Data Center Moratorium: "Can An Existing Site Plan For A Warehouse Be Amended To Be A Data Center?"

Since A Little Beacon Blog’s article published about the prospect of a data center being built in East Fishkill, and the unanimous vote on the moratorium on new data centers that followed (existing applications would be honored, but there are no existing applications before the town), readers have been asking: “Can a developer amend a site plan? In the data center moratorium, if a plan that has been submitted already, like Treetop’s plan for the warehouse, can they amend the site plan to be a data center and be within an existing plan that is exempt from the moratorium?”

ALBB posed this question to East Fishkill’s Town Supervisor, Nick D’Alessandro: “No, they cannot,” he answered.

Columbia University’s Sabin Center Climate Law Blog has published an article about the sustainability of such moratoriums, saying: “Rapid data center development is challenging local governments’ ability to manage the environmental challenges these facilities raise. Cities, towns, and counties are facing both uncertainty about the scope of those impacts and growing opposition to data centers from residents. In response, many are turning to temporary moratoria to pause data center development while they figure out the right regulatory approach. According to one Data Center Tracker, at least one hundred data center moratoria have been adopted in communities across the country. But the legal frameworks in which these measures operate can be complex, and cities have limits on how—and for how long—they can use a moratorium in this way.” Much more legal detail is in Sabin Center’s article.