Taunton council bans data centers and adds a one-year moratorium, with no exemption for existing buildings
A North Andover developer told the council the pause would cost its Myles Standish Industrial Park building a tenant that needs up to 24 megawatts of power. The city says the moratorium is a backstop if the ban is challenged in court.
SOUTH COAST Taunton has banned data centers anywhere in the city, and its City Council stacked a one-year moratorium on top of the ban in case the prohibition is challenged in court. The council voted unanimously on both measures Oct. 20 and did not grant a developer's request to exempt existing industrial buildings, according to an update the city posted Oct. 22.
The two votes do different jobs, the city said. The ban prohibits data centers outright; the moratorium is "an additional layer of protection should the ban face legal challenges." City Planner Kevin Scanlon explained that adopting both lets the city watch how similar bans fare in other Massachusetts communities and gives it time to sort out legal or regulatory questions, the update said.
What the ordinance covers
The zoning changes in the council's Oct. 20 packet define a data center as "a facility used primarily for the storage, management, processing, and transmission of digital data," including the air handlers, power generators, water cooling and storage, utility substations and other equipment that keep one running.
The September draft would have allowed data centers in the industrial district by special permit, at least 1,000 feet from any residential zone. After a public hearing Oct. 1, the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend the changes but to make data centers prohibited in the industrial district as well and drop the buffer section, according to an Oct. 2 letter from board Chairman Anthony Abreau.
As drafted, the moratorium takes effect on adoption and runs 365 days. It bars the city from accepting zoning applications or permits for building and running a data center, and the council may extend it by no more than 180 days if no agreement on revisions has been reached. The draft says the pause is meant to let Taunton weigh "energy demand, water use, noise, emissions, site design and municipal infrastructure," and directs the city's planning and conservation director to review the zoning code with the council and city departments and propose any revisions.
The exemption the council turned down
VMD Industrial III LLC, an affiliate of V.M.D. Companies of North Andover, owns a building on John Hancock Road in the Myles Standish Industrial Park that it bought in 2022 as a retail printing building, and the city said the developer cited interest from "a potential data center tenant." In an Oct. 9 letter in the council's packet, Director of Development Stephen Gallagher wrote that the 365-day moratorium "will eliminate a potential tenant for our building."
Gallagher wrote that the company agreed with the Planning Board's reasoning but asked for consideration of owners "who have made millions of dollars in improvements to their facilities." He proposed exempting existing industrial district buildings that the city had already approved, that meet current zoning and that already pay property taxes. "Major water consumption is not needed, and noise controls are part of our plan," he wrote, adding that "this tenant will not wait 365 days or longer to begin the infrastructure construction work." The letter said confidentiality rules kept the company from naming the tenant in public but that it could share the name with city officials in a private meeting.
A separate Sept. 24 letter from the company to the Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant, also in the packet, said the prospective occupant would need 13 megawatts of power in a first phase and 11 more in a second, 24 megawatts at full buildout. The company asked the city-owned utility what it could supply now, what upgrades would be needed and at what cost to the company, and what backup service it could provide.
The council did not grant the request, and the moratorium has no exemption for existing buildings, the city said.
The mayor and the region
Before the vote, Mayor Shaunna O'Connell told WPRI 12 she expected the moratorium to pass. "Right now we have nothing in place as far as restrictions, special permits and the potential effects," she told the station. The city's update thanked residents "who have taken the time to express their concerns and participate in the public process."
Other South Coast communities are weighing the same question. A New Bedford City Council committee voted Oct. 26 to send Mayor Jon Mitchell's citywide data center ban to the full council, and Rehoboth's Planning Board scheduled a hearing on data center zoning for Oct. 28.
What happens next
The moratorium runs for a year while city planners review how, or whether, data centers could fit Taunton's zoning, with any proposed changes going back to the City Council. SC360 has asked V.M.D. Companies for comment and will add its answer.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
The votes, the reasons for passing both measures and the denied exemption come from the City of Taunton's Oct. 22 update; the ordinance wording, the Planning Board's recommendation and both V.M.D. Companies letters come from the council's Oct. 20 agenda packet. The mayor's comments come from WPRI 12. We read them Oct. 28. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Not heard yet: V.M.D. Companies, asked Oct. 28.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (3)
- City of Taunton: Data Center Update Following City Council VotePosted Oct. 22, 2026. Read Oct. 28, 2026.
- City of Taunton: Municipal Council agenda packet, Oct. 20, 2026 (proposed zoning changes dated Sept. 8, 2026; Planning Board letter of Oct. 2; VMD Industrial III letter of Oct. 9; V.M.D. Companies letter to TMLP of Sept. 24)City Clerk's posting stamp Oct. 16, 2026, 10:45 a.m. Read Oct. 28, 2026.
- WPRI 12: Taunton councilors ban data centers, approve moratoriumPosted Oct. 20, 2026. Source of the mayor's comments. Read Oct. 28, 2026.