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Old Bridge council moves to draft ban on AI data centers after heated public debate
Summary
After a lengthy public turnout and debate, the Old Bridge Township Council voted to send a measure to the legal department to draft an ordinance to prohibit AI data centers, citing concerns about power, water use, noise and local impacts; supporters and opponents urged caution and local control.
Council members and dozens of residents spent much of the June 9 meeting debating whether AI data centers should ever be allowed in Old Bridge, leading the council to ask its legal department to draft a ban on the facilities.
Councilman David Merwin opened the discussion by describing modern AI centers as “computing factories” that can demand far more electricity and water than older data centers. Merwin said a midsize AI facility can use tens of megawatts of power and — depending on cooling technology — far more water than typical local uses, and he urged the council to “pump the brakes” by drafting a moratorium or ban so zoning and infrastructure rules can catch up.
Vina Swan, township planner, told the council the current zoning does not broadly permit data centers and that only two redevelopment zones mention the use; one such parcel is tied up in litigation at Crossroads and the other sites currently have warehouse approvals whose designs and approvals do not match typical data‑center needs. She said power infrastructure limitations make large AI centers economically unattractive on the town’s available sites.
Mayor Walker and several council members said there were currently no pending applications and that building a true AI data center would likely require developers to install or pay for significant power and water upgrades. Nonetheless, the council heard sustained public comment from residents who said neighborhoods would suffer noise, lower property values and environmental harms if a large center were built nearby.
Many residents urged a permanent ban, citing out‑of‑state litigation and reports about local impacts where data centers have been built; others, including residents with IT backgrounds, argued that the term “data center” covers many facilities and that bans should be carefully tailored to avoid unintended consequences. Several residents also urged the township to be proactive rather than reactive.
After more than an hour of discussion and more than two dozen public speakers, the council voted to instruct the township attorney to draft an ordinance that would prohibit data centers going forward and return it for first reading. The vote to send the draft to the attorney passed with a majority; several councilmembers warned about legal exposure and the municipal land‑use consequences of a sweeping ban and asked the attorney to craft language that balances legal risk and resident concerns.
Next steps: the attorney will prepare draft ordinance language for the council’s review and public hearings; any change would require formal introduction and two readings before adoption.
