Monroe Township Council introduced an ordinance at its March 25 meeting that would eliminate a possible AI data center and related uses from the Hexa Builders Redevelopment Plan on Black Horse Pike.
The redevelopment of 1.6 million square feet was approved by the planning board on Jan. 8, but it was later revealed that Hexa’s plan could include an AI data center. That possibility angered residents and even people outside of the township who showed up in droves to the March 11 council meeting. Their concerns included negative environmental effects and energy and water output that would put a financial strain on residents.
The backlash convinced council to create the ordinance.
“These data centers are evolving at a very quick pace,” Mayor Greg Wolfe explained. “Everyone is trying to keep up, so to speak, and now there is obviously a lot of opposition for various reasons and concerns – and we get that.”
Wolfe said he spoke with experts, attorneys and the public to personally hear their concerns.
“Some of these conversations were several hours long with these individuals,” Wolfe noted. “We announced and put out a video that this township has decided to repeal the data center use from the Hexa redevelopment plan.”
While a data center would be eliminated if the ordinance is passed at council’s April 8 meeting, Hexa can still use the lot for warehousing, storage and distribution facilities, as well as office space for warehousing operations. Any construction and what exactly will be constructed has yet to be announced.
The hope is that the ordinance would ban AI data centers in all of Monroe, without putting the community in legal jeopardy.
“We are definitely committed to, and I don’t want to speak for all the council, but I’m sure they are too, in banning data centers all together,” Wolfe emphasized. “But it has to be done the right way. It has to be done lawfully.”
Every council member – with the exception of John Valentine – voted to introduce the ordinance. He voted no because the measure doesn’t flat-out ban data centers completely in Williamstown, and he wants a more open process to inform the public.
“This is why I want to simplify the way it’s notified,” Valentine said. “The people feel like this (the data center) is getting snuck by them. If we simplify it and put it out there, everybody understands what’s going on.”
