Trending
Every time I see another Census estimate showing fewer people in the Ohio Valley, I think about how many of our children and grandchildren have had to leave to find the kind of work they want to do. That's pertinent now as Wheeling City Council is scheduled to take up a proposed data center ordinance on Tuesday.
I think city leaders are considering the right question: How do we give new investment a fair shot while making sure the people who live here have a say in what happens in their own neighborhoods?
It's been clear to me for more than two decades that if we want to see Wheeling and the surrounding region move forward, then we have to decide what that future looks like and do the work to get there. That includes avenues to consider new businesses that may be outside what we consider the mainstream while also protecting our quality of life.
Wheeling city leaders are trying to strike that balance with a proposed data center ordinance set to be introduced at this coming Tuesday's (Nov. 17) City Council meeting. After reading the draft ordinance, it appears the city is taking the right approach in providing a potential new path for a data center project while also protecting the surrounding neighborhood and its residents.
That's a good step in the right direction.
As we've noted previously, Wheeling can't afford to automatically say no to new investment. Our region has so much to offer, yet we struggle when it comes to landing new investment. That, in many ways, has helped contribute to a 90-plus year run of population decline, taking Wheeling from a city of about 61,000 in the 1930 Census to one that's now just north of 25,000.
That decline and its impact on those remaining should be front-and-center in every decision this city makes.
As for the proposed ordinance, the city could consider data centers only in districts zoned either I-1 light industrial or I-2 general industrial, and each project would need a special use permit. An applicant would have to spell out how much electricity and water the facility expects to use, how it would cool its equipment and where the noise would come from. The city's Planning Commission would hold a public hearing and the developer would have to make the case that the project meets the city's standards.
There's teeth behind those standards. The city, under the proposed ordinance, could ask for a noise study or require a developer to show the treatment plant can handle the facility's wastewater. The draft calls for minimizing the use of city drinking water for cooling and limits when generators can run. If a facility later expands in a way that materially increases its demand on utilities or its impact on neighbors, it would have to go through another review.
It's also important to note this ordinance would apply only to projects that fall outside the definition of a high-impact data center under West Virginia House Bill 2014, as the state has limited municipalities' authority over such facilities.
The ordinance still needs work. Several provisions give the city discretion over what studies to require for each project. The public deserves to know what situations would prompt the city to ask for one, especially when an industrial site sits near homes. That's a detail that will matter when there's an actual project on the table.
For now, city leaders are doing what we should expect of them: they're making room for investment that could benefit our community while giving residents protections. That's good stewardship.
∫∫∫
I came across a line a few days ago from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro while he campaigned late last month for reelection that's had me thinking. During a stop in Pike County, Pa., which voted heavily against him in the 2022 gubernatorial election and also voted overwhelmingly in 2024 for President Donald Trump, Shapiro was essentially asked why he was wasting his time.
His response? "Show up, especially in communities that didn't vote for you."
Showing up worked. Shapiro, who was re-elected to another four-year term, lost Pike County on election night -- but only by 509 votes. In 2022, he lost that county by 4,971 votes.
Why that's had me thinking ties in with former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, with whom we spoke recently concerning the passing of former governor and U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Wise, when he was elected in 2000, lost Ohio County to then-Gov. Cecil Underwood by more than 1,800 votes. I recall sitting with the late Mike Myer and Wise just a few weeks after his inauguration, during which he addressed the results in Ohio County and told us that he would win the county over.
He did. Even though Wise did not run for re-election in 2004, he and his administration were instrumental in The Highlands' growth. It was Wise's leadership that initiated the state Economic Development Grant Committee, which helped create The Highlands. Wise and his former economic development director, David Satterfield, worked with county officials to land Cabela's. Wise went over and above in ensuring he earned Ohio County's trust.
Showing up does matter. Wise and Shapiro understood that. It's a good lesson in politics and an even better one in life, especially when you know the people in the room may disagree with you.
∫∫∫
Driving to work Thursday morning, I passed two oversized semis heading along Bethlehem Boulevard toward W.Va. 88 and into Marshall County. This was when school buses were still out picking up children for class, and I recalled how not too many years ago the natural gas companies and their subcontractors worked with local school districts to keep trucks off the roads while children were waiting for the school bus.
I suppose that agreement is no longer is in effect.
∫∫∫
Finally, I'll join those who work in or travel through downtown and Center/South Wheeling in lodging a formal complaint over the increased level of stench from the water pollution control plant these past few weeks. I understand, as the late water pollution control Superintendent Albert "King" Campbell used to say, that it's "no perfume factory." Fair enough. And City Manager Robert Herron says the work causing the smell now should help alleviate it down the road. Again, fair enough.
Those of us who simply work downtown get to go home at the end of the day. For the folks who live near the plant, home unfortunately is where the smell is. I think they deserve more than just assurances from the city on this fetid situation.
John McCabe is editor of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register. You can listen to him discuss city issues from 9-10 a.m. each Friday on AM1600 WKKX. He can be reached at jmccabe@theintelligencer.net.