The Data Center Divide
A policy snapshot ahead of the 2026 midterms. Mapping data center incentives, restrictions, and bans through legislation, regulations, and executive actions across all 50 states and 1,462 local jurisdictions.
Millburn Township
Mixed Data Center Policies
New Jersey requires large data centers to cover much of their electricity costs and offer demand flexibility; reporting and construction rules add paperwork and costs. Tax incentives are available only to qualifying projects, while regulators study possible electricity-cost effects.
Rating and summary from New Jersey statewide as there are no scored current or future laws outside temporary restrictions for Millburn Township.
pending · Millburn TownshipMillburn Ordinance 2783-26 passed on first reading October 20, 2026, with final consideration scheduled for November 10, 2026; adoption is unverified.Millburn Township Ordinance 2783-26 (2026)
People behind it
- Christine A. Gatti
Township Clerk; signs the official first-reading notice.
Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements3
Would prohibit data centers in all zoning districts, across principal, accessory and other use categories.
Definition includes server farms, cryptocurrency mining operations, AI, cloud and other computing facilities.
Would bar avoidance by splitting a data center and permit classification information requests by the Zoning Officer.
Benefits & exceptionsHide benefits & exceptions3
Would exclude qualifying Public utility infrastructure, telecommunications central offices and switching facilities.
Would exclude limited computing tied to a lawful principal use, subject to 20 percent floor-area or 10,000-square-foot cap, a 1 MW capacity cap, no dedicated substation and no colocation.
Would exclude qualifying residential equipment up to 25 kilowatts.
Sources
failed · Township of MillburnProposes defining data centers and prohibiting them in every Millburn zoning district to address their intensive electricity and infrastructure needs and potential impacts on utilities, water, air quality, noise, heat, emergency services, resiliency, and community character (Ordinance 2770-26).Millburn Township Ordinance 2770-26 (2026)
What this means
If enacted, this ordinance would prohibit data centers in all zoning districts, preventing new facilities and expansions that qualify as data centers. It exempts certain small, on-site computing rooms and residential facilities, but those exceptions do not materially change the ban on data centers.
People behind it
- Millburn Township Committee
Introduced the ordinance and passed it on first reading. Introduced and passed on first reading
- Christine A. Gatti
Township Clerk named in the public notice issued by order of the Township Committee. By order of the Township Committee
Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements7
The ordinance would prohibit defined data centers in every Millburn zoning district and under any use category, including principal, accessory, office, research, telecommunications, utility, warehouse, institutional, or home-occupation uses. The definition includes colocation, cloud computing, server farms, cryptocurrency mining, AI and high-performance computing, distributed computing, and wholesale digital infrastructure. Data centers are prohibited in all zoning districts.
The ban would apply to using, occupying, converting, constructing, installing, expanding, reconstructing, or approving any building, property, equipment installation, or portion of one as a data center. No building or facility may be used or expanded as a data center.
The ordinance would prevent avoiding the ban by dividing a data center among smaller facilities, tenants, meters, lots, buildings, phases, owners, or agreements. Separate installations would count as one use if commonly controlled, on the same or contiguous lots, part of one system, or sharing substantial infrastructure. Separate facilities may be treated as one use.
Upon a Zoning Officer’s request, applicants, owners, tenants, or operators would have to provide information reasonably needed to determine whether a use is a data center, potentially including floor area, dedicated electrical capacity, infrastructure, equipment purpose, and whether capacity is offered to outside parties. Information may be requested by the Zoning Officer.
Some accessory server or data-processing facilities would remain outside the data-center definition only if they meet all stated conditions: they serve a permitted principal occupant’s internal functions, are incidental and subordinate, occupy no more than the lesser of 20% of the principal building’s floor area or 10,000 square feet, use no more than 2 MW of dedicated computing-related electrical capacity, and are not served by a dedicated major substation or similar infrastructure. Facilities used for specified commercial or off-site services are excluded from this exception. Accessory facilities are subject to area and power limits.
A resident-operated data-processing facility on a lot with a dwelling would be excluded from the data-center definition only if the activity is otherwise permitted as a home occupation or accessory residential use and its dedicated computing-related electrical capacity does not exceed 50 kW. The residential exception is capped at 50 kilowatts.
Regulated public-utility and telecommunications infrastructure, central offices, and switching facilities are excluded from the definition only if they are not primarily used for specified data-center services such as colocation, cloud computing, cryptocurrency mining, AI or high-performance computing, or wholesale digital infrastructure. Utility and telecommunications facilities have a conditional exclusion.
Sources
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