Secaucus delayed its data center ordinance Tuesday night. Officials pulled the zoning change from introduction after the pre-meeting caucus and said it would return in two weeks with more changes. The draft, posted Friday, would cap any new data center at 80 megawatts of power. It would only apply to the small share of town that Secaucus zones itself.
The delay came before a standing-room-only crowd at the Oct. 27 Mayor and Council meeting. Residents spent more than an hour at the microphone. Many asked the same question: what is the town doing about the state agency that controls most of its land?
“We’re going to fight like hell,” Mayor Michael Gonnelli told one longtime resident.
What the Draft Would Do
The ordinance, No. 2026-37, follows up on the drafting the town attorney described on Oct. 13. It adds a definition of data centers to the town’s zoning code for the first time and sets these limits on them in the town’s Industrial Zone:
- Power: Peak demand of no more than 80 megawatts at full buildout. Neighboring or commonly owned lots count together. The attorney said hyperscale AI data centers run at 100 megawatts and up.
- Noise: A study before construction that models low-frequency sound, plus measurements after construction and annual studies sent to the Town Engineer.
- Water: Written sign-off from Veolia, the town’s water supplier, and a ban on “once-through” cooling. There is no cap on water use.
- Generators and reporting: Backup generators can run only during outages and for weekday testing. Each needs an annual inspection, and operators must file an annual compliance report.
The rules cover only Secaucus’s own Industrial Zone, not the roughly 88% of town zoned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). Officials said they wouldn’t affect existing data centers or CoreSite’s approved project at 215 County Avenue. The town plans to send the ordinance to the NJSEA once it passes, in the hope that the agency adopts something similar.
Under the Cap, Outside the Zone
Kathy McFarland, a member of the town’s data center committee, said the two projects drawing the most opposition would come in under the cap anyway. Citing figures Town Administrator Gary Jeffas gave Hudson TV, she said Equinix’s expansion at 275 Hartz Way will top out at 50 megawatts and CoreSite’s County Avenue project at 75. Both are on NJSEA land in any case.
Her bigger worry was the total. With every new project, she said, the town’s data center load keeps growing: “Your future 80 megawatt concession means absolutely nothing, other than that you are planning to approve more data centers.”
“Stop approving data centers in Secaucus,” she said.
“I wish we could,” Gonnelli replied.
Others focused on what the draft leaves out. One resident asked why it requires Veolia’s review of water use but sets no limit. The attorney said annual reporting would catch a data center using far more than projected, and that electricity is the line the council chose to separate AI data centers from conventional ones. Resident Linda Weber asked that noise testing specifically target the low-frequency hum neighbors describe.
The Mayor Opens Fire
Gonnelli opened public comment by rebutting critics by name. He disputed Hudson TV’s reporting on Zoning Board members, and he answered residents who had spoken against data centers at the previous meetings. He told Weber that a Hartz Mountain project she had warned about will be a warehouse, not a data center.
“I love this town more than anything in the world,” Gonnelli said. “And you guys hammer me over stupid reasons. I’m not going to answer these questions tonight.”
Supporters applauded the mayor at several points, more often than at recent meetings. McFarland told the mayor she was “very disappointed” that he had singled out residents.
Four Stories, “No Say”
Michele LaRue, who has lived on Lincoln Avenue near County Avenue for 50 years, said she learned only last week that the CoreSite building near her home will be four stories. Gonnelli said the council granted no waiver for its height. The site is in the NJSEA’s jurisdiction, he said, and “we have no say.”
“It just feels like those of us who live there should at least know what’s going on,” LaRue said.
The towns do have one formal voice: the Meadowlands mayors’ committee, made up of the mayors of the 14 towns in the NJSEA district and created under the state’s Meadowlands law. Gonnelli said he had stepped down as its head because it couldn’t reach a quorum. “I resigned from that because nobody showed up,” he said. “The mayors really don’t care.” Asked when the mayors would next meet, he said possibly after the election.
One resident, who said she moved to Secaucus three years ago with her husband for its parks and schools, said she now sees things differently. “It’s actually a town that is run by billionaire corporations like Hartz Mountain and Equinix and CoreSite,” she said. It “makes me not want to raise a family here.”
A Ward 2 Clash
David Kraatz, a write-in candidate for the Ward 2 council seat on Nov. 3, argued that NJSEA rules permit “disaster recovery facilities,” not data centers. He called for an independent review of Jeffas’s handling of land use matters. Jeffas read the NJSEA’s definition, which covers off-site facilities that include data storage and backup power. He said the agency has treated data centers as a permitted use for 25 years.
Councilman Rob Costantino said the council has “all the faith in the world” in Jeffas, and pointed to past claims Kraatz had gotten wrong. When Kraatz tried to respond, Costantino said, “This isn’t a debate.” (Read both Ward 2 candidates’ answers in our Q&A.)
Closing the meeting, Councilman John Gerbasio noted that the state, not the town, created the Meadowlands district in 1969. The town can comment and complain, he said, but “they don’t have to listen to us.”
What’s Next
- The ordinance: expected back at the next council meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 10, then on to the Planning Board.
- The election: Ward 2 voters choose between Councilman James Clancy and Kraatz on Nov. 3.
- The NJSEA: its board meets monthly. Meeting details.