Vernon bans data centers

At its June 22 meeting, the Vernon Township Council unanimously passed an ordinance prohibiting data centers from being built in the town.

”It was inspired by the people in Andover who spoke up and said, ‘we don’t want data centers in our town,’” said Vernon Councilman Carl Contino, who authored the Vernon ordinance. “I looked through our town code and saw we did not define what a data center was. Our town code prohibits everything that is not exclusively permitted already so the purpose of the ordinance was to define ‘data center’ in our town code and list it as something that is prohibited.”

Vernon Ordinance 26-11 defines a data center as:

“A facility, building, or use primarily engaged in the storage, management, processing, or hosting of digital data, applications, cloud computing services, cryptocurrency mining, or artificial intelligence processing, through the use of servers, networking equipment, and related infrastructure. Such use shall include associated cooling systems, backup generators, substations, utility infrastructure, and security facilities.

The term shall not include customary accessory information technology or server equipment incidental to a permitted principal use, including but not limited to schools, hospitals, government buildings, financial institutions, or ordinary business operations.

The term shall not include telecommunications facilities, public utility infrastructure, cellular facilities, fiber optic networks, central offices, switching stations, or similar communications infrastructure primarily engaged in providing telephone, cable, wireless, broadband, or internet access services.”

Contino said the measure is preemptive, as no company was seeking to build a data center in Vernon.

“Nothing that is currently operating is affected by this,” he said. “People were concerned about Planet Networks coming in or the switching station in Highland Lakes. Those are not affected by this. If the high school wanted to put a small-scale accessory use server facility in a pre-existing building, that would not violate this ordinance. This is a building whose primary use is for data storage and management and processing, etc.”

Vernon’s Land Use Board signed off on the ordinance as being “substantially consistent” with the town’s master plan before sending it back to the council for final approval.

Vernon Mayor Anthony Rossi said he sent Council President Bill Higgins an amendment he would like made to the ordinance. It reads as follows:

“Data Center shall not include telecommunications, broadband, wireless, cable television, fiber optic, or public utility facilities used primarily for transmission, routing, switching, interconnection, or access network operations, including central offices, remote terminals, telecom huts, cabinets, shelters, cell tower equipment shelters, optical line terminal facilities, points of presence, or similar network infrastructure, unless such facility is used primarily for large-scale commercial data storage, colocation, cloud computing, cryptocurrency mining, artificial intelligence computing, or high-density data processing.”

Higgins, as council president, is the one who must propose the amendment once the ordinance takes effect.

“I have to look into it,” Higgins said when asked about the amendment.