Cherry Hill adopts law blocking any large-scale data center development in town.

Like other communities, Cherry Hill Township Council on Monday evening unanimously made it a law banning large-scale data centers from building in town.

The new township ordinance, adopted on second reading with no public comment, is written with precise definitions to exclude the centers that house only computer servers and provide remote computing for AI, cloud networks and other uses.

"They consume a lot of land. They use a lot of water. They take up a lot of energy. And they also tend to be very big, ugly buildings. Things that are all directly inconsistent and contradictory to the stated goals of your Master Plan," consultant Christopher N. Dochney of the Camden office of Artheon told Council members. 

Before the ordinance was proposed, Mayor David Fleisher in June vowed that data centers would not be built in Cherry Hill on his watch.

"I've been vocal about our opposing data centers here," Fleisher said at Monday's meeting. "Council and I are proud to take proactive steps to ensure that their impacts, including increased energy demands, significant water usage, noise, and air pollution, do not affect our community."

At Monday's meeting, Dochney briefed Council on the definitions and wording of the ordinance, with the goals of preventing successful lawsuits from data center developers and also not prohibiting smaller server rooms common in many kinds of businesses.

Cherry Hill's zoning law, for example, permits manufacturing and the processing of materials, he said.

"A clever attorney could argue that, well, you allow manufacturing, which is processing materials, and a data center is just processing digital materials, therefore it's a permitted use wherever manufacturing is permitted. We're trying to avoid situations like that," Dochney said. The law, he said, makes it clear that manufacturing is processing physical materials.

While several local governments in New Jersey have moved against the large-scale centers, others maintain an outright ban is not the answer. The New Jersey Business & Industry Association and some construction unions — representing those who would work on the large projects — have advised a less absolute approach.

Previous 70and73.com coverage of the issue:

• Cherry Hill's mayor says data center developers shouldn't consider town as potential home.
• Cherry Hill Council introduced zoning law change Monday evening that would ban data centers in town.
• Cherry Hill report: data centers huge consumers of electricity and water, provide no community benefits.