Data Centers: Daily Notes | June 15, 2026
From California to New Jersey, communities are slamming the brakes: Monterey Park becomes the first U.S. city to ban data centers by popular vote, while Montgomery County, Red Bank and Pasco County all move to pause new projects.
At A Glance 🔽
- Monterey Park, CA becomes the first U.S. city to ban data centers by popular vote.
- Montgomery County, MD executive signs an order pausing new data center permits for six months.
- Michigan AG Dana Nessel files testimony in the state's first contested data center case over a proposed Google project.
- Red Bank, NJ bans data centers and becomes the first NJ town to call for a statewide pause.
- Pasco County, FL planning commission recommends a one-year moratorium.
- Lakeland, FL moves to draft a one-year hyperscale freeze after backlash over the 600,000-square-foot "Project Swan".
- Summit, NJ council to weigh adding AI data centers to its list of prohibited uses on June 16.
- Broken Arrow, OK council to consider a six-month data center moratorium Monday.
- Wausau, WI Plan Commission to hold a hearing on the city's first data center rules June 16.
- Allegany, NY town board bans data centers and crypto mining despite no proposals on the table.
Monterey Park, California
Monterey Park became the first city in the country to effectively ban data centers by popular vote. Nearly 90% of residents rejected a proposed facility in the June 2 election.
The vote killed plans for a sprawling data center on a vacant Saturn Avenue property that city officials had previously welcomed. It capped a six-month grassroots campaign that turned out hundreds of residents, many engaging with local government for the first time, and that had already secured two earlier moratoriums on data center development.
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Now the San Gabriel Valley suburb is wrestling with what to build instead. The city hosted the first of three community meetings this week to gather residents' vision for the site, with two more sessions set for June 23 and 24.
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich signed an executive order directing the county to stop accepting and processing new data center permit applications for six months.
Elrich framed the pause as a chance to write rules before applications start moving, noting the county currently has no regulations that specifically address data centers. He stressed that it is not a ban. Council President Natali Fani-Gonzalez added the moratorium gives the council room to finish a zoning amendment, ZTA 26-01, that would limit data centers to industrial zones under conditional-use review, with conditions on noise, siting and environmental protections.
The order does not halt the planning board's ongoing work with California-based Atmosphere Data Centers on a site at a former coal-fired power plant in Dickerson, but no permit will be issued during the pause. Councilmembers Will Jawando and Kristin Mink had pushed for a two-year moratorium.
Michigan
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel entered testimony in the state's first contested case over a data center, opening a rare public window into the contracts behind the projects.
The case concerns Google's proposed data center in Van Buren Township, where the company agreed to a contested proceeding at the Michigan Public Service Commission. Nessel had sought the same review for an OpenAI project in Saline Township but was denied. She is pushing to limit energy credits for the company, secure exit fees if Google leaves, and require infrastructure costs be paid up front, warning that the facilities could drive up residents' utility rates.
The Public Service Commission countered that it is an impartial regulator and has adopted some of the nation's toughest ratepayer protections, and DTE Electric projects a $300 million affordability benefit from the new load. With months left in office, Nessel said much of the effort will fall to her successor.
Red Bank, New Jersey
Red Bank's borough council voted to ban data centers and became the first New Jersey municipality to call for a statewide pause on new large-scale facilities.
The June 11 vote enacted a local moratorium, with officials citing risks to water resources, electricity demand and property values. In the same meeting, the council passed a resolution urging the state to halt new large-scale data centers until oversight laws are in place. No company has a publicly confirmed plan to build in Red Bank.
Pasco County, Florida
Pasco County's planning commission voted to recommend a one-year moratorium on data centers. The moratorium still needs final approval from the Board of County Commissioners.
The recommendation followed a standing-room-only hearing in Dade City that ran three and a half hours, as residents pressed the county to keep data centers out. The pause would cover large-scale data centers and other large-load customers, giving staff a year to study impacts on water, electricity, noise and climate. The county has no existing data centers and none in the pipeline, and sits under a Phase 3 extreme water shortage order. Planning director David Engel said the county's code does not currently address data centers at all.
Lakeland, Florida
Lakeland is moving toward a one-year pause on hyperscale data centers, with city leaders agreeing to draft a moratorium ordinance after public backlash over "Project Swan".
The proposal is a 600,000-square-foot data center in west Lakeland, near Old Tampa Highway and Wilkinson Road. Commissioners said the pause is not about turning away business but about understanding the strain a facility could put on the local grid and utilities before approving anything. A de facto moratorium took effect after Friday's study meeting, letting staff deny new hyperscale applications until rules are adopted.
City Attorney Palmer Davis will draft the ordinance for public hearings on July 6 and July 20, with a final vote to follow.
Summit, New Jersey
Summit's Common Council is set to take up ordinances June 16 that would add AI data center facilities to the city's list of prohibited uses alongside a parallel ban on detention centers.
The measures would amend the "Prohibited Uses" section of Summit's development code. The proposals land as nearby towns wrestle with large projects, including the roughly $1.8 billion CoreWeave data center under construction at the former Merck campus in Kenilworth. Officials expect a large crowd for public comment.
The council will weigh the proposals at Tuesday's meeting, which will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel and local cable.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Broken Arrow's city council will weigh a six-month moratorium on data center proposals at its Monday meeting.
The vote follows the expiration of a letter-of-intent agreement to buy 52 acres in east Broken Arrow for a possible data center. City Manager Michael Spurgeon plans to recommend the pause, arguing it makes sense to study the issue now, with no projects on the table, before applications arrive. The city's zoning code does not currently define data centers as a use.
A six-month window would let officials examine power and water demand, rate impacts, noise, traffic and potential state tax exemptions, with the option to extend the moratorium another six months.
Wausau, Wisconsin
Wausau's Plan Commission will hold a public hearing June 16 on the city's first rules for data centers, a land use its zoning code does not currently define or regulate.
City staff drafted the amendment proactively, with no specific project pending. It would define a data center and allow one only through a conditional use permit in medium- and heavy-industrial districts, meaning each proposal would face individual public review. Applicants would have to submit estimates of water use, wastewater, energy demand and noise, plus a sustainability plan explaining how they would limit the strain on local supply.
The commission discussed the idea preliminarily in April, when a resident suggested forming a work group to help shape the rules.
Allegany, New York
The town of Allegany banned data centers, accessory data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities.
On Youtube: Legislative Board Meeting - June 10, 2026
Meeting Agenda: ALLEGANY COUNTY BOARD OF LEGISLATORS AGENDA – June 10, 2026
Town Supervisor Christopher McPherson said the board wanted to preserve scarce land for housing and commercial development rather than facilities that consume large amounts of electricity while creating few permanent jobs. The ban bars the uses across all zoning districts but does not stop existing businesses from running ordinary server rooms.
The action comes as New York's grid operator reviews two dozen data center proposals statewide seeking more than 9 gigawatts of power, enough for roughly 11.4 million homes in a state with about 8.7 million households. A statewide bill to pause large data center permits is awaiting Governor Kathy Hochul's decision.
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