PRSM Data Center, Eaton, Ohio

The owners behind the PRSM data center proposal on about 298 acres of farmland along Orphans Road near Eaton, in Jefferson Township, Preble County, Ohio, withdrew their rezoning request on September 29, 2025, two days before the county commissioners were due to vote. PRSM Land Development Group, the land developer behind the data center, says the project is not over.

The case was Preble County Zoning Case #1630. The request would have rezoned 270.34 acres south of Interstate 70 to limited industrial to allow a computer data storage center, and 27.98 acres north of the interstate to a special use under agricultural zoning. The land has frontage on Oxford-Gettysburg Road, Eaton-Gettysburg Road and the north side of Orphans Road. The Preble County Planning Commission voted 11-0 against it on August 21, 2025, and the Rural Zoning Commission 5-0 against it on September 2.

The September 2 public hearing drew an overflow crowd worried about the environment and their energy bills. "I don't think the citizens of the county will support it," said Jesse Morland, who lives on the 300 acres. "They didn't support this go around. I don't see why anyone would expect anything else." In their withdrawal, the owners wrote that they "believe this process requires a different approach and will be re-evaluated sometime in the future."

"Interest in having a data center on that land has not gone away," said Patrick Scanlon of PRSM Land Development Group. "The threshold for this development is the rezoning. And without that nothing happens." Scanlon said PRSM hopes to resubmit when it has a more favorable plan.

A new application would start over. Brad Kramer, the county's director of land use management, said any similar case would have to go back through the Planning Commission, the Rural Zoning Commission and then the Preble County Board of Commissioners, and that the owners could reapply at any time. "The Planning Commission meeting is open to the public. That's not part of the advertising process by law," Kramer said, urging neighbors to spread the word if an application returns.

A February 2026 Ohio statewide report pointed to Preble County as a place where data centers must pass several planning commission approvals, unlike townships with little zoning.