A South Jersey community is moving forward to block data centers — including large facilities that power artificial intelligence — from the site of a proposed storage project after months of frustration from residents.
In a lengthy council meeting that went past midnight last week, Monroe County and Gloucester County officials introduced legislation that would remove data centers as a permitted use from the 159-acre development site.
The council members said the move is the first step towards a complete ban on data centers in the city.
“What that means is that there will be no areas within the zoning maps of Monroe Township where a data center is permitted,” Monroe Mayor Greg Wolfe said at the meeting.
“Do we think that is the end-all? Absolutely not. We intend to find a legal way to block data centers completely, but it must be done in the right way,” he added.
The legislation is expected to be voted on at the next council meeting on April 8.
Although data centers are often similar to warehouses, they house a network of servers that draw a lot of electricity and water to operate. As others are being built to meet the growing demand for AI, communities across the country are saying they are having an impact.
The Monroe Directive will apply to all data centers, including traditional infrastructure and new AI data centers. While performing similar tasks, AI data centers require high levels of cooling and power to keep up with the heavy computing they run.
The city’s proposal comes after concerns about data centers were raised during a January planning board meeting about the development project.
At the meeting, the township’s planning board unanimously approved a preliminary design plan for two warehouses totaling 1.6 million square feet in the development. The project would be built on 95 acres of vacant land near the Black Horse Pike, with a truck parking area, a dock and internal roadways.
The developer and owner of the property, Hexa Builders, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hexa Builders has not yet identified a tenant for the proposed warehouses or provided detailed final plans.
Residents packed the meeting, saying they were worried the warehouses could be approved, so plans to develop the site into a data center could come later. Last year, the city revised the site plan to allow for data centers in the area.
At the time, Wolfe said no data center proposal was ahead of the city, but he did not rule out the possibility in the future.
The history of the development of this area dates back more than ten years. The 159-acre property along Route 322 includes a mix of development-ready land and environmentally friendly wetlands. It was originally designated for warehousing and distribution use as part of the city’s goal for industrial growth along highways.
The proposal to develop the site sparked controversy during Wednesday’s meeting, with Councilor John Valentine arguing that the law banning data centers from the site does not go far enough.
He said that removing data centers from the development project does not prevent them from returning later.
“All this does is remove it as a permitted use,” Valentine said. “I don’t want to see this come back a year from now.”
The mayor said the city’s goal is to ban data centers, but warned it must be done carefully to avoid legal trouble.
“The last thing we want to do is rush the law, get sued, lose, and end up with a data center here,” Wolfe said.
In February, Pemberton Township in Burlington County became the first municipality in New Jersey to adopt a data center ban, according to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. Other cities, including Phillipsburg in Warren County, are considering similar measures.
Monroe’s argument comes as opposition to data centers grows across New Jersey.
In nearby Vineland, one of the largest AI data centers on the East Coast is already under construction.
The 2.6 million square meter facility is expected to include several buildings, draw as much energy as a small city and use about 20 million gallons of water annually. Residents have been protesting the impact of the project, describing the constant noise they say enters their homes, causing anxiety and sleepless nights.
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