The Jersey City Planning Board has voted unanimously (9-0) to approve an ordinance amendment that would remove data centers and “cyber hotels” as an allowed use in industrial districts, as well as update the definition of warehouses for the same reason.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
The ordinance amendment was proposed by Mayor James Solomon and the Jersey City Planning Department.
City Planning Director Tanya Marione explained that the most recent Master Plan completed in 2020 recommends the removal of data centers and “cyber hotels” as permitted principal uses in the city’s industrial districts in the western and southern parts of the city.
“I actually think it kind of solidifies it and it’s backed up in the 2000 Master Plan,” she said at the June 30th planning board meeting.
“In the 2000 Master Plan, when we were really kind of looking at data and the internet in a different lens than we had ever been before, and needing the places to have capacity in order to get all that data, all that energy. It was really done with the idea of colocation.”
According to Marione, there are already data centers in Jersey City that exist within office buildings like Newport, where an office building has a one- or two-story data center on their floors that support other offices within the building, among other similar situations downtown.
She specified the ordinance amendment would apply only to a permitted principal structure where it is only used as a data center within the industrial districts.
“Again, this is really just following up on the Master Plan recommendations. It removes ‘cyber hotels,’ which for reference, I’ve never heard anybody use ‘cyber hotels’ as a description,” Marione reiterated.
“So I’m not a thousand percent sure where we got it, but we got it, which are really just data centers. And it changes this definition so that it is consistent with what we are recommending.”
Commissioner Andrew Kaplan, also the city’s Department of Infrastructure director, asked Marione to define a “data hotel” to which she said the definition is in the amendment for both data centers and “cyber hotels.”
According to the amendment, data centers are “a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems, and are not considered warehousing.”
Marione said there is a separate definition for “cyber hotels,” but she didn’t have it readily available but was fairly confident it stated to “see data centers” under its definition.
Existing data centers in Jersey City grandfathered under the ordinance are scattered throughout downtown, such as at 210 Hudson St., 25 Christopher Columbus Drive, 1 Evertrust Plaza, and two at 111 Town Square Plaza within commercial and office buildings.
The ordinance essentially banning standalone data centers was approved unanimously (9-0) and was a relatively small talking point at the five-and-a-half hour meeting.
Notably, the move comes in the wake of widespread opposition across the country and in Hudson County to the planning and construction of data centers that house the hardware to run artificial intelligence (AI).
Residents have voiced unequivocal concerns over the facilities’ use of electricity and the subsequent impact on power bills, the massive amount of water used to cool servers and other equipment components inside data centers.
The issue undoubtedly became a pivotal topic shifting the May municipal election to new Bayonne Mayor Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski against one of her mayoral opponents at the time then-Councilman at-Large Loyad Booker.
Booker had previously voted to support an amendment to a redevelopment plan to add data centers as a permitted principle land use.
And while he was part of the Bayonne City Council that approved a non-binding resolution prohibiting data centers in the city, they ultimately failed to deliver on a promise to adopt a binding ordinance outlawing the facilities in Bayonne before their terms expired.
While city planning staff identified another two redevelopment plans that have data center zoning permitted in Bayonne, bringing the grand total to three sites that allow the zoning, Ashe-Nadrowski has stated she will soon introduce an ordinance that will enact a ban on the facilities within city limits.
Meanwhile, data centers have also been controversial at the county level with residents from multiple municipalities addressing the Hudson County Board of Commissioners with their concerns amid discussions about the use of AI for legal services by the county Law Department.
However, the board approved a resolution in June in support of Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s (D) Comprehensive Data Center Accountability Plan, and in opposition to “unchecked data center development” in New Jersey as the state is home to about 80 already and counting.
Although, increased activism in the wake of the myriad of data center proposals has led to many municipalities- or even the developers themselves- to change their minds.
The plan announced back in March aims to address the growing impact of data centers on energy demand, resource use, and local communities, while helping hold data centers accountable and positioning the state to lead in AI innovation.
The comprehensive plan consists of four key pillars including: establishing fair-share rules, improving transparency, developing strong statewide standards for Community Benefits Agreements, and delivering good paying jobs.
Per the plan, establishing fair-share rules seeks to ensure data centers bring new clean energy online and contribute to the grid infrastructure needed to support their growth, shifting costs away from residents and ratepayers rather than to them, according to Sherrill.
“It’s an important issue. We passed it to support the state because we share the same concerns they have about the proliferation of these centers and environmental impacts and other impacts on the community,” County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) told HCV.
