Plymouth residents voted 149-0, with one abstention, to freeze all new data center development in town for a full year, a decision Town Meeting reached on Oct. 17. The moratorium blocks the application, permitting, construction, expansion or conversion of data centers in Plymouth from that date through Oct. 16, 2027, giving town officials time to study how the fast-growing industry might affect local electricity, water and noise.
No Applications Yet, But Officials Want Ground Rules First
What makes the vote notable is that Plymouth was not reacting to an active project. As reported by The Patriot Ledger, the town’s planning department had not received any applications from data center companies at the time of the vote. Instead, the Plymouth Planning Board moved preemptively, voting on Aug. 26 to place the moratorium on the fall Town Meeting warrant, according to a report from Yahoo News.
During the one-year pause, the town’s planning board and staff will research potential community impacts, the same report notes. Plymouth planning officials intend to coordinate with Eversource and the municipal water department to analyze grid capacity, water demand, noise levels and localized infrastructure impact, according to South Shore News, which reported on the Select Board’s earlier backing of the measure. That outlet also reported that the proposed measure targets dedicated server farms and large-scale facilities, while still allowing ancillary data storage tied to primary uses like hospitals or research laboratories.
What Happens When the Clock Runs Out
Before the moratorium expires, Plymouth has three options on the table: let it lapse, enact formal data center regulations, or extend the pause altogether, the same report states. None of those outcomes has been decided, and the evidence available does not indicate which direction town officials are leaning.
The water question looms large over that decision. A 150-megawatt hyperscale data center can consume roughly 340,000 gallons of water a day, or about 120 million gallons a year, according to an EPRI study cited by MassLive. That outlet’s reporting found that residents and officials opposing data centers across the state have repeatedly cited noise and water consumption among their top concerns.
Plymouth Joins a Statewide Wave of Pushback
Plymouth is far from alone. MassLive’s count found more than 30 Massachusetts communities that have enacted or are considering a data center moratorium or ban, with 18 communities having fully enacted or approved such a measure as of Oct. 15 and at least 17 more actively discussing a similar step. The outlet The Boston Globe has reported that local officials statewide are taking proactive steps to limit the size of AI data centers over concerns about energy, water, noise and vibration…