Controversy About the Chillicothe Paper Mill Site

For a small city of around 24,000 people, whenever new developments occur in Chillicothe, Ohio, those who live in the heart of town want to know the fine details.

In recent years, it has become a more difficult task in discovering those fine details.

The focus here is the former paper mill site in downtown Chillicothe. CAI Investments, LLC is a Las Vegas real-estate investment and development company founded by Christopher Beavor. CAI sponsors Critical Infrastructure I, a Delaware statutory trust.

Critical Infrastructure I acquired a newly created parcel from US Paper Mill LLC on August 3, 2026, with the transaction amounting to $76,525,000.

US Paper Mill was the entity created under the corporate structure of US Medical Glove to acquire the former Pixelle property after the paper mill shut down, an action taken on October 17, 2025. This transaction amounted to $7.8 million involving 31 parcels.

For the remainder of 2025, this was seemingly the plan going forward for the former paper mill site. However, in the business world, things tend to change very quickly.

US Paper Mill carved out a new parcel less than 10 months after this acquisition and gave it to Critical Infrastructure I.

Where does the controversy begin? It begins with what is being said about the property, and more importantly, what is not being said.

Fast forward to July 2, 2026. An announcement was made that a proposed data center would call the former paper mill site home. One day later on July 3, Portia Boulger founded "Appalachians Against Data Centers", a group that spreads awareness of the dangers that come with data centers.

Boulger was interviewed by the Scioto Post on September 19 to get her thoughts on what exactly was happening to the former paper mill site. Very candid and to the point, Boulger commented that there has been a lot of confusion and a lack of transparency from political leadership of Chillicothe concerning discussions about the data center and what is being developed on the paper mill site.

Boulger was willing to go as far as to say she knows some political leaders are breaking the law. In the interview, Boulger said that John Todoroki is not a good person. Todoroki runs the entity US Paper Mill.

Boulger cites safety and health concerns and states that she does not want anyone currently employed at the US Medical Glove company to lose their jobs. However, Boulger emphasizes that the jobs should be safe.

Boulger also states that Chillicothe City Council members are incompetent and that they don't care about the safety of Chillicothe citizens.

Five days later on September 24, Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney was interviewed by the Scioto Post to get his side of the story. He commented on the process, stating that it took 19 months to develop the "Universal Development Code" (UDC), which replaced zoning and other powers. According to Feeney, the process didn't even touch on data centers.

The heart of the controversy revolves around what occurred in February 2026. On the 12th, the paper mill's owner sought confirmation that a data center could operate on the property. Eight days later on the 20th, Chillicothe Chief Building Official Brandon Gill wrote a determination stating that a data center was compatible with the existing General Industrial zoning and did not require conditional-use approval.

This zoning-verification letter did not surface until many months later. Seven members of the Chillicothe City Council said they had not previously seen it. Feeney said that the letter was very generic and was sent as an email, so it was dated by the email. The letter was a typical hypothetical request, acting as the start of a conversation.

Feeney did not respond to Portia Boulger's statements in her interview.

Now for the Opinion

As someone who has lived most of his life in South-Central Ohio, particularly doing business on a daily basis in Chillicothe, I can confirm a good chunk of what Portia Boulger is claiming. The general lack of transparency that is being shown by Chillicothe city leaders is not only alarming, but it comes across as disrespectful and a deliberate attempt to hide key details that the citizens of Chillicothe need to know.

Whether it's ineptitude or blatant corruption, or anything in between, the leadership shown in Chillicothe, Ohio has become over the course of the last few decades a joke, or what I would like to call it, a dumpster fire clown show.

This goes beyond just one person making decisions. This goes beyond Mayor Luke Feeney as he is only one person. This goes beyond the fact that the last 3 years in Chillicothe have been filled with seemingly endless road construction projects which amount to redirecting and congesting traffic, and slowing down people by way of installing roundabouts which have been falsely praised for improving safety and the flow of traffic.

Depending on where you stand concerning data centers being built, you can't deny the fact that these facilities pose as potential health risks for communities. Many people in the United States don't even know what exactly data centers are used for. We get very little information about what happens inside these facilities. The unnecessary humming sounds that come out of these buildings is an issue that has not been addressed. Why do we need to provide millions of gallons of water for these high-tech facilities?

Running a city is a tough job, and I don't envy any political position held by anyone in Chillicothe. With that said, if you hold a position of such power, you are supposed to not only serve your citizens but protect them as well. Perhaps not on the same level as police officers and firefighters, but from an administrative standpoint, that should be part of your job.

Considering all the money that is at stake with these deals, it is no surprise that some people would turn a blind eye and not do their homework concerning the risk factors people like Portia Boulger mention. Our society has become too dependent on chasing the money first and then asking tough questions later. That mentality has put many people in danger.

I have seen many business deals unfold in Chillicothe where people signed on the dotted line first, and then only after the fact did people speak up and complain about how bad these deals were for the community. Hard questions were not asked by political leaders, but instead they went ahead with the deal because all they saw was the money and not the harm that came with it.

We are in interesting times as a community here in Chillicothe, Ohio.