Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli is calling for a halt to new data center applications in his town, which is already home to nine facilities.
In a Sept. 16 letter, Gonnelli asked New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority President Jill Hirsch to pause consideration of new proposals.
The NJSEA oversees land use in roughly 90% of Secaucus. The agency assumed zoning jurisdiction over most of the town in 2015, when it absorbed the Meadowlands Commission.
“As the data center industry continues to expand, continued collaboration between the town and the NJSEA will be important to ensure that future development is appropriately planned and regulated,” Gonnelli said in the letter to Hirsch.
The request comes days after a tank at an Equinix data center in Secaucus spilled several thousand gallons of diesel fuel into a tributary of the Hackensack River on Sept. 11.
It also marks a shift from Gonnelli’s recent public support for data centers.
In a township newsletter in August, Gonnelli said, “data centers are here to stay.”
“Given our current lifestyles and use of technology, data centers are as important as grocery stores and gas stations,” he said.
Secaucus is already home to 10 data centers with two more are pending, the mayor said this summer, according to Patch.com. Gonnelli said the town has been a crucial part of the industry for more than 30 years.
Most data centers in New Jersey have been operating for decades to support telecommunications and financial markets, including the Equinix facility in Secaucus. Equinix opened its Secaucus facility in 1999 and supplies computing power to help run global financial markets.
However, some of the recent pushback against data centers that has led to bans in dozens of towns is driven by concerns over larger, hyperscale data centers to power the AI boom.
Gonnelli argued that data centers benefit Secaucus by generating significant tax revenue while placing little demand on municipal infrastructure. He also disputed claims that the facilities are driving up electricity bills for residents.
In August, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a law requiring data center owners and operators to disclose how much electricity and water each facility consumes, where those resources come from and what equipment is used to power and cool the centers.
New Jersey is home to more than 70 data centers, but opposition to new facilities has grown. More than 50 municipalities have adopted ordinances banning data centers, including North Brunswick, East Brunswick and Stafford Township, which recently joined the list.
A spokesperson for NJSEA said the agency had responded to Gonnelli and invited him to meet this week.
Gonnelli did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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