Record · Local legislation
City of Lima Ordinance 198-26 — an eighteen-month moratorium on the establishment, development, processing, review and approval of new stand-alone data-center development within the corporate limits of the City of Lima, and on new requests for City-supplied water for data-center developments outside those limits, introduced at the regular council meeting of 2026-09-14
2026-09-14-ord-198-26-data-center-moratorium
Fields
instrument
City of Lima Ordinance 198-26 — an eighteen-month moratorium on the establishment, development, processing, review and approval of new stand-alone data-center development within the corporate limits of the City of Lima, and on new requests for City-supplied water for data-center developments outside those limits, introduced at the regular council meeting of 2026-09-14
ordinance_no
198-26
body
Council of the City of Lima, Ohio
body_kind
city_council
subject_matter
development_moratorium
introduced
2026-09-14
adopted
—
outcome
introduced
emergency
declared_in_text
readings
—
title_verbatim
AN ORDINANCE ENACTING AN EIGHTEEN-MONTH MORATORIUM ON THE ESTABLISHMENT, DEVELOPMENT, PROCESSING, REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF NEW STAND-ALONE DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE CITY OF LIMA AND ON NEW REQUESTS FOR CITY SUPPLIED WATER FOR DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENTS OUTSIDE THE CORPORATE LIMITS
title_source
packet p. 154 (the ordinance's own first page)
title_variant_note
[verified] The AGENDA's listing of the same ordinance (p. 6) prints "date center developments" for "data center developments". A typo in the agenda, not in the instrument. Recorded rather than corrected, per chain of custody.
section_1_verbatim
Lima City Council hereby imposes a moratorium on further processing of any application for any building permits, certificates of occupancy, conditional use, zoning approvals or any other administrative actions and approvals for standalone data center development within the corporate limits of the City of Lima, Ohio, or new requests for City-supplied water for data center developments outside the corporate limits of the City or other actions embodied within the provisions above, to allow the administration additional time to study the issues involved to determine whether legislative changes are needed to enhance the effectiveness of the administration's goals regarding economic development, and to ensure the public peace, health, safety, and welfare of its citizens. The moratorium shall be effective from the date of passage of this ordinance and ending on the earlier of: (1) the effective date of an ordinance regulating or prohibiting new standalone data centers within the City of Lima, Ohio, or new requests for City-supplied water for data center developments outside the corporate limits of the City; or (2) eighteen-months from the date of passage of this ordinance. This ordinance shall be prospective in nature and shall not affect any preexisting contracts entered into prior to passage of this ordinance.
enacting_clause_verbatim
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LIMA, OHIO, WITH AT LEAST A MAJORITY OF THE MEMBERS ELECTED THERETO CONCURRING:
scope
- limb_1_development
- what [verified] p. 155. Further processing of any application for building permits, certificates of occupancy, conditional use, zoning approvals, or any other administrative action or approval, for standalone data-center development.
- where [verified] "within the corporate limits of the City of Lima, Ohio". CITY LIMITS ONLY. This limb reaches no development in any township.
- limb_2_water
- what [verified] p. 155. NEW REQUESTS for City-supplied water for data-center developments.
- where [verified] "outside the corporate limits of the City". ⚠️ THIS LIMB REACHES OUTSIDE THE CITY. It is not a development control — Lima cannot zone a township — it is a control on Lima's own act as a water supplier, and it is exactly as extraterritorial as the City's water main. Any statement that "the moratorium applies only inside the city" is wrong about this limb.
- undefined_terms
- [open] "STANDALONE" / "STAND-ALONE" IS NOT DEFINED. The preamble defines "data center" at length (p. 154) and never defines "standalone". The instrument therefore does not settle whether a data center accessory or ancillary to another principal use is inside or outside the moratorium. The title hyphenates ("STAND-ALONE"), Section 1 does not ("standalone"); both forms are the instrument's own.
- [open] "NEW REQUESTS" IS NOT DEFINED either. Whether a request pending on the date of passage is "new" is not answered in the text, and the preexisting-contracts sentence addresses CONTRACTS, not pending requests.
clock
- duration eighteen months
- runs_from [verified] p. 155 — "effective from the date of passage of this ordinance". A PASSAGE-RELATIVE clock, not a calendar date. The instrument names no start date and no end date.
- ends_on_the_earlier_of
- [verified] (1) "the effective date of an ordinance regulating or prohibiting new standalone data centers within the City of Lima, Ohio, or new requests for City-supplied water for data center developments outside the corporate limits of the City" — the EARLY EXIT. Note it tracks BOTH limbs: standards for the city-limits limb alone would not, on this text, end the water limb.
