Holyoke ordinance committee asks legal to draft data-center ban, seeks study

Holyoke — The Ordinance Committee advanced a motion on April 14 to request legal ordinance language to add a use definition for “data center” and to clarify that commercial data centers should not be allowed in any zoning district while the city studies the use and its impacts.

The Planning Board unanimously recommended a ban pending further study, citing the need for parameters—particularly around power consumption, noise and siting—that a broad text change would lack. “Not allowing the use would protect the city until such time as this information could be available for review,” the Planning Board wrote in its recommendation and asked that data-center study work be tied to the Comprehensive Plan/zoning revision phase two.

Planning Director Eric Nakajima told the committee that further study is important because technology and project scale vary widely and that some kinds of data-processing or research facilities might later be allowable with careful standards. Councilor Mimi Panitch and other councilors argued a ban now would give the city leverage to study the sector and protect neighborhoods—especially lower‑income wards that tend to host heavier industrial uses—while the city develops definitions and siting criteria.

Solicitor Bissonette and other staff indicated the committee can draft a citywide ban and preserve the existing college-affiliated high‑performance computing center as a pre‑existing or non‑conforming use. The committee closed the public hearing for Item 4 and asked legal staff to provide ordinance text for committee consideration at a future meeting.

The committee did not adopt final ordinance text at the April 14 meeting; it directed the city solicitor to prepare draft language that (a) bans data centers as a use citywide, (b) clarifies grandfathering for the existing facility, and (c) notes next steps for a detailed study to define acceptable data‑center characteristics.