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Regbase

The Data Center Divide

Town of Southeast

This restriction takes precedence while in effect. The rating below excludes temporary restrictions.

Pro-Data Center Policies

Southeast’s law is labeled enacted, though its description says it would pause applications for six months, then require special permits in the ED district and impose costly noise, screening, cooling, and onsite-power requirements.

Rating from New York statewide as there are no scored current or future laws outside temporary restrictions for Town of Southeast.

current law · Town of Southeast
Temporarily prohibits permits and application reviews for developing data centers or data storage facilities in the Town of Southeast.Town of Southeast Local Law No. 3 of 2026 (2026)

What this means

The measure would pause data-center applications for six months, then allow them only by special permit in the ED district. It also adds costly requirements for noise control, screening, cooling, and onsite power, making development substantially harder but not banning it outright.

Timing

Ends
six months after adoption

The data-center and data-storage moratorium has a stated duration of six months from its 2026-05-21 adoption. The other data-center zoning and design regulations remain in effect.

People behind it

  • Introduced Resolution No. 35 of 2026 adopting Local Law No. 3, the temporary moratorium on certain data-center and data-storage uses.

  • Seconded Resolution No. 35 of 2026 adopting Local Law No. 3.

  • Adopted Local Law No. 3 of 2026 establishing the temporary moratorium.

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  • Authorized and directed to enter the local law into the Town’s records and file it with the New York Secretary of State.

Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements13

  • A six-month moratorium bars the Town from accepting applications for building permits or site-plan approvals for construction, development, or uses involving electric data-storage facilities capable of drawing significant electricity from public utilities or using electric-generation capacity. It also pauses further review of pending applications and bars issuance of related building or occupancy permits.

  • The zoning amendment defines a data center as a facility for storing, managing, processing, or transmitting digital data and housing related computer, network, server, or associated equipment.

  • Data centers are authorized only as a special-permit use in the ED zoning district, requiring special-permit approval rather than ordinary permitted-use approval.

  • Street-facing data-center buildings must use masonry or wood-frame construction and include at least two specified façade treatments, such as step-backs or recesses, fenestration, changes in materials or colors, or accent materials.

  • Ground-level and rooftop mechanical equipment must be screened from public roads and adjoining residentially zoned properties using measures such as vegetation, berms, solid fencing, screen walls, panels, or parapets.

  • Chain-link fencing, including fencing with inserted slats, and barbed-wire fencing are prohibited at data centers.

  • For a data center next to existing residential development or a zoning district permitting residential uses, generator testing is limited to 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

  • Except for testing or commissioning, generators at data centers adjacent to residential areas may be used only for backup or emergency purposes.

  • Substations must be screened from adjacent major roads and residentially zoned properties.

  • Data centers must submit an acoustic analysis demonstrating compliance with the Town's noise regulations in Chapter 96.

  • All exterior data-center mechanical equipment, whether rooftop, ground-level, or elsewhere outside the building, must be enclosed on all four sides by an acoustical barrier made from sound-absorbing materials.

  • Data centers must use closed-loop cooling systems.

  • Data centers must use on-site power generation to offset demand on existing utility infrastructure.

Benefits & exceptionsHide benefits & exceptions1

  • Adds data centers as a permitted special-permit use in the ED zoning district, creating a formal zoning pathway for their construction there. Approval remains subject to the special-permit process, applicable design standards, and the temporary moratorium.

Sources

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