New Bedford council committee backs mayor's citywide data center ban

NEW BEDFORD A New Bedford City Council committee voted Monday, Oct. 26, to recommend Mayor Jon Mitchell's ordinance banning data centers in every zoning district, sending it to the full council while city planners write new rules for the facilities.

The Committee on Ordinances, chaired by Councillor Shane A. Burgo, approved the favorable recommendation on a voice vote at the end of a public hearing in the City Council Chambers. City Council President Ryan Pereira made the motion and Councillor Ian Abreu seconded it. One resident spoke, in favor, and no one spoke in opposition.

Under the city's current zoning, data centers are allowed by right, with no special permit, in five districts: the mixed-use business district and the IA, IB, IC and WI industrial districts. The ordinance would list them as a prohibited use everywhere in the city. The Planning Board recommended the change Oct. 7.

What the planning director told the committee

Planning Director Jennifer Carloni told councillors that data centers used to be buildings that housed servers, but with the rise of artificial intelligence they are much different. She called Lowell the closest example of one affecting a neighborhood and listed the concerns: noise from the fans that cool the equipment, heavy use of water and electricity, and sheer size.

Gateway Cities like New Bedford have industrial areas with housing built up around them, she said, so the city needs to decide what size of data center is appropriate and where one could go. For now, she said, the city wants to pause and put the ban in place.

Asked by Pereira when the council might see new rules, Carloni said she expected them within the year. She said planners are watching what the state and other communities do, and that the city has a legal consultant it can rely on as it drafts rules. Carloni and councillors also discussed whether any site in the city could get the power and water a data center uses.

What councillors said

Abreu said he has serious concerns about what data centers are doing to neighborhoods, and pointed to the former Prince pasta factory in Lowell, which he said was converted to a data center in the middle of a residential neighborhood. "We want to create as many jobs here in New Bedford as we can, but it's going to be done with the right regulations and in the appropriate manner," he said.

Pereira said he agreed with a ban until the city can write zoning that might allow data centers in suitable areas, because of the possible tax revenue, and said that has to be balanced against quality of life for residents. He asked that the council be involved before a draft ordinance is final.

Councillor Joseph Lopes noted that Verizon already has a switching center downtown and asked planners to look at whether a building like that could be converted into a small data center.

The one resident who spoke

A Portland Street resident said he was generally in favor of the ban but had found two possible conflicts. He said the city code lets the Hicks-Logan area's own use table override other zoning, and asked whether the ordinance could explicitly keep a data center out of that area until the study is done.

He also said state law protects some earlier approvals from later zoning changes, and that two properties, 126 Duchaine Blvd. and 507-513 Church St., received approval-not-required endorsements in March 2025 that he believes run until 2028. He asked the city to weigh the actual tax revenue from a data center, after incentives and exemptions, against other uses for the land, and questioned whether terms in the new definition such as "high-performance" leave room to get around the ban.

Before the vote, Pereira asked the city's attorneys to verify the points raised at the hearing before the full council takes up the ordinance.

What comes next

The ordinance now goes to the full City Council. The council's next meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, according to the city's meeting calendar; no agenda for it is posted yet. Council meetings are held in the City Council Chambers, Room 214, City Hall, 133 William St., and are streamed live and recorded. For accommodations, the City Council Office is at 508-979-1455, at least 48 hours ahead.

The mayor wrote in his Sept. 1 letter that new rules for data centers, including a special permit process and performance standards, will come back to the council once the planning department's research is done.

Video of the Oct. 26 committee meeting is posted on the city's meeting portal, under Quick Links, Meetings, on the city's home page.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.