- [verified] (2) "eighteen-months from the date of passage of this ordinance".
- end_date [open] UNCOMPUTABLE FROM THE INSTRUMENT. Both branches run from the date of passage, and passage is not established (see `passage`). If the ordinance passed at the 2026-09-14 meeting the outer limit would fall in mid-March 2028 — that is an [inference] resting on a [reference] passage date and is deliberately NOT recorded as a date anywhere in this file.
preexisting_contracts_carve_out
- verbatim This ordinance shall be prospective in nature and shall not affect any preexisting contracts entered into prior to passage of this ordinance.
- page 155
- note ⚠️ [verified] THE ORDINANCE NAMES NEITHER GOOGLE NOR AMERICAN TOWNSHIP. Its carve-out is generic — "any preexisting contracts". The identification of the Google water commitment as one such contract is made in the ADMINISTRATION'S TRANSMITTAL MEMO (p. 43), not in the enacting text, and the memo is a request for legislation rather than the legislation. Both facts are [verified]; they are different facts, from different documents, doing different work, and a register that merges them into "the ordinance exempts Google" has asserted something no instrument says.
emergency_clause
- section_5_verbatim In accordance with City Charter Section 33, and for the reasons set forth in the Preamble above, this ordinance is considered as an administrative emergency, and shall take effect and be in force forthwith upon passage by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members elected to council at the first reading hereof. If it does not so pass at first reading, it shall take effect and be in force forthwith upon passage by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members elected to council at the second reading hereof. If it does not so pass at second reading then it shall take effect and be in force forthwith upon passage by an affirmative vote of at least a majority of the members elected to council at the third reading hereof. Otherwise, it shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law.
- page 156
- note [verified] A CASCADING clause, not a bare emergency. It permits immediate effect on a 2/3 vote at first reading and falls through to second and third readings if that vote is not there. So "declared an administrative emergency in the text" and "passed as an emergency" are different claims, and only the first is established here.
- pro_forma_check [verified] The same Charter §33 clause appears on the other instruments in this packet, and two were read to check it: 196-26 (shared living facilities) at p. 149 declares an "administrative emergency" in identical words, and 197-26 (the 2026 budget amendment) at p. 151 declares an "operational emergency" in the same cascading form. A third instance was seen at p. 145 ("operational emergency"), on an ordinance not identified in this read. So the clause is Lima's standard ordinance form and its presence is NOT evidence that this ordinance was treated as unusually urgent. Recorded because the opposite reading is available and wrong. [open] Which of "administrative" and "operational" emergency the Law Department applies to what, and whether the choice carries any legal consequence under the Charter, is not established here — the Lima City Charter §33 text is not in this corpus.
- divergence_from_the_request [verified] The Mayor's and Utilities Director's own transmittal memo asked that any legislation "Proceed through the normal legislative process and not as an emergency measure" (p. 44). The drafted ordinance declares itself an administrative emergency (pp. 155, 156). The divergence is on the face of two documents in the same packet. Given the pro-forma check above, whether it was a deliberate departure or the Law Department's boilerplate is [open], and it is recorded as a divergence rather than characterized as a defiance.
preamble_findings
- page 154
- verbatim_excerpts
- WHEREAS, the growth of artificial intelligence has coincided with a rapid growth of large data centers across Ohio and the United States; and,
- WHEREAS, some data centers use millions of gallons of fresh water per day for cooling; and,
- WHEREAS, the City of Lima remains confident in its ability to meet the commitments of now existing agreements for providing water for data centers; and,
- WHEREAS, additional requests for the City of Lima's water capacity by large or "hyperscale" data centers located outside the corporate limits of the municipality will require evaluation of the City's available water capacity, our ability to continue serving existing customers, the infrastructure provided to serve the development, and the terms under which that service would be provided; and,
- WHEREAS, a data center seeking to locate within Lima's corporate limits would require a much broader level of municipal review than a development located outside the City for which Lima's role is primarily that of a utility provider; and,
- note [verified] THE RECITALS ARE A WATER ARGUMENT AND A JURISDICTION ARGUMENT, IN THAT ORDER. The water recital is generic ("some data centers"), asserts nothing about any Lima project, and is not a finding about the City's own capacity — the very next recital says the opposite about the City's capacity. The jurisdiction recital is the ordinance's own explanation for why its two limbs have different geographies.
authority
- verbatim Council passes this Ordinance under authority of City Charter Sections 1 and 81, and Chapters 212 and 288 of the Codified Ordinances of Lima, as such Chapters may be applicable in whole or in part, as being a matter of local self-government and in the exercise of its constitutional Home Rule authority, and as otherwise in the best interests of the City.
