HENRIETTA, N.Y. — The Town of Henrietta is working to implement restrictions on AI data centers within the town.
RELATED:
New York won’t build big data centers for a year as it weighs energy and climate risks Henrietta proposes zoning changes for data centers, following state’s moratoriumIt comes a week after New York State also implemented its own moratorium on AI data centers. News10NBC’s Tom Kowalski went to a Henrietta Town Board meeting where the restrictions were discussed.
Henrietta town supervisor aims to regulate future data centers
The town says there are currently no applications for a potential AI data center anywhere in the Town of Henrietta. Town Supervisor Stephen Schultz said there was one person looking into it about a year ago, but since then, there has been no further interest.
He said the point of this potential new law is to regulate what kind and where a data center can be built and make it benefit the town if one is.
“Obviously, these very large ones can create a lot of issues. I’m not necessarily against them. I’m not for them either. But I want to make sure that if one comes in, they can’t run roughshod over us,” Schultz said.
Schultz wants any potential data centers to not fall under a special use permit, but under incentive zoning, meaning if one does come to Henrietta, the pros would have to outweigh the cons to be built.
“By doing it through incentive zoning, the burden of proof is on them to show that this is going to be a benefit to the town. So, for instance, you got a big data center. We now understand the problems with power and water and all that stuff. But what if we said, okay, the community benefit we’re going to get from the incentive to be able to put in a data center is that you have to improve our power. You have to have more megawatts available to our residents than before you came in,” Schultz said.
Schultz added a potential data center can lower taxes and create some jobs in the area — albeit not many. Still, many people at the meeting were against any potential data centers entirely.
Neighbor explains her concerns over data centers
Elisabeth Grunert, who lives in Henrietta, explained her concerns.
“They’re concerned about the load on our electricity. They’re concerned about the water, and those are extremely valid. But I didn’t hear them talk about the light pollution and how in some of these data centers, I don’t know what it would be like in one that might come here, but in some of these data centers, I understand that there are bright lights on 24 hours a day,” Grunert said. “The sound pollution sounds devastating, in that area that they’re talking about having this, this is a quiet, rural place that is gorgeous.”
According to Data Centers.com, there are already more than 213 data centers in New York State — including at least eight here in the Rochester area. Gov. Hochul’s recent moratorium only applies to hyperscale data centers — housing more than 5,000 servers.
RELATED: Good Question: Is energy use for AI impacting the environment?
Gov. Hochul announces one-year pause on hyper-scale data center permits in New York
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a one-year moratorium on environmental permits for new “hyper-scale” data centers in New York State last week.
RELATED: Gov. Hochul signs moratorium on data centers; Here’s how it could impact proposed Genesee County data center
The pause on state permitting for new facilities will give regulators time to create rules addressing environmental impacts, energy demand and water usage. In a roundtable held today, Hochul said it will also give smaller municipalities time to prepare for negotiations with powerful tech companies.
“And there are communities that are just going to say, ‘We don’t want the effect on our farmland. We don’t want the effect on our water table. We don’t want the effect on our communities.’ And so that is what we’re giving everybody a little more breathing room instead of having this jammed down everybody right away and being threatened with lawsuits,” Hochul said.
More information on the moratorium by Hochul can also be found on the governor’s website.
Henrietta Town Board considers zoning restrictions on AI data centers as NY implements moratorium WHEC.com.
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