A Trenton resident is calling for a moratorium on a massive data center project after construction began without what he says is adequate community input or environmental studies.Barry Blankenship, who lives near the planned 1 m illion-square-foot facility in Trenton's Industrial Park, said he discovered heavy machinery breaking ground on the site just before Christmas. The California-based real estate company Prologis purchased the 141-acre plot from the city in October for approximately $7.7 million, according to our partners with Journal-News."Somewhere along the way, somebody is not telling us the truth," Blankenship said. "If there's nothing finalized, then how do we know where to come out and excavate and degrade to put in retention ponds?"Blankenship said he first learned about the project at a city hall meeting in October and felt blindsided by the lack of community notification. He has since organized with other residents, forming the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance or W.A.T.E.R, to demand transparency from city leaders."I'm concerned because there's a school right beside my house that the children's gotta put up with the sound constantly," Blankenship said. "I'm worried about the electricity, the water, the environment. I'm worried about everything. That this data center doesn't represent a community like ours."WATCH: Crews work on the site of a planned data center in Trenton Residents demand transparency as data center construction beginsThe resident group has filed multiple Ohio public records requests since Jan. 2, seeking information about non-disclosure agreements, environmental impact analyses and health studies. Blankenship said only a couple of those requests have been fulfilled."All of those tests and studies that should have been done before this project began, they say they don't have, and that's very concerning to me," he said.In response to Blankenship's public records request, the city provided preliminary site plans for what it calls "Project Mila" on Jan. 6. The documents, prepared by Bowman Consulting Group, show conceptual drawings for six data center buildings with loading docks, four stormwater management ponds, utility infrastructure and landscaping plans.The city emphasized in its response that the materials are "expressly labeled as 'Preliminary / Conceptual - For Informational Purposes Only'" and "do not constitute an approved site plan, final engineering drawings, or an approved development application."The plans reveal the scope of the project, showing multiple generator yards, extensive utility infrastructure including water, fire, sanitary sewer and storm sewer lines, and detailed architectural elevations for the proposed buildings.However, the city confirmed it does not maintain any SWOT analysis between Prologis, Project Mila, the data center end user and the city. SWOT is a strategic planning framework used to evaluate an organization or projects internal Strengths and Weaknesses, along with external Opportunities and Threats. The status of non-disclosure agreements remains under review, according to city officials.Community concerns persist despite city explanationsThe data center controversy has drawn significant community attention, with residents packing city council chambers during a more than four-hour public meeting in November 2025. Many residents expressed concerns about higher energy and water bills, noise and light pollution, emergency response times and feeling left in the dark about the plans.Mayor Ryan Perry acknowledged communication issues, saying the city would work on improving transparency through newsletters, live QAs with the mayor, monthly roundtables and moving council recordings from Facebook to a permanent home on YouTube,Journal-News reported.At the time, no environmental and traffic impact studies had been completed for the project, nor had tax abatements been decided. The operator of the data center remains unknown.Perry addressed water capacity concerns, noting Trenton's water treatment plant can handle up to 6 million gallons per day with minor improvements, while current city usage is 1.5 million gallons daily. He argued that having the data center in Trenton provides more control than if it were built in the township, where developers could dig unlimited wells.The data center site sits less than half a mile from Blankenship's home and approximately three-quarters of a mile from a local school. He disputes the city's claim that residential areas are 2,300 feet away, saying two houses behind him are within 750-800 feet of the construction zone.The project is part of multiple developments happening simultaneously in Trenton, including a 125,000-panel solar field by Duke Energy and the Trenton Square development."They're trying to do all these projects at once, which makes the citizens really worried and concerned of why so much stuff is happening all at once," Blankenship said.When contacted Wednesday for details about the project, a Prologis spokesperson said the company was working to provide information.We also reached out to city officials, but did not hear back on Wednesday.Trenton joins other Tri-State communities grappling with similar data center proposals, including Hamilton, Wilmington and Maysville. In Mt. Orab, community outcry led a council member to introduce a 180-day moratorium that would ban data centers.Blankenship hopes Trenton will implement its own moratorium to allow time for proper studies and community input."Place a year moratorium on this thing. Get the studies we need done, get the information to your citizens," he said.City officials have said the project will create 100-150 full-time jobs and provide economic benefits through property taxes and tap-in fees. However, Blankenship believes the negative impacts outweigh any potential benefits."People's already talking about selling their homes, and it's just something that nobody wants in their community," he said.Blankenship said he expects the city to approve final site plans for the project next month. Until then, Blankenship said he and other residents remain determined to fight for transparency and community input."Be transparent with not just myself," he said. "Be transparent with 13,000 other Trentonites that live here."A Trenton City Council meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less