- page 155
passage
- established no
- page 156
- as_printed_verbatim Passed: ____, 2026 / Jamie L. Dixon, President ;; Approved: ____, 2026 / Sharetta T. Smith, Mayor ;; ATTEST: Dana Addis, Clerk of Council
- vote
- roll_call_recorded no
- tally —
- mover —
- seconder —
- grid_as_printed [verified] p. 154. A blank grid: columns VOTE / 1ST / 2ND / 3RD, each split Y|N, over rows GORDON, WILKERSON, LOWE, JORDAN, JONES, GLENN, NEEPER, DIXON, and a TOTAL row. Every cell, and the "Introduced by ____ Councilor" and "Seconded by ____ Councilor" lines, are empty.
- note ⚠️ [open] NO TALLY, NO SPONSOR, NO READING. This is the as-introduced form. Secondary coverage (limaohio.com, hometownstations.com/13abc, toledoblade.com, govtech.com, all 2026-09-15) reports that Council approved the moratorium; that is [reference] and is not promoted to [verified] here. No numeric tally appears in ANY of those reports either, so there is no press figure to check against — there is simply no vote record yet.
- why_not_established [verified] The City publishes no Minutes document for this meeting. PrimeGov's `ListArchivedMeetings?year=2026` returns meeting 359 with a `documentList` of exactly three entries — Agenda (7757), Packet (7758), HTML Packet (7760) — all published 2026-09-10. By contrast meeting 372 (the 2026-08-17 special meeting) HAS a Minutes document, published 2026-09-15, so the City does publish minutes on this portal; these have simply not been approved and posted yet. Ohio councils approve minutes at a later meeting, so this is an expected lag and not a refusal.
- resolution_route A certified copy of the ordinance as passed, the journal entry and the roll call are the subject of the R.C. 149.43 request drafted at `data/extracted/lima/council/2026-09-16-lima-clerk-of-council.records-request.md`. The cheaper alternative is to re-pull the PrimeGov meeting list once the minutes post; the request exists because a certified as-passed copy is a stronger instrument than posted minutes and because the eighteen-month clock cannot be computed without a passage date.
meeting_context
- location_verbatim Mercy Health St. Rita's Graduate Medical Education Center, 751 W. Market Street, Lima, Ohio 45801 — 6:30 P.M. PRE-COUNCIL MEETING Conference Room No. 1; 7:00 P.M. REGULAR MEETING Auditorium
- location_page 0
- date_note ⚠️ [verified] THE MEETING WAS MONDAY 2026-09-14, NOT 2026-09-15. The agenda's own text layer prints "REGULAR MEETING AGENDA / SEPTEMBER 14, 2026"; 2026-09-14 is the Monday and 2026-09-15 is the Tuesday the coverage was filed. Every secondary source carries the later date.
- communication_verbatim *From the Mayor and the Dir. of Utilities regarding legislation for an 18-month moratorium on new standalone data center development within the City of Lima.
- communication_page 1
- communication_note [verified] The COMMUNICATION that carried the item describes only the city-limits limb. The water limb appears in the ordinance's title and text and in the agenda's ordinance listing, but not in the one-line communication. A reader working from the agenda's front matter alone would not learn that the instrument reaches outside the corporate limits.
- also_on_this_agenda [verified] 33 ordinances, 166-26 through 198-26, and a SECOND moratorium — 196-26, an additional six-month moratorium on shared living facilities (group homes), with two citizen speakers. The two moratoriums are unrelated; only 198-26 concerns data centers.
transmittal_memo
- file data/documents/lima/council/Meetings359Packet_20260910141403791.pdf
- pages
- 43
- 44
- 46
- dated 2026-09-08
- signatories
- Sharetta T. Smith, JD, MBA — Mayor
- Mike Caprella — Utilities Director
- google_carve_out_verbatim This proposal would be prospective and would not alter, reopen, or otherwise affect the City's existing commitment to provide water to the Google data center currently under development in American Township.
- google_carve_out_page 43
- framing_verbatim This proposed moratorium is not about a lack of water capacity. Lima's water system remains one of our greatest economic development assets.
