Northern New Jersey: 68 data centres, 29 operators, 951 MW live

• 28 Aug 2026Regulation

  New Jersey governor signs law requiring data centers to report energy and water use

  New Jersey's governor signed legislation requiring data centers to report their energy and water consumption.

• 27 Aug 2026Zoning decision

  Bloomfield Mayor Announces Plan to Ban Data Centers via Zoning Amendment

  Bloomfield, New Jersey Mayor Jenny Mundell announced on August 27 that the town currently has no zoning provisions allowing data centers and plans to amend its ordinances to explicitly prohibit them. The mayor noted that any data center development would require a variance from the zoning board and stated that the town will present an amendment to the city council prohibiting data centers as part of rollout of the town's new master plan.

• 26 Aug 2026Moratorium

  Jackson Township and 3 New Jersey towns adopt data center bans

  Jackson Township Council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to ban data center construction, becoming the 38th New Jersey municipality to do so. The same week, Stafford Township (Ocean County's first), North Brunswick, and East Brunswick approved identical ordinances. Residents cited concerns over electric bills, resource drain, and environmental impact, particularly affecting the Pinelands National Reserve. The bans follow mounting community opposition to existing and proposed facilities, including CoreWeave's 400,000-square-foot AI data center in Kenilworth and a 2.6-million-square-foot facility in Vineland.

• 25 Aug 2026Zoning decision

  East Brunswick bans data centers via zoning ordinance

  East Brunswick Township Council adopted Ordinance 26-21 on Monday, August 25, amending the township's zoning code to ban data centers from all commercial, business, and industrial zones. The council made a technical correction before the unanimous vote, changing "primary use" to "principal use" in the ordinance text. The ban makes East Brunswick the latest of more than 50 New Jersey municipalities to prohibit data centers, citing concerns over utility costs, noise, air and water pollution, and grid impacts.

• 21 Aug 2026Zoning decision

  Judge voids Clifton Township data center zoning ordinance in Project Gold dispute

  Lackawanna County Judge Mark Powell declared Clifton Township's data center zoning amendment void on August 21, 2026, after the township solicitor conceded procedural defects. The ruling caps a legal dispute begun by Quantm Group (operating as 1778 Rich Pike LLC) over the $18 billion Project Gold data center campus, which proposes four facilities in Covington Township and two in Clifton. The developer challenged the township's zoning ordinance for failing to define data centers, then contested the procedural validity of the May 2025 amendment that did so. Covington's zoning permits the development conditionally, but Clifton's path forward remains unclear pending the outcome of the developer's substantive validity challenge now before the county court.

• 19 Aug 2026Permit filed40 MW

  Somerset Development files 40 MW data centre plan at Bell Works, Holmdel

  Somerset Development, with Terna Infrastructure USA as co-applicant, submitted a site plan to Holmdel township planning board for a 40-megawatt, two-story data centre at Bell Works. The 108,000-square-foot facility would replace an existing building on the Alcatel-Lucent Redevelopment Area site and requires only a parking variance (34 spaces vs. 72 required). The submission came three days after the township passed a data-centre ban ordinance on 11 August 2026, but under zoning law the application is grandfathered to proceed before the ban takes effect.

• 17 Aug 2026Litigation

  Ohio Supreme Court hears filings in Trenton data center moratorium dispute

  The Ohio Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case between the city of Trenton and residents seeking to force a referendum on a data center moratorium. The dispute centers on how many signatures were needed to trigger a charter amendment vote restricting new data centers above 25 MW. The city argues 820 signatures (10% of registered voters) were required; petitioners and former Attorney General Marc Dann argue 128 signatures (10% of municipal election voters) sufficed under Ohio precedent. Petitioners collected 336 signatures and the city rejected the petition, prompting the legal challenge.

• 4 Aug 2026Opposition

  Trenton council rejects anti-data center ballot petition; legal challenge planned

  Trenton council rejected a ballot petition opposing data centres. A legal challenge to the rejection is planned.

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