Planning Board Advances Data Center Zoning Ban

In this report: Key decisions · Next dates · Full report · Sources

What happened

The Planning Board held a public hearing on a proposed amendment to add data centers to the town's zoning use table and mark them "no" across every category, pausing their development while the town studies how to regulate them. Board members discussed the amendment's definition and enforcement mechanism, with concerns raised about potential impact on small businesses with servers. The board voted 5-0 to advance the amendment to the November 10 town meeting, where it requires a two-thirds vote to pass.

Key decisions

• 📜 Add data centers to zoning use table. The board voted 5-0 to advance an amendment to Chapter 282, Section 3.0 that adds data centers to the zoning use table and marks them "no" across every category. The amendment goes to town meeting on November 10, where it requires a two-thirds vote to pass. (Vote 5-0; Next: Nov. 10). Read case details

Next dates

• Oct. 22: Planning Board meeting
• Nov. 10: Town meeting vote on data center amendment

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Full meeting report

The complete, section-by-section account of the meeting, 2,301 words, for members.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.