Economic growth comes to Sunbury, but not without concerns

SUNBURY, Ohio (WCMH) -- Central Ohio is continuing on the path to becoming the tech hub of the Midwest. Several companies are already investing billions in the greater Columbus area. Now, Amazon has committed to establishing roots in Sunbury.

Sunbury City Council has approved an Amazon data center in the city's new limited industrial business park, just south of State Route 37. It will be the city's largest single investment in history, and is being met with both support and criticism from residents.

Amazon has committed to invest $2 billion into Sunbury to build the data center. Sunbury Mayor, Joe St. John, said it's important they take a proactive look at the city's current situation and diversify its tax base. 

"If we grow at the rate that we've continued to grow at 5% per year, that is unsustainable primarily on our school system," St. John said. "And we need to be able to do a great job on land planning and from a tax planning perspective."

St. John said the project will have economic benefits on county-based taxing authorities like library services, parks and 911 emergency communications which will take some of the tax burden off residents.

"This particular development puts us on a path to stay off the ballot for longer," St. John said. "And we see this as a good development."

The project will create 50 direct high-wage jobs in Sunbury. Although St. John said the city has been met with a lot of positive feedback, they've also heard some pushback surrounding this. 

"Well, only 50 jobs that are $90,000 on average," St. John said. "But that also translates into less vehicle trips, less demand on public services, less demand on police and fire. All the while, there's no students that come along with this business and they're paying into our school system."

Some residents said they fear the project will make Sunbury lose its small town charm. St. John said it will not be a distribution center. 

"What we are doing is being extremely proactive and we need to shift the paradigm and attract more commercial and industrial type uses," St. John said.

Jassen Holderby, a longtime Sunbury resident and business owner, said he doesn't see any direct impacts yet, especially now that he knows it won't be a distribution center.

"The rumor mills run rampant around a small town and for all we knew it was an EBAY shipping center for a while," Holderby said.

Holderby said he's still unsure how the project will impact him. 

"The immediate impact will be felt through construction for the community just coming and going," Holderby said. "But we have a lot of that out here anyway."

Some residents fear this will open the floodgates for more large companies to take over their land. 

"I think what our community is upset about is we are a small town, and we like our land, we like our farmers, we love them," Holderby said. "And we don't want to see it go away like it has in a lot other areas. Do I think a data center will do it? Not necessarily."

St. John said the project is still in its early stages.

"Change is hard. And we live in a prosperous city," St. John said. "And we want to keep it that way, and we want to maintain our low taxes."

There will be several opportunities for the public to weigh in. St. John encourages residents to attend city council meetings and share their input on the project.

Amazon also has data centers in New Albany, Dublin and Hilliard.