HOPKINTON — The Town Council on Monday voted to direct the planning board and planning department to study and recommend an ordinance that would prohibit data centers in Hopkinton.
Vice President Bob Burns, who sponsored the agenda item, said that the town has had brief discussions about data centers in the past, and recently had noticed that neighboring communities such as Charlestown have been taking initiatives to prohibit data centers.
Town Council President Michael Geary said the council is treating this as a precautionary measure, and that there are currently no plans for a data center to be constructed in Hopkinton. He said that due to the environmental needs and impacts of data centers, especially being a rural community, does not fit into the character of the town.
“This is a precautionary thing before someone comes down here and wants to build one but who knows, maybe next council, or three councils down the road might say they are for data centers and revamp everything. As for right now, however, we are saying no to data centers,” Geary said.
On May 5, Smithfield passed an ordinance that banned the use of data centers, in which they define what a data center is. According to their ordinance, data centers are defined as a building or complex designed primarily to house computer servers and other equipment that stores, processes and transmits digital data. These facilities support services such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and large-scale data storage, and are significantly larger than the computer systems found in typical offices or businesses.
Smithfield’s staff memo of the ordinance details the environmental and residential impacts that a data center can create, including high electrical demand, utility infrastructure affordability, water demands for cooling systems, noise created by generators and equipment, and sensitive land compatibility, among many other concerns.
Professional Land Surveyor and Land Use Consultant Alfred DiOrio, a former chair of the town’s planning board, sent an email to the council informing them that surrounding communities have been discussing the topic, stating that he didn’t want to see Hopkinton be the last town to look at the issue.
“I don’t want Hopkinton to be the last person standing in the musical chairs game when an entrepreneur comes to town with another bad idea,” DiOrio said.
Councilor Sharon Davis mentioned that Smithfield’s ordinance is an “interim control” as it does not permanently ban data centers, which she disagreed with.
“They (Smithfield) want to do more studying, but as far as I’m concerned, I don’t think we need to do more studying,” she said. “I would not vote for this to be an interim thing.”
“I would like to send this forward to our planning department to possibly find an ordinance, however it may be to block data centers from the town of Hopkinton,” Burns said.
In Charlestown, Councilor Bonnie Van Slyke explained that bills are already being introduced to the Rhode Island Legislature that will offer 30-year tax exemptions and another requiring compliance reports, with additional Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management inspections, reporting, and financial insurance.