- water_system_figures
- upground_reservoirs 5
- reservoir_storage_gal ~15000000000
- treatment_capacity_mgd ~30
- production_2025_average_mgd 13.7
- production_2025_maximum_daily_mgd 17.4
- page 44
- note [verified] as the memo's own statements. They are NOT independently corroborated here against a Lima WWTP/water-plant instrument, and the approximate markers are the memo's own ("approximately"). The 2025 figures are production, not permitted capacity.
- requested_terms
- [verified] p. 44 — Apply prospectively to new standalone data-center development within Lima's corporate limits and new requests for City-supplied water for data centers outside the City
- [verified] p. 44 — Proceed through the normal legislative process and not as an emergency measure
- [verified] p. 44 — Preserve existing contractual commitments and legally vested rights
- [verified] p. 44 — Not alter or impair the City's existing commitment associated with the Google data center in American Township
- [verified] p. 46 — Permit the moratorium to end earlier if Council adopts appropriate standards before the 18-month period expires
- standards_under_study_verbatim I have asked our department directors to evaluate standards addressing appropriate locations, land use, setbacks, buffering, water and wastewater capacity, electric demand, noise, environmental impacts, traffic and infrastructure, developer responsibility for infrastructure costs, fiscal return, workforce development, local contracting, community benefits, and public-engagement requirements.
- standards_page 44
what_this_instrument_does_not_establish
- ON LIMB 1 IT DOES NOT REACH THE GOOGLE / AMERICAN TOWNSHIP CAMPUS, AND IT DOES NOT PURPORT TO. Limb 1 reaches development approvals only inside Lima's corporate limits [verified, p. 155] and the campus is in American Township [verified — data/extracted/plans/4091286.engineering.yaml, and the Roadwork Development Agreement's property clause at data/extracted/aedg/roadwork-development-agreement.rda.yaml]. That much is established, and it is sufficient on its own.
- ⚠️ LIMB 2's APPLICATION TO THE CAMPUS IS [open] AND IS NOT DECIDED HERE. Limb 2 reaches "new requests for City-supplied water" outside the corporate limits, and Section 1 exempts "any preexisting contracts entered into prior to passage". Whether that exemption covers this campus turns on two things this corpus does not hold. (1) WHETHER AN EXECUTED WATER-SERVICE CONTRACT EXISTS AND WHAT IT COVERS — the only corpus evidence is PAAC minutes recording a City of Lima / Allen County Water District agreement "underway" on 2025-05-01 (p. 43) and the Mayor's memo characterizing an "existing commitment" (packet p. 43). A negotiation is not a contract and a characterization of a contract is not the contract — the same distinction this file applies to the Google carve-out. (2) WHETHER A FUTURE REQUEST WOULD BE A "NEW REQUEST", which the instrument does not define (see `scope.undefined_terms`). So the conclusion that this ordinance does not reach the campus rests on LIMB 1 ALONE; it must not be stated as two independent reasons.
- IT NAMES NO OPERATOR, NO PROJECT AND NO PARCEL. "Google", "American Township", and every project name appear ZERO times in the enacting text. The only place Google is named anywhere in this record is the administration's transmittal memo.
- IT IMPOSES NO STANDARD. The ordinance pauses processing; it sets no water, discharge, noise, height, setback, lighting, generator or load condition. The standards are the WORK the pause was bought to allow, and they do not exist yet.
- IT SETS NO NUMERIC WATER THRESHOLD. Limb 2 reaches "new requests for City-supplied water for data center developments" at any volume; there is no gallonage trigger in the text.
- IT ESTABLISHES NO PASSAGE. See `passage`.
⚠ Gaps in the record
- The committed source is an UNSIGNED, PRE-PASSAGE copy published four days before the vote, with a blank vote grid and unfilled passage and approval lines. Everything in `passage` is [open] and nothing here may be restated as "the ordinance as enacted".
- pp. 154-156 have NO text layer. Every quotation from the ordinance is OCR of page images at 450 DPI and carries OCR risk; the operative Section 1 and Section 5 quotations were re-rendered and re-read, but a certified copy remains the resolution route. Two OCR artefacts were seen and corrected against a second render: "WHERKEAS" for "WHEREAS" (p. 155 line 1) and "REVIEW" mis-segmented in the title block on p. 154.
- The agenda's "date center" is the agenda's own typo and is preserved in `title_variant_note`; do not propagate it, and do not "fix" it in the source.
Where it connects
lima/council/2026-09-14-ord-198-26-data-center-moratorium.resolution.yaml · p.1 · lima