Data centers in Guernsey County, Ohio: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Guernsey County's commissioners have said no to a data center they have no legal power to stop. On June 9, 2026, local real estate agent Jason Miller and Rich Stokey, chief executive of Smart Energy Partners, which coordinates site and power acquisition for data centers, gave commissioners a "general description" of a possible project. Miller has 425 acres in the county he might develop. According to the meeting minutes, Stokey described closed-loop cooling needing little water and power from natural gas generated on site, and mentioned potential "airport area development"; the Cambridge Muni Airport is three miles south of the city. No site has been announced. Stokey, who is also strategic energy adviser for Ohio CAT, told WOUB there is no formal plan and that talk so far covered "threshold questions" such as fiber, gas and power.

Guernsey has no countywide zoning, so a landowner can sell to a data center developer without any county land-use approval. The one lever commissioners hold is tax abatements. They said they would offer none, nor infrastructure help. "If a developer wants a data center in Guernsey County, they'll have to do it without tax abatements and through a private land sale," said commission president Jack Marlin. "I would say the people have spoken," he told WOUB. "They're against data centers." WOUB reported this sets Guernsey apart from neighboring southeast Ohio counties, where officials have generally backed data centers; it counted Guernsey as the 11th county in the region to see a proposal.

On June 19 more than 50 residents met at the Red Roof Inn in Cambridge and formed Guernsey County & Ohio: Data Center Developments, led by Amy Kissinger and Geno Riley. It says commissioners' hands are "legally tied" and worries about farmland, water, reclaimed strip-mine habitat and The Wilds conservation center. The commissioners and the county Farm Bureau have announced a public town hall on data centers, and any project would still face municipal zoning if it sits inside a village or city.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.