Fury over massive NJ data center explodes at packed meeting as residents confront cops

🚨 A heated Andover town meeting over a possible data center turned physical Thursday

📹 Viral videos show a resident shoved to the ground while being removed by police officers

⚡ Residents across New Jersey fear data centers could strain water and power resources

ANDOVER — Passion against a potential data center in town turned physical Thursday night, when a citizen being escorted from a public meeting got into a shoving match with two police officers.

Local residents have been opposing developing an AI data center at the former Newton airport property.

It's a story playing out across the state as homeowners and environmental groups push back with concerns about the high energy demands and potential water use by the data centers. In East Windsor, residents were fighting a plan for a second data center in their municipality.

Viral videos capture clash at Andover Township meeting

In multiple videos shared online from the packed meeting in Sussex County, the citizen is seen on video tussling with two officers as he nears an open exit door before he is pushed to the ground by one officer.

The other officer, who is the son of Andover Mayor Thomas Walsh Jr., was also involved.

He is seen taking off his name tag and waving it at one of the cell phone cameras recording the chaos.

“A resident was forcibly removed from the meeting and thrown to the ground by law
enforcement for exercising his First Amendment rights,” Sussex Visibility Brigade co-founder Birdie Green said in a written release after the meeting. "While the resident used coarse language directed at the Mayor and Committee, he was not a physical threat to anyone. The Sussex Visibility Brigade condemns this escalation of force and the Committee’s role in silencing dissent."

A request for comment from the Mayor and Deputy Mayor Krista Gilchrist was not immediately answered on Friday.

Read More: NJ data center bans grow as towns push back on AI projects

Sussex County residents fear impact of proposed data center

The large swath of land in question runs along Route 206 and Stickles Pond Road, and has remained largely undeveloped since the airport closed in 2013.

While there is no official proposal submitted, the Andover Township Committee has recently amended zoning codes that could allow for such a facility to be built.

About 300 residents worried about such a resource-draining data center springing up in Andover’s rural landscape turned out for Thursday’s meeting and a cookout information session hosted by the Sussex Visibility Brigade.

NJ communities push back against growing data center projects

Financial documents for the property at 248 Stickles Pond Road have been traced to a billion-dollar tech company, through a corporation set up last year, according to the Climate Revolution Action Network.

Read More: East Windsor NJ data center expansion draws public opposition

This year, several proposed projects across the state have been met with outright public resistance, such as the centers underway in Kenilworth and the second data center recently approved for a property in East Windsor.

A handful of municipalities around the state have responded to these concerns by adopting ordinances that ban land use for future data centers.

Walsh has said that a data center could bring in several million dollars for a several-year span under a payment in lieu of taxes agreement, or "PILOT" plan, NJ.com previously reported.

The mayor also acknowledged public concerns over such a project's potential impact on surging electricity usage, as well as other environmental impacts like water usage and an increase in pollution.

Video clips from the Andover Township Committee Thursday meeting were posted online, including this one by Sussex Visibility Brigade, which includes profanity:

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