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Bernards Township Planning Board finds proposed ban on data centers "not inconsistent" with master plan
Summary
The Planning Board reviewed Township Ordinance No. 2599, which would add definitions for data centers and critical IT load and prohibit data centers in E1–E5 office zones, and voted to deem the ordinance "not inconsistent" with the 2023 master plan while recommending definitional edits for clarity.
The Bernards Township Planning Board on June 16, 2026 voted to find Township Ordinance No. 2599 — which would add definitions for "data centers" and "critical IT electrical load" and remove data centers from permitted uses in the E1–E5 office zones — "not inconsistent" with the township's 2023 master plan and forwarded the ordinance back to the Township Committee with suggested definitional edits.
Township planner Miss Fehee, citing a June 12, 2026 master-plan consistency memo, told the board that the ordinance aligns with multiple master-plan goals and objectives related to natural resources, environmental protection, and utility capacity. "After reviewing the master plan goals and objectives, I believe that this ordinance is not inconsistent with the master plan," she said, recommending that definitional carve-outs and exclusions be moved into the ordinance's definitions section (21-3.1) rather than repeated in the use-prohibition paragraph (21-10.3).
Board member Michael Crane, who also noted his role with the local sewage authority, raised environmental and utility-capacity concerns, saying cooling systems and evaporation towers at large facilities can increase wastewater and electric demand and that "this is critical that we don't exceed our capacity" at the Harrison sewer plant. Miss Fehee's memo had similarly highlighted electric-grid and water-use issues as reasons supporting a prohibition in the office zones.
After discussion, the board voted on a motion to deem the ordinance not inconsistent with the master plan and to forward it to the Township Committee with recommended edits to the definitional language. The motion passed on a roll call vote; the board's recommendations call for moving the list of exclusions for what does not constitute a data center into the definitions section and for keeping the exception language that would preserve operations for hospitals, public-safety facilities and public-utility infrastructure.
The board's action is advisory: the Township Committee will consider the Planning Board's recommendation as it proceeds with any final adoption steps on Ordinance No. 2599.
