Andover Township moves to ban data centers after meeting chaos

⚠️ Andover Township officials now weigh a ban on data centers, after recent backlash

🏛️ Residents claim public pressure forced leaders to reverse course on a proposal.

🔌 A number of NJ towns are blocking AI data centers over fears about power use, water demand and environmental impact.

ANDOVER — After a massive public turnout and online response to a meeting that got physical, township officials are joining the string of towns looking to ban data centers from being built within their communities.

Mayor Thomas Walsh and Deputy Mayor Krista Gilchrist responded to the controversy in a video message on Saturday night.

Andover Township mayor addresses backlash over proposed AI data center

“Lately, we’ve had some discourse over something — a project that we were considering for the township, that may have brought in quite a bit of revenue,” Walsh said. “But we also agree that no project, no money is worth tearing a town at its seams.”

“We have devolved to a situation that is really untenable,” Walsh added.

“The township unwaveringly supports our police officers, and they are being wrongly vilified at the moment,” Gilchrist said, referring to public responses to video clips of the two officers who struggled with a local citizen being escorted from Thursday’s public meeting.

Police confrontation at packed NJ meeting fuels outrage

The speaker cursed at local officials before being led to a side exit door, where he and the two officers got into a shoving match as the packed crowd looked on.

Before announcing the proposed ban, Walsh shared a summary of why the town has even considered a data center project for the former Jump airport site at 248 Stickles Pond Road.

The 97-acre property has been empty for nearly 13 years. In 2024, the owner applied to use the land for a 650,000-square-foot warehouse with 130 loading bays.

Calling the suggestion of a data center “not unprecedented,” the joint statement from Andover officials pointed to more than 80 data centers operating in New Jersey, including sites in Mahwah, West Windsor, and Edison.

Town officials saw it as an opportunity for a “less intensive development” that could bring in up to $5 million a year, at least for the first several years.

Local organizers tout victory

The grassroots Sussex Visibility Brigade will hold a victory potluck before the next meeting, saying that local officials realized the “political clown show” had to end.

“Make no mistake: we dragged them to this decision. This wasn't a gift--it was a result of the community refusing to be silenced, even when we were lectured like children or seen as an ‘embarrassment’ for exercising our rights,” the Sussex Visibility Brigade said on its Facebook page on Sunday.

“Even in the announcements, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor did not acknowledge their mistakes or make promises to be more transparent in the future. If we had to guess, it was the public pressure and impending lawsuit that made them capitulate."

Vineland data center is causing public concerns (Data One Vineland via Google Maps )

New Jersey towns increasingly push back against data centers

In recent months, New Jersey residents have become more aware of the lasting impact that data centers can have on the surrounding area.

“Data centers were the main driver of the 20% jump in electric bills that New Jerseyans experienced in June 2025,” according to a recent report by the progressive New Jersey Policy Perspective.

The report called for the state to consider strong guardrails for data center companies around “cost sharing, transparency, and energy resource requirements.”

After addressing last week’s chaotic backlash, the Andover Township Committee will now consider an ordinance to repeal data centers as a permitted use of the property that used to house the Newton Airport.

The Township Committee will also consider an ordinance to ban data centers in all locations throughout the township.

Both ordinances will be considered at a special meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m., at the Hillside Barn at 146 Lake Iliff Road.

A similar pushback against a more concrete plan for a data center in New Brunswick was also successful over the winter.

On Feb. 19, the New Brunswick City Council removed data centers as a possible redevelopment use for a lot on Jersey Avenue after a massive crowd attended the public meeting, Jersey Digs reported.

NJ data center in Kenilworth has been a deal since 2024 (Gov. Murphy Office archive, Google Maps)

NJ towns move to ban data centers over environmental fears

Already this year, a half dozen other New Jersey communities have banned or blocked data centers from being built.

In Burlington County, Pemberton Township was the first to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the construction and operation of data centers, back in February.

As of April, a similar ordinance was also introduced in Millville. The Harrison Township Committee planned to vote on an ordinance on May 18 to ban data centers, South Jersey News reported.