Haynie, with Ohio Residents for Responsible Development.

Haynie said she spoke with Mayor Ben Kyle about data centers being built and noted many residents are concerned.

“[Kyle] had shared with me that there’s nothing in the works at this time, but it is being discussed in Girard and a lot of other places, like Sharon [Pa.], Niles,” Haynie said. “He said that it doesn’t look likely in Niles, so that is helpful, that is reassuring.”

Haynie questioned whether there was anything in place to prohibit a data center from entering the city moving forward, adding that Kyle said it had been discussed for approximately two years previously at the Deer Creek Golf Course.

Kyle was referring to Project Milo, an economic development project alongside JobsOhio, a partner of Lake to River Economic Development, which he first mentioned in a February 2025 meeting.

The discussion involves an unidentified company exploring a project that promises “significant economic impact and benefit” for the city.

Haynie also asked if there was a way to make residents more aware of or reassured about their concerns regarding development or a data center’s impact.

Council President Mike Mogg said nothing is in place to prohibit a data center from entering, adding residents should attend council meetings when the topic is discussed.

“Like the mayor told you, it’s still in the very infancy stage,” Mogg said.

Kyle said there’s a process for any development, meaning a proposal would have to go to the city’s planning and zoning committee, in response to a question about reducing a data center’s likelihood.

“So those public meetings for planning and zoning, that board would have to vote to recommend either a rezoning or an additional use permit, or anything like that,” Kyle said. “If someone wants to develop and it meets the current zoning book, there are no meetings or anything like that. They just have to follow the rules that are in the zoning book.”

Kyle said an updated version of the city’s zoning code was passed in 2025.

“There’s a lot of safeguards in place, in the sense that someone can develop as long as it meets current zoning requirements and utility requirements as well,” Kyle said. “If there’s going to be a change in some zoning or location, then that would have to go through the process of rezoning, and then ultimately it would come to city council for the zoning itself to be changed.”

Regarding the downsides of data centers, Mogg said he has done research but noted there were “fearmongers” out there reporting false information.

“I’ve seen stuff that they state that things are putting out radiation — where are you getting radiation?” Mogg said.

Mogg said city officials had a call with a data center company last week, where they learned that the company was using a “closed-loop water system,” which he said he thought was neat.

“They fill it one time, the water circulates through it and cools the equipment; and then I read some more later that evening,” Mogg said. “They’re talking about the sludge that builds up in the system, and they’ve got to dump the system every now and then, which is a lot of water.”

Mogg said he did not know where the sludge gets dumped.

Regarding residents’ rates being impacted by a data center, Kyle said a lot of the developments are happening at a “very high level,” in the sense that PUCO and similar agencies are voting to spread the transmission level costs over everything.

“We might not have any impact here, but we might have an increase in utility rates because of the high level of transmission for electricity,” Kyle said. “The EDM network, which covers three-quarters of the East Coast — give or take.”

Kyle said a variety of things can happen, and some of it is outside of the city’s control, noting it could reach the county level, using the Kimberly-Clark tax abatements as an example.