ASHVILLE, Ohio — The Village of Ashville received a $3.5 million donation from EdgeConneX Inc. on the morning of Oct. 8, the same company whose proposed data center development in the village is headed to a Nov. 3 referendum, village officials said in a Facebook post.
The village said the money would be split among three projects: $1 million for parks and recreation improvements, $900,000 for upgrades to the village’s wastewater pump station, and $1.6 million for engineering work on the South Metershed Project, an effort the village said is meant to address inflow and infiltration problems in its wastewater collection system following findings and orders issued by the Ohio EPA.
Village officials said the contribution allows Ashville to move forward with the projects without placing the financial burden on taxpayers, since the work would otherwise have required significant village funding.
The donation arrives weeks before Pickaway County voters decide the fate of the development agreement that would let EdgeConneX and an affiliated company build two data centers on about 195 acres in the village. Ashville’s council approved the agreement, known as Resolution 06-2026, in April on a 5-1 vote as an emergency measure, a designation that under Ohio law takes effect immediately and ordinarily blocks a referendum. Residents opposed to the project gathered signatures for a referendum petition anyway, and the dispute reached the Ohio Supreme Court, which ruled Aug. 7 that the emergency declaration was improperly justified and ordered the petition certified. The Pickaway County Board of Elections voted 4-0 later that month to send the question to voters, clearing the way for it to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Ashville’s village council has separately weighed repealing the agreement outright, according to previous Scioto Valley Guardian reporting.
Ashville is a village of about 4,500 residents in Pickaway County, governed by an elected mayor and village council.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Village of Ashville and previous Scioto Valley Guardian reporting.
