NORTHAMPTON — Amid community concern that artificial intelligence data centers could strain the local power supply or pollute waterways, the City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to enact a yearlong moratorium on the facilities.
The decision came after councilors formed a select committee last month to study data centers’ potential impact on their host communities — a topic that arose as the proliferation of data centers sparks concerns across the region. Northampton joins Greenfield, Easthampton and Westfield as communities to enact moratoriums, while Shutesbury and Holyoke have banned such developments.
The moratorium, which went into effect immediately upon its passage, will halt the production of any data center, or facility designed or used to house computer servers or related technology for the storage or management of electronic data.
Before the vote, councilors debated and rejected an exemption for businesses with low electricity use, or to include a Board of Health member on the select committee.
Ward 6 City Councilor Christopher Stratton, concerned that the moratorium might bar businesses that aren’t data centers but run small servers, moved to exempt businesses that use 250 kilowatts of electricity or less.
“I am concerned that this does not distinguish between a data center and the servers used by a traditional business, so I move to amend this …,” Stratton said. “We would be putting a floor that basically says if you’re a bank or something and you keep your servers local, you don’t rent them in the cloud from Amazon — that we’re not considering that a data center. We’re considering that your server room, just to make sure that we aren’t accidentally tripping ordinary businesses that aren’t data businesses.”
Stratton noted that Gov. Maura Healey’s executive order regulating data centers statewide exempts businesses that use 25 megawatts or less — a limit 100 times larger than his proposed amendment.
However, other councilors questioned the necessity of Stratton’s proposed amendment, arguing that should a non-data center business that stores its own data wish to move into the city, the building commissioner would not classify the business as a data center.
“I don’t think it’s necessary. It’s clear to me that this moratorium is about data centers, and it’s not going to stop a business that has servers from having their servers,” Ward 3 City Councilor Laurie Loisel said. “You have an amount there that seems arbitrary, and it’s a certain percentage of what the governor said — I don’t feel prepared. I don’t have enough information to get that specific, and so I wouldn’t feel comfortable voting for that.”
At-Large City Councilor Garrick Perry pointed out that the council had already heard Stratton’s concerns during the council’s deliberations over its vote to form a committee to study the issue, and again at an Oct. 29 joint meeting of the Planning Board and the council’s Committee on Legislative Matters.
Ultimately, Stratton’s proposed amendment failed by a vote of 7-1, with Stratton voting in favor of it and At-Large City Councilor Meg Robbins abstaining from voting.
Stratton later suggested amending the moratorium to include a provision that would have added a Board of Health member to the select committee formed to study data centers. That suggestion did not lead to a motion and was not acted on.
“I really want to support Councilor Stratton’s encouraging us to include a member of the Board of Health on this committee, if that is at all possible,” Robbins said. “I will remind you that we listened to the Massachusetts Board of Health attorney talk about how, in municipalities that are doing this work, this is really critical to have them on board.”
While most councilors agreed that input from the Board of Health would serve as an asset to the select committee’s study, some questioned whether it would be feasible to require members of the board to serve on the committee, given that the Board of Health includes volunteers who meet once a month.
City Council President Rachel Maiore said that the Board of Health is expected to discuss data centers at its Nov. 12 meeting and will likely decide the level of participation its members wish to have in the data center study.
Prior to the vote, Maiore congratulated her fellow councilors for their work to pass the moratorium and form the study committee. She noted that Stratton’s amendment on minimum energy uses might prove necessary in a year’s time, once the committee has further researched the issue.
“I’m really proud of us. I think this is going to be a legacy of this term,” Maiore said. “The last time we had a select committee was a while ago with the select committee on pesticides. I’m just really proud of all the work we’ve done here, and I know the select committee will do a great job.”
